Jane Pritchard, dance historian - illustrated lecture

RSAMD Whittaker Library

Ballet Department event

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On 3rd February 2011, the Whittaker Library & RSAMD Ballet Department hosted an open lecture from Jane Pritchard, dance historian and world expert on the Ballets Russes.

For 100 years, Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes have stunned audiences throughout Western Europe with their vibrant colour, energetic dancing and amazing musical scores. Few theatre companies have ever made such an impact on culture and society.

Diaghilev pulled together the most innovative choreographers, dancers, composers and designers and enabled them to collaborate on new productions. He promoted theatrical productions for just over two decades, from the opera Boris Godunov in 1908 at the Paris Opéra through to his death in 1929.

• The Whittaker library has a display of items from its collection relating to Diaghilev and company.
• Please feel free to visit the library.

Exhibition curated by Drama Librarian Alan Jones - please do contact him for further details about the exhibits. A.Jones@rsamd.ac.uk.

Barnaby Brown and friends

Fridays at One: The Blind Piper of Gairloch

28th January 2011, RSAMD

Academy Concert Hall

Did you go to the RSAMD lunchtime concert on 28th January? Find out more about the performers here.

• Barnaby Brown, singer, bagpipes and triple pipes
• Griogair Labhruidh, singer and bagpipes
• Siobhan Armstrong, clarsach
• You might also like to visit the website of the Historical Harp Society of Ireland, http://www.irishharp.org/ - Siobhan is currently the Chair.

The Whittaker Library at RSAMD now has recordings by these artistes. Check the catalogue here!

The King's Speech in Newsreels

Visit the BUFVC website for archival reels and footage!

Image uploaded from

BUFVC website.

BUFVC: Learning on Screen, 24 March 2011

The BUFVC Learning on Screen Conference & Awards 2011 will be held at the British Film Institute (BFI) on London’s South Bank on Thursday 24th March 2011. This year, in a break from the traditional two-day event, the 2011 Learning on Screen Conference & Awards will take place within a one-day programme. This is in keeping with the current need to reduce costs, whilst still broadening and enhancing knowledge and teaching techniques.

Learning on Screen - event website.

Vitae National GRADschool @ Windermere, 1-4 March 2011

Postgrads! Here's some researcher training targeted specially at you!

Vitae GRADschools

Do you want to develop your personal effectiveness? Do you want to make more informed choices about your future? GRADschools are designed to help you reflect upon and develop the skills you have as a postgraduate researcher. The course will encourage you to consider how you can apply your skills now and in the future and aim to help you gain honest insights into a range of career pathways and approaches. Places are limited so book now!

For more information about GRADschools go to www.vitae.ac.uk/gradschool. GRADschools will be launching a Facebook fan page in February.

Integrating Information Literacy into the Curriculum

Useful Open University booklet about information literacy! Of value to anyone involved in education, whether as a student teacher or as staff involved in Curriculum Reform.

Research Supervisors and Information Literacy

RIN (the Research Information Network) is supporting research into,

the role of PhD supervisors in the drive to ensure that research students possess the necessary level of information literacy to pursue their careers successfully in academia and beyond. Curtis+Cartwright and Cardiff University will undertake the project research on behalf of RIN, which will run until June 2011.

To read more about this very apposite and timely project, click here.

Wanted! People to record Britten's unpublished works

BRITTEN THEMATIC CATALOGUE PROJECT USER SUBMITTED INCIPIT RECORDINGS

Interested in recording extracts from some of Britten's unpublished childhood works? The Britten Thematic Catalogue [Beta version] now includes the ability for users to submit recordings of typeset incipits, presented within the catalog, to the project in order to be considered for inclusion in the final published version of the resource, due for release in 2013. To submit a recording to the project, follow these instructions:-

• Visit www.brittenproject.org
• Click on the 'Britten Incipit Recording Project' icon on the left of the homepage.
• Browse the list of incipits required
• Follow the recording and submission instructions presented.

The list of required incipits will be constantly updated so please check back on occasion to view updates. If no incpits are present for your instrument or ensemble, please feel free to email Jonathan Manton (j.manton@brittenproject.org) to enquire as to availability of other extracts. Thank you in advance for any contributions made. Please feel free to forward this message to other performers, students or faculty at your school or organization. Jonathan Manton Technical Support Officer, Britten Thematic Catalogue Project Britten-Pears Foundation Tel: 1-862-812-8603 www.brittenpears.org Please note I am based in Boston, MA (USA)

Manran

Gaelic group Manran are trying to get into the charts. Fèisean nan Gàidheal is supporting Mànran in their bid to get into the Singles Charts with their Gaelic Song, “Latha Math”. Please pass this round your own contacts to see if we can help them get into the Top 40! They need to sell at least 7,500 downloads this week. “Latha Math” costs just 79p and is downloadable from iTunes here.

A Bridge of Song: from Scotland to Canada with Margaret Bennett

Celebrating the 800th anniversary of the Scottish City of Perth, not to mention the year when Perth, Canada hosted the kilt-race, folklorist Margaret Bennett led a performance weekend there in August 2010. A Bridge of Song is the DVD which serves as a permanent reminder of that weekend. Staff and students of RSAMD will find this DVD in the Whittaker Library Collection, and it will be shown during Margaret's forthcoming book-signing at the Whittaker Library.

• Perth Museums celebrate: press release about Margaret's DVD, A Bridge of Song
• RSAMD Whittaker Library celebrates: Friday 28th January at 4.30pm. The launch of Margaret's latest book, In our day, accompanied by students performing songs from the book's repertoire. All welcome!

Secret life of musical notation

Intrigued?

The Secret Life of Musical Notation

defying interpretative traditions / Roberto Poli

Staff and students of RSAMD can find out more by borrowing this new book from the Whittaker Library.

An evening with Jackie Kay Tuesday 18 January 2011 @ 6pm

The RSAMD Whittaker Library is honoured and privileged to host an evening reading by Doctor of Drama of the RSAMD, Jackie Kay at 6pm on Tuesday, January 18th 2011. Come and join us for a chance to meet one of the UK’s leading poets, novelists and dramatic writers. Jackie has published 5 collections of poetry for adults, novels, volumes of short stories, poetry and novels for children, theatre and radio scripts, and most recently her astonishing frank and moving memoir, Red Dust Road, from which she will be reading, along with her new book of poems due out in January, Fiere (the old Scots word for friend).

An evening not to be missed!

• Contemporary writers.com - Jackie Kay
• PoetryArchive.org - Jackie Kay
• Jackie Kay interviewed in the Telegraph, June 2010

English language: its debt to the King James Bible

A fly in the ointment? David Crystal assesses the influence of the King James Bible on the development of English.

A free article from Oxford University Press!

To say that the King James Bible has been influential over the last 400 years is a statement of the obvious. But had you stopped to think about the significance of the King James Bible upon the English language? A short, readable article has been written for the Oxford English Dictionary, by Professor David Crystal, author of a new book on this topic. Read it here.

Centenary of the death of Henry Watson - RNCM exhibition

Readers connected with the North West of England may be interested in dropping in on this exhibition. Here's how it's introduced on the RNCM Archives website:-

January-February 2011

Henry Watson, 1846-1911 - 'All for love and nothing for reward'

Between 7 January and 21 February 2011 the Henry Watson Music Library and Royal Northern College of Music are marking the centenary of the death of Henry Watson with a free joint exhibition. Using exciting original documents such as letters and photographs from the extensive Henry Watson archive collection this celebrates the life of a man who left a wonderful legacy to the citizens of Manchester. That legacy remains today in the public music library collection which bears his name and the Collection of Historic Musical Instruments at the RNCM.

• Website

Treasures: British Library iPad app

Getting rave reviews on Twitter, the British Library introduces its first app for the iPad, iPhone and Android:-

Announcing 'Treasures': our first app for the iPhone, iPad and Android smartphone Now you can learn about and interact with our treasures at home, on the move or within the Library itself. Over 100 highlights, including literary, historical, music-related and scientific documents - alongside illuminated manuscripts and sacred texts. Each is presented through high-resolution images, allowing the viewer to zoom in and explore in detail. 'Treasures' offers smartphone users a true multimedia experience. Available across multiple mobile platforms: iPhone, Android and, in an HD version, the iPad.

Streamed National Theatre/ King's College London collaboration this Thursday

FELA! at King's College London Thursday, 13 January 2011. http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/ntlive

Tickets still available for the live broadcast, and it will also be streamed live - see website for details.

A provocative and wholly unique hybrid of dance, theatre and music, Fela! explores the world of Afrobeat legend Fela Anikulapo-Kuti.

• Hugely popular National Theatre Live initiative - groundbreaking project to broadcast the best of British theatre to cinemas around the world.
• Part of new collaboration between King's College London & National Theatre
• All productions will be streamed live from the Anatomy Theatre & Museum. See website for full details of the performances
• The collaboration is part of the innovative programme of events in the Anatomy Theatre & Museum (ATM) curated by Sheila Anderson, Director of the Centre for e-Research and Professor Alan Read, Department of English and Director of the Performance Foundation.

Broadcasts of National Theatre Live at King's College London start at 7pm.

Tickets cost £12.50 for staff and alumni of King's, £10 for King's students and £15 for everyone else, and include an interval drink. They can be purchased online here.

Forthcoming:

Donmar Warehouse's King Lear - 3 February 2011

Derek Jacobi plays the title role in the Donmar Warehouse production of Shakespeare's King Lear, directed by Michael Grandage, which will be broadcast from the Donmar's home in London's Covent Garden. Frankenstein - 17 March 2011 Danny Boyle's new production of Frankenstein, a play by Nick Dear, based on the novel by Mary Shelley, will be broadcast from the National's Olivier Theatre. Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller will alternate the roles of Victor Frankenstein and the Creature. The Cherry Orchard - 30 June 2011 Anton Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard will be directed by NT Associate Director Howard Davies. Zoë Wanamaker will play Madame Ranevskaya. http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/ntlive

Cambridge Early Music Summer Schools

31 July - 7 August 2011

French Baroque Music: Le Grand Siecle

7-13 August 2011

Renaissance Music for Voices & Instruments: Music from Renaissance Italy

www.CambridgeEarlyMusic.org

Two residential study weeks. Visit the website to find out more!

Composing for Accordion - workshops at Royal College of Music

Royal College of Music

12 Jan and 9 March

TWO AFTERNOON WORKSHOPS IN COMPOSITION FOR ACCORDION

These workshops are led by Djordje Gajic, teacher at Douglas Academy, St Mary’s Edinburgh, and RSAMD. Further details RCM website:-

More info available from Sue Reiss on 020 7722 6670 or sue.reiss@gmail.com