Actor, or Wannabe? Book Review on Becoming an Actor

Do you keep an eye on Academia.edu? It's one of the social media sites specially for scholarly types interested in research publications and activities. Today, we spotted a book review for a book we actually have here in the Whittaker Library - Becoming an Actor, by Thomasina Unsworth.  Aimed at people entering drama school, it looks like an ideal read for people just starting along the road to an acting career.

If you'd like to read Stephe Harrop's book review on Academia.edu, click here.  Or if you're one of our staff or students in Glasgow, just head straight for the shelves!  Here.

We're in Trimester 3 now, so our opening hours are basically 9-5, Monday to Friday.  The library website will keep you right, but do check with us in advance if you're travelling a distance, just in case there are any one-off changes.

Whittaker Library website

Awesome! How Teens Learned to Dance

Times Digital Archive Available to Scottish Performing Arts Students

 We've just subscribed to a great new e-resource - the whole Times newspaper archive from 1785-2008.  What's it useful for?  It's only limited by your imagination!

For example, you could read a book review to see if a book's worth reading!  We don't have "Renaissance Theatre Costume" in stock, but we could always try to obtain it ...
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You could find historical info, like the story of the Scottish National Theatre.  Or read concert reviews - maybe trace the first performance of a piece. Or find out how your ancestors learned social dancing.  In 1801, your mum might've contacted these guys via the small ads!

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We are the Whittaker Library at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.  Here to help our performing artists source information for their teaching and learning needs.

Scottish Journal of Performance (e-journal)

The latest issue of the Scottish Journal of Performance, edited by Bethany Whiteside and Ben Fletcher-Watson of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, has just gone online, and can be found here:-

http://www.scottishjournalofperformance.org

The Whittaker Library will receive a print copy in the New Year.

Details of this issue:-

Volume 1 – Issue 1

• ISSN: 2054-1953 (Print) / ISSN: 2054-1961 (Online)
• Publication date: December 2013
• Download complete issue  (PDF)
• Co-editors: Bethany Whiteside and Ben Fletcher‑Watson

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1.	Editorial Bethany Whiteside and Ben Fletcher-Watson
2.	Representational tactics: approaching two Scottish performances of mental illness through the work of Michel de Certeau Christopher Dingwall-Jones
3.	World Wide Wandering: e-drifting in Paris and London David Overend
4.	Re-reading Mary Wigman’s Hexentanz II (1926): the influence of the non-Western ‘Other’ on movement practice in early modern ‘German’ dance Lito Tsitsou and Lucy Weir
5.	Developing professional equality: an analysis of a social movement in the Scottish dance industry Holly Patrick and Caroline Bowditch
6.	Symposium abstracts: The making of performance: stories of performing physicalities Andria Christofidou and Lito Tsitsou, Anna Birch, Simon Murray, Bethany Whiteside, Lito Tsitsou and Lucy Weir, Ramsay Burt, Romany Dear and Dominic Paterson
7.	Book review: Our ancient national airs: Scottish song collecting from the Enlightenment to the Romantic era, by Karen McAulay Elaine Moohan
8.	Book review: Hamish MacCunn (1868-1916): a musical life, by Jennifer L. Oates Joshua Dickson
9.	Book review: Theatre and performance in small nations, edited by Steve Blandford Anna Birch
10.	Book review: Practice as research in the arts: principles, protocols, pedagogies, resistances, by Robin Nelson Marc Silberschatz

Music and Academic Services Librarian Karen McAulay has now seen three reviews of her book in the scholarly press, and is encouraged by their comments.

The Lads Like Beer (Book and CD Review)

The Lads Like Beer: the Fiddle Music of James Hill's Tyneside

by Graham Dixon (2nd edition)

There are times in a librarian's day when they take a deep breath, smother a sigh, and try to pretend that they really, really enjoy cataloguing piles of books.  Amidst today's pile, the bright orange cover of Graham Dixon's The Lads Like Beer and its accompanying CD offered a diverting break from the classical and jazz repertoire on the desk in front of me.  And it blew my breath away.

A closer look (purely in the interests of establishing correct name and subject authority headings) revealed a fascinating book, with an extensive preface about fiddle music and fiddling styles in nineteenth century Newcastle upon Tyne, followed by a collection of the fiddle tunes written by James Hill, who originated from Scotland but spent his adult years on Tyneside.  Did you know there was a 'Newcastle Style' of bowing hornpipes?  (If you want to know more, you also need to read an old fiddle tutor by W. C. Honeyman - The Strathspey, Reel and Hornpipe Tutor.  We have it in the Whittaker Library.  Just ask at the desk!)



Storify - different uses of a simple social media tool

Have you come across Storify.com?

I'm finding all sorts of uses for it.  I used it a few months ago for reviewing a book about a Cape Breton fiddlemaker:- Musings on Creativity

Then, thinking about all the different things I do as a librarian, I wondered if I could use it as an informal kind of CV, too.  Not the kind of CV you'd necessarily send to an employer, but maybe a useful link to show a different aspect of yourself.  (If you've ever wondered what librarians really do, both at work and at home, this might be enlightening ...!)

I'm quite sure Storify could be put to excellent use with video-clips or audio podcasts, too - ideal for a performer.  See what you think!

Storify - have you tried it yet?

Storify - tell your story

Storify is a way of telling a story using social media, pulling together resources and linking them with your own text. 

It's another kind of blog, in a sense.  But it's easy and fun - I can see myself using it again.  Here's a story I made up in my lunchbreak:-

Musings on Creativity: book review of The Fiddletree, by Otis A. Tomas.

• Storify homepage