Deadlines? Library Help is at Hand ...

Kodaly Musicianship Assignment?

A little bird told us there's a written assignment coming up, and a practical exam shortly after that.  Here are some quick suggestions from the Whittaker library! Please don’t hesitate to contact us if we can offer any other help.

• Kodaly books (we have plenty in stock, including an e-book!) 
• Kodaly printed music (lots of that in the library, too.)
• Kodaly choral material - you'll need to ask at the desk 
• Books about Kodaly 

You might like to spread your wings a bit and try our e-journals

• Remember – when asked to login, please choose Institutional Access 
• When searching, tick the box “only items I have access to”, to avoid retrieving things that we don’t subscribe to.

Learning on Screen Awards

If you're doing anything innovative involving learning on screen, this might be of interest.  The entry deadline is 3 December.

More info here ...

Whittaker's in-tray: courses and festivals all over the place

Whittaker has been asked to promote musical events in Sweden, Germany, Austria - and Fife.  Take your pick!

For singers:-

• Norrköping, Sweden (4th Singing Competition, Wilhelm Stenhammar International Music Competition - WSIMC - 5-14 June 2012.  More info ... . Applications deadline 23 April 2012.

Keyboards, strings, wind, brass, percussion, conducting, Baroque opera, composition  (something for everyone here):-

• 53rd Weimar Master Classes (Weimarer Meisterkurse), at the Liszt School of Music, Weimar. 13-28 July 2012.  More info ... 

Piano (adult and children), voice, vocal accompaniment, conducting opera, violin, cello, string chamber music with or without piano):-

• Vienna Master Courses 2012 (Wiener Meisterkurse), at Schloss Laudon, 15 July - 23 August 2012.  Application deadline 15 June 2012.  More info ...

Trad:-

• FifeSing2012: the Fife Traditional Singing Festival, Friday - Sunday, 11-13 May 2012.  More info ...

There's so much here that Whittaker has started a new page - Summer Schools and Courses.  Does anyone else keep a blog of forthcoming summer schools?

Come on, composers! Don't miss the deadline!

Citta di Udine composition prize deadline approaching.
More details on our Awards, Grants, Prizes page.

And a Happy New Year!

2012

Whittaker wishes all 'his' followers a happy, healthy and productive New Year.  And may we all be solvent if not wealthy.  May the Whittaker Library be a buzzing hive of activity, with patrons aided and assisted by your enthusiastic Library & IT staff.

Extra-murally, 2012 is going to be the Year of the Deadline.  'Whittaker' has a contract to deliver a book by 30th April 2012.  All solicitous enquiries, encouragements and otherwise supportive comments will be very welcome indeed. 

But enough of this pseudonym stuff - to get myself in the right frame of mind for the task ahead - no, this is not procrastination! - I'm looking for a new mug to add to the collection.  I like, 'When I'm writing, I know I'm doing the thing I was born to do.'  But it's big, which in Cafepress terms is huge.  I want a Cafepress small (everyone else's medium) mug.

'Working on a bestseller' is a good slogan, but - oh, I'm so fussy - I don't like the art-work.  And 'Writers hate deadlines' is another apt one, but it's not positive enough!

The winner is: 'Writer's block is when your imaginary friends refuse to talk to you'.  Very nice.  (As regular visitors will have realised, there are a number of Victorian Scottish song-collectors who are very real to me. I know far more people in 19th century Edinburgh than I do today!   Alexander Campbell, R. A. Smith, George Farquhar Graham and Finlay Dun are like close friends; In London, William Chappell and his successors are a source of endless interest; and in the Hebrides, the Maclean-Clephane sisters were fascinating women.  So, too, was Marjorie Kennedy-Fraser.)

But deadlines are about more than mugs.  Here are David Seah's Productivity Tools, as recommended by The Thesis Whisperer.

Meanwhile, my own all-time favourites are Diigo, Mendeley, and Evernote, with Copac always in the wings to back up my evidence.  Where would I be without them?

What are your most useful productivity/ time management aids?

Wish me luck!