We regularly get invitations to speak to groups of students about library and research resources. (Karen thinks consultations in Waterstones' Costa outlet would be nice, but our seminar rooms are probably more convenient ...)
Today, it was the turn of the third year traditional musicians. We were talking about resources that might help with their forthcoming projects. So ... first we talked about the projects, and then about the resources ...
- we looked at our e-resources via the library web-pages, and talked about how to log in from outside the RCS campus or when a particular resource requires it (such as Scran)
- we explored Oxford Music Online, JSTOR, Scran, Medea (the RCS dialect resource) and others
- We talked about referencing, what Harvard referencing is, how to keep track of your reading, and online ways of keeping your references safe, eg RefME, Mendeley and Zotero. (Or a regularly-updated Word document!)
- We also looked at the RCS new portal, and the Whittaker Library portal pages (you can find them by clicking on Student Support, or just click here.)
- and the specialist subject gateways on our library portal pages ... lots of good stuff on the music pages!
- We explored HMS.Scot, and the National Library of Scotland's Digital Gallery
- And we talked about the great collections of Scottish music at the Mitchell Library in Glasgow, the Universities of Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Aberdeen, the National Library of Scotland, the A K Bell public library in Perth and the Wighton College in Dundee Central Library
- And just mentioned some of the protocols of visiting rare books collections - pencils, not pens, bags in lockers (and booking what you want to see in advance, in some cases!)
Here's another intriguing article on the Guardian Culture Professionals website:-
"The Lyric’s Secret Theatre project is reaching its finale. It may not have changed the face of British theatre, but it has opened up dramatic new ways of working ... " Read the article HERE.
A Quiet Life
Whittaker has just seen a tweet
about this project, which involves making an opera for people who can’t hear – and people who
can:-
"Annie is an astronomer. She knows all about time and space, but she isn’t so sure about life and death. And she’s just gone deaf. 'A Quiet Life' is a new, multi-sensory opera based on the life of Annie Jump Cannon, exploring ways of hearing and the relationship between the Universe and ourselves. An opera for people who can hear and people who can’t."
For further details, please visit the website - here.
Calming the savage [little] beasts?
While you're practising your arias, you may wonder if the fruits of your labour could have anything pertinent to parents with toddlers. (Screams, tantrums, trainer pants - ah, the happy memories!)
According to the Sensory O initiative, it might be more relevant than you think. Here's a BBC report about it:- click here. (Feature by Pauline McLean.)
- Scottish Opera Sensory O website (Rachel Drury, composer to the project, is also a doctoral student and member of staff at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.)
- Opera Scotland website - details of the Sensory O Tour.
- Last year's Tete a Tete, the earlier Baby O project, again featuring our own Rachel Drury.
You might also be interested in the work of another of our students, Ben Fletcher-Watson, Theatre for Babies. (This link tells you about Oily Cart's latest production: 'Oily Cart: how to prepare your toddler for a trip to the theatre')
As reported in THE magazine and the BBC News website:-
"Leeds Metropolitan students create independent record
label"
Read more (BBC News)...
Australian research-support supremo, The Thesis Whisperer, has today posted a piece about undergraduates doing research projects. What's a turn-off for the average undergraduate? What are the challenges?
To find out more about these and other aspects of undergraduate research projects, read Undergraduate Baggage?
