e-dance choreography project

e-Dance: Shaping Internet Choreography. Here is some research which might interest dance students - you can find out more on the Open University website:- "Amidst strong competition, a bid from the Open University’s Knowledge Media Institute (KMi) has emerged as only one in seven funded in an innovative, joint AHRC+EPRSC+JISC e-Science programme. The two year e-Dance project started in September 2007. Under this project, KMi is working in collaboration with leading choreography researchers at the Universities of Bedfordshire and Leeds, and the national Access Grid Centre at the University of Manchester, to break new ground in the world of digital choreography. The project will provide new opportunities for exploring ways in which dance, the most ephemeral of art forms, might be documented." Want to read the rest of the article? Click on the links above. You can also read about it in the Spring 2009 issue of JISC Inform (Issue 24) which has been catalogued and added to stock at the RSAMD Whittaker Library. A .pdf of the magazine is also available here.

Vitae.ac.uk

http://www.vitae.ac.uk/ Vitae is a portal for researchers. So, if you're engaged in research, you might find useful support here. Do take a look!

Flooding at National Library of Scotland

Update on public access here.

Read The Herald - major flood caused by damage to sprinkler system.

Also more news in the Edinburgh-based The Scotsman

Maeve MacKinnon reviewed by Rob Adams

Maeve MacKinnon, RSAMD alumna, performed at Leith Folk Club and has been reviewed by Rob Adams in The Herald. Read it here.

British Music Information Centre

Particularly useful if you compose or perform contemporary music - the British Music Information Centre.

Composers - lots of opportunities for you!

• Alea III International Prize - Work for solo voice or instrument or chamber ensemble. Duration: 6'-15', and must not have been performed or published before. Deadline 15 March 2009
• String Quartet Competition - invitation from the Molinari Quartet (Canada) for composers to submit an original work. Best compositions to be performed in Montreal, Spring 2010. Email the Molinari Quartet for more info: qm@quartuormolinari.qc.ca. Deadline 1 April 2009
• International Gaudeamus Composition Competition 2009. Born after 1978? You can submit one work in each of the following categories:- orchestral, chamber, and electronic. Visit website or email musicweek@mcn.nl.
• Fifth International Jurgenson Competition for young composers. Born after 1979? Submit published/ unpublished works in the following categories:- soloist ensembles, voice and soloists, string quartet, string trio, marimba/ percussion ensemble. Visit website. Deadline 15th February - hurry, hurry, hurry!!!

Berklee in Dublin - improvising workshop

Berklee College of Music is holding its first-ever improvisation workshop in Ireland, April 13 - 17, at Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) in collaboration with Newpark Music Centre.

The workshop is designed to teach the art of spontaneous composition - fundamental skills and techniques, stylistic considerations, and how it relates to a composer's craft. Participants will study with Berklee's world renowned faculty, including violinist Matt Glaser, guitarists John McGann and Jim Kelly, bassist Michael Farquharson, and saxophonist Greg Badolato.

All types of musicians, from classical and Irish traditional to rock, pop, and jazz, are encouraged to apply.

Application and program information - click here.

Reseach Libraries - best practice

Ensuring a bright future for research libraries: a guide for vice-chancellors and senior institutional managers New publication from the Research Information Network (Nov.2008) - a hard copy is in the Whittaker Library at RSAMD. RIN website

Research Information Network helping researchers

The Research Information Network is currently running a survey, asking researchers about how easily they can access the resources they need. Do complete the survey - helping their survey will ultimately help you! To quote from their website, Accessing information resources: What obstacles do you face? RIN has launched an online survey to investigate some of the obstacles researchers face when accessing licensed information resources, and how these obstacles can be overcome. The survey is part of a study, commissioned by the RIN, to understand the nature and scale of limitations and barriers encountered by researchers when seeking to access such resources. The survey is hoping to reach as many researchers as possible, across a range of disciplines. The results will provide vital insight into these issues and how they may be resolved going forwards. You can access the survey here from 12 January - 20 February 2009.

Cambridge Early Music Summer Schools 2009 RSAMD has just received notification of this year's courses. Visit the website here.

"In 2009 we are offering two week-long courses. Tuition and accommodation will be in Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge."

Happiness Days

Did you know today (19th January) is officially Blue Monday? Well, if you're a Higher Education user or developer of software, help is at hand. Introducing JISC Developer Happiness Days. Here's what JISC says about it:-

Are you: A software developer? A higher education software user? Looking to develop your coding skills? Interested in community collaboration? Want to make new contacts?

Then the JISC Developer Happiness Days event is for you. We're bringing together the cream of the crop of software developers in Higher Education along with coders from other sectors, users, and technological tinkerers in an exciting new forum.

The event is taking place in London on February 9th-13th. The event is modular so delegates can attend as many or as few days as are relevant to them. Full details of the event can be found at: http://www.dev8d.org.

Effective practice with e-Portfolios

Very useful publication from JISC, now in RSAMD Library:- Effective Practice with e-Portfolios: supporting 21st century learning. The Music Librarian has ordered further copies which will be given to registered staff or students on request. Impatient to get your hands on a copy? You can read a pdf or text copy online, or order your own print copy here.

Shetland Fiddle Frenzy 3-9 August 2009

Advertised as 'The Shetland fiddle school with a difference' - visit the Fiddle Frenzy website here.

Music-making at Benslow

Benslow is music at its best. (It also lends superb instruments to budding musicians.) To find out about their short courses, concerts and events this year, visit the Benslow Music Trust website.

Events at the National Library of Scotland

• Zig-zag - an exhibition based on Robert Burns' tours of Scotland.

This is Burns' 250th anniversary and Scotland's Year of Homecoming. The exhibition is well-worth visiting.

Plenty of things going on - visit the website to find out more!

Lake District Summer Music

We've just received our first notification of summer music courses this year. The International Festival & Summer Music Academy in the Lake District offers courses in:-

• Ensembles (3-15 August 2009)
• Piano (3-15 August)
• Violin (3-15 August)
• Viola (3-15 August)
• Cello (3-15 August)
• Double Bass (3-10 August)
• Voice (7-15 August)

Visit the website

Scots Trad Awards

GREENTRAX RECORDINGS PRESS RELEASE (6th December 2008) The Scots Trad Awards of 2008 was this year recorded for TV transmission on MG Alba/BBC Alba. Artistes involved with Greentrax Recordings again picked up some of the premier awards:

• MARGARET STEWART -Gaelic Singer of the year "Togaidh Mi Mo Sheolta" CDTRAX 311
• JEANA LESLIE AND SIOBHAN MILLER - Up and coming Artist of the Year
• THE SCOTTISH POWER PIPE BAND - Scottish Pipe Band of the Year
• THE PEATBOG FAERIES - Live Act of the Year

For further information please contact Ian Green - iangtrax@aol.com Tel. 01875 815888 or Cath Mack - cath@greentrax.com Tel 01875 814155

Soundsgood - project about giving audio feedback

Another one for teachers, here. A lecturer at Leeds Metropolitan University has been leading a project about giving audio feedback via the university's VLN (Virtual Learning Network). It has apparently been a popular development with students. Sounds interesting? Visit Bob Rotheram's SoundsGood blog. (http://soundsgooduk.blogspot.com/)

Teacher Training Videos

Tips and tricks for using Word, Flickr, setting up a blog - and much more - at this award-winning website by Russell Stannard, a lecturer at Westminster University. http://www.teachertrainingvideos.com/ Well-worth a visit for anyone wanting just a few hints about using new electronic media.

Social networking - can you ignore it?

When the sensible and forward-thinking people at JISC start talking about the value of social networking software, then you can't dig your head in the sand any longer. Do you know your Bebo from your MySpace from your Facebook? (Have you found your own music librarian on MySpace, come to that?) JISC has dedicated part of their website to an examination of how institutions can engage with social networking software. Visit it here.