Student expectations

Colleagues are advised that the Whittaker Library has just received the latest QAA offering, this time on student expectations and reflections on their first year. (Essential reading at this time of year!). The book will be at 378.1 QUAL as soon as it has been labelled. Full details:-

• The first year experience . Student expectations, experiences and reflections on the first year
• The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education, 2009
• Series - Enhancing practice, and Enhancement themes

International Composition Competition

Jointly organised by organisations in America, Naples and Sykies (Greece)

The National Academy of Music, a public charity of the State of Colorado (USA), in conjunction with the Municipal Conservatories of Neapolis and Sykies (Greece), is pleased to announce a call for scores for its International Music Prizes for Composition 2009, the Academy’s annual International Composition Competition.

Goals

• to stimulate composers of all ages and nationalities to write new, high-quality music for educational purposes
• to motivate highly talented composers to persist in building a career in composition by rewarding them with recognition and performance.

Prizes & Awards

• Submit a portfolio of at least two original compositions
• Winning compositions will be considered for performance at a Gala Concert on November 21, 2009 (Municipal Theatre of Sykies in Thessaloniki, Greece)
• Winners will also receive Certificates of Mastery and Medals of Distinction

Research Information Network

New pamphlets from the Research Information Network:

• Communicating research in the digital age
• E-journals: their use, value and impact

Both will be added to the Whittaker Library bookstock at RSAMD. You can also access RIN publications online - click here to find out more.

An introduction to QAA

The Whittaker Library at RSAMD has just accessioned a new QAA document - An Introduction to QAA. It'll be shelved at 378.1 QUAL within the next few days. You can also read this short pamphlet online as a pdf.

Preserving Scotland's Heritage

The Whittaker Library at RSAMD recently purchased two rare old Scottish printed music scores - the first volume of R. A. Smith's Scotish Minstrel, and Niel Gow's Complete Repository of Original Scots Tunes Part 2. Robert Archibald Smith published a number of songs by Lady Carolina Nairne in his Scotish Minstrel (note the spelling - someone else published a different collection with the modern spelling of 'Scottish'). He was condemned by fussy antiquarians for 'inventing' Scottish songs and passing them off as traditional. Nonetheless, some of his songs became part of the Scottish repertoire in their turn. (He also published an Irish Minstrel, itself a controversial publication because of copyright issues, but that's another story.) The Gow family were famed fiddlers, and no self-respecting Scottish music library would turn up the chance to buy one of their publications. Niel Gow (1720-1807) was a seriously big name in his day. Both books were in a sorry state when we bought them, but they are being expertly restored by Scottish bookbinders Riley, Dunn and Wilson. Watch this blog for further news.

The Strad - 'masterclass' articles online

The Whittaker Library at RSAMD naturally subscribes to The Strad magazine. However, you may not realise that you don't even need a subscription to access 'masterclass' articles with famous string-players online. Click here. We're just ordering a CD featured in the latest issue - Jordi Savall playing Scottish and Irish tunes on viol. It'll appear in our catalogue in due course.

Merce Cunningham dies aged 90, Manhattan

• San Francisco Chronicle (Tuesday 28th July 2009)
• Times Online (Tuesday 28th July 2009)
• Merce Cunningham Dance Company

Graduate Junction Poster Competition

Graduate Junction International Online Poster Competition

The new and innovative networking website for postgraduate researchers and research staff, Graduate Junction, has recently launched a fantastic poster competition. This competition is one of the first of its kind as it is not only online but is accepting entries from postgraduates all over the world.

• The competition offers researchers the opportunity to practice key presentation and communication skills
• Offers the chance to share your research with an international community
• Win an iPod as well as a selection of cash prizes
• Top 10 posters will be displayed on the Graduate Junction website

The competition involves the researchers presenting their research in the form of an A1 poster aimed at a non subject- specific audience. The posters will then be judged by a panel of individuals, chaired by Dr Eleanor Loughlin of Durham University Graduate School, from both academic and non academic backgrounds including Dr Tennie Vielder from Vitae.ac.uk.

A public vote, where members of Graduate Junction will get to vote for their favourite poster, will also help to decide the overall winner.

For more information about this exciting competition please visit

http://www.graduatejunction.com/posters

Raising an Amazing Musician

New title from the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music. Since RSAMD is part of ABRSM - and 100% committed to raising amazing musicians - I've got a copy for the Library. Read more about the book here.

Internet Movie Script Database

The Internet Movie Script Database is an archive of up to date film scripts, all accessible online.

Piano Circus

PIANO CIRCUS - branded as electronica/ alternative, there's lots of piano and a fair helping of jazz. Progressive? Well, I'm no expert. Let WhittakerLive know what you think!

Visit Piano Circus on MySpace.

Little Larks - Monday 8th June

Read this! The winners of the RSAMD 'Dragons' Den' are staging a major concert at RSAMD on Monday 8th June. Be there! Be very, very impressed. Featured by Tumelty in the Herald last week.

BUFVC course on educational use of moving images

Finding, Clearing and Editing Moving Image Media for Education (Link to course details) Presenters: Sergio Angelini, Luís Carrasqueiro and Murray Weston Tuesday 30th June 2009, 10.30 am - 5.00 pm One-day course - the many sources of moving image and sound for educational use including radio and television broadcasts and online materials.

• Explore the copyright implications of using moving image and sound materials in teaching and learning both on- and off-campus.
• Practical session on how to compile and use video and audio materials in lectures, seminars and electronic resources.

Free contemporary Italian scores to download

The firm TEM - TauKay Edizioni Musicali - began distributing scores electronically in 1995. If you're looking for new material, free of charge, then you might like to explore the website.

Here are some that have proved to be bestsellers -

• Renato MIANI - Corale
• Carlo CARCANO
• Alastair GREIG - steering for dream
• Andrea TOFFOLINI - Flashback
• Andrea CERA - Spielbergspiel
• Claudio PERUGINI - Coralli
• Piero PEZZE’ - Quartetto
• Andrea BASEVI - Milonga de l’ironia
• Claudio PERUGINI - Segnali
• Andrea TOFFOLINI - Moduli

The Electron Club (Glasgow) invites musicians ...

TAPE-WIRE-HEAD-SCREEN Music and sound arts at the Electron Club Open Day - starts 2pm on Saturday 13th June 2009 Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA) 350 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow, G2 3JD All events are FREE For more info see: http://www.electronclub.org Contact: openday@electronclub.org

The Electron Club is a DIY technology space in the heart of Glasgow. Many members are musicians and sound artists creating their own electronic instruments or exploring the spectral atmosphere and sonic realm in unusual and interesting ways.

YouTube goes all Celtic

Here's something you might not yet have come across:- YouTube All Celtic Music Channel ***

Tommy Smith & Scottish National Jazz Orchestra

SNJO website Saturday 12 Sept - Concert Hall, RSAMD, Glasgow 7:30pm

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SCOTTISH NATIONAL JAZZ ORCHESTRA

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play the music of WAYNE SHORTER featuring GARY BURTON directed by Tommy Smith Vibes master Gary Burton joins the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra to pay tribute to another of jazz’s true greats, saxophonist and composer Wayne Shorter -

• creative force with Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers
• crucial member of Miles Davis’s quintet
• co-leader of fusion masters Weather Report
• enduring inspiration to a world-wide audience.

Featuring Shorter jewels including:-

• Nefertiti, ESP and Virgo Rising
• commissioned arrangements by Mike Gibbs, Joe Locke, Issie Barratt, Florian Ross, Manu Pekar, Michael Abene, Christian Jacob and Geoffrey Keezer

Burton and SNJO present music of extraordinary subtlety, passion and melodic character played by a first rate orchestra of collective skill and solo firepower.

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Teachers! Teaching students! Scottish Learning Festival

Celebrating Excellence in Learning

23-24 September

SECC, Glasgow.

Visit the website here.

Warwick Folk Festival

24-26 July 2009. Visit the website here.

Karen Marshalsay, Scottish clarsach player, releases two new harp books this month:-

• The Clarsach Collection
• First Steps

Find out more!