BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Music 2013

Young Scots traditional musician?

Unmissable opportunity!

Blogged by Creative Scotland Opportunities.  I hope they won't mind if I quote their words here:-

The 13th BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician Award has opened for entries. We’re looking for talented young traditional musicians from all over Scotland who can play an instrument or sing to enter this prestigious competition. All you have to do is download and fill in the application form, send in a 10-minute recording on CD, a short biography and paragraph explaining your commitment to a career in traditional music.

This opportunity is available in: All Scotland

For further information, please contact info@handsupfortrad.co.uk (Simon Thoumire), or call 07775 854 572, or visit http://www.scottishcultureonline.com/bbc-radio-scotland-young-traditional-musician-2013-open-for-entries/. The deadline is Friday 06 July 2012 at 00:00."

On this day, 15 May

Significant dates in Scottish musical history

C K Sharpe and Alexander Campbell Anniversaries

You may be blissfully unaware of the importance of 15th May in Scottish music history!  Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe was an antiquarian, interested in Scottish ballads, songs and genealogy.  He was born on 15th May 1781, and although he's rarely mentioned today, he was considered a fount of knowledge to his Scottish contemporaries.  Worth knowing his name, then.

Meanwhile, Alexander Campbell died on 15th May 1824.  His name is more directly relevant in Scottish musical history terms, because of his music legacy in the shape of the 2-volume Albyn's Anthology.  It's a collection of Highland and Border songs, in Gaelic and Scots.  His musical arrangements weren't brilliant, but the tunes are a very valuable repertoire.  He was one of our first Scottish ethnomusicologists, and spent 3 months travelling in the Hebrides and Highlands of Scotland collecting songs from all sorts of people.  (He was a bit of a dilettante, and music was by no means his only interest, but that's the one we're most interested in here at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.)

Karen McAulay has given presentations on Campbell's output, most recently to the Glasgow Highland Club.  Here is her Slideshare powerpoint presentation, entitled 'Mistaken for Napoleon'.

We've blogged about Alexander Campbell on Whittaker Live before.  Here's a posting about his homeward journey after his song-collecting expedition.  Click here ...

The rare world of rare book librarianship

I just had to share this link.  It's not about music, but it just overflows with the joy of two people who are enthusiastic about their work - rare books librarianship.  Today's blogpost is a dialogue where they discuss the great benefits of blogging about rare books, and the excitement of sharing their discoveries with their academic community.  Do read it - and enjoy!

• http://eightvo.wordpress.com/

Musical limericks no.1

The Flautist

A student who tootled the flute

Confessed to adoring the lute

But she got her wires crossed

When her music was lost

And could not tell Mudarra from Poot 

The Oboist

The oboist played somewhat loud

Because he was working the crowd

When the reed gave a squawk

They were all set to talk

But the fella just stood there and bowed.

 

 The Clarinettist

A girl bought a gold clarinet

But it led to her drowning in debt,

So the kind soul who taught her

Drew cash out and bought her

A soup and a sandwich at Pret.

Musical Limericks no.1 (flute, oboe, clarinet)

Musical Limericks no.2 (bassoon)

Musical Limericks no.3 (trumpet, horn)

Musical Limericks no.4 (Piper, by James Beaton)

Musical Limericks no.5 (tuba, trombone)

Musical Limericks no.6 (saxophone)

Musical Limericks no.7 (violin, viola)

Musical Limericks no.8 (cello, double bass, timpani)

Scottish Composers Collective - Soundcloud

Soundcloud

 

Are you a Scottish composer?

This is important, folks!

http://soundcloud.com/groups/scottish-composer-collective

"The Scottish Composers Collective was formed in 2008 to help provide opportunities for composers based in Scotland.Read more"

SPACE - open-source 3D design software

SPACE - a place to spread your wings

We thought our technical students and staff might be interested in open-source software called SPACE.

SPACE is 3D design software developed for performing arts students.  More about it here ...

In addition to the user guide and the software itself there are also a series of resources available from Jorum that can be built into a Moodle course as learning resources on using the software, building virtual environments (such as stage venues), lighting setup, etc.

Spotted by our educational technologist, Gordon McLeod, who  says he could build a course in the new version of Moodle (our virtual learning network) on using SPACE, if our community thinks it would be useful.

Sean Connery narrates

St Andrews excels

The University of St Andrews celebrates its 600th anniversary with a film narrated by Sean Connery.  Read all about it here ...

Scottish Album of the Year Award - now vote!

Spartacus Records is keen for everyone to go to the hustings today! 

VOTE for your Scottish Album of the Year - you have to do it today, so why not do it right now?  Just ten seconds out of your day. 

Click here. 

'Whittaker' has voted.

An offer of complimentary CV review for academics

Academics, scholars, researchers!

When did you last have your CV reviewed?

This service is advertised on the jobs.ac.uk website, which is a good endorsement.

The company is called The Fuller CV.  Here's the link - read what's there and pursue at your leisure!

Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds

Our Performance Librarian, Lucy Robertson, flew to New Orleans (Lucy in the sky) for an orchestral librarians' conference, yesterday.  We're waiting to hear news not only from the conference, but also about any concerts she attends (with diamonds), whilst she's in Jazz City.  And here's her blog.

A PLUG composer - Richard Ayres

Following on from our PLUG new music festival last month, we've now got some more scores by Richard Ayres, one of the composers whose works were represented in the festival.

His works all have numbers as titles, so ... we now have:-

• no.8 piano solo (1991)
• no.37b for orchestra (2006)
• no.38 : three small pieces for string quartet (2003)
• no.44 (diary pieces) (2009)
• We are hopeful that we may also be able to make some downloads available for consultation by our staff and students - watch this space!
• And we have a CD of Ayres' works, too, thanks to Schott publishers. 

Catalogue details here

Our PLUG Festival 2012 page

Life Beyond the PhD - Cumberland Lodge Conference

Life Beyond the PhD 28^th – 31^st August 2012

www.cumberlandlodge.ac.uk

The 5^th Annual Cumberland Lodge PhD conference is taking place this August.  It's a great event, held in fabulous surroundings on the Windsor Estate.

Personally recommended!

Scottish Album of the Year Award

Scottish Album of the Year Award - visit the website here.

Royal Conservatoire of Scotland interest in this award should be high, for our own Tommy Smith is in the running for it!

Tommy's album, Karma, is the album for today (Wednesday 9th May 2012), and you can stream if for free for 24 hours by clicking here.

Staff and students of the Royal Conservatoire can, of course, borrow the album from the Whittaker Library.

Keep watching - Richard Craig and Chris Stout's albums are also on the shortlist!

• Richard Craig - Inward
• Chris Stout - Brazilian Theory, Live in Concert

The Informed Researcher

There's a new Vitae booklet out!  They're always full of commonsense suggestions, and you can read one in a coffee-break.

The Informed Researcher

Click on the link above to read it online. 

Karen has just received a few paper copies; if Royal Conservatoire staff or students would like a copy, just let her know. 

Other publications in the series are listed here.

The Fiddletree - story of a fiddle made from a Cape Breton sugar maple tree

Read Susan Zettell's blog.  Then borrow the book from the Whittaker Library!

"In a world where speed means everything -- drive-throughs, twitter and tweets, and highspeed everything, and time is money -- Otis Tomas, a friend and neighbour, violin maker, composer and musician, decided to embark on a project that ended up taking 16 years to complete. In his travels through the woods near his home on the Meadow Road, he found an ancient sugar maple and that's where Otis's story begins. He writes: "I am a violin maker, and so of course it wasn't long before my thoughts turned to possibilities held deep within this tree, and of the voices that might come forth were I to turn my hand to the transformation and domestication of this giant of the forest." And turn his hand he did.

On Saturday, Otis launched his book The Fiddletree ..." Read more ...

Postscript.  Talking to a colleague, I've just heard about a similar initiative in our own Scotland.  A string quartet of instruments has been built with the sycamore from Sherlock Holmes' author Sir Conan Doyle's childhood garden in Edinburgh.  There was a concert last year.  Will I blog about it?  You bet I will!  Watch this space...

Post-postscript.  I have just learned of an interesting BBC news item about choosing the best wood for a Stradivarius. Read on!  (BBC News 14 April 2013).

Feed your mind: Zetoc sends you useful journal articles

Have you come across "current awareness" services? In academia, there's a great service called Zetoc, which alerts you to useful articles on your chosen topic(s).

• Zetoc http://zetoc.mimas.ac.uk/

The 'toc' stands for 'Table of Contents'. With Zetoc, you select which journals and keywords you want to be alerted to.  It's good for keeping up to date, and alerting you to things you might not otherwise have come across.

Until recently, there was another similar service called TicTocs.  This has now ceased, so if you used to use it, you might consider transferring to Zetoc now.

Practical project yields real results at Leeds Metropolitan University

As reported in THE magazine and the BBC News website:-

"Leeds Metropolitan students create independent record label"  

Read more  (BBC News)...

Behind the Scenes at the University of Birmingham

The University of Birmingham is currently offering a peek behind the scenes in various departments.

"Dr Scott Wilson is offering you the chance to improvise music with Birmingham Ensemble for Electroacoustic Research."

One of the treats on offer is an electroacoustic experience with composer Scott Wilson.  Find out more ...

Ballet research in Higher Education

"Sadler's Wells and Goldsmiths: how can university research shape the arts?

When Sadler's Wells began an ambitious dance project, Goldsmiths was enlisted to analyse its impact. Jane Hackett and Gerald Lidstone talk about the collaboration."

This is a link to a Higher Education Network article via the Guardian Newspaper.  Research staff/students may find this interesting.  Read more ...

Opening the Oyster's Shell: better ways of searching the catalogue

Better ways of searching for library materials

Try for yourself - or ask a librarian!

Suppose you want a book about arranging tunes.  Entering 'arranging' in the search box may not be the best approach - you get too many results!

Try clicking the more search options link under the search button.  You can now refine your search with all or any of these choices:-

• Specify words that MUST be in your search
• Specify words that must NOT be in your search
• Specify a range of words, any of which might be relevant
• Specify the kind of material you want, eg a recording, a book, or a score

Here's an example.  Searching on 'arranging' yields far too many results.  Same for 'arrangement'.  And if you particularly want jazz materials, you're in luck - but maybe you don't want this.

• A better way of searching, using the more search options link, would be to enter 'arrangement arrange arranging' in the AT LEAST ONE OF THE WORDS search box. 
• Enter 'jazz' in the NONE OF THESE WORDS box. 
• Select Music book from the options in the COLLECTIONS box.

Do ask any of the Library staff if you need help constructing a search.  We've got years of experience between us!