Students from the Centre for Music Studies’ Latin Music Ensemble perform at the Virgin London Marathon in support of the Ambitious About Autism charity.
Latin Ensemble at the London Marathon
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Monthly Archives: July 2012
Choir Concert at St. Clement’s Church
Students from the Centre for Music Studies’ choir perform works by Pergolesi and Haydn at St. Clement’s Church.
MA Composition Student creates new iPhone App
MA Composing for Moving Images student William Robinson has created a game app for the iPhone entitled Teething which is now available to download. The retro game uses blocky graphics and ‘chiptunes’ sounds to reference nostalgic 1980s arcade games. The game features a tooth that is attacked by falling sweets in the manner of Space Invaders. Getting hit by the sugary foes causes the tooth to dissolve, but toothpaste ‘power ups’ will restore health.
Filmmaker works with BBC Symphony Orchestra and Urban Music Stars
MA Filmmaking tutor Bruno Mathez is working with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and UK popular music stars on the Urban Classic music extravaganza. Conducted by Jules Buckley, the BBC Symphony Orchestra will perform new arrangements by Jason Yarde and Ayanna Witter-Johnson along with orchestral pieces. The new arrangements feature breakthrough anthems, top hits and exciting new material from multiple Brit and MOBO Award-winner Ms Dynamite, N-Dubz producer Fazer, ‘baby of the Grime scene’ Devlin and London MC Skepta. The four artists will also collaborate and perform on stage together. Bruno will be vision-mixing the event with five cameras to create images that will be edited into a 10 minute documentary. The concert will also be broadcast live on two 9-metre-long LED screens. MA Composing for Moving Images student Ibrahim Sidede will act as a camera assistant for this event.
For more details go to: http://www.walthamforestbig6.co.uk/events/urban-classic/
Miguel Mera in New York
The Head of the Centre for Music Studies, Dr Miguel Mera, gave a presentation at the Music and Moving Image conference in New York In June. His paper entitled ‘Inglo(u)rious Basterdisation?: Tarantino and the war movie mashup’ examined the use of music in Quentin Tarantino’s film Inglourious Basterds. Miguel argued that the multiple layers of appropriative meaning in the film are synonymous with the popular music practice known as mashup and do not exist solely through ironic counterpoint, emphasising defamiliarisation, but rather seek the true goal of mashup culture which is pluralism. Evoking Jean Baudrillard’s notion of the simulacrum, Miguel also argued that the film’s reference to music from the spaghetti western sub-genre allowed historical liberties to become a reflection on the metamorphosis of fact into myth that ultimately problematises the nature of historical (mis)representation in war movies.
Music lecturer quoted in BBC News Magazine
Dr Christopher Wiley, Senior Lecturer in Music, has contributed expert comment to an article that has just appeared in the BBC News Magazine.
Speaking about ‘Survival’ by British band Muse, which was recently unveiled as the official song of the 2012 London Olympic Games, Dr Wiley is quoted as saying that “It’s epic. It’s inspirational. I’m sure that’s why it was chosen”.
The article, written by journalist Jon Kelly, also quotes Dr Wiley as saying that “There are sections that sound like a marathon and others that sound like the 100m”, alluding to the song’s varied and multi-sectional nature.
The full article may be accessed here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18624954.
Dr Christopher Wiley wins University Student Voice Award for second year running
Dr Christopher Wiley, Senior Lecturer in Music and BMus Programme Director, has won a prestigious University Student Voice Award for the second year in a row.
Dr Wiley was one of 12 members of academic and professional staff across the University to win the much sought-after prize. Competition was extremely fierce, with over 200 nominees across the University, including a total of six from Music.
The Student Voice Award scheme is intended to reward ‘exceptional teaching practice and outstanding support services’, and to recognize excellent contribution to the student experience. Nominations are made by the students themselves and winners are decided by the Students’ Union.
Dr Wiley was formally presented with the award at a prize-giving ceremony at the close of the annual ‘Learning at City’ conference at City University London on Wednesday 13 June 2012.
Dr Christopher Wiley addresses Turning Technologies User Conference 2012 at Aarhus University, Denmark
Dr Christopher Wiley, Senior Lecturer in Music and BMus Programme Director, addressed the Turning Technologies User Conference 2012 at Aarhus University, Denmark on Tuesday 19 June.
In a presentation entitled ‘Using Electronic Voting Systems in the Arts and Humanities’, Dr Wiley argued for the largely unrecognized potential of electronic voting systems to enhance academic practice in disciplines other than the sciences and business.
Drawing on his use of the technology as a music lecturer as well as his original research, Dr Wiley illustrated his presentation with examples from his teaching on the Spice Girls, Jerry Springer: The Opera, and heavy metal, as well as from student focus groups
and academic skills classes.
Dr Wiley was one of six speakers to lead parallel sessions during the conference, selected from over 50 proposals received. The conference was the first of its kind to be held in Continental Europe, with participating delegates from countries including the US, Denmark, the UK, France, Germany, Holland, and Spain.
The conference agenda is available at http://www.turningtechnologies.com/studentresponsesystems/trainingevents/userconferences/denmark2012/denmarkconference/
and the full programme may be downloaded at http://users-cs.au.dk/mec/frontiers/2012/Frontiers-2012-program.pdf.
Centre for Music Studies represented at Annual ‘Learning at City’ Conference
The Fourth Annual ‘Learning at City’ Conference, held at City University London on Wednesday 13 June, included presentations by a senior undergraduate student from the Centre for Music Studies as well as a member of staff.
James Perkins, a final-year student on the BMus programme who was recently elected Vice President (Education) of the Students’ Union, spoke on a question-and-answer panel about the students’ perspectives on a wide range of assessment and feedback issues in Higher Education. This session can be viewed online here.
Dr Christopher Wiley, Senior Lecturer in Music and a University Learning Development Associate, gave a presentation entitled ‘Divided by a Common Language? Evaluating Students’ Understanding of the Vocabulary of Assessment and Feedback at City University London’ (see video here) which asked whether certain key terms used in assessment and feedback practices might hold a subtly different meaning for students than for staff, presenting evidence from a series of consultations with students.
Further information about the conference, including the full programme, abstracts, and speaker biographies, is available at http://www.city.ac.uk/about-city/education/ldc/events/learning-at-city.