Monthly Archives: January 2016

Recent news from PhD Students: Miranda Crowdus

City Music PhD student Miranda Crowdus has recently been appointed to the position of Research Assistant at the European Centre for Jewish Music at the Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media, Germany. She will be conducting interdisciplinary research on Jewish musical-liturgical practices in women’s Rosh Chodesh (new month) services. Miranda’s PhD thesis is entitled ‘Hip Hop Practices in South Tel Aviv: “Third Space”, Convergent Dispossession(s), and Intercultural Dynamics in Urban Borderlands’. She has recently published a chapter entitled ‘Deviance, Polyvalence and Musical “Third Space”: Negotiating Boundaries of Jewishness at Palestinian Hip Hop Performances’ in the book Boundaries, Identity and Belonging in Modern Judaism (Routledge 2015).

Miranda sends many many thanks to all her friends and mentors at City as well as very best wishes for 2016.

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City Speakers at Hidden Musicians Revisited Conference

In 1989 Ruth Finnegan – an anthropologist based at the Open University – published a book called ‘The Hidden Musicians: Music-Making in an English Town’. Based on several years of ethnographic research in the ‘new town’ of Milton Keynes, the book uncovered a wealth of amateur music-making in a town which had become widely dubbed as a ‘cultural desert’. ‘The Hidden Musicians’ became a landmark publication in the study of music and culture.

On 11th and 12th January 2016, ‘The Hidden Musicians Revisited’ conference was held at the Open University in Milton Keynes. It was organised by City University music alumna Catherine Tackley (now teaching at the OU) and was attended by about 50 people from across the UK and abroad. Keynote papers were presented by Ruth Finnegan herself and Professor Derek Scott (University of Leeds).

City lecturer Laudan Nooshin and completing PhD student and Visiting Lecturer Stephen WIlford both presented papers at the conference, as follows: ‘Hide and Seek: The Internet as an Alternative Public Space for Iran’s ‘Hidden’ Musicians’ and ‘Hidden Musicians in Public Spaces: Algerian Musics and Festivals in Contemporary London’.

This was a fascinating conference in which papers addressed many different aspects of ‘hidden-ness’ in relation to music and musicians.

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City Alumna Wins Teacher of the Year Award

I graduated from City University in 2011 and received expert vocal tuition throughout my course, this gave me excellent grounding for teaching singing myself and the confidence to lead others in vocal ensembles. Whilst at City I took a module that involved finding a placement; it was through my placement that I discovered I wanted to teach music and lead young people on their musical journeys.

I began as a Teaching Assistant at Ifield School, a special school for students aged 5-16, before embarking on my School Direct programme with the Faculty of Education in September 2013. I was fortunate enough to be awarded the title of Kent and Medway Newly Qualified Teacher of the Year 2015.

This was awarded as a result of improvements I have made to the music provision at Ifield, especially the extracurricular music activities. I have formed a full choir, which sings regularly within and beyond the school.

I constantly use material I learnt from City. The BMus programme helped me develop my passion for music and I use this to inspire and expand my pupils’ interest in music.

I enjoyed my time at City and it was the right decision to join the BMus course. The staff and the course provided me with an excellent musical basis that continues to assist me in my working life.

Hannah Boyd (BMus)

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Medtner Study Day, 29th January 2016

City University Music Department’s alumnus Alexander Karpeyev has organised an international study day, Revealing Medtner: Emerging Research and Repertoire, which will take place at the British Library on 29 January 2016. The study day will be part of the International Medtner Festival, an unprecedented event comprising a series of concerts and masterclass dedicated to Medtner’s output. The festival is organised by Alexander, whose research topic for his DMA degree at City University was performance practice in the music of Medtner (1880-1951).

The study day is supported by the Royal Musical Association (http://www.rma.ac.uk/) and the British Library Sound Archive. Presenters include Nathan Uhl (Arizona State University), Bradley Emerson (University of Texas Austin), Wendelin Bitzan (Berlin University of Arts), Olga Paliy  (Royal Northern College of Music), Francis Pott  (University of West London), Hanna Choi (Royal Conservatoire of Scotland) and Satoru Takaku (Nihon University, Tokyo). At the end of the day, Christoph Flamm of the University of Music, Lübeck, will deliver a key-note speech Researching and Teaching, Playing and Preaching: What do we do with Medtner in the 21st Century? The study day is open to everyone. Delegates are kindly requested to register their interest at www.medtnerfest.wordpress.com.

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