Author Archives: laudan

City Research Presented at the joint RMA/BFE Annual Research Students’ Conference

Three of the Music Department’s PhD candidates presented papers earlier this month at the joint Royal Musical Association/British Forum for Ethnomusicology annual conference for research students. The conference took place over three days at Canterbury Christ Church University, and had as its theme ‘Exploring Musical Practice’.

Contributions from City students spanned a broad range of specialisms, from composition and the study of film music to ethnographic research on music scenes. Elizabeth Black discussed her approach to conceptualising texture in instrumental composition, with particular attention to the work of Panayiotis Kokoras and his notion of holophony. Roya Arab traced a history of the female voice in Iranian film music, noting its complex and shifting relationships to ideas of permissibility and representation. And Sam Mackay examined the interface of musical culture and gentrification in a central neighbourhood of Marseille, arguing that the particular sonic and spatial mediations of public music-making can generate both solidarities and fantasies in a context of contested social change.

Sam MacKay, PhD Student

Middle East and Central Asia Music Forum

This autumn, the Middle East and Central Asia Music Forum was held in a new, and fitting, location – the music department at SOAS. On Monday 7th November, we were treated to a full day of papers covering a fascinating range of topics, as well as some fantastic live performances. Thematically, the research presented tackled a wide range of ethnomusicological issues. Several papers dealt with the intersection of music and various contemporary political issues affecting the region, whereas others focussed directly on musical content itself, including improvisation, modes and recording techniques. Others still looked to the past; we were treated to some fascinating historical insights, and even listened to a band take itself back in time!

Geographically, we began in Morocco, the most westerly country featured at the conference. The first speaker, Cristina Morena Almeida (King’s College, London), woke us up with her opening presentation, entitled ‘“Sell Everything except yourself”: understanding the backlash against rappers’ involvement in organised political campaigns’. Cristina’s thought-provoking work was followed by Ilana Webster-Kogen’s (SOAS) fascinating account of the music of Eritrean and Ethiopian migrants across the Middle East, which provided a great insight into her ethnographic work in Israel and the Arabian Gulf.

After the break, co-convenor Laudan Nooshin (City) posed much food for thought with her paper entitled ‘Whose liberation? Iranian popular music and the fetishisation of resistance’. After a lively and fruitful discussion, we were treated to a roundtable with the Oxford Maqam ensemble, featuring Martin Stokes, Yara Abou-El-Fadi and Tarik Bashir. The ensemble has recently undertaken a fascinating wax cylinder recording project; it was hard to tell the difference between recordings dating from the 1900s and their recent output! After discussing the technical and contextual aspects of their work, they played one of their recorded songs live for us; a surreal comparison.

Unfortunately, Julian Harris (King’s College, London) was unwell and unable to attend. Julian’s paper was entitled “Ta’abiriya: ‘expressionism’ in Arab music: composition in the Iraqi school of ‘oud”, and happily for the audience, Professor Owen Wright (SOAS) kindly offered an impromptu talk on the topic. Continuing with the ‘oud theme, Baha Yetkin then presented his work, entitled “Ottoman-Turkish improvisation on the Turkish-style ‘oud”. Baha deftly demonstrated the music he analysed in his paper on his ‘oud, which was highly educational for those not as well versed in Turkish music theory.

After an afternoon break for tea and coffee, John O’Connell (Cardiff University) discussed issues pertaining to Turkish nationalism in the early 20th Century, and enlightened us about the mystical, imagined land of ‘Turan’. To round off the papers, Erum Naqvi’s (Pratt Institute, New York) examination of Iranian classical concerts in the past and present both complemented and contrasted with Laudan’s earlier presentation.

After a fascinating day filled with information and discussions, many of us went straight down to the SOAS union to grab a well-deserved drink, before returning for a performance by Maya Youssef’s Middle East Ensemble, based at SOAS. For the best part of an hour, her deft qanun playing mesmerised and moved us. She was accompanied by darbuka, violin and vocals, playing a mixture of her own original compositions and classics from across the Arab world, including the music of Lebanese singer Fairuz and Syrian-Egyptian ‘oud player and composer Farid al-Atrash.

Thank you to all our speakers, performers and audience members for attending and contributing; additional thanks to Rachel Harris for organising and chairing.

Gabrielle Messeder, PhD Music Student

Oxford Maqam Ensemble

Maya Youssef and the SOAS Middle Eastern Ensemble

City University Chamber Choir Concert at St Clement’s Church

On Wednesday 7th December, the City University Chamber Choir presented their annual Christmas Concert at St Clement’s Church, Finsbury. The combination of classical repertoire and some Christmas carol favourites created a varied and truly beautiful programme which was a joy to sing and listen to. Pieces by Gardner, Rutter and Britten’s ‘A Ceremony of Carols’ with traditional carols such as ‘The Holly and the Ivy’, among others, filled the church with festive energy and the audience joined in for the singing of ‘O Come All Ye Faithful’ and ‘Hark the Herald Angels Sing’, which truly brought the Christmas spirit to the occasion.

Led by Tim Hooper, the choir meets every Wednesday evening during terms one and two, and his leadership and guidance are invaluable to us. He always chooses fantastic pieces to perform, and the next concert will be before the Easter break.

Emilie Parry-Williams, BMus Year 2

City University Music Researchers at the Royal Musical Association Conference

Earlier this month – from Saturday 3rd to Monday 5th September – the Royal Musical Association held its annual conference at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. This is the largest annual gathering of musicologists in the UK and City University staff and recent alumni were well represented. On the Sunday, new City lecturer Claudia Molitor spoke on a panel entitled ’Site and Sound: Practice-Based Explorations of Music and Space’, presenting a paper on one of her recent compositions, Sonorama, an audio work for the train journey between London St Pancras and Margate which offers sounds and voices for the otherwise silent view from the train. Speaking on the same day, Miguel Mera’s paper, ’The Comedy of Audio-Visual Musicality’, was part of a panel on the topic of ‘Music and Musician on Screen’. Laudan Nooshin present on a panel sponsored by the British Forum for Ethnomusicology on ‘Music in Contested Urban Space’. Her paper explored the ways in which the city of Tehran is represented, imagined and claimed through the music videos of Iranian hip-hop artist Hichkas. On Monday 5th , Ian Pace presented a paper on a panel organised by the RMA Music and/as Process Study Group on ‘Creative Performance Processes as Research’. His paper was entitled ‘Between Academia and Audiences: Some Critical and Methodological Reflections from a Performer-Scholar’. Also presenting at the conference was recent PhD alumnus, Liam Cagney, who is now teaching at University College Dublin. His paper was entitled ‘Ensemble L’Itineraire’s Role in the Establishment of French Spectral Music.

The photos below show City staff in action at the conference:

City music alumna Zara Lim starts new post at the Philharmonia Orchestra

Zara Lim, BMus 2014 graduate

Two years on from graduating from City University’s fantastic Music Department and I find myself an employee of the Philharmonia Orchestra, and Personal Assistant to the Managing Director no less! Had someone told me while I was at university that I would be working in one of the most prestigious orchestras with a possible career in Orchestral Management ahead of me, I may have laughed it off.

I didn’t simply fall into this amazing role of course, but I did fall into the role of manager for the London City Orchestra, which was the beginning of this journey for me. The previous manager had to step down and the orchestra needed someone in the interim to take over and see that things kept running. As a recent graduate, I had plenty of time on my hands and thought that it would be a bit of fun and some good experience. Little did I know, I quite enjoyed it and two years later I’m extremely proud to be a part of the orchestra’s growth and development since its inception in 2013.

It has been a steep learning curve, with lots of incredibly proud moments and some very trying times thrown into the mix but I wouldn’t trade it for anything. While I still manage LCO, I have had a fair few other experiences that have contributed to getting me where I am today. A highlight that I will never forget (and still definitely the best 6 months of my professional life) was my time as Projects and Education Trainee with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment which showed me that I could TOTALLY do this full time and love it. Was it hard to do an unpaid internship for 6 months? Yes. Was it worth it? YES! I can’t emphasise enough how amazing an internship can be. If you find yourself in the position of being able to take one on, grab the opportunity with both hands. Not only did I meet some amazing people who I’m still in touch with, but I learned some invaluable skills – some even as basic as how to write a great CV and covering letter (after having mine constructively torn apart by my line manager, for which I am eternally grateful)!

I came out feeling like orchestral management was something I could do with my life, should all my wilder aspirations fall through. I continued managing LCO with all the things that I had learnt and kept building on my experience. Next I undertook a placement with the John Lewis Partnership Music Society, working closely with their Managing Director, Manvinder Rattan, who is now not only a fantastic advisor but a trusted friend.

Then I tried my hand at concert administration with the wonderful young business ‘Bach to Baby’ (founded by concert pianist Miaomiao Yu) which put on concerts for little ones and their adults. It was an amazing experience to be able to see things working from more of a business perspective, and to be in closer contact with audiences and musicians. But I also found myself craving an orchestral setting once again, which led me to apply for the position at the Philharmonia (which I was stunned to have won following interviews, of which there were many)! I have already learnt so much in my role there, working closely with David Whelton, who is in the process of stepping down as Managing Director after an incredible 29 years with the orchestra. I can see the impact that he has had on countless people and organisations over the years, and am extremely grateful to have had the opportunity to work with him and the orchestra at this major milestone.

To all of the recent Music graduates at City, and those of you graduating this year, I want to say: it hasn’t entirely been plain sailing from two internships into two fantastic jobs – there have been hours and hours of job hunting, cover letter-writing, interviews and rejections, and less than thrilling retail jobs along the way to keep me afloat – but whatever you’re aiming for, don’t give up, and don’t do things that make you unhappy for too long. Stay in touch with those who help you along the way and be prepared for your aspirations to change! Good luck!

Doctorates Awarded in the Music Department at City University, 2015-16

We are delighted to announce the following doctorates awarded in the Music Department in the 2015-16 academic year:

PhD

Liam Cagney: ‘Synthesis and Deviation: New Perspectives on the Emergence of the French courant spectral 1969-74′ (supervisor: Ian Pace)

Tatjana Goldberg: ‘Maud Powell, Marie Hall and Alma Moodie: A Gendered Re-Evaluation of Three Violinists’ (supervisor: Ian Pace)

Ikuko Inoguchi: ‘Concepts of Time in the Works of John Cage, George Crumb and Toru Takemitsu and Implications for Performance’ (supervisor: Ian Pace)

Miranda Crowdus: ‘Hip Hop in South Tel Aviv: Third-Space, Convergent Dispossession(s), and Intercultural Communication in Urban Borderlands’ (supervisor: Laudan Nooshin)

Jocelyn Howell: ‘Boosey & Hawkes: The Rise and Fall of a Wind Instrument Manufacturing Empire’ (supervisor: Stephen Cottrell)

DMA

Vasileios Rakitzis: ‘Alfred Cortot’s Response to the Music for Solo Piano of Franz Schubert: A Study in Performance Practice’ (supervisor: Ian Pace; Guildhall advisor: Caroline Palmer)

Christopher Suckling: The Realisation of Recitative by the Cello in Handelian Opera Current and Historical Practices’ (supervisor: Alexander Lingas; Guildhall advisor: Alison McGillivray)

Annie Yim: ‘Robert Schumann’s Musical-Aesthetic Influence on Brahms’ Piano Trio in B Major, Op.8 (1854 Version) as Illustrated by Schumann’s Piano Trio in D Minor, Op.63’ (supervisor: Christopher Wiley; Guildhall advisor: Joan Havill)

Many congratulations to the students and their supervisors.

Stephen Wilford Awarded an IMR Early Career Research Fellowship

We’re delighted to announce that PhD student Stephen Wilford has been awarded an Early Career Research Fellowship by the Institute of Musical Research (IMR) for the 2016-17 academic year.

Stephen will be based in the Department of Music at City University London and will be working with Dr Laudan Nooshin (Reader in Music) on a project entitled ‘Music and Digital Cultures in the Middle East and North Africa’. The project, which is also being funded by the Research Office at City University London through their Pump Priming scheme, will examine the role of digital technologies (particularly the Internet) in the changing cultural landscape of the region. Their work will examine how the Internet facilities the sharing of music in different contexts and across various platforms, and will have a particular focus on how this shapes ideas of public and private spaces across the region. The IMR will provide funding to run a networking conference within the Department of Music, with the aim of bringing together scholars from different disciplines and institutions who share an interest in contemporary digital cultures in the Middle East and North Africa. The networking event will be run in late 2016/early 2017, and further details will be announced over the coming months.

‘It ain’t where you’re from, it’s where you’re at’: The First UK Hip Hop Studies Conference

The University of Cambridge was the (somewhat unlikely) setting for the UK’s first major academic conference on hip hop, hosted by Wolfson and St John’s Colleges (23^rd – 25^th June). Adopting the title ‘It ain’t where you’re from, it’s where you’re at” (a line from Eric B. and Rakim’s seminal track ‘In the Ghetto’), the conference brought together scholars from across the UK, USA, and around the world, and opened up debates on the place of hip hop within the academy. Keynote addresses were given by prominent hip hop scholars Murray Forman (Northeastern University) and Tricia Rose (Brown University), who spoke respectively about issues of age and generation in relation to hip hop, and the state of contemporary hip hop scholarship.

The conference also featured papers from staff and students from the Department of Music at City University London. Dr Laudan Nooshin discussed the ways in which Iranian rappers imagine and represent the city of Tehran. She provided examples through the videos of Iranian rappers, and engaged in dialogue with Reveal, a London-based Iranian rapper who was chairing the session. PhD student Miranda Crowdus presented her work as part of the same panel, and her paper considered the negotiation of spaces and identities in southern Tel Aviv, through contrasting examples of local hip hop. Earlier in the day, fellow PhD student Stephen Wilford presented a paper on Franco-Algerian hip hop, examining the ways in which musicians and artists have employed hip hop to engage with socio-political issues, and to construct a triangulated relationship between France, Algeria and the USA.

The conference included performances and panels involving a range of hip hop practitioners, and concluded with a session on the relationship of hip hop to contemporary education, within both schools and universities.

Stephen Wilford, PhD Student

Steve Wilford presenting his paper

b-boying and b-girling during the conference

Miranda Crowdus presenting her paper

City Summer Sounds DMA Celebration Concert

On Monday 6th June, as part of the City Summer Sounds Festival, we were treated to a concert celebrating the joint City-Guildhall Doctor of Musical Arts degree, presented by 4 completed and completing DMA students, all pianists.

First established in 1992, the City University DMA was the first degree of its kind in the UK. It was re-launched in 2002 as a joint degree with the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, the first such collaboration between a top-rated University Music Department and an internationally-renowned Conservatoire. The programme combines performance at a professional level with research on an aspect of performance through scholarly work.

With the final students on the programme graduating in 2016, the concert was a celebration of the past 14 years. All of the music performed related to the research undertaken by the students, starting with Annie Yim who performed the first movement of Robert Schumann’s Fantasie in C major, Op. 17, which is strongly connected to her research on Brahms’ Piano Trio in B major, Op. 8a (original version). This was followed by Jennifer Lee who played pieces by Claude Debussy and Korean composer Unsuk Chin, about whose music Jennifer wrote her DMA thesis. Next, Sasha Karpeyev also performed music by Russian composer Nikolai Medtner who spent the last 15 years of his life in London and whose archive of works at the British Library Sasha studied for his DMA. The first half ended with Ben Schoeman playing works by South African composer Stefans Grové, again the focus of his doctoral research.

In the second half of the concert, the pianists came together for some duets (4 hands, 2 pianos) – Schumann’s Andante and Variations in B flat major for two pianos, Op. 46, played by Annie and Ben and the original piano duet version of Ravel’s La Valse played by Sasha and Jennifer. The grand finale of the concert saw all 4 pianists join forces for an energetic performance of Albert Lavignac’s Galop-Marche with 8 hands, 2 pianos – a rousing end to a wonderful concert.

The list of DMA students/alumni since 2002 includes several well-known musical personalities who are active in the United Kingdom and abroad (here are their names in alphabetic order alongside their thesis titles):

Andrew Brownell (USA) – The English Piano in the Classical Period: Its Music, Performers and Influences

Amy Beth Guitry (USA) – The Baroque Flute as a Modern Voice: Extended Techniques and their Practical Integration through Performance and Improvisation

Clare Hammond (UK) – To Conceal or Reveal: Left-Hand Pianism with Particular Reference to Ravel’s ‘Concerto pour la main gauche’ and Britten’s ‘Diversions’

Kostis Hassiotis (Greece) – A Critical Edition of the 48 Studies for Oboe, Op. 31 by Franz Wilhelm Ferling (1796-1874)

Ja Yeon Kang (South Korea) – Robert Schumann’s Notion of the Cycle in ‘Lieder und Gesänge aus Goethes Wilhelm Meister’, Op. 98a and ‘Waldszenen’, Op. 82

Alexander Karpeyev (Russia) – New Light on Nikolay Medtner as Pianist and Teacher: The Edna Iles Medtner Collection (EIMC) at the British Library

Jennifer Lee (New Zealand) – A Study of the Korean Woman Composer, Unsuk Chin, and her Piano Études

Chenyin Li (People’s Republic of China) – Piano Performance: Strategies for Score Memorisation

Edward Pick (UK) – Tonality in Schoenberg’s Music, with Particular Reference to the Piano Concerto

Vasileios Rakitzis (Greece) – Alfred Cortot’s Response to the Music for Solo Piano of Franz Schubert: A Study in Performance Practice

Ben Schoeman (South Africa) – The Piano Works of Stefans Grové (1922-2014): A Study of Stylistic Influences, Technical Elements and Canon Formation within the South African Art Music Tradition

Antonios Sousamoglou (Greece) – An Interpretational Approach to the Violin Concerto of Nikos Skalkottas

Christopher Suckling (UK) – The Realisation of Recitative by the Cello in Handelian Opera: Current and Historical Practices

Annie Yim (Hong Kong/Canada) – A Comparative and Contextual Study of Schumann’s Piano Trio in D minor, Op. 63 and Brahms’s Piano Trio in B major, Op. 8 (1854 version): From Musical Aesthetics to Modern Performances

Five Minutes with Professor Ellen Waterman

On May 11th 2016, Professor Ellen Waterman (School of Music, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada) presented a research seminar in the Music Department at City entitled: ‘Wilderness isn’t What It Used to Be: The ecology of experimental music performance in Canada’.

Professor Waterman has spent the 2015-16 academic year based at the University of Cambridge and spoke to us about her work.

Could you tell us a little about your research to date and what you’re working on at the moment?

I have four main research interests: artistic research (as an improvising flutist/vocalist), ethnography of contemporary music performance, sound (especially sound in performance environments), and critical studies in improvisation.

My current book project is a comparative ethnography of twelve experimental music festivals from across Canada covering the decade between 2003 and 2013. It’s called Sounds Provocative: The Ecology of Experimental Music Performance in Canada and it sets out to do two things: 1) to explore the fascinating range of experimental music practices found in Canada; 2) to develop a theory of the ecology of musical performance. For the latter, I’m bringing together ideas from performance studies with ecosystems theory and acoustic ecology. I’ve created a research website at www.sonicecology.com which includes quite a lot of performance video, interviews, and short essays as well as links to other writing I’ve done on this project.

I gather you’re involved in a large improvisation project. Could you talk about that?

The International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation – or IICSI – is funded by a Partnership Grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. It is a partnered institute among six universities (University of Guelph, McGill University, Memorial University of Newfoundland, University of Regina, University of British Columbia and the University of California, Santa Barbara) plus one foundation partner (Musagetes).

IICSI grew out of the vision of Ajay Heble, a scholar, musician, and artistic director of the Guelph Jazz Festival. Simply put, the impetus behind critical improvisation studies is the idea that musical improvisation (and by extension improvisation in other performing arts) has important things to tell us about broader social organization and ethical relations. As our project description states:

‘As a form of musical practice, improvisation embodies real-time creative decision-making, risk-taking, and collaboration. Musical improvisation can be considered not simply as a musical form, but, perhaps more urgently, as a complex social phenomenon that mediates transcultural inter-artistic exchanges that produce new conceptions of identity, community, history, and the body. The International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation is a central source for the collection and dissemination of research on the social implications of improvisational practices.’ http://www.mun.ca/music/research/iicsi.php

www.improvisationinstitute.ca

For the past decade, together with an international team of 58 scholars and musicians from 20 institutions worldwide, and over 30 community partners (from music festivals to grassroots social welfare organizations) we have participated in building the now established field of critical studies in improvisation. IICSI’s mandate is “to create positive social change through the confluence of improvisational arts, innovative scholarship, and collaborative action.” Our work is organized around three main research topics:

Improvisation as Practice-Based Research
Improvisation, Community Health, and Social Responsibility
Improvisation, Intermediality, and Experimental Technologies

We run an annual postdoctoral fellowship competition, and hold colloquia and workshops across our sites in addition to projects with our community partners.

Are you active as a performer as well?

Yes! I’ve never seen much of a distinction between my work as a performer and my scholarship since both require creativity and critical reflection. Among other things, I perform in ~spin~ a duo for flute/voice and live electronics and sound diffusion with James Harley, and in Talisman, a duo with electric guitarist Andrew Staniland. In recent years I’ve begun working with Sundanese gamelan, particularly the suling.

How has your year in the UK been and what have you enjoyed most?

I’ve had a fantastic experience living and working at Robinson College, University of Cambridge this year. Beyond the rich array of people, concerts, talks, conferences etc., I have to say that I’ve really enjoyed the beautiful English countryside and the long, glorious spring! Playing with the University of Cambridge Gamelan Society has also been a highlight.