RMA Research Students' Conference 2006

Adrian completed his BMus (Hons) at Goldsmiths' College, London. After a spell of lecturing he embarked on a highly-successful writing career that now spans more than 14 years. Adrian's formidable technical background, coupled with his sound design and orchestral skills have kept him at the front line - most notably in his work with Chris Morris on the recent 2003 BAFTA-winning short film My Wrongs and award-winning Blue Jam radio series, and Jam TV series. Recently, Adrian contributed to to the much-publicised Newsnight: The Opera production at BAC by setting the Paxman/Howard interview of 1997. His long list of other credits include countless advertising commissions, the scores for three feature films and a 13-part children's animation series. Adrian also writes his own software, which he uses extensively in his work. Adrian's website can be found at www.adriansutton.com.

This paper discusses the role of identity formation in shaping the career choices of undergraduate musicians. Identity theories suggest that an individual’s sense of self can serve as a critical motivator for behaviour and provide a framework for coping strategies: the research presented here aims to discuss the relevance of such theories for understanding musicians’ career choices. A two-year longitudinal interview study was conducted with 32 undergraduate music students attending either a university or a music college. Interviews were conducted once every three months with all participants and explored the participants’ daily experiences with music, their motivations, coping behaviours and interactions. The data were analysed using quantitative and qualitative techniques. The results indicate that an individual’s musical identity plays a central role in motivating personal and career goals and has a significant impact on their ability to cope with negative musical experiences.

Trying to infer how composers and performers of the past might have understood the notation they used routinely exercises the problem-solving skills of historical musicologists. We tend, meanwhile, to assume that we understand notation in use today.

This workshop will test this assumption via the case study of barbershop standard ‘Each Time I Fall in Love’ by S.K. Grundy. The School of Music Barbershop Quartet from Leeds University were sent four extant versions of this song in October 2005 to learn for this workshop, and we shall spend most of the session working through the practical and interpretative questions they faced in preparing this material. We shall than compare the results of this process with recorded performances by both the quartet for whom the song was written in the 1960s and a recent British quartet. This will allow us to draw some general conclusions about what notation can both reveal and conceal about the performance traditions it refers to.

Including a performances of Beethoven’s Piano Trio in B flat, op.97, ‘Archduke’, and Mendelssohn’s String Quartet in E flat, this lecture/recital will explore the conduct and ambiance of one of Europe's leading chamber music societies in the nineteenth century. Its seriousness of purpose, its sanctified yet intensely social atmosphere, and its emphasis on silent, informed listening in the round were among several distinguishing features that placed it at the vanguard of European developments in concert promotion, audience education, and the sacralization of high art music. The session will reconstruct performing and listening practices at Musical Union concerts in order to open up issues surrounding performance practice. [more]

Minghe Morte are an uncompromising trio of multi-tasking musicians, venturing into territory as diverse as drum ‘n’ bass, indie grunge rock and electronica. They choose to approach each gig as a new project, writing new music and rehearsing obsessively.

Martin Watkins is studying for a PhD in Composition at the University of Leeds. He also writes, performs and records with Marc Almond and has DJ residencies at manto, hussle and the Paradise Factory in Manchester.

Peter manages this project to create an online streaming service for archival sound recordings from the National Sound Archives. More information on the Archival Sound Recordings Project.

• Chair: Dr Mic Spencer (University of Leeds)
• Professor David Cooper (University of Leeds)
• Dr Peter Holman (University of Leeds)
• Dr Jonathan Stock (University of Sheffield)
• Dr Catherine Parsonage (Leeds College of Music)

Richard Rastall studied at Cambridge (including postgraduate composition and musicology) and Manchester before moving to Leeds (where he is now Professor of Historical Musicology) to start courses in musicology. Richard’s main interests have been in musical sources, minstrelsy (the subject of his doctorate) and music in early English drama, resulting in facsimile publications, editions, a successful book on notation, and the two-volume Music in Early English Religious Drama (1996, 2001). An interest in the early 17th century has led to work on the music of Martin Peerson, whose Latin motets are now edited and recorded for the first time; Richard is also directing a project on William Byrd, and working on the reconstruction of incomplete music. Richard plays keyboards and tenor viol, and performs as an actor with the group Trio Literati.

Mariko Ono was born in Japan and started learning the piano at the age of four. At the age of thirteen, she made her concerto debut playing Beethoven’s first Piano Concerto. In 1994 she came to England and first entered the Purcell School, followed by a scholarship to study at the Royal College of Music. She came to international attention in 1999 when she won the top prize at the 26th International Piano Competition <Palma D’oro> Citta di Finale Ligre with a special prize for modern pieces in Italy. She has followed up this success with concert appearances in many countries.

Mariko is continuing her studies at the University of Leeds. After gaining an MMus degree with distinction in 2003, she is now studying for a PhD in performance with Professor Graham Barber, focusing on John Ireland’s piano music.