26 April 2010

CMPCP has launched a new PSN Resource Guide which will be of particular interest to members of the Performance Studies Network. Click here for further information.

13 April 2010

CMPCP welcomes two Research Associates

CMPCP is pleased to announce the appointment of two Research Associates to the Creative learning and 'original' music performance project.

Karen Wise will take up the post of Reseach Associate I (Quantitative Methods) on 1 May 2010. She is a psychologist, performer and teacher and began her professional life as a classical mezzo soprano. She studied music at the University of York, followed by postgraduate training at the Royal Northern College of Music, where her prizes included the Brigitte Fassbaender Award for Lieder. She continues to perform as a soloist in oratorio, opera and concerts. In 2002 Karen began psychology study, first with the Open University, then at Wolverhampton University. She gained a PhD scholarship at Keele University with Prof. John Sloboda, and was awarded her doctorate in 2009 for her thesis 'Understanding tone deafness: a multicomponential analysis of perception, cognition, singing and self-perceptions in adults reporting musical difficulties'. Karen received a 2006 Young Researcher Award from the European Society for the Cognitive Sciences of Music.

Mirjam James will begin the post of Research Associate II (Qualitative Methods) on 1 July 2010. Her interest in the CMPCP project stems from her current research on group communication and rehearsal strategies of professional instrumentalists and singers. She started the research when employed as Acting Professor at Bremen University, during which the theoretical background, data collection, and first analyses were completed; initial results were presented at the annual conference of the German Society for Music Psychology (DGM) in September 2009 and at the conference 'Music, Identity and Social Interaction' in Manchester (February 2010). Her published research has so far concentrated on instrumentalists (mainly string quartets and vocal ensembles); she herself is a cellist and a singer. Her PhD research was published in 2007 as a monograph entitled Schnittmuster. Affektive Reaktionen auf variierte Bildschnitte bei Musikvideos (Münster: Lit-Verlag).

29 January 2010

First International PSN Conference: 14-17 July 2011

The Performance Studies Network - hosted by the AHRC Research Centre for Musical Performance as Creative Practice - will hold its first international conference at the University of Cambridge from Thursday 14 July to Sunday 17 July 2011. For more information, please click here.

15 December 2009

New Performance Studies Network Email Forum

CMPCP recently launched a JISC email forum - PERF-STUD-NET - as part of its Performance Studies Network. To subscribe to the forum, please visit http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/PERF-STUD-NET.

10 December 2009

Research Associate Posts

CMPCP is appointing two part-time, post-doctoral Research Associates, each of whom will be in post for three years. The first - Research Associate 1 (Quantitative Methods) - will begin on 1 May 2010, and the second - Research Associate 2 (Qualitative Methods) - will commence on 1 July 2010. Both RAs will be part of the project Creative learning and 'original' music performance.

9 December 2009

Doctoral Studentships

Two AHRC-funded PhD Studentships at the University of Cambridge are available for full-time doctoral research within CMPCP. A third award is available at King's College London for doctoral study in music psychology and/or computer visualisation.

26 November 2009

CMPCP Launch

The AHRC Research Centre for Musical Performance as Creative Practice (CMPCP) celebrated its launch on 1 October 2009 with a musical evening held on 2 October at the West Road Concert Hall at the University of Cambridge. The evening started with a drinks reception which was attended by approximately 120 guests. This was followed by speeches from Dr Martin Ennis, Chairman of the Faculty Board of Music at the University of Cambridge; Professor Ian Leslie, University of Cambridge Pro-Vice Chancellor for Research; Professor Shearer West, Director of Research at the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC); Professor Nicholas Cook, Director of the AHRC Research Centre for the History and Analysis of Recorded Music (CHARM); and Professor John Rink, CMPCP Director. A performance showcase then took place featuring a range of musicians who have pursued or participated in practice-led research projects funded by the AHRC. The Marmara Piano Trio performed Movement I: Allegro of Beethoven's Piano Trio Op. 1 No. 1 in E-flat major (1793), and then The Duo Dolan played Olivier Messiaen's Le Merle Noir (1951). This was followed by two Henry Purcell songs - 'Tis Nature's Voice (1692) and Sweeter Than Roses (1695) - performed by Sarah Barnes (soprano) and Erik Dippenaar (harpsichord). The showcase ended with an improvisation on the saxophone by Franziska Schroeder, based on a graphic score by Mark Applebaum of Medium (2008). After the formal proceedings had ended, guests raised their glasses to the new Research Centre at a dessert reception in the foyer of the Concert Hall.

Please click a thumbnail below to view a slideshow of photographs from the evening.