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Panatical Pans

Malika Green is Director of Steel Orchestras at the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestras. With the support of a prestigious Fulbright award, she has been on a three-region tour researching youth steelpan pedagogy in Canada, Trinidad andĀ Tobago, the UK.Ā  In her travels she has had the opportunity to understand the benefits and obstacles that occur when using both Western European Art music practices and non-Western practices when teaching the steelpan. Continue reading →

Hong Kong adventures

While Rosie Shepherd was admiring the snow during her year abroad in Norway (see her post of 4 July), Jordan Stock headed for warmer climes. Read on for his impressions of his year in east Asia: It has now been nearly one year since I left the refuge of Southampton to travel to about as far as you can get on the other side of the world, Hong Kong. I can only sum up the year with one word: Wow. Continue reading →

My Year in Norway

Rosie Shepherd tells us about her life-changing experience during the study abroad year of her undergraduate Music course: At the beginning of August last year I embarked on a new adventure ā€“ packing up everything important to me and moving to Bergen, Norway to study for 10 months. To say those months have flown by would be an understatement, but the amount of knowledge, life experience and fantastic memories I have gained in that time have made it more than worth it. Continue reading →

Pianist Ingrid Barancoski reflects on her year in Southampton

Dr Ingrid Barancoski,Ā  from the Villa-Lobos Institute at UNIRIO (Universidade Federal do Estado do Rio de Janeiro) reflects on her year in Southampton researching Nadia Boulanger and Almedia Prado: In June 2014, I was reading the book entitled The musical work of Nadia Boulanger, and found it fascinating.Ā  Researching about the author, Prof. Jeanice Brooks, I came across the University of Southampton. Continue reading →

Postcard from Potsdam

I've just returned from the State University of New York in Potsdam after participating in a fascinating festival on the French composer, conductor and pedagogue, Nadia Boulanger. When founded by the redoubtable Julia Crane in 1886, the Crane Normal Institute of Music was small enough to be run in the living rooms of a house on the town's main street. Today, the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam is a flourishing institution that boasts more than 500 undergraduate music majors. Continue reading →

Ensemble Fractales in Southampton

A special guest blog from Hannah Reardon-Smith, the flautist in Ensemble Fractales, who recently visited Southampton as part of a collaborative project with some of our PhD composers: Ensemble Fractales from the MaNaMa contemporary music master course in Ghent, Belgium, recently had the opportunity to visit the University of Southampton to work with three of the young composers there. Continue reading →

Exchanging the Middle Ages

In one of our final posts before breaking for the summer, another recent guest talks about her exchange visit to Southampton from her university in Spain:Ā  My name is Nuria Torres and Iā€™m a PhD student at the Complutense University of Madrid, where Iā€™m working on my PhD thesis on medieval music under the supervision of Carmen Julia GutiĆ©rrez. Continue reading →

Transatlantic thoughts

US scholar-performer Dr Vivian Montgomery reflects on her stay in Southampton during a Fulbright fellowship:Ā  As I near the end of my time in the UK as a Fulbright Senior Scholar, Iā€™m astonished by both how much has happened and how much more I could do with another 6 months. I came to Southampton in January after 5 days staying in Durham Castle for the Fulbright Forum. Continue reading →

Postcard from Germany

Austin Glatthorn came from the USA to do his PhD at Southampton, and in 2013-14 he is spending a year in Germany after winning a prestigious studentship to complete archival research for his thesis.Ā  Here's his report on how it's going so far: Sometime late in the afternoon on 1 August 2013, I disembarked British Airways flight 0910 from London Heathrow into the Frankfurt International Airport. Continue reading →

Chi Mei Ricercari – If cellos could talk

Tom Irvine (Senior Lecturer in Music) tells us about Michael Finnissy's new piece, which had a sneak preview performance last week in preparation for the December premiere in Taiwan: I've been travelling to Taiwan for the department and university regularly since 2009. One of the things that has come of my visits is a partnership with the world-famous collection of fine string instruments held in Tainan (a beautiful and laid-back city in the island's warm and sunny south). Continue reading →