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Workshops, Page 2

Line Upon Line

Jamie Howell, MMus Composition student, tells us about a recent concert and workshop by the group Line Upon Line. Having arrived from their hometown of Austin, Texas the previous day, the contemporary percussion group Line Upon Line gave a brilliant performance of new and recent music in a lunchtime concert on Monday 6th March. Continue reading →

The Loop Project – coming soon!

We are all looking forward to 3-5 February, when the Music Department will present a whole weekend of performances and workshops exploring musical loops. Leading jazz musicians Ivo Neame, Jasper HĂžiby and Jon Scott will join the HARTLEY Loop Orchestra to perform a major revision of Benjamin Oliver’s Loop Concerto, which was premiered by Neame and Kent County Youth Orchestra in 2013. Continue reading →

Rituals to Mould Her With – and workshop

By Jamie Howell, MMus Composition. On Monday 5th December the audience in Turner Sims were treated to an extraordinary new piece which seamlessly blended dance, live instrumental performance, electro-acoustic recordings and theatre. The work, entitled 'Rituals To Mould Her With', was a collaborative composition devised by composers Litha & Effy Efthymiou, harpsichordist Jane Chapman, actor EsmĂ© Patey-Ford and dancer Harriet Parker-Beldeau. Continue reading →

Sound Heritage on the road

Recent months have been especially busy for the Sound Heritage project, not only with our November study day at Tatton Park, but also with a new venture - Sound Heritage Ireland. Sound Heritage Ireland Sound Heritage Ireland is a new initiative convened by Dr Karol Mullaney-Dignam, whose research delves into social, economic and political aspects of music and dance in Irish country houses. Continue reading →

Tom Harrison Quintet

Music undergraduate George Barbett tells us about last week's visit from the Tom Harrison Quintet. The Tom Harrison Quintet performed a captivating concert on Monday 21 November, interpreting the music of Duke Ellington in new and interesting ways. Their use of soundscaping, acoustic and electronic effects, and very free forms was fascinating. Continue reading →

Sound Heritage at the RNCM

Last month Southampton PhD student Catherine Garry joined the Sound Heritage network at Tatton Park (Cheshire), for a study day featuring music from the house's extensive library.  Sound Heritage joined forces with the Royal Northern College of Music to explore the music collected by Elizabeth Sykes, who married into the Egerton family of Tatton Park in the early 19th century. Continue reading →

Body Percussion

Second year undergraduate student Kitty O’Neal reports on a recent composition workshop. Composition Workshop A (a BA Music module available to 2nd and 3rd year students) has three assignments – ‘Constraints’, ‘Rhythm’ and and a free composition at the end of the semester. Following our ‘Constraints’ challenge of writing a composition using only 4 pitches, we are now in the midst of composing for body percussion and non-singing voices. Continue reading →

Ensemble Paramirabo @ Southampton

by postgraduate Music student Harry Matthews. For the first composition workshop of this academic year, the University was joined by a group of musicians from Canada named Ensemble Paramirabo. The group flew to Southampton from Montreal - giving a workshop on three new pieces following their performance at the Music Department Monday Lunchtime Professional Concert Series featuring a new work by Lecturer in Composition Benjamin Oliver, The Circus Animals’ Desertion. Continue reading →

A Monday with Mark and Manuel

By Jeremy Hunt, Music Undergraduate Student On Monday 9th May, London-based pianist Mark Knoop and Italian flautist Manuel Zurria performed an exciting, modern programme of works by Laurence Crane, Conlon Nancarrow, Howard Skempton, Beat Furrer, and the University of Southampton’s very own composition lecturer, Matthew Shlomowitz. Continue reading →

Musical Mondays

by Harry Matthews, Music undergraduate student.  Mondays at Southampton always seem to be the busiest days of the week for me. On one Monday recently I started my morning rehearsing new pieces for my ensemble with David Owen Norris. The piano and percussion ensemble rehearsed ‘Workers Union’ by Louis Andriessen and a brand new work by third year composer Millie Aldridge. 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 →

Evan Parker @ Southampton

On Tuesday 19th April, Evan Parker, the legendary saxophonist and forefather of British Free Jazz, met with Southampton University Music Department students prior to his enthralling recital in Turner Sims. He shared insights on his commitment to raising ecological awareness through touring Europe by train, free improvisation, and finding your musical identity. Dr Thomas Seltz, Head of Jazz and Pop. Continue reading →