Royal Conservatoire of Scotland

Music & Academic Services Librarian, Library and Information Services

I did my doctoral studies at the University of Glasgow and am employed at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland

Thesis Title: Our Ancient National Airs: Scottish song-collecting c.1760-1888

About

Musicologist and Music Librarian.  My forthcoming book, Our Ancient National Airs, will be published by Ashgate in 2013, including a new chapter researched and published subsequent to the PhD that I was awarded in 2009.

A BA(Hons) in Music (Durham), was followed by a research Masters in mediaeval English plainsong uses at Exeter, then doctoral studies into mediaeval English cantus firmus treatment.  A subsequent postgraduate librarianship diploma at Aberystwyth left me with insufficient time to finish the cantus firmus research.

Librarianship (27 years to date) at the University of East Anglia, Metropolitan Borough of South Tyneside and RSAMD has filled in the decades before I resumed research again, this time into Scottish song collecting c.1760-1888. After 5 years' part-time study concurrently with my full-time work, I graduated with a PhD from the University of Glasgow in 2009. I've recently been offered a book contract on my research topic, which I find hugely exciting. Follow my authorial progress on my new blog, True Imaginary Friends (http://trueimaginaryfriends.blogspot.com/)

As well as continuing my research interests, I also sustain a professional interest in research support, information literacy and the use of social media in a Higher Education context.

PhD abstract:- What motivated compilers of published Scottish song collections between 1760 and 1888?  I've been exploring cultural influences starting with Macpherson's Ossian, looking at the effect of the so-called Scottish Enlightenment, and considering the impact of early travel & tourism in the Highlands (especially during the Napoleonic Wars) on song-collectors. 

From the late 18th to early 19th centuries, fakery and forgery were something of a hot potato in both literature and song-writing, but this died out by the mid-century.  The distinct literary genre known now as minstrel-writing is also echoed in song collections of this period.

From the 1840s onwards, authority was as important as authenticity, but cultural nationalism gave rise to a lot of arguments on both sides of the Scottish Border.

My postdoctoral interests include the use of metaphor and other imagery in the paratexts of song collections.  The deeper I delve into song collections "with their airs", the more I am led to the literary trends which clearly influenced their compilers.  I'm also extending my interest to contemporary Irish and Welsh collections & embarking upon a crowdsourcing project to examine some key compilations.

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