June/July 2010

Looking for America

Looking for America

Looking for America

In the early part of the twentieth century, a young musician named Natalie Curtis began drawing attention to the music of Native Americans and African Americans, publishing collections, organising concerts and advocating their traditions as

Published on 1 June 2010

Michelle Wick Patterson is Assistant Professor of History at Mount St Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, Maryland. She has just published Natalie Curtis Burlin: A Life in Native and African American Music (University of Nebraska Press) and is currently working on an anthology of the work of ethnomusicologist Frances Densmore.

What about England?

What about England?

What about England?

A new generation of musicians and singers is pulling the English folk scene alongside its Irish and Scottish neighbours, pointing to a new era of collaboration – and perhaps even the healing of old wounds, writes Toner Quinn

Published on 1 June 2010

Toner Quinn is Editor of the Journal of Music. His new book, What Ireland Can Teach the World About Music, is available here. Toner will be giving a lecture exploring some of the ideas in the book on Saturday 11 May 2024 at 3pm at Farmleigh House in Dublin. For booking, visit https://bit.ly/3x2yCL8.

Sensuality Matters

Sensuality Matters

Sensuality Matters

There is a long line of theories claiming that we have reached the end of art, but they are forgetting something, writes Joanna Demers

Published on 1 June 2010

Joanna Demers is Associate Professor of Musicology at the Thornton School of Music, University of Southern California. She is the author of Listening Through the Noise: The Aesthetics of Experimental Electronic Music, to be published by Oxford University Press in July.

Cash from Chaos

Cash from Chaos

Cash from Chaos

What have music impresarios Sergey Diaghilev, Malcolm McLaren and Simon Cowell got in common, and what sets them apart, asks Peter Rosser.

Published on 1 June 2010

Peter Rosser (1970–2014) was a composer, writer and music lecturer.

He was born in London and moved to Belfast in 1990, where he studied composition at the University of Ulster and was awarded a DPhil in 1997. His music has been performed at the Spitalfields Festival in London, the Belfast Festival at Queen’s and by the Crash Ensemble in Dublin.

In 2011 the Arts Council acknowledged his contribution to the arts in Northern Ireland through a Major Individual Artist Award. He used this award to write his Second String Quartet, which was premiered in 2012 by the JACK Quartet at the opening concert at Belfast's new Metropolitan Arts Centre (The MAC).

Peter Rosser also wrote extensively on a wide range of music genres, with essays published in The Journal of Music, The Wire, Perspectives of New Music and the Crescent Journal. 

He died following an illness on 24 November 2014, aged 44.

A Long Drive from Limavady

A Long Drive from Limavady

A Long Drive from Limavady

The melody of ‘Danny Boy’ has its origins in the middle of the nineteenth century in the North of Ireland. An old harper’s melody was collected and embellished to make the air that we know today, but by who?

Published on 1 June 2010

Brendan Drummond is a former teacher and writer on music education. He is currently a music examiner for Trinity Guildhall, London.

That Was Me

That Was Me

That Was Me

The author of A Clockwork Orange may have been better known as a novelist, but Anthony Burgess was also a prolific composer whose music is only now being explored.

Published on 1 June 2010

Paul Phillips, Senior Lecturer in Music at Brown University, Rhode Island, is author of A Clockwork Counterpoint: The Music and Literature of Anthony Burgess. An award-winning conductor, composer and pianist, he has spearheaded efforts to make Burgess’ music more widely known, conducting the world premieres of Concerto for Pianoforte and Orchestra, Song for Saint Cecilia’s Day and A Manchester Overture.

Editorial: Futures entwined

Editorial: Futures entwined

The direct impact the new digital culture is having on music, in terms of access, dissemination and copyright, is well documented, but the indirect impact less so.

Published on 1 June 2010

Toner Quinn is Editor of the Journal of Music. His new book, What Ireland Can Teach the World About Music, is available here. Toner will be giving a lecture exploring some of the ideas in the book on Saturday 11 May 2024 at 3pm at Farmleigh House in Dublin. For booking, visit https://bit.ly/3x2yCL8.