Glasgow has been recognised as the leading centre of musical research in Scotland in the most recent Research Assessment Exercise.  65% of the Research Output from Glasgow was classified as world-leading or Internationally Excellent.

See the Research Assessment Exercise results for Music.

Research Assessment Exercise Logo Arts & Humanities Research Council Logo Royal Musical Association Glasgow City of Music - a UNESCO Creative City

Our musicology research engages with a number of historical and cultural themes, particularly modernity in musical culture.

Musicological method, historiography and criticism, systematic musicology John ButtBill SweeneyDavid CodeMartin DixonDavid McGuinness, Eva Moreda-Rodriguez
Philosophy and Aesthetics of music Martin DixonJohn ButtBill SweeneyDavid CodeBjörn Heile
Performance practice and cultures of performance John ButtBill SweeneyDavid McGuinness
Explorations of modernity and modernism, twentieth-century music Martin DixonDavid CodeBill SweeneyJohn ButtBjörn Heile, Eva Moreda-Rodriguez
Seventeenth-, eighteenth- and nineteenth- century studies John ButtBill SweeneyDavid CodeDavid McGuinness
Scottish music David McGuinnessBill Sweeney
Spanish music & culture  Eva Moreda-Rodriguez
Music in popular culture Bill SweeneyMartin DixonMartin CloonanDavid McGuinness
Music and politics Martin Cloonan, Eva Moreda-Rodriguez, John Williamson
Music and violence Martin Cloonan
Music industries Martin CloonanJohn Williamson

Our creative work can be divided into three broad areas of practice and within these a number of research themes emerge.

COMPOSITION
Modernism in composition Nick FellsMartin DixonBill SweeneyJane Stanley
Experimental Music Martin DixonNick Fells
Electroacoustic and intermedia composition Nick FellsBill Sweeney
Jazz and Gaelic influences Bill Sweeney
Intercultural aspects of composition Nick FellsBill Sweeney
Improvisation Nick FellsMartin DixonBill SweeneyDavid McGuinness
Music and Moving Image Bill SweeneyNick FellsDavid McGuinness

New for 2012 - composer workshops with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra

The RSNO will be offering a series of workshops with a sinfonietta sized ensemble starting in November 2012, specifically for postgraduate composition students, leading to possible performance opportunities. This will provide a supportive professional context in which our postgraduate composers can develop their work, and will complement existing ensemble workshop opportunities with groups such as the Viridian Quartet and the student-led contemporary music ensemble.

PERFORMANCE
Historically informed performance John ButtBill SweeneyDavid McGuinness
Contemporary music practices Nick FellsBill SweeneyDavid McGuinness

 

SONIC ARTS & MUSIC TECHNOLOGY
Sound manipulation and spatialisation in performance Nick Fells
Tools for composition and performance Nick FellsNick Bailey
Music, technology and disability Nick Fells
Computationally supported performance studies Nick Bailey
Music information representation, storage and retrieval Nick Bailey
Broadcasting & the recording industry David McGuinness

 

A number of projects and networks are run within the School.  Many of these are funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

Research Assessment Exercise Logo Arts & Humanities Research Council Logo Royal Musical Association Glasgow City of Music - a UNESCO Creative City

Royal Musical AssociationMusic hosts a series of colloquia on behalf of the Royal Musical Association featuring national and international guest speakers, along with staff and postgraduate students.  All sessions are open to the public, a warm welcome is extended to all.

All talks take place at 5:15 pm in Room 2 (first floor), 14 University Gardens.

SEMESTER 1
Wed Oct 3 Paul Newland (Oxford Brookes University; Guildhall School; Trinity Laban Conservatoire) ‘Chance and Formality—Imperfection and Incompleteness’
Wed Oct 24 Professor Bill Sweeney (University of Glasgow) ‘The Gentle Art of Self-Quotation’: A Seminar, inviting response to materials provided in advance.
Sat Nov 10 Special event, hosted by David J. Code (University of Glasgow) ‘Envoicing the Other’, a Symposium (10am-5pm) and Concert (6pm), to Honour the 150th anniversary of the birth of Claude Debussy (1862-1918) and the 75th anniversary of the death of Maurice Ravel (1874-1937)
Wed Nov 14 Allan Moore (University of Surrey) CANCELLED - Replacement tbc
Wed Nov 28 Sarah Hibberd (University of Nottingham) ‘Painting as Opera: Bringing Art to Life in 1830s Paris’
SEMESTER 2
Wed Jan 16 Tony Myatt (University of Surrey) 'Colonising Audio Space'
Wed Jan 30 Bettina Varwig (King’s College, London) ‘Beware the Lamb: Staging Bach's Passions’
Wed Feb 13 Holly Rogers (University of Liverpool) ‘Poetic Realism: Documentary Film Soundtracks and the Search for an Objective Voice’
 Wed Feb 27 Martin Cloonan and John Williamson (University of Glasgow) ‘Researching the History of the Musicians Union: Some initial findings’
Wed Mar 13
-
Fri Mar 15
Cramb Residency: Professors Katherine Bergeron and Joseph Butch Rovan (Brown University).