BY KATHERINE WILLIAMS Most people think of three things when they think of jazz history: jazz was made famous by a succession of individual musicians (Buddy Bolden, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, Sonny Rollins etc.) jazz is predominantly an improvised music, and jazz is an oral tradition (rather than notated art form), and we… Continue reading Feature: “What can Duke Ellington’s recordings tell us about jazz history?”
Category: Feature articles
Short essays about research and being a researcher in the arts and humanities.
Feature: “Perspectives on the 1620 Mayflower voyage”
BY KATHRYN N. GRAY In 1622, Mourt’s Relation, a narrative report on the Mayflower voyage and settlement in Plymouth, was published anonymously in London. In contrast to William Bradford’s more famous account of this colonial settlement, Of Plimouth Plantation, which he began in the 1630s in the form of a personal journal, Mourt’s Relation is… Continue reading Feature: “Perspectives on the 1620 Mayflower voyage”
Feature: Women’s Early Modern Letters Online and the Dutch Royal Archives
By PROFESSOR JAMES DAYBELL On 23 September 1633, the Constantijn Huygens, the Golden Age Dutch polymath and secretary to two Princes of Orange (Frederick Henry and William II) wrote to Amalia von Solms-Braunfels, wife of the Dutch Stadtholder Frederik Hendrik von Oranje-Nassau (1584–1647) reporting that her husband had given orders for his army to break camp… Continue reading Feature: Women’s Early Modern Letters Online and the Dutch Royal Archives
Feature: “Working upon the royal sympathy: researching the myth and reality of Victoria’s royal mercy”
BY JAMES GREGORY A beautiful young queen is moved to commute the sentence on those condemned to be executed for high treason – with all the horrors of hanging, drawing and quartering – aided by the advice of her dashing prime minister. Viewers of the most recent, third, episode of ITV’s series, Victoria (which aired… Continue reading Feature: “Working upon the royal sympathy: researching the myth and reality of Victoria’s royal mercy”
Feature: “Forging the Future of Classical Computer Music”
BY EDUARDO R. MIRANDA Classical contemporary music may not always appeal to large audiences but it can most certainly impact on how music that is more amenable to mass consumption is made. The Beatles, for instance, are known for admiring the music of, and being influenced by, the highly innovative German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen. They… Continue reading Feature: “Forging the Future of Classical Computer Music”
Feature: “Learning to fail: are we teaching the right thing in the Arts?”
BY DUNCAN WILLIAMS I should warn you, dear reader, that the next few paragraphs might enrage you. I hope that at the least they might galvanize some opinions, and I don’t expect them all to be positive. Some of what follows is deliberately controversial. So, with the caveat emptor out of the way, let us… Continue reading Feature: “Learning to fail: are we teaching the right thing in the Arts?”
Feature: “Remembering Archaos: circus with attitude”
BY ROBERTA MOCK It was the summer of 1989 and my heart began beating double-time from the moment Archaos entered their tent on Edinburgh’s Leith Links. The maniacally grinning clown positioned two feet from my head started smashing a flaming baton against a metal tent support. To my left, sparks were flying from a similar confrontation… Continue reading Feature: “Remembering Archaos: circus with attitude”
Feature: “Professional Wrestling: Cultural history made by the people”
With a Cornish Pro Wrestling show coming up on Saturday, 23 July 2016, G.H. BENNETT offers a historian’s view of professional wrestling. ‘Wrestling – that’s fake, right?’ ‘Wrestling – that’s guys in tights or flowery briefs covered in body lotion, yes?’ Wrestling is usually, and swiftly, dismissed for a variety of reasons ranging from perceived artifice… Continue reading Feature: “Professional Wrestling: Cultural history made by the people”
Feature: “Knowledge is Power. And fun: The Brave New World of Mechanics’ Institutes”
BY DOUG WATSON Sometimes we take education and learning for granted. We’re swimming in an ocean of knowledge. We have added “The Information Age” to the timeline of Western Civilisation. Finding something out is just a click, or a voice command (and in a few years, potentially just a thought impulse) away. Yet today is… Continue reading Feature: “Knowledge is Power. And fun: The Brave New World of Mechanics’ Institutes”
Feature: “Generative Orchestration with Musical Timbre”
BY AURÉLIEN ANTOINE Technological advances, and more specifically computers, have been leading the evolution of music for the last 60 years, impacting on the ways we compose, perform and listen to music. For example, composers use notation software or Digital Audio Workstations (DAW). They also employ computers as sources of musical inspiration. During my Masters in… Continue reading Feature: “Generative Orchestration with Musical Timbre”