Midlands Music Musings

In this episode, I speak to Madison Miller who is a PhD candidate studying nature soundscapes at the University of Wolverhampton. Madison has a background in multi-media and meditation practices and her creative practice involves pairing the sounds and images of nature to promote relaxation. She is a TEDx speaker, mental health advocate, and winner of the West Midlands Mental Health Star Awards 2022 by the West Midlands Combined Authority. Madison’s podcast project titled Core Opulence gives listener’s free access to nature soundscapes via YouTube and Spotify. For more information about Madison and her research, visit https://coreopulencemusic.com.

This episode’s guest is Tatjana Ostrovska who is a Latvian violinist and member of the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra. In 2011, Tatjana founded the NYX Trio – an ensemble of violin, flute, and piano – which aims to promote Latvian music and encourage composers to write for this unconventional ensemble. Aside from her performing career, Tatjana is a doctoral researcher at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where her practice-based work focusses on live-streamed performances and the phenomenon of ‘the invisible audience’.To learn more about Tatjana and her work, visit https://www.tatjanaostrovska.com/.

In this episode, I speak to Taylor Rogers who is a decolonial feminist scholar and artist in Chicago. Taylor completed her PhD at Northwestern University where she researched the role of emotional numbness in perpetuating oppression. She currently teaches Philosophy at Loyola University while pursuing other collaborative art projects. Her latest multi-media research project with Indiana-based cinematographer Lillian Walker titled 'NOA: A Music Film', explores the liberatory role of grief using philosophy, music, dance, poetry, cinematography, and more.To watch a trailer of NOA, visit https://youtu.be/YPLGZ6uaE7k. For more information about the film, visit https://noamusicfilm.com/.

This episode’s guest is Dan Boucher who is a second-year PhD student at the University of Birmingham where his project is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council UK. His current research focusses on Germany’s opera culture in the Weimar Republic, particularly the role expressionism played in attempts at modernising opera. Listen on as we speak about modernism, expressionism, Kurt Weill’s Der Protagonist (1926), and Dan’s doctoral journey.

In this episode, I speak to Paul Adey, who is a PhD student at Nottingham Trent University, where he is completing his thesis on the presence and function of literary intertextuality in hip-hop. Paul’s thesis will culminate in the release of a trilogy of rap LPs titled CAPsule. As a rap artist under the stage name Cappo, Paul has performed alongside artists such as Public Enemy and Big Daddy Kane and has released several collaborative records such as Postmodernism in 2018 and Raw Pastiche in 2020.

Robert Chafer is a multichannel audio-visual composer and PhD student at De Montfort University. In his PhD, he researches the opportunities afforded by the cutting-edge technology of mixed reality as a platform to present his work. While the user is subject to a visually enclosed digital content only experience with virtual reality, mixed reality augments the physical world with digital content. Moreover, mixed reality technology understands its environment so sounds and image content can be placed relative to space, rather than fixed relative to the user. Listen to this episode and learn about this new revolution in audio experience.Rob would like to express his gratitude to the Midlands4Cities Doctoral Partnership, the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), and De Montfort University for the opportunity to conduct his research, and to Tim Hall for the recording and production of this episode.

This episode’s guest is Kate Arnold who is a solo performer on the hammered dulcimer as well as a PhD student at Nottingham Trent University where her research focusses on medieval crusade songs and anti-Frankish jihad poems. Kate’s previous research focused on the revival of Syrian classical music in Damascus. As a performing artist, Kate released her two-part electro-medievalist recording project ROTA FORTUNAE in 2020 and 2021. Kate will be presenting her paper titled ‘Pop and the Palästinalied: a crusade song revived at the turn of a new millennium’ at the upcoming conference organised by the Society for the Study of Crusades and the Latin East (SSCLE). To keep yourself up to date with the activities and events of the network and our members, sign up for the Midlands Music Research Network mailing list on our website.

In this episode, I speak to Daniel Johnson, who is a PhD student at the University of Leicester. Daniel’s doctoral project explores the intellectual context and content of the hymns of 17th-century minister and theologian Isaac Watts (1674–1748). Daniel’s work on Watts began with his study on Watts’s interpretations of the psalms completed for his master’s at the University of Nottingham. Alongside his PhD, Daniel is Head of Academic Development at Nexus Institute of Creative Arts and Visiting Lecturer at the London School of Theology.

This episode’s guest is Adrien Nonjon, who is a PhD student at the National Institute for Oriental Languages and Cultures (INALCO) in Paris. His research focusses on the Ukrainian far right and its different political and cultural dynamics. Adrien’s previous work also explored the Azov movement, 'eco-nationalism', white rock, and neopaganism. His PhD is devoted to the concept of Intermarium in its different pan-European incarnations.

In this episode, I speak to Caroline Ridler, who is a third year Midlands-4-Cities funded PhD researcher in Russian at the University of Nottingham. Caroline’s work focusses on Soviet rock musician Viktor Tsoi who was an icon for youths in the perestroika era and remains a cult icon in the former Soviet space to the present day. In addition to Viktor Tsoi, we spoke about Caroline’s wider research interests and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on her doctoral studies.

This episode’s guest is Giulia Lorenzi, who is a PhD student in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Warwick. Her project studies the uniqueness of the perceptual experience of listening to music with an aim to answer the question of whether music perception is ‘special’ and distinct from everyday listening. Giulia is the co-founder of the Midlands Music Research Network and has presented at the network’s ongoing seminar series this year. Aside from her academic work, Giulia is an avid French horn player, holding degrees in performance on the instrument.

In this episode, I speak to Senior Lecturer in the Department of Drama and Theatre Arts at the University of Birmingham David Pattie. David’s research focusses on the work of Irish playwright Samuel Beckett, contemporary British theatre, Scottish theatre, and popular culture. David has also published writings on rock and electronic music, covering the work of Kraftwerk and Brian Eno. Our conversation began with my enquiry about David’s fascination with the theatricality of a music performance before proceeding to discuss the subject of his upcoming co-edited book, The Velvet Underground.

This episode’s guest is Desirée Mayr, who is Assistant Professor of Music at Bahia State University and violinist in the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra. Desirée’s research focusses on nineteenth-century Brazilian composer Leopoldo Miguéz (1850-1902). Prior to her professorial appointment, Desirée was post-doctoral scholar at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro where she obtained her masters and PhD in music. Desirée has presented at conferences organised by the Society for Music Analysis, Society for Music in Ireland, and the Midlands Music Research Network’s very own conference in April this year.

In this episode, I speak to James H. P. Lewis, who is Leverhulme Early Career Fellow in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Birmingham. James graduated from the University of Sheffield in 2019 where he wrote a thesis on the topic of the practical significance of the second-person relation. We spoke briefly about James’s time in Sheffield, and at greater length about his article titled ‘The Musicality of Speech’ which is currently under review at a philosophy journal.