Musica Scotica

Musica Scotica Study Day 2025
For all undergraduate and postgraduate students
Date: Friday 4 April 2025
Location: Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Glasgow
—Network with other students
—Talk to experts in Scottish music from the Middle Ages to the present day
—Present your work in progress (deadline for abstracts: 1 February 2025)
—Free registration
—Some travel bursaries available

The 2025 Musica Scotica Study Day will provide an opportunity for undergraduate and postgraduate students to share their work on music in/from Scotland, and to network with peers and established researchers working in this field.

Registration is free; registration will open in February 2025. Some travel bursaries may be available for students who are presenting their work at the conference.

—Present your work at the study day: We invite submissions for informal presentations of work in progress. Presentations, which can include performance elements, should be no more than 15 minutes long. Please submit an abstract of up to 250 words, plus a brief biography, as an RTF, Word or PDF file, to the email address below by 1 February 2025.

—Some travel bursaries are available for students to present at the Study Day. To apply for a bursary, please include a separate short statement when submitting your proposal, indicating travel routes and approximate costs. Please note that as funds are limited, we may only be able to cover part of any costs incurred.

—We are aiming to facilitate hybrid participation: updates to follow before the submission date.

—We aim to respond to all submissions by 15 February 2025.

Please send your proposal to [email protected] by 1 February 2025. We aim to respond to all submissions by 15 February 2025.

https://musicascotica.scot/study-day-2025/

News of a symposium and concert at Dalkeith Palace on Saturday 17 June ...

The Symposium explores Dalkeith Palace’s musical past in vivid detail. Curator Paul Boucher and specialists from leading universities and conservatoires bring to life themes from the exhibition, investigating how Scottish dance bands promoted traditional music, how opera travelled from the stage to the home, and how country houses supported wider cultural trends and aspirations.

A Passion For Music Opening Symposium and Concert Join us on Saturday 17 June for a Symposium & Concert to celebrate the launch of our summer exhibition, Dalkeith Palace – A Passion for Music.

News of a free concert tomorrow night (Thursday 13 April, 6-7:30pm) in the Reid Concert Hall, Bristo Square, Edinburgh.

The concert, on the opening evening of the conference of the British Forum for Ethnomusicology at the University of Edinburgh, will celebrate the research interests of our late colleague Dr Peter Cooke (1930-2020), who was deeply involved with the BFE.

Prof. Josh Dickson and students from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland will illustrate piping; Amy Laurenson, current BBC Young Traditional Musician of the Year, will represent the musical traditions of Shetland; and the "Jit Jive Duo", Andy Cooke and Rise Kagona, with dancers, will contribute Ugandan and neighbouring musics.

All welcome!

Another new publication!
Hearing Heritage: Selected essays on Scotland's music from Musica Scotica conferences is now available as a free electronic download from our website. Edited by M. J. Grant, contributions include:
Hugh Cheape - Raising the Tone: The Bagpipe and the Baroque
Joshua Dickson - A Response to ‘MacLeod’s Controversy’: Further Evidence of the Pibroch Echo Beat’s Basis in Gaelic Song
Elizabeth C. Ford - The Crathes Castle Flute: Artistic License or Historical Anomaly?
John Purser - James Oswald (1710–1769) and Highland Music: Context and Legacy
Per Ahlander - The Seal Woman: A Celtic Folk Opera by Marjory Kennedy-Fraser and Granville Bantock
Stuart Eydmann & Hélène Witcher - Seeking Héloïse Russell-Fergusson
Marie Saunders - We’re All Global Citizens Now, and Yet …

www.musicascotica.scot

We are delighted to announce the publication of a new volume in our series Historical Studies of Scottish Music!

Robert Burns and the Discovery and Re-Creation of Scottish Song, by Katherine Campbell and Emily Lyle examines specific aspects of Burns’s process of composition and of his environment as it related to traditional song. Several case-studies are presented, including the song ‘Westlin Winds’, and new light is shed on the Bard’s working methods as well as on some of the people with whom he interacted in his song-writing quest. The book utilises musicological, historical and archival research and is the culmination of many years of investigation which began with the publication by Katherine Campbell and Emily Lyle of a booklet and CD in 2000, entitled ‘Burns and Scottish Fiddle Tradition’.

Print copies will be available in due course; in the meantime, for a limited period, electronic copies may be purchased and downloaded from the Scottish Music Centre, priced £15.

Robert Burns and the Discovery and Re-Creation of Scottish Song Robert Burns and the Discovery and Re-Creation of Scottish Song examines specific aspects of Burns’s process of composition and of his environment as it related to traditional song. Several case-studies are presented, including the song ‘Westlin Winds’, and new light is shed on the Bard’s wo...

We are delighted to announce the publication of Musica Scotica Volume VIII: The Complete Works of Robert Johnson, edited by Elaine Moohan and our founder, the late Kenneth Elliott.

This volume, the latest in our Main Series of scholarly performing editions, contains the complete surviving works of the sixteenth-century Scottish composer, Robert Johnson. These include sacred works in Latin and English, songs and instrumental consorts. In addition, there are several fragmentary works, some of which are reconstructed.

This volume will be of particular interest to choral directors, singers, and small instrumental ensembles, as well as musicologists and those with an interest in Scottish music of the sixteenth century.

Copies can be purchased from the Scottish Music Centre, for the special discounted price of £47 (valid until 7 February 2021), and offprints of 22 individual works, or selections of works, can be downloaded for £10 each, with licence to print multiple copies for ensemble rehearsal and performance.
http://www.scottishmusiccentre.com/product/musica-scotica-vol-viii-the-complete-works-of-robert-johnson/

Musica Scotica Vol VIII: The Complete Works of Robert Johnson Discounts available for trade orders and Musica Scotica subscribers: please contact [email protected] for more details.

Musica Scotica friends! News of an article which may be of interest to some of you:

'The Functionality of Lyric in Sixteenth-Century Scotland', in Controversial Poetry 1400-1625, ed. Judith Kessler, Ursul Kundert and Johan Oosterman (Leiden: Brill, 2020), pp. 286-305. ISBN 978-90-04-29190-4. (also as an e-book)

Chapter 12 The Functionality of Lyric in Sixteenth-Century Scotland "Chapter 12 The Functionality of Lyric in Sixteenth-Century Scotland" published on 06 May 2020 by Brill.

Friends ... news of another online performance today (Friday 24 July) by Ensemble Hesperi - details below. Enjoy!

at Home #17 - A Trip to Edinburgh Town!
This Friday, we join the musicians of the celebrated 18th-century Edinburgh Musical Society!

We'll be playing beautiful arrangements of Scots tunes by Edinburgh-based musicians in the 1740s: James Oswald's "Curious Collection of Scots Tunes", Francesco Barsanti's "A Collection of Old Scots Tunes", and William McGibbon's "Collection of Scots Tunes" - with plenty of lively variations!

We'll also be exploring the music of some of the composers in Edinburgh Musical Society's catalogue, some of whom were also active members of the society: sonatas by Corelli and Geminiani and John Reid, a gorgeous minuet by the Earl of Kelly, a harpsichord sonata by Schetky.

Just head to our page at 1pm London time, and our live video should appear. And if you can't join us live, the concert will be saved by Facebook, and ready to play at your leisure. All the previous videos are here for you to enjoy.

Hello everyone ... news of a live online performance of 18th c. Scottish music at 1pm on Friday 12 June, by by Ensemble Hesperi https://www.facebook.com/EnsembleHesperi

at Home - LIVE lunchtime concert #11 - Scottish Early Music Week!

This week, we're returning "home" to Scottish Early Music, so get ready to tap your toes and be whisked away to the mountains and heather...

We'll have two pieces by James Oswald, a new Air, "The Turk's cap" from his second set of "Airs for the Seasons" (1761), and a couple of solo recorder pieces from his Caledonian Pocket Companion. Then from Robert Bremner's Harpsichord Miscellany, two short pieces, "Maggie Lauder" and "Joy to great Caesar". Like Oswald, Bremner was also a Scottish publisher who moved to London in 1762, and was a member at Crown Court Church, London WC2!

Well also be playing some variations on the Scots Tune "Bonny Jean" by Alexander Munro, and the first two movements of a recorder sonata by Francesco Barsanti, an Italian composer who lived for many years in Scotland, working for the Edinburgh Musical Society. And last, but not least, Tom will be performing a piece from the 1610 Duncan Burnett music book, a manuscript containing music from the Scottish virginalist school!

Just head to our page at 1pm, and our live video should appear. And if you can't join us live, the concert will be saved by Facebook, and ready to play at your leisure. All the previous videos are here for you to enjoy.

Ensemble Hesperi Ensemble Hesperi is a London-based Early Music ensemble specialising in Scottish Baroque music and more!
Mary-Jannet Leith - Recorders; Magdalena Loth-Hill - Baroque Violin; Florence Petit - Baroque Cello; Thomas Allery - Harpsichord

Hello everyone! Tomorrow (7 June) is Trinity Sunday, and to encourage you to keep up your spirits at home, here is an excerpt from our forthcoming volume, The Complete Works of Robert Johnson, edited by Dr Elaine Moohan and Dr Kenneth Elliott - an instrumental piece, O lux beata Trinitas. Enjoy! And please feel free to share videos of your performances!

Present circumstances mean that our partners at the Scottish Music Centre are unable to distribute hard copies of our publications, but you can still download PDF copies of certain volumes.
http://www.scottishmusiccentre.com/product-category/musica-scotica/

Tomorrow (Thursday 9 April) is Holy Thursday (Maundy Thursday), so we're offering you this seasonal 'taster' from our forthcoming volume, The Complete Works of Robert Johnson, edited by Dr Elaine Moohan and the late Dr Kenneth Elliott.

'I give you a new commandment' is four-part anthem which is very suitable for domestic performance, by voices or instruments, or a combination. Please feel free to share videos of your performances, and let us know that you're enjoying these releases during 'lockdown'.

Please also take a look at PDF copies of our volumes, which can be purchased at:

http://www.scottishmusiccentre.com/product-category/musica-scotica/