Rethinking Early Recordings as Sources of Music and Performance History
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Glasgow
Department Name: School of Culture & Creative Arts
Abstract
The project brings together academics, performers, sound curators and archivists, and sound engineers and technicians to engage in discussion concerning the use and status of early recordings (1890-1945) as sources for the study of performance practice and performance history, establishing foundations for further collaborative research and knowledge exchange in the area.
Researchers and performers have been using early recordings as primary sources for the study of performance and music history for the last thirty years, in topics ranging from the minutiae of performance practice in specific styles and instruments, to the radical transformations that early recording technologies introduced in listening practices and in discourses around music and performance. During this period, technological advances have made early recordings more widely accessible, with collections and archives around the world digitizing their holdings and making them available online for free or at negligible cost. However, most such research activity has been conducted in relative isolation, and opportunities for researchers to engage in discussion about their work with an audience of their peers are few and far between. This lack of connectedness has prevented the field from tackling ambitious, comparative research questions centring around systematic historical change, and detracted from its relevance and visibility both in the broader field of musicology and among non-academic performers and general concert audiences.
The project proposes to tackle these issues through the following interconnected collaborative activities:
-Five symposia (4 in different cities across the UK, 1 hosted by partner TU Berlin) will provide opportunities for experts (musicologists, performers, sound curators, archivists and engineers engaged in sound curation and digitizing initiatives - both based in and outside HEI) to engage in methodological discussion with the aim of both co-creating collaborative resources and identifying collaborative research and knowledge exchange opportunities in the field.
-A concert series attached to the symposia will allow audiences across the UK to familiarize themselves with practice-led research conducted by network members, while allowing the latter to reflect, in conversation with other network members, on good practice, opportunities and challenges for knowledge exchange.
-A series of video interviews with network members filmed at the symposia and concert series will make accessible an array of approaches to early recordings to other HEI and non-HEI experts, as well as to musicologists, performers and performance students beyond the immediate area of study. These videos will be accompanied by an open-access handbook for similar audiences, expanding on the issues raised in the interviews (to be published after the grant period).
The project will also establish a permanent forum for those interested in early recordings as sources for the study of performance practice and history. This open international research network will organize regular conferences and meetings, fostering collaborative activities between its members. The forum's establishment will be supported by an 'early recording roadmap', drafted collaboratively by network-members, identifying urgent research questions and flagging up potential areas for knowledge exchange collaborations.
Researchers and performers have been using early recordings as primary sources for the study of performance and music history for the last thirty years, in topics ranging from the minutiae of performance practice in specific styles and instruments, to the radical transformations that early recording technologies introduced in listening practices and in discourses around music and performance. During this period, technological advances have made early recordings more widely accessible, with collections and archives around the world digitizing their holdings and making them available online for free or at negligible cost. However, most such research activity has been conducted in relative isolation, and opportunities for researchers to engage in discussion about their work with an audience of their peers are few and far between. This lack of connectedness has prevented the field from tackling ambitious, comparative research questions centring around systematic historical change, and detracted from its relevance and visibility both in the broader field of musicology and among non-academic performers and general concert audiences.
The project proposes to tackle these issues through the following interconnected collaborative activities:
-Five symposia (4 in different cities across the UK, 1 hosted by partner TU Berlin) will provide opportunities for experts (musicologists, performers, sound curators, archivists and engineers engaged in sound curation and digitizing initiatives - both based in and outside HEI) to engage in methodological discussion with the aim of both co-creating collaborative resources and identifying collaborative research and knowledge exchange opportunities in the field.
-A concert series attached to the symposia will allow audiences across the UK to familiarize themselves with practice-led research conducted by network members, while allowing the latter to reflect, in conversation with other network members, on good practice, opportunities and challenges for knowledge exchange.
-A series of video interviews with network members filmed at the symposia and concert series will make accessible an array of approaches to early recordings to other HEI and non-HEI experts, as well as to musicologists, performers and performance students beyond the immediate area of study. These videos will be accompanied by an open-access handbook for similar audiences, expanding on the issues raised in the interviews (to be published after the grant period).
The project will also establish a permanent forum for those interested in early recordings as sources for the study of performance practice and history. This open international research network will organize regular conferences and meetings, fostering collaborative activities between its members. The forum's establishment will be supported by an 'early recording roadmap', drafted collaboratively by network-members, identifying urgent research questions and flagging up potential areas for knowledge exchange collaborations.
| Title | "Recording on a Phonograph" workshop videos |
| Description | As part of three of the symposia, performance-workshops took place involving ca. 20 performers in total who recorded a piece on the phonograph under the guidance of engineer Duncan Miller, and subsequently heard their recording back and, in discussion with the engineer, then adjusted their performance for a new recording, and so on. To our knowledge, this is the first time such a workshop has been held: some performers (such as CoI Inja Stanovic) have indeed integrated self-recording into their research process, but this remains a little-used method because of the costs and logistics involved. The workshop format provided us with an opportunity to allow a variety of performers (all with experience in 19th century historical performance practice and/or the study of early recordings) to engage with this research methodology. To allow an even broader audience to engage with the workshop, as well as to document responses from performers that can inform future research and allow us to understand recording processes on the phonograph, we uploaded videos of the workshop, as well as a commentary on the process from each performer, on the project's website. |
| Type Of Art | Performance (Music, Dance, Drama, etc) |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Impact | The videos, uploaded to Youtube, have had a further ca. 500 views combined. |
| URL | https://early-recordings.com/phonograph-sessions/ |
| Description | While there is a considerable amount of researchers all over the world focusing on early recordings all over the world (often engaging with highly localized contexts and sources, to which they bring their unique cultural expertise), the question stands whether a community of early recording researchers exist as such. From the outside, early recordings research is still perceived to require very specialized skills. From the inside, there is a sense that, by virtue of the complexity and specificity of individual bodies of recordings, research often becomes highly tailored and personalized, and perhaps not readily open to collaboration. The following topics have been identified so far as fertile grounds for future collaboration and debate: -The existence of different epistemologies or "ways of knowing" about recordings: e.g. academics, early recording collectors. -The study of listening practices, with early recordings representing a pivotal moment drawing to some extent upon past domestic music-making practices and group listening, and at the same time acting as a locus for the development of solitary listening. -Home recordings, and the extent to which these disparate and fragmentary practices can expand our understanding of how musicians and listeners integrated recording technologies into their ways of making, listening to and thinking about music. -The integration of practice-led perspectives with cultural and critical approaches. -The integration of research methods coming from experimental archaeology, media archaeology and related fields SHARE THIS: |
| Exploitation Route | -Practice-led researchers wishing to integrate recording into historical media into their research now have a range of filmed practical demonstrations and reflective commentaries by 6 researchers. This is an unprecedented resource, and obtaining this type of knowledge would in the past have required interested researchers to individually correspond with or interview other performer-researchers. Practice-led researches can put this outcome to use by integrating their conclusions from it into their methodology design and planning, e.g.: anticipating common problems and difficulties. -Other researchers into early recordings more generally now have collaboratively-produced resources (Youtube videos; website) that specifically centre the multiplicity of methods used in musicological/performance research into early recordings, and that in some cases reflect critically about the coexistence of these methods. Such methodological discussion has been rare so far in the field. Researchers have therefore a more considered overview of the approaches and methodologies available to them. |
| Sectors | Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| URL | https://early-recordings.com/ |
| Description | Several of the performers that have taken part in our phonograph-recording workshops have reported integrating findings from the sessions in their performances/professional practice. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2022 |
| Sector | Leisure Activities, including Sports, Recreation and Tourism |
| Impact Types | Cultural |
| Description | Guest speaker at Historias podcast |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | I was a guest speaker in the podcast Historias, which specializes in bringing Spanish historical content to broader English-language audiences |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |