8.40 am. Academic year 2014-15, Day 1. A busy week of registration, induction, and postgraduate assessment ahead, and with a raft of the other teaching and research administrative routines in tow. I forwarded my draft grant application to those who are involved in the project, including my Le Figaro’s conference colleague, for their keen-eyed appraisal. I received his helpful response by return of post (as it were). Having implemented the necessary changes, I reposted the application and moved on to the other tasks sitting in my my inbox.
In the ‘vision’ (Diary, August 20, 2014), I perceived the need to develop a second sound art conference that would build upon foundations laid by ‘The Noises of Art‘, held in 2013, and, focus upon the art history of sound. Today, that component of the ‘vision’ began to go forward. In between admin. tasks I dismantled the current Handboard 3 configuration in readiness for explorative tests with Moog filters and voltage controller in the next few weeks. I started processing files for Matt. 20.21, in the background:
Before and after lunch, I cast my bread upon the waters of potential research collaborators, and touched base again with my new ‘friends in the north’:
I found the copy of the Journal of Music Technology & Education so very help. Thank you for drawing it to my attention, X. I wouldn’t have alighted upon the publication in my field. My mind is now awash with analogues between music and fine art praxis and pedagogy. Y, I have your wonderful ‘how to’ booklet permanently at my elbow as I start putting together a sound-fine-art practice module curriculum. I learned so much about what I don’t know. Very humbling. And, it was very generous of you to pass this to me. Next week the School of Art is launching an art history of sound module (if you can bear the paradox). I think it’s the first of its type in the UK.
On my previous visit (which was immensely helpful), we talked tentatively about discussing a basis for collaborative projects. Presently, my colleague Dr Z and I are pushing our noses into the … Archive. It represents a wide range of sound media from wax cylinders to CDs and encodings of field recordings, interviews, ethnographic recordings etc. We are intent on, firstly, scoping the collection to develop a accessible schedule of artefacts that could be developed in sound-art projects. The Archive would be an active partner in this project. I’m hoping that they’ll commission artists/musicians to work with the archive towards recordable/performable outputs.
At the moment, we are testing the ground for other interested partners — those that might be interested in manipulating found sound, especially. This, of course, may not be your bag. Tentatively, we are also looking at a developing an AHRC-worthy project based around notions such as sound recordings as ‘document’, and landscape and religion (or notions of the ‘other’), which has a particular relevance to Wales. And, you’ll recall, there is the plan to convene a conference in 2015 to follow-up ‘The Noises of Art’, which we held in 2013. I’m very keen to have sound artists with a proper musical pedigree on board this time.
Then, onto my personal teaching timetable and ‘to-do’ lists for the week:
This week is full of Ground-Hog Day (the movie) moments. Tonight, as on every Monday of Freshers’ Week, there was the Welcome Party for first year students. Are they getting younger, or am I getting … ?:
