2023 New Traditional School national composers survey launches

padruigmorrison

All ‘beyond-tune’ traditional music composers living in Scotland* are invited to contribute to the new 2023 survey at https://edinburgh.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/2023nts.

The survey takes approximately 25-40 minutes and will be live for a month, closing 20th January 2024 at 23:59.

Please complete the survey in one sitting. You will have the opportunity to download your response at the end. This survey builds on the NTS survey conducted in 2021.

Our current working definition of ‘beyond tune’ is a musical composition:

  • Created by a traditional musician living in Scotland* [for the purposes of this research]
  • Composed for music performance or listening (e.g. not scores for radio, tv, film or theatre)
  • Composed for any instrumentation (or voice) but often with a traditional/folk element
  • Approximately 8 minutes or longer OR, if shorter in length, innovates significantly from the conventions of traditional music (this could include free improvisation or technology-enhanced music).
  • NOT a conventional set of tunes or traditional/folk song

E.g. A large portion of Celtic Connections New Voices or Distil Showcase commissions are considered ‘beyond tune’.

Composers are also invited to register their beyond-tune compositions to the New Traditional School database for potential inclusion in the forthcoming New Traditional School collection/archive. Register your compositions here: https://tradmus.com/addcomposition/ (or using the tab above).

*Who lived in Scotland when they composed the composition or who contributed to one of the commissioning strands in Scotland e.g. Celtic Connections New Voices, Distil Showcase or a festival commission performed in Scotland.

Research Assistant: Pàdruig Morrison

padruigmorrison

Pàdruig Morrison has joined as Research Assistant, and will be liaising with composers, cataloguing scores, and working on a composer survey.

Pàdruig Morrison is an accordionist and composer from North Uist in the Outer Hebrides.

It was at the University of Edinburgh that Pàdruig studied music and Scottish Ethnology before going on to postgraduate studies at Maynooth University (Ireland) where he completed a PhD in Composition earlier this year entitled ‘Finding a Contemporary Voice for Gaelic Art Music in Scotland’. His doctoral research looked at the synthesis of traditional music and contemporary ‘classical’ composition, considering the crossover present in Scottish works over the past half-century, and submitting a creative output of a 2-hour long portfolio consisting of 11 original works which explore a unified synthesis of traditional music and contemporary composition, drawing deeply on Pàdruig’s knowledge of traditional music and the Gaelic tradition.

In 2020, Pàdruig was a finalist in the BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year, and also received a New Voices commission at Celtic Connections. In 2019 Pàdruig was the winner of the Peter Rosser Composition Competition and has since then had works performed by the Rednote Ensemble, Hard Rain SoloistEnsemble, and the Hebrides Ensemble. He is also a band member of Beinn Lee, performing at Scottish and European festivals, as well as performing often as a soloist.

He began composing traditional tunes as a teenager, and his interest in innovating within traditional composition led to his doctoral compositional research. It also makes him deeply interested in the compositional innovation that constitutes the New Traditional School. Pàdruig is delighted to help the project as a Research Assistant working with Dr Lori Watson, the Department of Celtic and Scottish Studies, and the Scottish Music Centre to develop the next stage of this exciting project.  

https://www.ed.ac.uk/profile/padruigmorrison

https://padruigmorrison.weebly.com/

Opportunity: Research Assistant in Specialist Music Collection (New Traditional School)

Lori Watson

Closing date: Friday 23rd June, 23:59:00

UE06: £30,619.00 Per Annum Pro Rata

University of Edinburgh, College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences, School of Literatures, Languages & Cultures, Celtic & Scottish Studies.

Fixed Term Contract: Part-Time – 0.4 FTE (14 Hours per Week).

Fixed Term Dates: 01/09/2023-29/02/2024

We are looking for a Research Assistant to contribute to the development and understanding of a specialist music collection featuring larger-scale and experimental works by traditional and folk musicians in Scotland. This is a part time post (14 hours per week) for 6 months, starting from 1st September 2023.

Your skills and attributes for success: 

  • A PhD or equivalent in traditional music, ethnomusicology, composition, or music performance, or related subject area.
  • Knowledge of the forms and conventions of traditional music in Scotland (primarily Scottish and Irish traditional and folk music).
  • Previous experience collecting and analysing survey data.
  • Previous experience of musical analysis.
  • Excellent music notation skills including Sibelius notation software.

Please find a full description and further information here: https://elxw.fa.em3.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/CandidateExperience/en/sites/CX_1001/job/7644

New Traditional School in Scotland Phase 1

Lori Watson

Funding secured following 2021-22 pilot study

Jennifer Austin, still from film by Ruth Barrie

Following the successful pilot study in 2021-2022 supported by the Royal Society of Edinburgh and Creative Informatics at the University of Edinburgh, funding for a phase 1 study was secured in the form of an 18-month fellowship with the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

The fellowship runs from July 2023 to December 2024 and will combine artistic and ethnomusicological research exploring creativity, tradition and improvisation. I aim to produce a specialist music collection with project partner Scottish Music Centre (Glasgow), the basis of a new archive at the School of Scottish Studies Archives, University of Edinburgh, several new compositions, and research texts.

I will be advertising for a part-time Research Assistant to join me on this project for 6 months in 2023-24 and an Archivist to join the project in 2024. Information on these posts will be circulated soon. If you are a composer whose work relates to this project, please register your compositions here. If you would like to contact me or join the project mailing list, please use the contact page.

Composers survey 2021 closed

Lori Watson

Our NTS composers survey for 2021 is now closed. Many thanks to all those who contributed.

The mapping phase of the the research is gathering pace as we collect data associated with beyond tune, large-scale, innovative composition from traditional musicians in Scotland since 1976.

If you are a traditional musician who composes and you would like to contribute to this research, please get in touch either by registering your compositions and indicating you would like to take part in the research or via the contact form on this site.

Composers survey launches today

Lori Watson

All ‘beyond-tune’ traditional music composers living in Scotland* are invited to contribute to the survey at https://admin.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/account/edinburgh/distribute/778340

The survey takes approximately 15-20 minutes to complete and will be live for one week, closing 31st August 2021 at 23:59.

Our current working definition of ‘beyond tune’ is a musical composition:

  • Created by a traditional musician living in Scotland* [for the purposes of this research]
  • Composed for music performance or listening (e.g. not scores for radio, tv, film or theatre)
  • Composed for any instrumentation (or voice) but often with a traditional/folk element
  • Approximately 8 minutes or longer OR, if shorter in length, innovates significantly from the conventions of traditional music (this could include free improvisation or technology-enhanced music).
  • NOT a conventional set of tunes or traditional/folk song

E.g. A large portion of Celtic Connections New Voices or Distil Showcase commissions are considered ‘beyond tune’.

Composers can also register their beyond-tune compositions to the New Traditional School database for potential inclusion in what is intended to become a national collection/archive. Register your compositions here: https://tradmus.com/addcomposition/ (or using the tab above).

*Who lived in Scotland when they composed the composition or who contributed to one of the commissioning strands in Scotland e.g. Celtic Connections New Voices, Distil Showcase or a festival commission performed in Scotland.

Pilot study team: Alexandra Huang

Lori Watson

Research Assistant: Alexandra Huang

Alexandra Huang

Alexandra Huang is a third-year PhD student in comparative literature at LLC, the University of Edinburgh. She previously read an MSc in English literature (Edinburgh) and holds an MA in Piano Performance (Royal Conservatoire of Scotland). Her PhD investigates literary evocations of piano performance in early 20th-century novels. She is dedicated to solo piano performance and creative collaborations with instrumentalists and opera singers. During the pandemic, she launched a creative film project about the great composer Frédéric Chopin in Scotland and was awarded first place at Edinburgh Festival Competition in the Chopin category. Enamoured of Scotland’s culture, she is delighted to join Dr. Lori Watson’s pilot study project as her research assistant to broaden the creative impact of Scottish traditional music. 

https://www.ed.ac.uk/profile/alexandra-huang

Alexandra is contributing to the scholarly context for this research as well as analysis of survey data.

The New Traditional School in Scotland: pilot study 2021-22

Lori Watson

PILOT STUDY

Since the 1990s there has been a significant increase in the creation of larger-scale and innovative composition by traditional musicians in Scotland. The composers of these musical works experiment with forms beyond the common 32 bar dance tune, draw on a wide range of influences and engage in opportunity-based professional development in this unique community of practice: the New Traditional School (Watson, 2013). This research will provide the first scholarly documentation and analysis of this unique community and its activities. 

I am both a researcher (ethnomusicologist and artistic researcher) and a composing traditional musician in Scotland. I seek to advance the practice of beyond-tune composition, make explicit the creative and performance strengths of contemporary traditional musicians, and contribute to our understanding of the nature of tradition and its relationship with creativity. 

In this pilot study, I will document, collect and analyse in-depth fieldwork interviews, survey data, musical scores and recordings, and literature, archival and publicly available data relating to the New Traditional School in Scotland and its activities, from earliest work in 1984 to the present day. I will map the New Traditional School in a database, begin the first collection/archive of beyond-tune compositions and complete detailed case studies with selected composers.  

I invite submissions of composed works, responses to the composer survey and project-related communications via this site.

Doctoral research: Beyond-tune composition in Scotland (thesis and folio of new music)

Lori Watson

The New Traditional School in Scotland: Innovation, Beyond-tune Composition and a Traditional Musician’s Creative Practice

WATSON, Lori (2013) The New Traditional School in Scotland: Innovation, Beyond-tune Composition and a Traditional Musician’s Creative Practice (RCS and St Andrews University: PhD thesis and folio)

RCS library link

Abstract

The author has identified a new ‘school’ of composing Traditional musicians in Scotland.  This group and its activity, as documented by the author, spans from 1984 to 2012 and encompasses over 150 new works ranging from orchestral pieces through works for chamber ensemble and studio and electronic works to solos and various forms of improvisation.

The author presents a folio of original compositions, and substantial critical analysis in order to gain, from an artistic research perspective, a better understanding of innovative music practice by ‘elite’ Traditional musicians in Scotland, and the context for that.

Through extensive fieldwork and literature review the author contextualises this movement and the original compositions in terms of how they relate both to the contemporary music world and to the Traditional music community and its activity.