Research in the Department of Music

Music is one of the most multi-faceted subjects in the Arts and Humanities. Research in Music at Bristol encompasses Composition, Musicology and Performance. We recognise these fields as being of equal importance, and staff research often falls within more than one area. Bristol is home to CHOMBEC (Centre for the History of Music in Britain, the Empire and the Commonwealth). In addition, we direct major publicly-funded projects, run research networks and curate open-access research resources for the benefit of all.

The Department is recognised as one of the very best for research in Music in the UK. In the most recent Research Assessment Exercise (2008), 85% of our work was rated 'world leading' or 'internationally excellent'. We are committed to sharing our expertise with students, colleagues and the wider community.

Major research areas

• Composition (acoustic and studio)
• Cultural, aesthetic and political history of music (philosophy of science; reception history; migration; totalitarianism)
• Music and intermediality (popular music; music for film, television and stage)
• Music as performance (historical performance practice; medieval oral transmission)

People

Composition

Michael Ellison explores the interaction of Western and Middle Eastern musical cultures (especially Turkish) through ensemble and orchestral music, and opera.

Neal Farwell works in a range of media, including acoustic ensemble, tape, live electronics and installation.

John Pickard specialises in orchestral, instrumental and choral music. General Editor of the Elgar complete Edition, he is also Director of CHOMBEC.

Our studio work is supported by Jonathan Scott.

Musicology and Performance In roughly chronological order, from chant to hip hop...

Emma Hornby is a chant scholar working with manuscripts from the 10th to the 13th centuries; her prime interests are in oral transmission and performance practice.

Katharine Ellis researches music and musical life in 19th-century France, especially the ways socio-political influences frame musical activity and listener experience.

David Trippett is a pianist and musicologist with specialisms in nineteenth-century opera (particularly Wagner), the history of aesthetics, and theories of technology.

Guido Heldt works in two major fields: English music in the first half of the 20th century, and film studies.

Florian Scheding (from February 2014) specialises in music and migration, especially the displacement of European musics and musicians caused by the political upheavals of the 20th century.

Pauline Fairclough works on music and politics, especially Soviet musical culture.

Justin Williams specialises in popular music studies, in particular, hip-hop and jazz.

Teaching Fellows The specialisms of our two teaching fellows complement the research of our established staff. Kelcey Swain composes using real-time exploration of technology, stochastics, investigations of human-computer interactions and artificial intelligence. Peter Scott specialises in Renaissance music, especially Passiontide music, music printing, and the work of William Damon.