by YPU Admin on September 17, 2015,
. Tags:
Alberto Ginastera, Amadeo Roldán, Astor Piazzolla, audience perception, Bartók, Berio, Birtwistle, composition, culture, dance, Debussy, Dominican Republic, folk music, fusion, history, Humanities, Julio Alberto Hernandez, Latin America, Leo Brouwer, Ligeti, Manchester Camerata, merengue, music, poetry, Psappha, Quatuor Danel, Religion, Research, rhythmic language, salsa, Stravinsky, structure, Tania León, and The Fourth Wall Ensemble
Introduction
My name is José Guillermo Puello.
I grew up in the Dominican Republic where I went to a French school. When I
finished school I came to the UK to study music at university. I recently
graduated with a PhD in Composition from the University of Manchester. My
research focused on the integration of Dominican music and culture with
European contemporary concert music. My thesis consisted of seven original
pieces of music, including works for orchestra, for small chamber ensemble, duets
and trios. I decided to pursue this area because I wanted my music to reflect
my background. As the research progressed, I became interested in how the
audience perceived the music and how I could integrate extra-musical elements
into my music.
When I started my undergraduate
degree, I never thought I was going to do a Master’s degree, let alone a PhD.
It was towards the end of my second year that I started to integrate Dominican
dance music (i.e. merengue) into my compositions. I continued to develop this
throughout my third year and my Master’s. As a result, my style became clearer
and my Masters supervisor suggested that I do the doctorate. These past four
years doing the PhD provided the opportunity to better define what I want my
music to be.
In depth
My doctoral research focused on
integrating Dominican cultural elements into my music, building strong musical
structures and developing my rhythmic language. To this effect, I researched
the music of other Latin American composers, such as Astor Piazzolla, Amadeo
Roldán, Tania León, Julio Alberto Hernandez, Alberto Ginastera and Leo Brouwer,
to evaluate how they incorporated Latin American elements into their music. I
also researched the music of other composers, such as Stravinsky, Birtwistle, Debussy,
Bartók, Berio and Ligeti, to understand how other composers dealt with rhythm,
folk music and the articulation of musical structures.
The act of composing is not just
writing notes on the page but also of listening, studying and problem-solving.
I don’t think I know of any composer that just sits down to write the music in
their head. I always compare composing to an architect designing a building. It
very often starts with a concept/idea that the composer/architect tries to
realise using the techniques they have developed and borrowing/adapting the
ideas and techniques of others.
During my PhD, my research into
Dominican culture mainly influenced the concept of the piece that I was
composing. For example, I wrote an orchestral piece based on a religious ritual
and another based on a Dominican poem. As I read about the Dominican Republic
and its history I realised that the fusion I was creating in my music could be
compared to the melting pot of cultures that shaped Dominican history. The
music, whilst taking inspiration in Dominican music, is closer in style to the
music of European composers (i.e. contemporary classical music) than to
merengue or salsa songs.
One of the most gratifying
aspects of being a composer is writing for and collaborating with other
talented musicians. I have been fortunate enough to have my music performed by
a number of professional and amateur ensembles, including Manchester Camerata,
Psappha, The Fourth Wall Ensemble and Quatuor Danel, in the UK, Europe, Canada,
USA and the Dominican Republic. Furthermore, each new piece brings its own
challenges, which provides the opportunity to keep learning and to keep
imagining new musical possibilities.
Going further
If you would like to know more
about the University of Manchester Music Department and the very active
Manchester University Music Society, you can visit the following websites:
-
http://www.alc.manchester.ac.uk/subjects/music/
-
http://www.mumusicsociety.co.uk
You can visit my website: www.joseguillermopuello.com or listen to my music on soundcloud: www.soundcloud.com/jgpuello
Below are some links to pieces
that I have listened to and studied as part of my PhD.
Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring
The video has a five-minute
introduction. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rq1q6u3mLSM
Piazzolla’s Adios Nonino
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTPec8z5vdY
Ligeti’s Trio for Violin, French
Horn and Piano
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQTNEx4P3qU
Juan Luis Guerra Todo tiene su
hora (merengue song)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4s_5gfCNhY
Berio’s Sequenza III (for
voice)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGovCafPQAE
Birtwistle’s Ritual Fragment
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAIKZiXPDRA
Messiaen’s Et exspecto
resurrectionem mortuorum
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3f4qdJHatNM
Debussy’s La mer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlR9rDJMEiQ
Varèse’s Ionisation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wClwaBuFOJA
Brouwer’s El decameron negro
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbcW8X73MBI
by YPU Admin on July 9, 2015,
. Tags:
demons, french, history, Humanities, imagery, medieval, Religion, Research, theology, and witchcraft
Introduction
My name is Tom and I am embarking on
a PhD in History at the University of Manchester this autumn. I studied for my
BA in History at Manchester and I’m currently finishing my masters in Gender
History at the University of Glasgow. In between these courses I spent a year
working as an English Language Assistant in two secondary schools in Lille,
France. During my undergraduate studies I developed a passion for early modern
beliefs about the supernatural and I wrote a dissertation on sixteenth-century
French demonological treatises (you could call these witch-hunting manuals!). My
research has now taken me to the phenomenon of demonic possession in sixteenth
and seventeenth-century France and England, particularly on how possession narratives
contributed to the cultural construction of the body.
In Depth
Demonic Possession may seem strange
to us now, something you expect to see in a horror film, but during the early
modern period
it was an extremely important phenomenon. There were perhaps thousands of cases
of possession and exorcism across continental Europe, including France, during
the early modern period (c. 1500-1800).Young
boys and girls, often teenagers or young adults, were recorded as having seizures,
possessing unnatural strength, speaking in ‘foreign tongues’, levitating and
spitting out objects like pins and nails. There are many cases in France where
entire convents of nuns were said to be possessed by the devil. During the
Reformation and Counter-Reformation, when Western Christianity split and
Protestant churches emerged, demonic possession and exorcism acted as a vehicle
of religious propaganda, a way of showing which religious denomination God
favoured.
However it was also an important
phenomenon for everyday people. Men and women flocked to see public exorcisms
in France and there was a booming book trade which centred on stories of
demoniacs (a possessed person) which would rival the best Stephen King novel.
In this way demonic possession can be viewed as a type of performance, even a
form of mass-entertainment. This is where my research centres. I’m interested
in why demonic possession was such an important phenomenon in this period but
also how it affected other areas of people’s lives. I look at the use of the
body within the performance of demonic possession and how it was written about
and understood. I use a wealth of documentation left behind, from the trials of
witches accused of causing possession, personal and witness testimonies of
possessions and exorcisms and the wealth of printed books which distributed
these narratives to a mass audience. In doing so I hope to shed light on how
beliefs surrounding the supernatural were connected to early modern cultural
ideas about the body and the life-cycle.
I developed my interest for this
area of history in my final year of undergraduate studies during a module on
Witch-Hunting in Early Modern Europe and I was supported by my supervisors in
developing this project. Having French language skills made this a viable PhD project
and so if I could give one word of advice it would be to learn a language! Not
only do languages give you a competitive edge in academia or on the job market
but they’re actually pretty fun and (cliché alert) really do take you places.
It was fantastic having the opportunity to live in France and practice my
French for a year. I gained life-long friends and memories plus I’ve picked up
practical skills in the process. It’s never too late to learn either! I started
learning Latin this year and in fact your first year at university is the
perfect time to experiment. Manchester’s University Language Centre lets you
take a language as part of any degree programme. You may not have clicked with
French, German or Spanish at school but have you ever thought about Portuguese,
Polish, Chinese or even Arabic? Try it and who knows where you’ll end up!
Going Further
There really is a wealth of on-line
resources out there on early modern Europe and the Supernatural. Also, in 2016
there will be an exhibition, “Magic and the Expanding Early Modern World”, at
John Rylands Library on Deansgate!
15-Minute History: “Demonic
Possession” in Early Modern Europe (Podcast) (http://15minutehistory.org/2013/10/23/demonic-possession-in-early-modern-europe/)
The Survey of Scottish Witchcraft (http://www.shca.ed.ac.uk/Research/witches/)
The Damned Art: The History of Witchcraft
and Demonology (Internet Exhibition) (http://www.gla.ac.uk/services/specialcollections/virtualexhibitions/damnedart/)
The Many-Headed Monster (Blog) (https://manyheadedmonster.wordpress.com/)
The Pendle Witch Trial (Documentary)
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yv-JDUfADiw)
A helpful website on European
Witchcraft (http://www.witchcraftandwitches.com/index.html)
Women and the Early Modern Witch
Hunts (Blog Post) (http://www.jesswatson.co.uk/post/78990856670/women-and-the-early-modern-witch-hunts)
by YPU Admin on March 19, 2015,
. Tags:
art, Chile, cinema, Cornerhouse, culture, film, history, Humanities, languages, latin-american, literature, manchester, music, Religion, Research, salsa, Spain, and spanish
Introduction
My name is Nicola and
I’m in the third year of a PhD in Latin American Cultural Studies. I did
A-levels in Spanish, English Literature and History and went on to study
Spanish at the University of St Andrews in Scotland, spending my year abroad in
the north of Chile. After returning to Chile for another year to teach English,
and then doing a Masters in Latin American Cultural Studies at the University
of Manchester, I began my PhD which looks at how members of the British public
engage with Latin American culture in the city of Manchester.
In Depth
The first thing to
point out about studying Spanish (or any language) at university level is that
it’s not just about the language! While your language skills are obviously
important and will be developed, you will also spend lots of time studying
foreign cultures and how other people around the world live and express
themselves. This can involve studying literature, film, music, art, history,
religion and indigenous cultures. And, in the case of Spanish, you don’t just
study Spain, but also Latin America!
After doing my
undergraduate degree and Masters, and living in Chile, I found myself
particularly interested in how Latin America is perceived in Britain. Latin
American culture, such as salsa classes, music, food and films have become
popular in this country over the past couple of decades, yet Latin Americans are
a relatively small immigrant population in the UK and not many people travel
there, although both have started to increase in recent years. My research
therefore investigates how Latin American culture is produced in the city of
Manchester and how members of the public consume it.
My research focuses in
particular on the annual ¡Viva! Spanish and Latin American Film Festival at the
Cornerhouse cinema. I analyse how the film festival is produced, the reasons
why they choose some films over others, why they choose particular images to
publicise the festival. By interviewing members of the audience, I can find out
whether these choices influence the way members of the audience envisage Latin
America, or if there are other factors to be considered, such as how the media
portrays Latin America. My research also investigates what attracts British
people to Latin American culture, especially whether it stems from a
cosmopolitan concern to understand others around the world, something
particular to Latin American culture and/or disenchantment with contemporary
British culture and society.
Going Further
See what you think of the ¡Viva! film festival at
their website: http://www.cornerhouse.org/viva2014?no-redir
For information on studying Spanish, Portuguese and
Latin American Studies at the University of Manchester: http://www.alc.manchester.ac.uk/subjects/splas
For more information on Latin Americans in the UK,
you might like to read this report on the Latin American community in London: http://www.geog.qmul.ac.uk/docs/research/latinamerican/48637.pdf
Introduction
My name is Rachel Winchcombe and I’m a second
year history PhD student at the University of Manchester. I completed my
undergraduate and master’s degrees at the University of Sheffield, both of
which were in history, specialising in the early modern period (c. 1500-1800).
After leaving university I spent six months living and working in Bogotá in
Colombia. It was during this time that I became interested in South American
history and how the discovery of the lands of America affected Europeans. After
returning to England, I decided to apply for a PhD that looked at the ways in
which America was incorporated into English thought in the sixteenth century,
and that is now what I’m spending three years of my life researching!
In depth
On the 12th of October 1492, Christopher Columbus
first set foot on the hitherto unknown shores of the land that would become
known as America. For early modern Europeans who were convinced that their
knowledge of the world was complete, the discovery of these new lands must have
been a huge shock. Indeed, Columbus refused to acknowledge their novelty,
claiming until his death that the lands he had found were part of Asia. It was
not until the completion of Amerigo Vespucci’s voyage to the New World that the
idea of a ‘mundus novas’ (new world) became established. With the realisation
that America represented a new and different land came a new problem. How was
America and her inhabitants to be explained? It is this question that my PhD
hopes to answer.
Explaining the existence of America and millions of
Amerindians was no easy task. To begin with, when constructing an image of the
New World, Englishmen and women relied on accounts of America written by
continental authors and their own Old World knowledge of geography, cosmology
and ethnography. For example, descriptions of America printed in England
compared Americans to the monstrous races that the Roman natural historian
Pliny the Elder had identified whilst journeying around the world in the first
century AD. Europeans also connected the
people and land of America to the biblical account of the dispersal of mankind,
and to Greek legends such as the lost island of Atlantis. Despite this attempt
to assimilate America into the history and belief systems of the Old World, it
is also clear from these early descriptions of the encounter that Europeans
recognised the novelty of the new lands across the Atlantic. English
representations of America were essentially a complicated mix of Old World
tradition and New World experience. By looking at various aspects of Native
American life, such as warfare, clothing and religion, my PhD will trace this
tension between the power of the old and the pull of the new.
Going further
http://ieg-ego.eu/en/threads/backgrounds/european-encounters
Visit European History Online for an introduction to the
European ‘Age of Expansion’.
http://imagesonline.bl.uk/imagemap/?search=Exploration&level=1&cat_id=3&last_cat_id=&page=2
Visit the British Library’s image database to see the various
ways that exploration has been illustrating through history.
http://www.hakluyt.com/
The Hakluyt Society provides information and articles
relating to all aspects of travel, exploration and cultural encounter.
by YPU Blog on January 8, 2015,
. Tags:
history, holocaust, judaism, manchester, memory, museum, poland, Research, and Sociology
Introduction
Hi, I'm Janek and I'm a historian, sort of. I specialise in memory
studies. I research how people remember the past and why the way they imagine
it changes. You could say I write a history of history. After all, what we write
as historians changes the perception of the past the most. You could also say
that what I do is not history at all, that it's sociology or cultural science.
It's very confusing, even for me!
But let’s pretend I'm a historian. After all, I did graduate in
history from Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland. Then, two years ago, I
moved to Manchester to do a PhD here. I do memory studies and, in particular, I
look at how the Holocaust was remembered in my home town, Krakow.
In Depth
But what does it really mean? One of my case studies is an old
Jewish Town in Krakow. For years, it lied
neglected but, in the past couple of decades, it has turned into one of the
most popular and fashionable spots in the City. Think Castlefield. It's like
Castlefield without the canals and with synagogues instead. In my research, I try
to find some traces of Jewish heritage in this now fashionable area. I look at
how the Jewish relics have changed over time and how they have contributed to
making the place so popular.
My other case is the local history museum, like the Imperial War
Museum. The History museum in Krakow has always had an exhibition about Jewish history,
but, only a couple of years ago, it was turned into the most important part of
the museum and its biggest attraction.
How did this happen? What did curators tell us about Jewish history at the
old exhibitions and what do they tell us now? And my favorite set of questions:
Why do we believe them? What do they do to back up the story they tell? How do
they convince us that what they say is important?
The best part of my project is that it can actually make a difference.
People often think that writing about the past is not important for the
present; Scientists change lives, not historians. But with a project like mine
it’s different. I get to talk to museum curators and planners and show them my findings. So there
is a good chance that next time when you go to museum in Krakow
you will see an exhibition with my ideas in it!
Going Further
If you're interested in history museums: http://www.mhk.pl/ or here http://www.iwm.org.uk/.
And if you want to read more about the cool old Jewish District: http://www.krakow.pl/english/22663,artykul,zydowski_krakow.html