If you’ve found a link to my brief questionnaire on Facebook, and wondered who I am and what I’m up to, then maybe I should introduce myself properly?
So … McAulay is my name, but as soon as you speak to me, you’ll realise I’m not Scottish. I’m the only member of our household that isn’t! However, I’ve lived in Glasgow since 1988 – more than half my life.
I do have a connection with Dundee through the Friends of Wighton – I’m Honorary Librarian of the Friends of Wighton, who promote the Wighton Collection in the Central Library. It’s a very old, historical collection of Scottish music publications, and I’m just available in an advisory capacity – I’m not in any way employed by the city of Dundee. I do enjoy this connection with Dundee, though. I have often consulted the old music books since before I even started my PhD, so I appreciate their significance. I’ve written about them, and about Andrew Wighton, who was their original collector.
Since I started my career in a public library – in South Shields on Tyneside, as a music librarian – I rather like having this loosely continued connection with public libraries, too.
I do have another link with Dundee, through my writing. I’ve written both fiction and non-fiction, and the fiction was for D. C. Thomson’s The People’s Friend, during my earlier years in Glasgow. But since getting started on my research, I’ve only really written about music and social history (and occasionally, libraries!).
I’m a research fellow at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow. For most of my career, I was a music librarian at the Conservatoire, but I did a mid-career doctorate at the University of Glasgow, and a few years after getting my PhD, I started being seconded to the Conservatoire’s research department – basically, I split my time between the library and a research desk elsewhere.
Nowadays, I’m just doing the research part of my role – I retired from the library.
My research has always been into Scottish printed music of one kind or another – songs, fiddle music, old music in libraries, publishers who published Scottish music or Scottish publishers who published music.
My most recent research has been into Thomas Nelson’s, the Edinburgh publishers. They published a set of four Scots Song books for school use, and one of the editors was in charge of music in Dundee schools – so not surprisingly, these books were used a fair bit! Anyway, that’s how I got interested in the Leng Scots Song prizes. I’m keen to know what competitors remember of their experiences, and if they continued singing Scottish songs later in life.
I’ve had a great response so far. I’ll start having chats with people soon. But if you would still like to get in touch, it’s not too late. Please just visit this link!
Karen McAulay, Musicologist 