Home from Stirling – after the Conference

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay
Stirling University Campus - photo from Pixabay

Conference: Reading and Book Circulation, 1600-1800

I am just back from a fabulous library history conference at the University of Stirling. Even better still, I was the lucky recipient of a generous bursary from the CILIP Library History & Information Group, meaning my attendance was fully funded.

I had many pages of notes to read through and reflect upon before I wrote my report – so many excellent papers to think about. My AHRC networking grant not so long ago was about music in libraries ca.1790-1836, and although I’m currently writing about more recent music publications, it was very interesting to see what else was happening whilst “my” legal deposit library music was being accumulated in libraries in England, Ireland and Scotland.

‘Claimed from Stationers’ Hall’ frock makes a comeback for the conference!

And of course, there was the networking. After the pandemic, lockdown, working from home, hybrid working and so on, it was quite a treat to be able to spend time with kindred spirits for two whole days!

My report will appear in the LIHG Newsletter in June 2023 – it’ll appear online on the LIHG pages hosted by CILIP. This might mean that only members can read it, but maybe I can write a summary of it to share here, once the whole report has gone live.

Image of Stirling University Campus by 昕 沈 from Pixabay

I’m very HiPP today [Historically-informed Performance Practice]

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay
Picture of old music - arrangements of Scottish songs

You can tell when I’m using avoidance tactics on a writing day! But the pictures I’m about to share with you come from an old instrumental Scottish song medley, and it was in the pile of papers that simply had to be sorted out. It’s a library copy, so I can’t actually keep it – I thought I’d take a few snaps just to remind myself what it’s like.

THE HIGHLAND WREATH

Expressly for AMATEURS

It comes from a series of 48 medleys published by arranger Carl Volti for the London firm, Ascherberg, Hopwood and Crew. This is a series ‘arranged expressly for AMATEURS‘. Oh, what almost limitless fun the great-great aunties and uncles would’ve had, considering each contained at least four different ‘Scotch Airs’! Volti had other arrangements published by Scottish music publishers – but he clearly wasn’t prepared to limit himself to Scotland!

HiPP

Historically-informed performance practice is very much a buzz-word in music conservatoire circles. The more closely I looked at this piece of music, the more little hints I gleaned about the expectations around its performance.

  • Instrumentation – violin and piano, but also available with parts for a second violin, viola, cello, flute, ‘clarionet’ (no oboe, just clarinet), and cornet.
  • Intended for amateurs. The front cover quotes an approving review in the Musical Times, highlighting the suitability for amateur players of moderate ability. (I couldn’t find the review in JSTOR – this frustrates me, but it’s not hugely important.)
  • Instructions for simulating a bagpipe drone on a violin: ‘By lowering the D string four notes (to A) and bowing on two strings at the same time, a good imitation of the bagpipes can be produced.’
  • Indications where a violin solo appears, and at another point there’s an optional clarinet solo.
  • Some double-stopping for the fiddle
  • Instruction to play one section piano on the first time round, and forte when it’s repeated.
Music score with violin solo indicated
Violin solo
Bagpipe ‘drones’ at the ready!

Gratitude

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay
A bowl of tulips at church

It goes against my principles to pay for private medical treatment, but when I developed a trigger thumb late last November, it didn’t take long to work out that if I didn’t do something about it, I’d be looking at sick-leave from organ-playing, and a car immobile out in the street. The NHS waiting list was long – it didn’t look promising. Within a couple of months, it was taking more than two hours before I could bend my thumb in the morning, and if I accidentally had a nap in front of the telly at night, my thumb was locked solid until the next morning. I was lucky enough to find private surgery which I could afford, locally, and the operation was early in February.

Today, I played Widor’s Toccata for the Easter Sunday service at the church where I’m organist. Needless to say, I’m very grateful to the surgeon who fixed my thumb, and even more grateful that it was probably one of the cheapest surgeries that he performs. (As I sat in the waiting-room, my eyes widened at the video showing procedures that were available – and their cost. Yikes! I was astonished at what some folk choose to do to themselves in the name of beauty.)

I still think it’s wrong that I was forced to go private. The under-funding of the NHS has had far worse impact on so many people, but this was my first experience of not being able to get the treatment I needed, when I needed it. But hey, I’m very grateful for the private surgeon’s skill, and there’s also a church that was spared my prolonged absence. They’ll be grateful too!

I won a Bursary!

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay

Exciting news. Thanks to CILIP’s Library and Information History Group, I shall be attending a fascinating conference in Stirling soon!

Books and Borrowing 1750-1830.

The conference is 17-18 April in Stirling, and the programme for ‘Reading and Book Circulation, 1650-1850’ is on their Events page:- borrowing.stir.ac.uk/events/

My interest in this topic

It’s of special interest to me because of my work on music borrowing at the University of St Andrews in the days of the old Copyright Libraries: I examined the borrowing habits of two particular women, Miss Elizabeth Lambert and Mrs Bertram, and contemplated the changing readership over the three and a half decades under examination. This work led into my successful application as Principal Investigator of an AHRC postdoctoral research network, the Claimed From Stationers’ Hall network (2017-2018) investigating music surviving from legal deposit in the old copyright libraries.

First Ketelbey Fellowship at University of St Andrews

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay

Here’s the big news I’ve been bursting to share! During Autumn 2023, I’m to be the first holder of the honorary Ketelbey research Fellowship in Late Modern History, in the University of St Andrews’ School of History. I’ll be there on Wednesdays and Thursdays for one semester, continuing to research and think about Scottish music publishers and other related topics, and enjoying the experience of being a research fellow in a very highly-rated university history department. St Andrews was rated the top UK university in the Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide last September, and the School of History came top in both the Times and Sunday Times rating, and the Guardian University Guide 2023 – so I’m dead chuffed! I’m an academic librarian and musicologist – I guess this means I can call myself halfway to being a historian, too.

The Fellowship is named after Doris Ketelbey (1896-1990), who was the first female academic in the School of History; a respected author; and had a phenomenal career for a woman of her times. Aileen Fyfe has written a blog post about her, which you can read here:-

Doris Ketelbey, 1896-1990 (in the series, ‘Women Historians of St Andrews’) by Aileen Fyfe

Interestingly, Ketelbey taught at St Leonard’s School at one point. A few years ago, I wrote a blogpost for the EAERN Network about about the very first owner of a private school in the same premises, in the early 19th century: Mrs Bertram’s Music Borrowing. But the St Leonard’s that Ketelbey taught at would have been a more sophisticated institution than Mrs Bertram’s doubtlessly estimable establishment!

– and yes, she was the sister of composer Albert Ketelbey, who wrote an enormous quantity of lighter music and songs. I bet he was proud of his determined, high-achieving sister!

News: Review of Scottish Culture

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay

I’m honoured to be part of the Editorial Board on the re-launching ‘Review of Scottish Culture’.  Exciting times!

I’ll share the link to the revamped website as soon as I can.

The Review of Scottish Culture emanates from the University of Edinburgh’s School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures – Celtic & Scottish Studies department.

Friday Frivolity: a Lassie in a Kilt

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay

In the 1900s, touring Scottish singer/entertainers turned up all over the world with their songs and anecdotes, and often wore the kilt. Men AND women, that is.

Overseas, this spelled ‘Scottish Highlands’, even if the singer was actually a Lowlander.

At home, opinions on women wearing short kilts were less polite. Like this:-

“Man, she’s a bit bonnie lassie, and has a gude pipe [= good voice]; but to see her puir porritch-sticks o’ legs keekin’ out below the kilt …’ [= her poor porridge-stirrer sticks of legs peeping out below the kilt] And here a spontaneous and hilarious burst of laughter completed the sentence.

Southern Reporter newspaper, 1911

Aye, right!

How to End a Book

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay

This is not a spoiler alert! I haven’t finished yet; I’m just about at the end of Chapter 5, with two further chapters to go. I’m not about to reveal how it ends, either, because (a) I don’t want to spoil it for you and (b) what if the closing chapters end up in a different overall order?

Two cartoon characters hold jigsaw pieces which will complete the puzzle.
Image by Alexa from Pixabay

I’m thinking about structure, really. When you’re writing about a subject that had a rise, a heyday and a decline, it’s going to be hard to end on a high. I’ve been pondering about which order to place the last three chapters in the book, and it came down to this:-

Option 1: Up-Down-Up (and Down)

  • Antepenultimate chapter: Hey look, they also did this!
  • Penultimate chapter: But they missed a trick here.
  • Ultimate chapter: Even though they also did THIS (and I find it so exciting), their heyday was over.

Option 2: Up-Up still Higher but Peaking – Down

  • Antepenultimate chapter: Hey look, they also did this!
  • Penultimate chapter: AND they engaged with this! It’s really exciting, but perhaps the writing was on the wall.
  • Ultimate chapter: And they didn’t do this. Would it have made a difference? Possibly not, in view of the wider context.

My instinctive feeling is that the Rise-Fall curve of the second option is going to be more satisfying for the reader. Indeed, as I was writing this post, I stumbled across a website about ‘story arcs’, with six different arc shapes being outlined. Admittedly, we’re only talking about my last three chapters, and I’m writing non-fiction, not a story with a plot. (In a previous existence, I wrote and published over thirty short stories, so I do have an interest in the genre, in a retrospective kind of way. But that’s irrelevant today.) Nonetheless, if we’re thinking about arcs, then …

My first option isn’t even described, so it can’t be a recommended option! Let’s call it the Tennis Ball Bounce. On the other hand, my second option is a classic ‘Icarus / Freytag’s Pyramid (rise then fall)’ arc.

https://thewritepractice.com/story-arcs/ (Joe Bunting, ‘Story Arcs: Definitions and Examples of the 6 Shapes of Stories’

I think I’ve convinced myself. Option 2 it is! Watch this space.

Do You Own This Songbook?

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay
Song Gems (Scots) front cover
Song Gems (Scots) whole cover

If you’ve visited this blog before, you’ll know I’m writing a history book about Scottish music publishers. (58,000 words and rising!) But I’ve reached a point where I’m writing about a book COMPILED by Scots, PUBLISHED in England, but also DISTRIBUTED from Edinburgh and Boston, Massachusetts.

I know a lot about the anthology (as I should – I’m writing about it!), but I’m curious about its life in the Scottish diaspora – in other words, anywhere else in the world where Scots emigrated.

The Boston agent of the book was Thomas J. Donlan. His address was Room 831, Colonial Building, 100 Boylston Street, Boston. He moved to New York some time between 1910-1915.

Song gems (Scots) : the Dunedin collection

Authors: James Wood, Learmont Drydsdale

Print Book, English, 

Publisher: Vincent Music Co, London, 1908

WorldCat bibliographical details

Now, I know from WorldCat and Jisc Library Hub Discover, that there aren’t many copies in libraries. My interest is more to see if there are many copies out ‘in the wild’ in people’s homes, and obviously it would be nice to discover that Mr Donlan imported and distributed lots of them. It was more of an ‘art music’ book than a book of simple folk melodies. The repertoire is non-standard. You’d probably have owned a piano, and been quite a good pianist – or had a good pianist to accompany your singing.

I’m not looking to buy copies – my own came from a dealer under 40 miles from Boston, and I don’t need another! I’m not a bookseller. I am literally just curious to find out if there are many survivors hiding in piano stools and under-stair cupboards. If you’ve got a copy, I’d love to hear from you!

Maybe you haven’t got this book, but you know more about Donlan the agent? If you are aware of archival data, please do let me know. My book is about Scottish publishing, but there’s room for a paragraph or two about the American distributor, if more information came to light. (I’ve already discovered that Colonial Building also housed the Colonial Theatre, and that there were a lot of music shops along the street – indeed, I know which organisation occupied room 831 after Donlan, and that’s another fascinating story, but really I can’t pursue that – it has nothing to do with Scottish music publishing!)

POSTSCRIPT, July 2024. This song-book is the subject of a chapter that I have contributed to an essay collection published by Lang, that is due out later this year.  It also gets mentioned in my own forthcoming monograph, again due out later this year. Do follow this blog if you want to keep updated!

Haunted by Alexander Campbell!

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay

I wrote extensively about Scottish song-collector Alexander Campbell and his early 19th century Albyn’s Anthology collections, in my PhD. And my subsequent monograph. I’ve talked about him (a lot), and during the pandemic, I contributed a chapter to Steve Roud and David Atkinson’s essay collection, Thirsty Work and other Legacies of Folk Song (London: The Ballad Partners, 2022). So it’s gratifying to read a nice review of the essay collection in the April-May 2023 issue (no.324) of London Folk.

Campbell feels like a distinct ‘blast from the past’, after I’ve spent the past three or four years mainly thinking about more recent song collections. But I’m very pleased that other people seem to share my interest in this fascinating man!