Poussette, Promenade … and Paratext (again)

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay

I’ve been looking at some of the dance music published by James Kerr and Mozart Allan, to see how much instruction they gave either to the musician, or to the dancers.

Having diligently tabulated my findings onto a spreadsheet – after all, that’s just what I do! – it dawned on me that I’ve been at it again – ignoring the tunes, I’ve homed in on the paratext. In a sense, they were still obsessing about ‘getting it right’ and authenticity, just the same as the song and tune collectors a century earlier.

Just think how much fun I’ll have when I get Mozart Allan’s actual published dancing manual. It’s on its way from the USA at the moment.

Glasgow University’s “Fifth Centenary”

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay
Sandy Tulloch – photo contributed by Rob Howard on Accordions.com

We’ve found a leaflet with three dances composed by Dr A. K. Tulloch for the Students’ Celebrations of Glasgow University Fifth Centenary back in 1951. Yes, I know – dated 9th January 1951, the Commemoration Ball is nine days beyond my research cut-off date of 1950! Still, it was held at the City Chambers, and A. K. Tulloch wrote a jig, strathspey and reel for the occasion.

Jimmy Shand, Accordion demonstrator,
1953 (British Newspaper Archive)

Who was A. K. Tulloch? Sandy (Alexander) Tulloch (1918-2006) was an eye consultant in Dundee. An accordion player, he was a good friend of Jimmy Shand’s. He even named the commemoration reel after him. You can read all about Sandy in the Box and Fiddle Archive, which has a page based on an interview with him in 1988, and an obituary from 2006. (I was all set to share one of the tunes, but it’s still in copyright, so I’ll respect that!)

But although it makes sense that the jig would be called (or dedicated to) Glasgow’s patron Saint, St Mungo – and I’ve already mentioned the reel named for Jimmy Shand – I haven’t personally come across the name of Peter Dewar was, for whom the strathspey is named. He may have had a Glasgow significance, maybe even a University connection, or a person particularly important to the student body.

We’re notifiying the University Library of our find – so really, I could put it aside now – but I was curious, so I went on searching. There’s information about the quincentenary on Archives Hub, but no immediate reference to the ball in the City Chambers. This doesn’t mean to say the archival materials themselves don’t hold anything relevant, but Archives Hub only indexes what documents are there and maybe a rough idea of what they’re about.

There are also a few newspaper announcements in the British Newspaper Archive.

Looking up Dr Tulloch, however, is far more interesting. A couple of years later, In 1953, he wrote to the Dundee Courier in defence of accordions. Bravo, Sandy!

https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/ Dundee Courier 28 Sept 1953

And a couple of weeks later, he wrote to the paper again – clearly the argument had continued to rage. But Sandy wasn’t going to let it drop! Indeed, we do still play accordions, but they’re perhaps not quite as fashionable as they were in their heyday.

British Newspaper Archive. Same newspaper, Saturday 10th October 1953

Courier and Advertiser obituary, Tues 24 Jan 2006,
via Dundee Local Studies Library. Some of the music he owned is now in Dundee’s Wighton Collection.

Royal Historical Society

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay

I must share the excitement – I’ve been elected a member of the Royal Historical Society! It’s an honour, and I’m proud to be a musicologist considered worthy for election. So much is happening these days with regard to how history is viewed by various sectors of society – I feel it is important to be part of the informed conversation.

Sharing details of a cataloguing vacancy

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay

Remember, my project into Stationers’ Hall copyright music included the erstwhile library of Sion College?

Anything surviving in that library went to Lambeth Palace, which now has a splendid new library building. Well, I have just seen this advert for a cataloguer posted. Knowing how little music is there, it’s a job for a rare books cataloguer really, but I can’t NOT share details, since I feel a tenuous connection with the library through our research project! AND if you scroll down, there’s another digital job, too …

Here goes – and good luck! :-

Project Cataloguer (Sion College Library) Lambeth Palace Library

Fixed term (two years) £26,954 p.a. rising to £28,983 p.a. after probation

Lambeth Palace Library, founded in 1610, is the historic library and record office of the Archbishop of Canterbury. Following the merger with the Church of England Record Centre in 2020 it is now the principal repository for the archives not only of the Archbishop of Canterbury but also of the National Church Institutions in London.

We are looking for a new team member to support the vision and mission of the Library by describing, developing, interpreting and promoting the Library’s collections for the benefit of readers, particularly the pre-1850 printed collections of Sion College Library (founded 1629).

Using your previous experience of cataloguing printed material and your understanding of cataloguing standards, you will create high-quality catalogue records for early printed books and other printed material, to agreed targets and standards.

Engaging with our readers and researchers, you will promote the use of the collections, answering enquiries and participating in outreach and engagement activities to support the Library’s vision to be accessible to all.

This post is offered on a fixed term contract expected to last for two years. Interviews are expected to be held on Tuesday 31st August 2021.For further details and to apply, please visit: https://pathways.churchofengland.org/…/project…. Informal enquiries may be made to archives@churchofengland.org.

Digital Officer, Lambeth Palace Library. Secondment/fixed-term contract until August 2022

Salary: £26,954 rising to £28,983 per year after probation (pro rata)

This is an excellent opportunity to join Lambeth Palace Library, the National Library and Archive of the Church of England. The post is offered on a secondment/fixed-term contract expected to last until the beginning of August 2022.

You will provide copies of manuscript, archive and printed materials in digital formats for users of the Library and for outreach and preservation purposes and administer the service on a day-to-day basis, keeping accurate records of orders and payments. You will also maintain the digital image bank, storing new images with standard metadata according to agreed procedures.

To be successful, you will need ability and experience in digital photography as well as strong customer service and IT skills. We’re also looking for someone who is able to prioritise, and work accurately and methodically, handling material with due care for preservation and security.

This is a part-time role, working 21 hours per week.

To arrange an informal discussion about the role, please contact krzysztof.adamiec@churchofengland.org

Interviews will be held the week commencing 6th September 2021. For further details and to apply, please visit: https://pathways.churchofengland.org/job/pathways/2579/digital-officer

A Gift for a Musical Friend? Or a Disappointment!

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay
Lochnagar

My lovely new book sits on the piano looking, frankly, grand. Diagonal tartan paper on top of cloth-bound covers, the red cloth spine and corners peeping out tantalisingly, and a gold-embossed title. It does indeed look like the advertisement’s promise of being a great gift for a music-loving friend.

I have my own set of questions that I always ask when I open a new book of Scottish songs, and I’ll apply the same tests to “Morven” as I would any other book. But first, I played a couple of tunes from “Morven” this evening. My heart sank. Then Himself called through to me, “What on earth’s THAT you’re playing?” And with reason! The arrangements aren’t bad, technically, but they’re unbelievably prosaic. To be fair, they aren’t too demanding, so they’re accessible at least.

Listen to the introduction of Oh for the bloom of my own native heather, and you’ll see what I mean:- https://soundcloud.com/karen…/oh-for-the-bloom-of-my-own

My next step is to see how long Mozart Allan went on advertising it! It was first published in the 1890s, and my advertising leaflet with ‘An ideal gift for your musical friend’ is from the mid 1920s – but it would appear my copy of the vocal score was owned by someone in 1951. It’s in good condition, so perhaps it WAS still being sold then. (The address could place it anywhere between the late 1920s and the mid 1960s.)

I’m just a little bit sorry for all those countless musical friends who, nearly a century ago, eagerly opened their new book of Scottish songs, and found a batch of well-known songs in plain, unimaginative settings! You know that feeling?

A Word to the Wise

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay

I needed to buy some music for church this weekend. And to console myself (because it wasn’t really my favourite kind of music), I ordered some old Mozart Allan music too.

  1. If ordering from Amazon, note that they may not tell you something is for “easy piano”. To avoid receiving insufficient notes, look VERY CAREFULLY at the photo of the book. Hal Leonard seem to put “EASY PIANO” in very small print at the top of the cover. Two of my purchases have had to return to Amazon.
  2. If ordering from Abe, be very careful to check that what you’re ordering actually IS music, or you’ll get No Notes At All. You didn’t know Mozart Allan produced word-books? Well, actually, I was aware of this. And now I have another one!
  3. Maybe you have absolutely no interest in where secondhand music came from, but as a point of interest, my Mozart Allan word book came super speedily from Derry, whilst another publication is going to come all the way from Canada. Considering it’s a promotional publication, that’s a fair indication that Mozart Allan advertised pretty widely, isn’t it?!

Weekends are Dangerous

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay

There’s going to be a lot of activity at my front door in the next few days. I confess I had a spending spree. First, I ordered new, not-terribly-exciting organ music (needs must, but not my own taste!) … and then I had to console myself with some old Mozart Allan scores. Ironically, I won’t be playing a couple of them publicly, but I feel I can’t write about delicate, topical issues without seeing these old scores for myself. Not out of any remote sense of liking them, but because it wouldn’t be right to address the issues without knowing exactly what the publications are like. No second-hand, reported commentary for me.

To counterbalance those, I ordered some Scottish piano tunes and an advertising brochure which has to come all the way from Canada. These will give me considerable pleasure!

When Less is More (Blog to Book)

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay

Returning visitors to these pages may find the content thinner than it used to be. Now that I’m working on my next book, I want my best content to be honed to perfection and triple-checked before I commit it to print. Rather than leave extended writings – which I posted as ‘work in progress’ – sitting on the internet, I’ve pruned what is here. In general, I continue to research the topics I posted here (Scottish music publishers James Kerr, Mozart Allan and many others, and interrogations of cultural issues), and any new details or dates which I didn’t know at the time of blogging, could potentially change what I originally wrote. And also, of course, I want readers of the book to be surprised and delighted by new insights that no-one knew before!

  • A textile interpretation of the Merry Melodies logo
    Collection of Merry Melodies

I shall continue to blog, of course. How could I not? I have so many ideas buzzing round my head that it’s hard keeping them all to myself!

Chasing Research Grants

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay

Also posted on Facebook, 26 May 2021

Hello again, dear followers! I’ve heard of a research grant that I am eligible to apply for. It’ll receive applications from many researchers, so I haven’t got a particularly strong chance of succeeding, but it would be nice to get a research grant to help me get on with writing my book, so … I shall have to see what’s involved in making an application!

I thought I’d share my current plans for the book. So far, I’ve written some of the introduction, and most of the first chapter.

This is the shape of the thing:-

  • 1. Cheap music for all: James S. Kerr and Mozart Allan (history)
  • 2. Enduring Kerr and Mozart Allan titles, what was in them and why they were so successful.
  • 3. Organisations (Glasgow and Scotland-wide) concerned with music making and with promoting Scottish music
  • 4. Educational connections
  • 5. Educationalists and how they fit into the scene
  • 6. Overseas.
  • 7. Spin-offs and tie-ins
  • 8. Publishing “classical” music in Scotland
  • 9. Domestic music-making in Glasgow

Considering how long it has taken just to get the first chunk written, you see what I have got ahead of me. Some chapters will be longer than others, and some of these topics may get merged. Who knows?!

(The image here is from Glasgow Museums Collection:- collections.GlasgowMuseums.com)