Reminiscence Therapy for the Not-Yet-Old! Silver and Gold Leng Medal Memories, Update No.6

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay
River Clyde

As a librarian, I would occasionally read articles about reminiscence therapy – when you assemble a collection of assorted ‘things from earlier days’, whether books or household objects, as conversation starters for groups of older people. I only worked in public libraries for three years, and I suspect it was before ‘reminiscence therapy’ was a thing; but later, I would read these articles with interest and think what a lovely idea it was. More recently, I’ve read about how people have strong, mostly positive memories of music they enjoyed in their twenties, when life was fresh and exciting and it felt as though they had the world at their feet.

I have never had the opportunity to organise any activities like this – though I did begin to realise last year, that people also seem to enjoy remembering their school music and singing lessons!

As I review my Leng Medal Memories interviews, watching the video recordings and correcting the transcriptions, I realise that my interviewees often thanked me for this opportunity to relive their memories of singing Scots songs for the Leng silver and gold Medal competitions. In turn, I feel privileged to be ‘there’ with them as they open a window into the past, allowing me a glimpse of the children that they were, and the memories that were still with them. I’ve been showed medals, certificates and prize books. We’ve looked at the little Nelson’s Scots Song Books that school children often used. We’ve talked about teachers they remember, songs that they chose or were encouraged to sing, and a whole range of emotions from fear and anxiety, to immense pride.

Annual Leave

I still have a few transcriptions to review, but I have annual leave coming up, so if I do anything with the transcriptions during that time, it will be with coffee and a biscuit beside me, and a determination not to squander my entire ‘holiday’ at my desk! If I don’t use my vacation allocation, I lose it, and that would never, ever do!

I can’t NOT blog for a whole month. Neither can I really blog ahead, setting timers for it to go live, apart from this present posting. I like to think that anyone returning to this blog will always find something new to read, but I never know what I’ll feel inspired to write about!

Anyway, this is my explanation, if there are fewer postings during the month of July: I’m trying to be on holiday!

My Leng Medal Memories research is funded by an Athenaeum Award from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

How to Holiday (Unaccustomed as I am)

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay

As I mentioned, I feel I can’t actually go away on holiday in case I’m called to go down south. So, peacefully minding my own business in Scotland, I thought I’d just aim to do something enjoyable, useful or both, every day of my break.  (My other intention is to sort out my sleeping patterns.)

Monday, we had to wake early, but otherwise I made a good start – we had afternoon tea out.

Tuesday, I aspired to a day beside the sea, but I was thwarted – just one of those things.  But I started sewing a waistcoat, and compiled a list of tradesmen for a much-needed project. Enjoyment and productivity, as you see.

And today? I woke at 5.30 am and couldn’t get back to sleep.

Still, I’ve finished the waistcoat – it didn’t take long.  Pursued the home project a bit further, and rewarded myself by ordering a book.  And then I made a start on the garden.  But it doesn’t exactly feel as though I got the enjoyment-productivity ratio quite right.  I’ll have to do better.

I’ll check tomorrow’s weather forecast first.

A Year as a Research Fellow

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay
River Clyde

It’s a whole year since I retired from librarianship, and started my new contract as a part-time postdoctoral fellow at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Do I miss librarianship? No, I’m afraid I don’t! And am I going to give a step-by-step account of my first year not being a librarian, able to focus entirely on research? No! (I’ve blogged so much about my research that you, dear reader, have already read countless highlights.)

Along with my research, I did a little maternity cover supervising some undergraduate dissertations – that was interesting and enjoyable, and I was proud to see ‘my’ students graduate this week. (Humour me – I’ve never been able to talk about ‘my’ students before, even if it was only for one module.)

And I took up my IASH Heritage postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Edinburgh in January. Originally planned to be for six months, it has been extended over the summer, so I’m certainly not done yet with Thomas Nelson’s educational music publishing activities.

Help me Determine my Prospective Audience?

Indeed, I’m contemplating what exactly I shall do with all the information I’ve gathered – do I write a scholarly article? Keep going and consider a book as research output? And for whom would it be written? Educational historians? Social historians? Musicologists? If you’re any of these categories – or indeed, some other category – say, a historian of publishing – it would be immensely helpful if you could respond via this blog and let me know in what way it would interest you. Any feedback will help me determine my prospective audience. I’d be really grateful.

I have two follow-on ideas which I am going to pursue this summer, along with some more archival research.

But first – I need a holiday!

I’ve saved up the bulk of my annual leave so that I could take the next four weeks off this July. Family concerns mean I’m not able to consider ‘a holiday’ abroad, or indeed staying away anywhere that involves significant outlay, just in case I had to come back hastily – but a break is called for. Last summer – partial retiree or not – I had a book to nurse through to completion, and the Christmas break was a disaster, with everyone around me succumbing to flu. (I didn’t. But I’m really no Florence Nightingale, so it was tough.) Yes, I definitely need a break.

Know When to Take a Break

I should put my research hat aside for the next four weeks. Apart from the ongoing concerns, my sleeping patterns are messed up with the early rising needed for my Edinburgh research days, and I am beset with insufficient sleep, broken nights and weird dreams.

Burning the Candle at both Ends?

When I finally wake in the morning and it’s time to get up, almost my first thought is consumed by whatever I’ve been thinking about the previous day.

But who WAS she?

So, this morning’s question was:- ‘But who WAS she?’ Some sneaky Googling turns into a lengthy trawl of deep and darkly forgotten corners of art and music history to track down the composer of some tunes for early years classes. Until it really is time to do something real (the family laundry). And as I get on with daily chores, the little voice says, ‘No, you know some people she was associated with. And that she was a composer. Isn’t that enough? It isn’t. How did Thomas Nelson the publishers know about her, for a start?’ She’s not a major player in my cast list, but I’m still curious about her. Am I capable of forgetting about her until August? I’m not sure that I am!

Meanwhile…

I need to spend some time researching fun things to do that aren’t research-based!