GRADUATE STUDY DAY
Lecture Room,
Department of Music
10:00-3:30, Friday 18th May 2007
10:00-1:00
Presentations from students on the MA
Psychology of Music
1:00-1:30
LUNCH (free to those who register in
advance)
1:30 Tim Byron, School of Psychology and MARCS
Auditory Laboratories, Sydney, Australia:
The Role of Temporal Information In
Memory For Melodies
2:00 Nick Morgan, Sheffield University & British Library
Concordat CHARM Student: ‘That d**ned
elusive gramophile: who was buying
chamber music in the 1920s?’
2:30 Gary O’Shea, University of Sheffield: How did
location affect Prokofiev’s output?
3:00 Tom Owen, University of Sheffield: How I wrote No
Eggs: The Conflict of Musical and
Dramatic Dialogue in a Contemporary
Opera
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Graduate Study Day Friday 18th May 2007
ABSTRACTS
The Role of Temporal Information In Memory For Melodies.
Tim Byron, School of Psychology and MARCS Auditory Laboratories University of
Western Sydney, Australia
Memory for melodies has usually been understood in terms of melodic contour, the rise
and fall of pitch, and tonal information. However, we present two experiments which
show that theories of memory for melodies must also incorporate temporal information.
In both experiments, participants with less than 2 years of musical training completed an
immediate serial recognition task, in which they were required to detect small temporal
alterations in folk melodies of long and short lengths. Altered melodies had one note
which was lengthened by either one beat or by a non-metric percentage of a beat. In
Experiment 1, the second melody in a pair was transposed by key, while in experiment 2,
the second melody in a pair was transposed by tempo. Results are considered within the
frameworks of theories of melodic contour and dynamic attending.
That d**ned elusive gramophile: who was buying chamber music in the 1920s?
Nick Morgan, Sheffield University & British Library Concordat CHARM Student
Anyone studying patterns of consumption in the early 20th Century faces a problem:
finding the consumers themselves. Sales figures were not gathered or have been lost;
market research had not been invented (the pioneering firm of A.C. Nielsen was founded
only in 1923); and consumers’ personal details and preferences were mostly not recorded
and are hard to find. The National Gramophonic Society offers a rare opportunity to
eavesdrop on the tastes and habits of a new class of consumer in early 20th Century
Britain. Founded by Compton Mackenzie in 1924, soon after his magazine The
Gramophone, the NGS was active until 1931 as a not-for-profit, subscription record label,
issuing limited editions of chamber music, from Mozart to Schoenberg, then thought
unlikely to be recorded commercially. Its membership lists have not been recovered (yet)
but, because The Gramophone was the Society’s house organ, its pages act as a
mouthpiece for the people who made and bought the NGS’s records and contain many
personal details about them, painting a rich portrait of the social, commercial and
aesthetic worlds of these early ‘gramophiles’.
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Graduate Study Day Friday 18th May 2007
How did location affect Prokofiev’s output?
Gary O’Shea, University of Sheffield
My thesis deals with the question, ‘how did location affect Prokofiev’s output?’ The
paper, given the restrictions of the twenty-minute time limit, will give a detailed view of
the first part of my thesis. The research I have focused on so far focuses on Prokofiev’s
early period (1891-1923); his birth at Sontsovka, childhood influences, the move to St.
Petersburg and the exposure to new musical personalities and experiences.
The paper will discuss this research and look at how the factors of living in the
remoteness of the Sontsovkan estate, compared to Prokofiev’s scholarship at the St.
Petersburg Conservatoire and his graduation as a ‘free artist’, influenced Prokofiev’s
early compositions. Furthermore, the paper will look at the repertory Prokofiev was
exposed to whilst under the prowess of Reinhold Glière, along with the composer’s
affiliation to such figures as Rimsky-Korsakov, Alexander Glazunov and Anatol Liadov.
Finally, the paper will examine the change in the social and cultural aspects connected
with the move to St. Petersburg and suggest how the composer’s music was affected.
How I wrote No Eggs: The Conflict of Musical and Dramatic Dialogue in a
Contemporary Opera
Tom Owen, University of Sheffield
I propose to discuss a complete scene from my forthcoming opera, using it to demonstrate
the prevailing ideas behind my portfolio, in particular the resolution of the conflict
between the traditional dramatic approach and the complex musical approach. I will also
explain and justify the prevailing idiosyncrasies of my style, such as irrational time
signatures. I will discuss my influences and hope to show that they have been
amalgamated in to a highly original complete end product.
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