When the flame dies

When the flame dies Composer - Ed Hughes Librettist - Roger Morris Video - Will Reynolds & Poppy Burton-Morgan With the voices of Andrew McIntosh (baritone); Lucy Williams (mezzo); Peter Kirk (tenor); Emily Phillips (soprano); Ben Williamson (counter-tenor); also video artist Loren O'Dair. Ensemble - The New Music Players Advisers: Tim Hopkins and David Chandler (Professor of Photography, University of Plymouth). Duration: 70 minutes The unnamed Poet, protagonist of the drama, dreams of the Underworld where he meets the characters of his past and his imagination. He must choose between love and creativity. This new opera is being worked on during Autumn 2011 and Spring 2012 towards a full scoring for a cast of five singers and ensemble (The New Music Players) with live electronics. A public presentation is planned for 2013. The project will explore the use of specially created video, combining newly conceived material with archive stills and film footage, in order to devise new textures in the concert performance of opera, and to find fresh ways of contextualising works with historical and mythical resonances in performance

Against that time: three songs to sonnets by Shakespeare

"Against That Time... Against My Love" is a song cycle comprising three related settings of Shakespeare sonnets (numbers 49, 63 and 126). The sonnets are drawn from a collection of 154 of William Shakespeare's poems on love, beauty and mortality, first published together in 1609. The song cycle was specially commissioned for the combination of mezzo, viola and piano - a combination in which I developed the viola as an intermediary between lyric mezzo and piano, thus expanding ensemble writing in the song genre. The three sonnets chosen for this sequence meditate particularly on the effect of time upon the appearance of the beloved. In sonnet 49, the poet anticipates the withering of love and being eventually spurned by the beloved. Against that time when thou shalt strangely pass And scarcely greet me Sonnet 63 strikingly notes that although time will ravage youth, it will not be able to efface the memory of beauty: confounding age's cruel knife, That he shall never cut from memory My sweet love's beauty Sonnet 149 is thought to be the close of the group of sonnets addressed to the youth, whose beauty is still celebrated even as he ages. There is a hint that he cannot be protected from the ravages of time indefinitely. She (Nature) may detain, but still not keep, her treasure In setting these lines, I let their rhythms permeate the melodic writing for the singer. The viola and piano act as a kind of echo chamber for the poet's very direct and intimate thoughts. The poems seem modern in attitude and perceptions; the music's harmonies, though often tonally clear, are occasionally fractured and in tension, like the many images in these poignant texts. Against That Time... Against My Love was commissioned by Lake District Summer Music 2014 and first performed by Kathryn Rudge (mezzo-soprano), Garfield Jackson (viola) and Duncan Glenday (piano) at Ambleside Parish Church on Tuesday 5 August 2014. Ed Hughes 2014

Flint

Flint, for strings, was commissioned by Maeve Jenkinson and The Corelli Ensemble with support from the RVW Trust. The work is in three movements and lasts approximately 11 minutes. The outer movements are fast with a focus on a solo role for the lead violin in the final movement. The inner movement is slower, gentler and more contemplative. Flint is a musical response to a place I know well - the Sussex Downs. Flint, for me, evokes the Sussex landscape, with its undulating chalk downs and sudden cuts and verticals, whether at a quarry, or at locations where the land suddenly meets the sea. Walking the Sussex Downs is a reminder that place shapes human experience over time and vice versa - from flint arrow heads to flint walls, this is a place that would not look as it does if people hadn't farmed it for millennia. Flint reflects some of the 'abstract' qualities of landscape (for example in gradually unfolding musical lines, or sudden contrasts, as in the fast first movement) as well as something of the experience of people who live in it - in the form of a Sussex folk song 'collected' and arranged by George Butterworth in 1912, which inspired the middle (slow) movement, and also permeates the textures of the third and final fast movement. Flint is especially about the experience of the South Downs surrounding the town of Lewes. Walking on the chalky paths gives you exhilarating views of smooth, silky, gliding downland, formed of earth, chalk and flint. Flint seems to be everywhere in the walls of Sussex and of course was a very early tool, as the archaeological digs by Peacehaven playground have shown. So this piece is about walking in a landscape and thinking about its culture. Movement 1 begins with bubbling energy and whirling repeated patterns. The textures are earthy and granular but there is also an ecstatic and soaring aspect to the top lines. The first violin is like a bird hovering, suddenly diving and then flying high. The softer sections are like watching clouds scudding past. Sharp cuts in the cliff chalk are figured in the sharp shifts in harmony, texture and flow. Chromatic melody sometimes mixes with soft modal tunes. Like the sharp cuts of flint in the predominantly smooth and flowing landscape. Movement 2 is where the song collected by Butterworth comes to the surface in a slow, contemplative reading. Though the harmony is gentle, the musical material ebbs, flows and drifts like different naturally occurring systems in counterpoint. This means that although the song is on the surface, it is also heard in various transpositions and at various speeds, in a way that might be compared to geological strata suddenly revealed in the cliff where land meets the sea. Movement 3 recovers the dynamism of movement 1 but this time with an extra focus on the contrast between solo (violin 1) and the ensemble. The solo violin 1 stands out with its very high notes and also a sustained passage in which it creates a kind of descant in very fast notes flying over the earthy ensemble below. Below the solo descant, the ensemble again intones melodies formed out of the song from movement 2, softly layered to produce a slightly amorphous string texture. This moment once more touches on the underpinning tune which generates the harmonies and therefore defines the 'journey' of the whole piece

A Review of Southern Folkways Journal

A collection of articles on Bulloch County geography. Titles: “The Origins of Bulloch County, Georgia Post Office Names” by Delma Presley and Daniel Good “Introduction to Southern Rivers” by R. Randall Goss “Timber to the Sea - Project RAFT: Restoring Altamaha Folklife Traditions” by Kemp Mabry “John and William Bartram: Early Botanical Explorers in Georgia” by George A. Rogers and Betty Rogers “The Town Founded Because of a Curse” by Maria Neder Douglas “Some Notes on Franklinia Altamaha Bartram Ex Marshall (THEACEAE): The Lost Gordonia” by John R. Bozeman, George A. Rogers, and Betty Rogers “Book Review Plus: With Their Ears Pricked Forward: Tales of Mules I’ve Known” by Joshua A. Lee, reviewed by Bob Hugheshttps://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/bchs-pubs/1003/thumbnail.jp

Functional Wood

Design has been recognized as a key discipline to bring ideas to the market. In addition to current research on human perceptions and the functional capacities of wood, this publication demonstrates the potential of wood in various applications. The designs are the results of three design courses, implemented during 2015 and 2016 at Aalto University in Finland. The Masters student courses included two Wood Studios at Aalto University’s School of Arts, Design and Architecture and the Integrated Interior Wooden Surfaces course at the School of Chemical Technology at Aalto University. The students that participated in these courses have backgrounds in architecture, design and forest products technology. This book is an outcome of Work Package 5, WoodWisdom-NET project Wood2New (2014-2017), in collaboration with project Wood Life (Aalto Energy Efficiency Research Programme, 2013-2017). We hope you enjoy our product and become inspired

Designing dynamic networked scores to enhance the experience of ensemble music making

This paper describes the impetus for, and design and evaluation of, a pilot project examining the potential for digital, dynamic networked scores to enhance the experience of ensemble music making. We present a new networked score presentation system, and describe how it has evolved through a participatory design approach with a primary school orchestra and through one-off sessions with several other ensembles. The design process has highlighted key issues concerning synchronisation between conductor, performers and notation, and autonomy and adaptation for performers. These key points are discussed and we show indicative feedback from users of the system along with future plans for the projec

The Wiley Handbook of Diversity in Special Education

The Wiley Handbook of Diversity in Special Education is a state-of-the-art reference showcasing cutting-edge special education research with a focus on children and youth with disabilities from diverse cultural, ethnic, linguistic, and economic backgrounds. Cutting-edge special education research focusing on children and youth with disabilities from diverse cultural, ethnic, linguistic, and economic backgrounds An authoritative contribution to the field, this work charts a new path to effective interventions and sets an agenda for future research Addresses disabilities from an international perspectivehttps://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/spedfacbooks/1001/thumbnail.jp

The effects of weight and physical activity change over 20 years on later-life objective and self-reported disability.

Weight and health behaviours are known to affect physical disability; however the evidence exploring the impact of changes to these lifestyle factors over the life course on disability is inconsistent. We aimed to explore the roles of weight and activity change between mid and later life on physical disability

Psychological benefits of networking technologies in children’s experience of ensemble music making

Little is currently known about the possible benefits of using networked technology to enhance ensemble performance. This study explored whether the introduction of specially devised technology – networked tablets using traditional music notation – to a primary school orchestra would enhance the experience of ensemble music. Particular emphasis was placed on how the technology could help children to overcome practical problems associated with ensemble playing for early stage musicians (e.g., keeping in sync with other players), thereby leading to better engagement with the music and ultimately greater enjoyment. Findings from a thematic analysis of responses from a focus group with 8 young orchestra players aged 9-11 years and from an interview with the orchestra conductor, together with indications from the statistical analysis of 28 orchestra participants’ questionnaire responses, suggest that the technology did help to reduce the practical problems associated with ensemble playing. This appeared to interrupt the downward spiral of frustration and lack of confidence in playing for some young people, and enhanced the likelihood of feelings of enjoyment and belonging