...from Romantic Opera to the Sonic Archaeology of urban sites...

WIRED; Paul Newland; The Spitz

Music at Oxford Brookes provides a vibrant environment for research in Historical Musicology, Popular Music Studies, Composition and Sonic Art. The Research Assessment Exercise (RAE2008) identified world leading research in Opera and Operatic Studies; Popular Music; and the interdisciplinary territory of Sonic Art. Recent research funding successes include the award of an AHRC Fellowship in the Creative and Performing Arts for Sound Artist Max Eastley.

Staff research interests range from music in sixteenth-century nunneries to the work of Radiohead, and from C19th and C20th Opera to the Sonic  Archaeology of urban sites. These interests are supported by the three research units situated in Music: 

• OBERTO (Oxford Brookes: Exploring Research Trends in Opera).
• PMRU (Popular Music Research Unit).
• SARU (Sonic Art Research Unit). 

You can find out about PhD study in these areas here.

Staff in the Department have an ongoing program of publications. Recent publications by the musicologists include:

• Barbara Eichner's chapter "Musizieren und Komponieren in süddeutschen Frauen und Männerklöstern. Bedingungen und Begrenzungen", in Das Kloster. Ort kulturellen Handelns von Frauen in der frühen Neuzeit, ed. Susanne Rode-Breymann (Böhlau, 2009).
• Dai Griffiths’ Elvis Costello (Equinox; 2007).
• Alexandra Wilson's Lewis Lockwood Award winning (AMS) The Puccini Problem: Opera, Nationalism, and Modernity (CUP; 2007);

Researchers in Composition and Sonic Art have been joined by AHRC Fellow Max Eastley who will be exploring Aeolian Devices during his three-year Fellowship; whilst the Sonic Art Research Unit's project Wired has been released by NMC; featured at the Sound and Music Cutting Edge Series and on BBC Radio 3. Recent publications by staff engaged in Composition and Sonic Art include:

• Paul Dibley's Organ Grinder developed in collaboration with flautist Jos Zwaanenberg was performed at STEIM in Amsterdam (2010);
• Paradigm Discs have just released a collection of documentary recordings from Max Eastley's installation works (1973-2008);
• Paul Newland's ensemble work Trance is featured on Noszferatu's recent release Drempel (NMC D166);
• Paul Whitty's thirty-nine pages written for Darragh Morgan and Mary Dullea is available on Metier (msv28509).

Staff research interests:

• Lisa Busby's research interests include the place of popular music in interdisciplinary arts; issues in contemporary electronic music; the exploration and expansion of popular song form; and uncovering new methodologies and frameworks for collaborative practice. 
• Jan Butler has research interests in Popular music, particularly rock and related genres, Analysis of music production, Music journalism and criticism, Music industry and marketing, Film music, particularly pop in film.  
• Dr Paul Dibley is an electroacoustic composer specialising in Live Electronic Music, Video Art, Electronic Media, and Programming. 
• Dr Barbara Eichner is a historical musicologist and focuses her research on Music and (national) identities, Music historiography, Operas of Wagner, Strauss and ‘redemption operas’ at the fin de siècle, and Music in nunneries and monasteries. 
• Dr Dai Griffiths has published widely in the areas of critical musicology and popular music. His publications cover aspects of music analysis and critical musicology, historical and theoretical topics in popular music, Welsh popular music, and several studies of single songwriters and songs. 
• Dr Paul Whitty is a practice-based researcher in the areas of acoustic, site-specific, collaborative and cross-disciplinary composition.
• Dr Alexandra Wilson has research interests in nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century music, particularly opera; music’s social, political and aesthetic contexts; nationalism; reception issues; historiography; singers, recordings and constructs of celebrity; contemporary debates surrounding "high" and "low" culture; and the cultural history of Italy.