Popular musicscapes

 

Project summary

This project aims to examine critically the relationship between popular music and the urban environment (particularly built and sonic environments). It will consider the influence of music-making on the character of the urban environment and on how that environment is used, experienced, interpreted and represented, and in turn the influence of the urban environment on music-making.

For more details please go to the project summary document

 

Progress and Highlights

Year 1

•  A one-day ‘Music and Characterisation' Symposium was held at Liverpool University on June 12th 2007 to explore approaches and methodologies relevant to the project.

•  Progress was being made on the pilot digital map that will disseminate initial research findings and become an interactive installation within a major National Museums Liverpool (NML) exhibition on Liverpool popular music.

•  Initial project findings were written up for an on-line resource designed to support the NML exhibition on Liverpool music. The resource is being delivered by the Institute of Popular Music and will be hosted by the NML website.

•  One conference paper was in preparation. Jointly written by Dr Brett Lashua and Dr Sara Cohen it focused on methodology and the mapping of music and urban space and was delivered on November 7th 2007 at a one-day conference entitled ‘Mapping the City', which was been organised by the Centre for Architecture and the Visual Arts at Liverpool University .

•  In September 2007 a brief article on the project was published in the special ‘Modern Times' issue of Conservation Bulletin published by English Heritage.

Year 2

•  Pilot digital map launched on July 12th 2008 as part of the National Museums Liverpool exhibition 'The Beat Goes On'.

• Gained regular access to and use of the University of Liverpool recording studios for the purposes of the project. This has benefitted the project in several ways such as allowing the research associate, Dr Lashua to use his extensive experience and expertise as a studio engineer/ producer and offer recording sessions to musicians participating in the project, conduct ethnographic research as a participant in the process of music composition, performance and recording, gain an insider's perspective on the music-making process.

• The project has generated excellent relations with informants, in some cases to such an extent that project respondents have agreed to perform as guest session players during other participant's recording sessions. This is particularly the case of the track created with the artist Young Kof for inclusion in the International Slavery Museum exhibition. All of the additional instrumentation was tracked by project respondents who previously had not met one another.