Category Archives: music

music, news, research

‘Hear the City’ App produced at the Dockyard, will be heard in Brussels.

Hear the CityFollowing her visit to the NEM Summit in France last October, Kate Halsall, Lecturer in Music Performance and Audio Arts has begun a research project and has just finished recording an App in the Foundry (@Foundry) at the School of Music and Fine Art, called ‘Hear the City’.

This is part of an Artist in Residency programme with Stromatolite, a partner in the ICT and Art Connect project, funded by the European Commission FP7 Programme, for the purpose of fostering collaboration between ICT and Art. Hear the City takes random snapshots of social activity from specific localities through the conversion of Twitter feeds into musical notation, creating a reflection on both the endless invisible streams of metadata and the visible comments we throw out into the world.

Incorporating projections showing the origins of the Tweets and feeds, real time Instagram pictures and synthesised text to note sounds, the installation is accompanied by a live recital of the translated incoming texts by concert pianist Kate Halsall. Shifting effortlessly between the poignant and the humourous, this unique combination of analogue and digital, live performance and generative music, shines a compelling spotlight onto our social world.

This project begun at the NEM Summit in 2013 and the results will be premiered on 12th May at the Sigma Orionis event, The ICT and Art Connect at the European Commission in Brussels, May11-12.

Further Reading…

Connecting Art and Technology: European trends and forward looking
A FET-ART panel will present the major findings of the project, delivering recommendations to the European Commission and outlining new research venues and best practices. The panel is made of: Marta Arniani (Sigma Orionis); Camille Baker (Brunel University); Lucas Evers (Waag Society); Svetlana Kondakova (Black Cube Collective); Michela Magas (Stromatolite). The session is moderated by Roger Torrenti. 

ICT & Art Connect
Stromatolite
Sigma Orionis

music, news

Sounds New Festival welcomes ‘boundary-trashing’ Icebreaker Ensemble to Canterbury.

Coming to Canterbury campus on Saturday May 3rd, is ‘Icebreaker Ensemble’.
icebreaker-full-circle-trans-cropped-shadow
As part of their new tour called ‘Kraftwork Uncovered’, produced by Third Ear, features School of Music and Fine Art Assistant Lecturer for Music (guitar), James Woodrow and new Assistant Lecturer Rowland Sutherland (flute).

Sounds New Festival is annual event, with the University’s Music Department as partner the Festival will bring two vibrant headline concerts to the Colyer-Fergusson Building in Canterbury. Regular campus visitors the Brodsky Quartet also return on Thursday 8 May.

Icebreaker Ensemble will be here in a performance of Brian Eno’s Apollo for all Mankind, as well as the premiere of composer Ed Bennett’s Suspect Device and music by Julia Wolfe.

Find out more about all the events happening on the Sounds New website.

creative events, fine art, music, news

Applicants Spring Newsletters – Out Now.

News and information for students applying or considering applying for a Music, Fine Art or Creative Events degree at Kent.

For news and information for applicants to undergraduate music, fine art or creative events degree courses, we have the spring edition newsletters out now.

Fine Art
Fine Art Newsletter_thumb

  • Art and Design ranking
  • Degree Show 2014
  • Michael Day – student success story
  • Visiting Artists Presentations
  • Meet our Kent Cultural Baton – 1950’s converted air stream caravan
  • Read about our new studio block facilities

Fine Art News 2014

Music and Audio Arts

MusicandAudio Newsletter_thumb

  • New practice facilities and studios
  • We’re in The Guardian University Guide – Top 10!
  • Master Classes, guest lectures and workshops
  • MAAST – Music and Audio Arts Sound Theatre – partnership with London Contemporary Music Festival
  • ‘Octandre’ provide a Composition Workshop
  • SAMBA Band and music ensembles
  • Student Field Trip to Paris
  • Medway Music Society
  • The TONE Festival

Music News

Creative Events

Creative Events Newsletter_thumb

  • Art and Events Facilities
  • Engineering Workshop
  • New about our Academic and Technical Staff
  • Scholarshops

Creative Events newsletter Feb 2014

View the webpage and download all Newsletters

music, news

The Voice finalist records at School of Music and Fine Art

Jamie Johnson, finalist of BBC’s The Voice is recording his pre-album demo ahead of his first studio album in Kent’s state of the art music facilities.Jamie Johnson School of Music and Fine Art

A member of pop icon Kylie Minogue’s team in the show, Jamie will record all six tracks which he performed during the series in the University’s professional recording studio, part of its School of Music and Fine Art based at the Historic Dockyard Chatham.

Returning to Medway after the show’s finale last Saturday (5 May), the 19 year old has selected the University’s facilities for its  flag ship studio  located  near to his hometown of Gillingham.

The Foundry recording studio, which is part of the University of Kent’s multi million pound dockyard facility produces high quality recordings and provides a platform for artists to produce professional standard work. Jamie will also be supported by two of the School’s studio technicians when he records the  tracks.

Phil Marsh, head of technical support said: ‘We’re delighted to be able to provide professional level studio time to one of the UK’s latest music artists. Jamie did incredibly well in The Voice and despite not winning the competition he knows that most of the singers who go on to succeed after the competition are the runners’ up. We hope that by providing  high class recording facilities we can help give his career the success he is looking for.’

‘Being local to Medway and having state-of-the art facilities of this calibre at the University of Kent is fantastic. I worked in a number of studios during rehearsals on The Voice and these are definitely on a par with the ones I used when I was singing alongside Kylie Minogue. I’m eager to record my debut album so people can continue to listen to my music now my journey as part of The Voice has come to an end’ says Jamie.

Jamie Johnson in Foundry Studio

Other artists and musicians can utilise the University’s School of Music and Fine Art recording facilities following the introduction of an independent record label based at the University.

The label will provide up and coming artists, particularly from the South East, the opportunity to use professional studio facilities in Kent to produce their work.

 

 

creative events, fine art, music, news

BBC’s ‘The Voice’ Jamie Johnson visits our Dockyard facilities

Jamie Johnson visits the School

BBC TV’s ‘The Voice’ runner up, Jamie Johnson visits the School of Music and Fine Art to see our facilities and meet the students.

We were more than delighted to welcome a special guest, who paid an impromptu visit to the School yesterday. Fresh off the TV show and rigourous 14 hour days, local lad Jamie wanted to visit the School, meet our students and see our fantastic facilities here at the Dockyard.

Jamie and his support were shown around the School and, in particular our state of the art recording facilities. He was suitably impressed by the space and equipment we have here.
He was shown around some of the other studios and met up with some students for an informal chat.

We were pleased that Jamie took some time out of his day to pay us a visit and we would be pleased to welcome him back in the future.

 

 

music, news

Join our BMus Music Ensembles at Colyer-Fergusson – Weds 9th April, 1pm

Join our music students for a FREE Lunchtime Concert Performance

Coyler-Fergusson Building,
Canterbury
1pm
Lunchtime Performance

Join our BMus Music students for a mixed programme of old and new music, by composers Bryn Harrison, Michael Parsons, Jennifer Walshe, Mira Calix, Dowland, Tallis, Michael Nyman, Cornelius Cardew and Lawrence Crane.

 

Colyer-Fergusson Music Building
University of Kent,
Canterbury, Kent
CT2 7NB

 

creative events, fine art, music, news, research

TONE Festival – calling for volunteers!

TONE Festival are looking for Student volunteers

We are looking for enthusiastic volunteers to assist with Töne Festival of sonic and visual arts that explores the spaces, forms and durations that exist within and between these two overlapping fields.

We need volunteers both in the pre-festival activities (9-19 June 2014) and the festival itself (20-22 June 2014) in Chatham.TONE image

What we can offer you:

  • Volunteering can count towards your employability status (please contact us for specific values)
  • A free ticket to an event
  • Reference from Töne
  • Per diem of £10 per day

 

To become a Töne supporter, please contact us at tonefestival@outlook.com.

Find out more>

creative events, fine art, music, news, research

Research Seminar – Presents Jean Martin

Tonights Research Seminar we present Jean Martin.
Contemporary art music in the context of film and moving image.

Bridge Wardens College, Lecture Theatre
6-8pm
Tuesday, 25th March, 2014

Jean Martin will present some ideas from his recent book ‘Filmgeräusch  – Wahrnehmungsfelder eines Mediums (co-authored with Frieder Butzmann).

“Much of  music composed in history related to specific activities in the world: It  supported religious practice, dance, dramatic opera, funerals, military or  stately events. Only occasionally music was purely self-referential as in the  scholasticism of late Renaissance music, or the experimentations of New music  in the 20th Century. I want to look at the specific case of film music and  sound design and music for media. Composing music and sound design for films  poses specific challenges. The raison d’etre for any music and sound design, in  fact for the soundtrack as a whole is the narrative and the image track of the  film. This poses constraints for the timebased art of music. Film music can  never follow its own logic freely developing themes or sound textures as long  as it takes. It is limited by the duration of a scene which it supports or  comments. In my analyses of films I observed that film composers adopt two  fundamental musical approaches: on the one hand the thematic concept of music  using thematic Leitmotifs and harmonic tonality. On the other hand composers  practice a timbral or spectral aesthetic which expresses itself through complex  textures and drones.

It is closely linked to sound design, which emerged from the  electro-acoustic music tradition and the 20th Century aesthetic of  musicalising environmental, indeed any recorded sound or noise.”

This event is FREE to attend and open to Staff and Students.
Please bring your University ID to access the Dockyard.

View our Research Seminar webpage
View the Events Calendar