Digital archive of English traditional folk music to go live

A new digital archive of traditional English folk music will be launched by the English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS) on 20 June 2013.

The Full English has been made possible with the help of a £585,400 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF). It brings together 12 major collections for the first time in a comprehensive, free, searchable digital archive of English folk songs, tunes, dances and customs.

The archive will be officially unveiled at a special event at EFDSS's London headquarters, Cecil Sharp House.

At the event:

• traditional English folk singer, collector, writer, researcher and EFDSS President, Shirley Collins MBE, will give the keynote speech
• Seth Lakeman, Martin Simpson, Fay Hield, Nancy Kerr, Sam Sweeney, Rob Harbron and Ben Nicholls will premiere new music and arrangements inspired by material Fay Hield has found within The Full English archive and commissioned by EFDSS with a grant from the PRS Foundation for Music 

About The Full English

In a marriage between tradition and new media, more than 58,400 items from some of the country's most important folk music collections – including manuscripts, notes and letters – have been conserved and digitised before being uploaded to a central digital archive.

Users can browse through the collections of Harry Albino, Lucy Broadwood, Clive Carey, Percy Grainger, Maud Karpeles, Frank Kidson, Thomas Fairman Ordish, Frank Sidgwick, Cecil Sharp, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Alfred Williams and Mary Leather.

Malcolm Taylor, Library Director of the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library (VWML), EFDSS's library and archive based at Cecil Sharp House, said:

'The launch of The Full English archive is a landmark in digital archives and for EFDSS. It will open up traditional English music to an international audience, making available for browsing and searching manuscripts of traditional song, music and culture that could once only be accessed by visiting archives or in edited printed versions. I hope it will inspire and inform a new generation of folk music and dance lovers.'

The Full English was also made possible with support from the National Folk Music Fund, whose funding is given in memory of Ursula Vaughan Williams, and the Folklore Society. EFDSS has worked in partnership with Clare College, the British Library, the Folklore Society, the Grainger Museum at the University of Melbourne, the Mitchell Library, the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library and the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre to amalgamate collections that are housed across the country.

The Full English Learning Programme

The Full English is EFDSS's largest participation project to date with a nationwide community and schools learning programme beginning in July 2013.

Working through nine regional partners, there will be community projects including participatory events and concerts, archive and history projects alongside creative projects in Primary and Secondary schools and the wider community.

Birmingham Conservatoire to premiere unheard Britten work

Birmingham Conservatoire's celebration of the music of Frederick Delius and John Ireland kicks off today with a lunchtime concert, Delius and Ireland - A Celebration, featuring pianist, Mark Bebbington.

Mark BebbingtonThe five-day festival runs from 17-21 June 2013 and includes a world premiere performance of a previously unheard orchestral work by Benjamin Britten.

Over 60 individuals from Birmingham Conservatoire, part of Birmingham City University, will be performing with orchestras, choirs and guest artists as they showcase songs, piano pieces and orchestral works including Delius's Sea Drift.

The celebratory event will culminate with the world premiere of an early work by Benjamin Britten which has never been played or heard before.

The first-ever performance of Chaos and Cosmos, a symphonic tone-poem composed by Britten at the age of 13, was offered to the conservatoire by the Britten-Pears Foundation as thanks for its contribution to the online Britten Thematic Catalogue Project and is taking place in the centenary year of Britten's birth.

Michael Harris, Senior Woodwind Tutor at Birmingham Conservatoire, said:

'It’ll be fascinating to hear this schoolboy piece of Britten's, a work which he was apparently fond of and often referred to later in life.'

New association of music institutions formed

An alliance of music institutions from the UK, the US and Mexico met recently in London to officially formalise the International Association of Music Colleges and Universities (IAMCU).

The association has been created to promote and facilitate international collaboration and understanding at institutional, educational and student levels.

The three founding schools are:

• Institute of Contemporary Music Performance, London, UK
• LAMA College for Music Professionals, Los Angeles, USA
• Academia de Música Fermatta, Mexico City / Guadalajara, Mexico                                   

The IAMCU believes that advances in technology have created a 'global village' for musicians and artists and that it is through embracing cultural similarities and the global interactions occurring in the arts that music educators may best equip students for future success.

Student and faculty exchange programmes have already been developed through the alliance with plans for an IAMCU Virtual Exchange Programme with opportunities for students to learn, create and collaborate with their international peers through participation in online projects.

To celebrate the launch of the association, IAMCU has partnered with UNICEF for a special collaborative project between the three founding member institutions. The project will recreate The Beatles' second album, With The Beatles. The resulting album is projected for release on the 50th anniversary of With The Beatles: 22 November 2013. Proceeds from the project will help and support UNICEF.

Scottish Education Award-winners announced

The winners of this year's Scottish Education Awards were announced at an awards ceremony on 10 June 2013.

The awards recognise the achievements of people who dedicate their lives to children and young people and showcase the valuable work and innovation in Scottish classrooms.

To view a list of the winners, click here.

Rockschool 2012-18 syllabus available to download online

Accredited provider of rock and pop exams worldwide, Rockschool, has announced that its 2012–18 syllabus is available to download online.

All Exam Pieces plus sections of Rockschool's latest grade books can be downloaded individually from Musicroom.com.

Buyers can view the material by searching for 'Rockschool digital' at Musicroom.com and browsing by grade or instrument using the navigation bar on the left of the page. Those already familiar with the syllabus can search for specific pieces by typing the song title and 'Rockschool' into Musicroom's search box e.g. 'Bonecrusher Rockschool'. Particular sections of a grade book can also be searched for e.g. 'Rockschool Digital Drums Grade 1 Ear Tests'.

Each Exam Piece, including a PDF file containing the TAB as well as audio comprising a full mix and a backing track, can be downloaded for £2.99. The grade book sections, including Technical Exercises, Ear Tests, Sight Reading, Improvisation & Interpretation and Quick Study Pieces, vary in price from £1.99 to £2.50. They also include PDFs and backing tracks where appropriate.

Rockschool is sponsoring the Delegate Reception at musiclearninglive!Asia, the new international music education conference which runs from 23-26 October 2013 at MAX Atria @ Singapore EXPO.