Postdoctoral Research

Dr Oliver Searle, holder of the MED-EL Composition Fellowship

 
Dr Oliver Searle was appointed as the MED-EL Composition Fellow in October 2007. Dr Searle, who undertook his Masters and Doctoral studies in composition at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (then RSAMD) has been working for several years with MED-EL on a music perception test for cochlear implantees. The test, a software programme comprising originally composed music to measure various features such as melody, pitch, rhythm, dissonance and emotion of was released in Vienna in June 2006 by MED-EL, one of the world leaders in the research and manufacture of cochlear implants.
 
The post doctoral Research Fellowship follows on from the very positive reception to the music perception test and the unique working relationship that has been forged between a composer and MED-EL as a cochlear implant manufacturer. The first outcome of the Fellowship was a concert for people with cochlear implants held in the Stevenson Concert Hall in February 2008 and based around the songs of the poet Robbie Burns.
 
Another project took place in Glasgow and Edinburgh, utilising five professional musicians and two professional actors and took the form of a 40-minute show in the Autumn of 2009. This was recorded on CD and DVD and is available from MED-EL.
 
MED-EL is a medical electronics company, based in Innsbruck, Austria and is the worldwide leader in hearing implant technology. This latest project continues the further development of cochlear implant research, where Oliver is writing music specifically for use with the deaf, or hearing impaired, community.
 
More details from Dr Oliver Searle, o.searle@rcs.ac.uk.

Dr Verena Barth

           
Verena Barth joined us in September 2008 as a postdoctoral research fellow. Verena gained her doctorate in musicology from the Department of Culture, Aesthetics and Media at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, and is funded by the Swedish Research Council. Verena’s research interest is in brass instruments.
 
In her dissertation (The Trumpet as a Solo Instrument in European Art Music since 1900 – with a special Focus on the Development from 1980 onwards, as exemplified in the three Soloists Håkan Hardenberger, Ole Edvard Antonsen and Reinhold Friedrich, Gothenburg 2007) she investigated the process of the integration of the trumpet as a solo instrument in the art music of the twentieth century.
 
Verena has been a guest researcher at several musical instrument museums throughout Europe. She is responsible for the cataloguing of the brass instruments at the Musikinstrumenten Museum Markneukirchen, Germany.
 
Verena’s post doctoral research is on the trumpet in the gender system. Her project aims to investigate how gender constructions are mirrored in sound structures and which social practices, conventions, and roles for musicians result from this.
 
She is working closely with Royal Conservatoire researchers Professor John Wallace (Principal) and Dr Sandy McGrattan.
 
More details from Dr Stephen Broad, s.broad@rcs.ac.uk.