Continuing my weekly blog, here is my second post in my series on my research placement in Utrecht (see blog post one here). I am now in the swing of it, I have my routine down, I am always getting on the right bus (the first week I was here I took the wrong bus back from campus and it took me a long, long way out of Utrecht). I’ve tried a lot of new fun food, including hot dogs:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BpryorDFJIA/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
And a poke bowl:
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bpt3gnQFlQl/?utm_source=ig_web_options_share_sheet
And i’ve been to Amsterdam to the Rijksmuseum.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BpuTXMzFi5e/
Importantly though, my collaborative work with Chordify and Utrecht University is going really well. We have nearly completed a thorough analysis of our dataset. And I am back again tomorrow to discuss with Chordify what these results mean, and how we can use these theories I am developing in practice. It’s nice to be working in such a collaborative team, I have often found in the humanities the idea of the single researcher working in their own silos is dominant (I even wrote a paper on this a year ago, where I challenged this with the concept of ‘Big Musicology‘). The work I am currently doing has also opened up, and begun to show the possibilities for music theory research in the “real world”, or a world outside of academia. When I began my PhD I was interested in applying music theoretical approaches outside of just the domain of academia, and my work with Choridfy is just one way that my PhD is highlighting music theories potential.
So what is next for me out here? Firstly, I need to finish the final analyses of this dataset and write our collaborative paper so others can see the work we have been doing. I am visiting family and friends later next week so work will be slowed down a little, I am also meeting with my supervisors back at Southampton and engaging with the music analysis community in the UK – and lecturing at Middlesex University. Once back here the week after I will also be lecturing at the University of Utrecht.
Anna Selway 