Thursday, April 28, 2016

Fwd: MPs to question Rt. Hon Nicky Morgan MP on the Government's Education proposals including academies



 

Dear Evangelos Himonides,

You recently signed the petition "Scrap plans to force state schools to become academies.":
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/124702

You may be interested to know that on Wednesday 27 April at 2.30pm, the House of Commons Education Committee will question Rt Hon Nicky Morgan MP, Secretary of State for Education, on the policies announced in the Department for Education's White Paper: Educational Excellence Everywhere. This includes Government plans for all schools to become academies.
 
Talking about the session, the Chair of the Education Committee, Neil Carmichael MP, said "As a Committee, we are determined to take a close eye to the Government's latest proposals for education policies and this session provides an early opportunity for us to press the Secretary of State on her plans for all schools become academies by 2022. We will also want to pick up on a number of other significant challenges to the success of our education system today, including issues relating to teacher supply, school leadership, and school funding."
 
You can watch the session on live and on demand afterwards on Parliament TV: http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/8a66c874-4332-491b-a297-f56d71f4951a

You can find out more about the session on the Education Committee's website: http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/education-committee/news-parliament-2015/secretary-of-state-evidence-15-16/
 
The Education Committee is a cross-party committee of MPs responsible for scrutinising the policy, administration and expenditure of the Government Department for Education. You can find out more about the role of the Committee on its website: http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/education-committee/role/

You can follow the Education Committee on Twitter: @CommonsEd
 
You can watch a short video about how Select Committees work here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_2RDuDs44c&feature=youtu.be
 
You can find out more about how to get involved with the work of Select Committees here: http://www.parliament.uk/get-involved/committees/

Thanks,
The Petitions team
UK Government and Parliament

 
   

Wednesday, April 20, 2016

ECUADORIAN STUDENTS IN THE UK TOGETHER WITH #FuerzaEcuador

ECUADORIAN STUDENTS IN THE UK TOGETHER WITH #FuerzaEcuador

On Saturday the 16th of April, a powerful 7.8 Richter
scale earthquake shook Ecuador's northwestern coast.

More than 450 (numbers estimated to rise over few thousands) people
have lost their lives and near

2,500 have been reported injured. In addition, over 500 buildings
including homes, hospitals and schools have either been completely
destroyed or severely damaged. Meanwhile, these figures continue to
increase as rescue teams make their way through the rubbles.

Thousands of people have lost it all. Out of their homes, they are now
seeking shelter exposed to different types of diseases. They are in
desperate need of blankets, mattresses, medicine, food, and access to
potable water. The images of the people affected are heart wrenching.

Ecuadorian students in the United Kingdom with the support of the
Ecuadorian Embassy, have come together to raise funds for their
country as it faces this arduous humanitarian challenge. We are asking
you to join in and help contribute to the initiative #FuerzaEcuador.
All donations will be directed to increase the capacity of emergency
teams deployed in affected areas. These funds will help provide vital
aid to people in need. These people need your help, and they need it
promptly. Every single contribution counts and will make a difference
in the lives of families pulled apart or left homeless.

To donate, please follow this link: http://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/sos-ecuador/

This an official initiative run by students in different
universities in the UK with the Ecuadorian

Embassy. For more information please do not hesitate contacting us:
Ecuadorian Embassy in the United Kingdom

Ecuadorians from the following universities:

London School of Economics and Political Science, University College
London, King's College London, Goldsmiths, University of London,
Brunel University London, University of Oxford, The University of
Nottingham, University of Cambridge, Imperial College London,
University of Strathclyde, University of Leeds, University of
Leicester, Southampton University, The University of Nottingham,
University of Manchester, University of Newcastle.

Help us, stand up for #FuerzaEcuador. PLEASE DONATE NOW!



Photo Credit: New York Times, 2016

Thursday, April 14, 2016

Fwd: Digital Musicology workshop at DH@Ox Summer School

INVITATION TO REGISTER FOR WORKSHOP


Digital Musicology: Applied computational and informatics methods for
enhancing musicology

<http://digital.humanities.ox.ac.uk/dhoxss/2016/workshops/digitalmusicology>

DATES: 4--8 July 2016

REGISTRATION: <http://digital.humanities.ox.ac.uk/dhoxss/2016/registration>
until 6 June 2016.


A wealth of music and music-related information is now available
digitally, offering tantalizing possibilities for digital
musicologies. These resources include large collections of audio and
scores, bibliographic and biographic data, and performance ephemera --
not to mention the 'hidden' existence of these in other digital
content. With such large and wide ranging opportunities come new
challenges in methods, principally in adapting technological solutions
to assist musicologists in identifying, studying, and disseminating
scholarly insights from amongst this 'data deluge'.

This workshop provides an introduction to computational and
informatics methods that can be, and have been, successfully applied
to musicology. Many of these techniques have their foundations in
computer science, library and information science, mathematics and
most recently Music Information Retrieval (MIR); sessions are
delivered by expert practitioners from these fields and presented in
the context of their collaborations with musicologists, and by
musicologists relating their experiences of these multidisciplinary
investigations.

The workshop comprises a series of lectures and hands-on sessions,
supplemented with reports from musicology research
exemplars. Theoretical lectures are paired with practical sessions in
which attendees are guided through their own exploration of the topics
and tools covered. Laptops will be loaned to attendees with the
appropriate specialised software installed and preconfigured.

Summer School site: <http://digital.humanities.ox.ac.uk/dhoxss/2016>
Contact: events@it.ox.ac.uk


SCHOLARSHIPS AND BURSARIES

A number of scholarships and bursaries are available for the Summer
School, including some specifically for the Digital Musicology
workshop:

<http://www.t-mus.org/news/2016-03-18_digital-musicology-scholarships-at-dhoxss-2016/>

For others, please see:

<https://digital.humanities.ox.ac.uk/dhoxss/2016/bursaries>
--
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Richard Lewis
Computing, Goldsmiths' College
t: +44 (0)20 7078 5203
@: lewisrichard
http://www.transforming-musicology.org/
905C
D796 12CD 4C6E CBFB 69DA EFCE DCDF 71D7 D455
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Thursday, April 7, 2016

Transformational feedback for artists - invitation to Guildhall Research Works event, Monday 18th April

 
Good afternoon,

Thanks to funding received from the Higher Education Academy as part of their Strategic Excellence Initiative, I have been leading a project entitled "Empowering artists of the future through a transformational feedback model." The objective of the project has been to explore two innovative and interconnected pedagogies: Guildhall School's coaching programme and Liz Lerman's Critical Response Process (a feedback system for work in progress.)

The research findings from the project will be disseminated at an upcoming ResearchWorks event on Monday 18th April.  I'd be delighted if you could join us on this occasion, please see full details of this event below: 

Transformational feedback for artists

Monday 18th April

Rehearsal Room 3, Level 4, Milton Court, 1 Milton Street, EC2Y 9BH

14:30 start, followed by drinks at 17:00

 

Findings from Professor Helena Gaunt's Higher Education Academy funded research into the focused development of Liz Lerman's Critical Response Process and formal coaching skills at the School.  The presentation, to include an overview evaluation and individual case studies, will be followed by a panel discussion exploring wider implications, application and potential impact of this work in the performing arts and higher education.

 

The event will start at 14:30 with a drinks reception to follow at 17:00. For catering purposes, please could you RSVP to katy.mcnamara@gsmd.ac.uk by Wednesday 13th April at the latest.

 

Please feel free to extend this invitation to your colleagues. 

 

Best wishes,

Helena

 

Professor Helena Gaunt
Vice Principal and Director of Academic Affairs
Guildhall School of Music & Drama
Barbican
Silk Street
London EC2Y 8DT
Tel: +44 (0)207 382 5282
Mobile: +44 (0)7960 700335

Joint author of Preparing for Success: A practical guide for young musicians Susan Hallam and Helena Gaunt
Co-editor of Collaborative Learning in Higher Music Education
National Teaching Fellow (2009)

Shakespeare's Musical Brain - 16.04.16

Please follow the link for details of the 'Shakespeare's Musical Brain' conference taking place on 16th April at King's College London: http://www.themusicalbrain.org/pdf/shakespeares_musical_brain_flyer.pdf


Institute of Musical Research

Senate House

Malet Street

London WC1E 7HU

E: imr@rhul.ac.uk

W: www.the-imr.uk

Facebook | Twitter


Monday, April 4, 2016

Fwd: "Current Directions in Procedural Audio Research" - 12 April Queen Mary University of London

Sent on behalf of the British Section of the Audio Engineering Society. Apologies for cross-posting. 
To stay up to date with other FREE events from the British AES Section, please refer to our website (www.aes-uk.org), Facebook page (www.facebook.com/aesuk/) and Twitter feed (https://twitter.com/AudioEngSocUK). 
If you are an AES member, make sure to join the appropriate section(s) (and student section if you are a student or recent graduate) at http://www.aes.org/sections/


Talk by Queen Mary University of London's Centre for Digital Music PhD students Christian Heinrichs and Roderick Selfridge with introduction by Andy Farnell
Part of the Audio Engineering Society UK section monthly evening lectures in London - open to the public

Tuesday 12 April 2016
6:30 pm for 7:00 pm start

David Sizer lecture theatre, Bancroft building, QMUL (Campus map)
Queen Mary University of London, Mile End Rd
London

Current Directions in Procedural Audio Research

Advances in real time computational audio for virtual worlds, animation, or real world applications continue apace. Queen Mary University of London has become an emerging centre for new research with projects guided by Andrew McPherson, Josh Reiss and Andy Farnell. These two presentations of QMUL doctoral researchers demonstrate the breadth and rigor of this emerging field, covering a range of enquiry from sound design psychology to fluid mechanics.

Roderick Selfridge will present "Real-time Aeroacoustic Sound Synthesis Models" 
Aeroacoustic sounds emit from objects moving relative to a flow, and include the Aeolian tone, cavity tones and edge tones, sounds like a fence whistling in a storm, or turbines and jets. Efficient models incorporating fundamental fluid dynamic equations and listener position are developed by Selfridge, and results are evaluated  against those produced by offline computational software solving finite difference equations and physical readings from wind tunnel experiments.

Christian Heinrichs examines the use of human gesture in the design of next-generation procedural game audio. With the dawn of virtual reality there is a move toward gameplay interactions that require sophisticated audio feedback and parameterisation. Heinrichs furthers Procedural Audio research by examining contextual aesthetics and behaviour in the design process to complement realism and efficiency. Physically-based sound engines that match the properties of an object are important but often fail to equal the expressivity of sound performed by a Foley artist. This research explores how gestural interaction can be employed in all stages of the sound design process, starting with the casual exploration of a sound model's parameter space and leading to its integration in a game.

________________________________________________

Brecht De Man
PhD Student in Audio Engineering
Centre for Digital Music
Queen Mary University of London

School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science
Mile End Road
London E1 4NS
United Kingdom

Skype: brechtdeman





Music and the Dream of Reconciliation in Afghanistan

St Ethelburgas presents

 

Music and the Dream of Reconciliation in Afghanistan

 

Saturday April 23rd at 7.30 pm (doors open 7.00 pm)

St. Ethelburgas, 78 Bishopsgate, London EC2 4AG

 

Part 1. Return of the Nightingales (2011 video, 30 mins), shot at the Afghanistan National Institute of Music, a unique co-educational vocational music school in Kabul founded in 2010.

 

Part 2. A concert of traditional Afghan music by:

Veronica Doubleday (voice and daireh frame drum)

John Baily (dutar and rubab, Afghan lutes)

Sulaiman Haqpana (tabla drum pair)

 

 

Please go to www.stethelburgas.org/events/performance for further details.