SongswithoutBorders

Songs without Borders module @LCAHM_UoB @artsatbham University of Birmingham exploring how songs travel across the world in different languages

[SongswithoutBorders @SongswithoutB]

It’s the new academic year and Songs without borders is ready to roll! Looking forward to a new group of students selecting ‘interlingual cover songs’ (Susam-Saraeva, 2019) to bolster our awesome module Spotify playlist 🎵 🎧 🎶
https://t.co/iZc6dXtGXI

[SongswithoutBorders @SongswithoutB]

Ddu-du you know? English is losing its grip as the language of pop https://t.co/pCKzuLySxE

[SongswithoutBorders @SongswithoutB]

Ce soir! Project director presents Baudelaire/Verlaine and decadent music...perhaps in English translation 🎵

[Catherine Davies @Cathdavies52]

The Arts of Decadence | School of Advanced Study https://t.co/ROs2QFQap3

[Laura Tunbridge @LTunbridge]

My 'Singing in the Age of Anxiety' is the @TORCHOxford book at lunchtime this Wednesday, with responses by Benjamin Walton @cambtweetmusic and Kate McLoughlin @OxfordHistory

https://t.co/BsskEt7zpH

[SongswithoutBorders @SongswithoutB]

Thread 👇🏼

[Helen Abbott @HelenAbbott1]

Yesterday was a busy day of tutorials. Students doing really well but also wanting to know how to push their language skills to the next level. I suggested a tip I’m happy to share widely: inhabit-a-language-a-day. /1

[Helen Abbott @HelenAbbott1]

Listening to the @SongswithoutB playlist whilst marking. My students have *awesome* taste and this is making everything better! Tune in! #markingmusic #languages #song https://t.co/byxSl9A9F1

[SongswithoutBorders @SongswithoutB]

Need some tunes to see you through your last-minute finishing touches to your project? You’re in luck: visiting guest lecturer @Eddrewett has his new covers album Ten out TODAY! #music #tunes #words #languages #song Tune in https://t.co/37SEgJdAcB

[SongswithoutBorders @SongswithoutB]

Just over a week til project report & projext poster submissions. Students are working on highly relevant issues around international songs. Some results will be shared publicly later on the year #watchthisspace #song #languages

[Laura Tunbridge @LTunbridge]

Booking is now open for our @BritishAcademy_ conference 'Song Beyond the Nation: Translation, Transnationalism and Performance', 20-21 March 2019
https://t.co/inrVeOekPw @TORCHOxford @UniofOxford

[SongswithoutBorders @SongswithoutB]

Thank you to everyone who filled in the Module Evaluation Questionnaire - really helpful comments, and lots of positives to build on for next year! #studentlearning #studentengagement #thankyou

[SongswithoutBorders @SongswithoutB]

In our final session, we explored the difference between “the song” and “a song”, via an awesome A-ha acoustic version of Take on me. Helps us to avoid essentialising what song must be, even when defining characteristics are radically repurposed, including language & genre choice

[SongswithoutBorders @SongswithoutB]

Do songs tell us who should perform them? Is gender inscribed into the music or the words? How do pronouns in different languages signal this, if so? Can we adapt? All these questions & more, via a challenge to Lawrence Kramer’s “Sexing Song” provocation from 2011 #words #music

[SongswithoutBorders @SongswithoutB]

Songs are time-bound, so we need techniques to analyse them as diachronic processes. Tools like @sonicvisualiser help us. But we can’t do it in a vacuum - contextual analysis key too! #song #poetry #music #languages #contexts

[SongswithoutBorders @SongswithoutB]

Super relevant review: “worth remembering is all her songs exist in both French and English, and there is a master’s degree to be gained, interpreting the differences between her English and French lyrics.” We’re on the case! | Christine and the Queens https://t.co/DITOs6vJ6v

[SongswithoutBorders @SongswithoutB]

This week we explored schematic & statistical ways of analysing songs. It’s all about finding different ways of paying attention to song material without “just” relying on listening or reading a score 👂🎵 🎧 🎶

[SongswithoutBorders @SongswithoutB]

This is week we explore the idea of “universal” language & “universal” music in relation to cultural specificity. Is language akin to music; is music like a language? Big questions still under debate but to which our song analyses contribute empirical data for better answers.

[SongswithoutBorders @SongswithoutB]

Love love LOVE the acoustic version of The Unfortunate Gent by @Eddrewett via @SpindleMagazine https://t.co/M7FQIj3Va5 #lotsofwords #monosyllables #storytelling #ballad #propertune #dothechorusinspanishnexttime

[SongswithoutBorders @SongswithoutB]

How words and music connect across borders in performance

[Helen Abbott @HelenAbbott1]

I often get asked what I do, so I wrote a piece about working on languages, poetry, and performance. I’m indebted to the wonderful @OxfordLieder 2018 Mastercourse duos who feature in this explainer. https://t.co/OiHRhGnL9Y

[SongswithoutBorders @SongswithoutB]

Session closed with a reflection on @TheErlkings too. Such a rich set of possibilities for hearing art song / Lieder afresh in different languages, styles, countries. Song cultures alive and well!

[SongswithoutBorders @SongswithoutB]

Up today: time will tell, or how Song time-travels across national boundaries. Interesting, sinuous international histories, especially for art song. We’re examining @Sviceridor’s @chrisglynn00’s brilliant Winter Journey as our case study.

[SongswithoutBorders @SongswithoutB]

Coming to Winterreise for the first time without a pre-existing imprint of what it “should” sound like means new audiences are more alert to the possibilities of the songs. Simplicity, atmosphere, meaning-making all shone through.