Rethinking Early Recordings as Sources of Music and Performance History

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The project brings together academics, performers, sound curators and archivists, and sound engineers and technicians to engage in discussion concerning the use and status of early recordings (1890-1945) as sources for the study of performance practice and performance history, establishing foundations for further collaborative research and knowledge exchange in the area. Researchers and performers have been using early recordings as primary sources for the study of performance and music history for the last thirty years, in topics ranging from the minutiae of performance practice in specific styles and instruments, to the radical transformations that early recording technologies introduced in listening practices and in discourses around music and performance. During this period, technological advances have made early recordings more widely accessible, with collections and archives around the world digitizing their holdings and making them available online for free or at negligible cost. However, most such research activity has been conducted in relative isolation, and opportunities for researchers to engage in discussion about their work with an audience of their peers are few and far between. This lack of connectedness has prevented the field from tackling ambitious, comparative research questions centring around systematic historical change, and detracted from its relevance and visibility both in the broader field of musicology and among non-academic performers and general concert audiences.The project proposes to tackle these issues through the following interconnected collaborative activities:-Five symposia (4 in different cities across the UK, 1 hosted by partner TU Berlin) will provide opportunities for experts (musicologists, performers, sound curators, archivists and engineers engaged in sound curation and digitizing initiatives - both based in and outside HEI) to engage in methodological discussion with the aim of both co-creating collaborative resources and identifying collaborative research and knowledge exchange opportunities in the field.-A concert series attached to the symposia will allow audiences across the UK to familiarize themselves with practice-led research conducted by network members, while allowing the latter to reflect, in conversation with other network members, on good practice, opportunities and challenges for knowledge exchange.-A series of video interviews with network members filmed at the symposia and concert series will make accessible an array of approaches to early recordings to other HEI and non-HEI experts, as well as to musicologists, performers and performance students beyond the immediate area of study. These videos will be accompanied by an open-access handbook for similar audiences, expanding on the issues raised in the interviews (to be published after the grant period).The project will also establish a permanent forum for those interested in early recordings as sources for the study of performance practice and history. This open international research network will organize regular conferences and meetings, fostering collaborative activities between its members. The forum's establishment will be supported by an 'early recording roadmap', drafted collaboratively by network-members, identifying urgent research questions and flagging up potential areas for knowledge exchange collaborations.