The School Song: Creating identity through shared musical experience within UK Independent Day and Boarding Schools
Emma’s doctoral research examines the role of independent school songs as vehicles for the transmission of school history, ethos, and values. This project explores attitudes towards music education in independent schools, both historically and today, through the collecting, cataloguing and analysis of extant songs.
Emma aims to consolidate the existing corpus of independent school songs within a database and to analyse their musical and textual content in order to identify cohesive values. Her research looks to expand upon the current understanding of the development of independent school music education through reviewing the ethical and pedagogical intersection of independent school song composers with music education reform in the late Victorian era. Additionally, this research will examine how the school song was situated as an agent for that development and explore its efficacy.
An initial analysis of collected songs has identified instances of colonialist imagery within their text. As such, Emma will engage in dialogue with selected schools regarding the future of these texts amidst calls for the decolonisation of school curriculums. The relevance of these songs to independent school communities today will be explored through interviews with current Directors of Music and surveys of pupils.
Conferences
18th Kaleidoscope Conference. Cambridge University Faculty of Education. School Songs: Conscience and Community in UK Independent Schools.
Progressive Connexions International Multidisciplinary Conference on Music and Nationalism. School Songs: Anthemic Colloquies on Independent School Identity.
Media, Communication and Cultural Studies Association, 2021 Post Graduate Network Conference, Brighton University. School Songs: Space, Place and Embodied Architecture.
Blog Posts
BCU CSPACE Blog for the xCHANGE 2021 Festival. Tacet: Female Directors of Music in UK Independent School History
Articles
"Ex Corde Caritas: Festal Hymn and Lasting Legacy." Caritas Magazine, Issue 48, George Watson's College, Edinburgh
