26 May 2017
Christopher Wiley
Presentation, Public Output, Research
Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, Cranleigh, Cranleigh Arts Centre, ethel smyth, Jacqueline Mulhallen, Lynx Theatre, Lynx Theatre and Poetry, Mulhallen, Music, suffrage activity, suffragette, suffragette movement, Surrey, Syliva Pankhurst, Sylvia, University, University of Surrey, Wiley, women's suffrage
Dr Christopher Wiley addressed an audience of theatre-goers on Ethel Smyth as part of a post-show discussion following the one-woman play Sylvia, presented by Lynx Theatre and Poetry at Cranleigh Arts Centre, Surrey on the evening of Friday 26 May 2017.
The main performance, a theatrical production based on Sylvia Pankhurst’s life, activity as a painter, and service to the suffragette movement, was performed by professional actress Jacqueline Mulhallen (pictured, as Pankhurst) having been developed from original research.
After a brief interval, the post-show discussion led with Dr Wiley’s talk on Smyth, following which the audience were able to put questions to Dr Wiley and the creators of Sylvia, and to engage in further general conversation on women’s suffrage.
Internationally acknowledged for his substantial contribution to scholarship on Smyth across the past 15 years, Dr Wiley has more recently acquired a reputation as a local historian, many of the audience members already being familiar with his work on the Surrey-based composer, writer, and suffragette.
Further information about the event is available here: http://purchase.tickets.com/buy/TicketPurchase?agency=CRAN&organ_val=40629&pid=8410211
19 April 2017
Christopher Wiley
Conference, Presentation, Publication, Research
25, Adele, Adele Adkins, autobiography, Bristol, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, conference, ethel smyth, Music, music and literature, musical biography, musicology, presentation, research, Surrey, University, University of Bristol, University of Surrey, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley presented a paper at a two-day international conference entitled ‘Beyond Genius and Muse – Collaborating Couples in Twentieth-Century Arts’, held at the Victoria Rooms, University of Bristol on 18–19 April 2017.
Dr Wiley’s paper, ‘Subject and Countersubject: The Prevalence of the Genius and the Muse in Musical Biography’, explored the pattern of collaborating couples that has emerged historically in musical biography, drawing on examples including Brahms and Clara Schumann, Ethel Smyth and Henry Brewster, Britten and Peter Pears, and Adele.
It built upon Dr Wiley’s previous scholarship conducted in this area across more than 10 years, of which the most recent output, his book chapter ‘Musical Biography and the Myth of the Muse’, was published in 2015.
The conference brought together some 50 academics from across Europe and the US, encompassing a range of topics in music, literature, and the visual arts.
Further information is available at the conference website: https://collaboratingcouples.wordpress.com/
27 March 2017
Christopher Wiley
Educational Research, Publication, Teaching
arts and humanities, autoethnography, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, concept maps, education, Franklin, Guildford School of Acting, Higher Education, Jo Franklin, mediated concept maps, Music, pedagogic frailty, reciprocal autoethnography, resilience, School of Arts, Surrey, teaching, technical theatre arts, University, University of Surrey
Dr Christopher Wiley and Jo Franklin (Guildford School of Acting) have co-authored a chapter published in the book Pedagogic Frailty and Resilience in the University, edited by Ian M. Kinchin and Naomi E. Winstone.
Their essay, ‘Framed Autoethnography and Pedagogic Frailty: A Comparative Analysis of Mediated Concept Maps’, extends two research projects on which the authors have previously worked, including Dr Wiley’s co-authored autoethnographic study of pedagogic frailty in arts and humanities education.
Adopting a ‘reciprocal autoethnography’ approach to operate independently of the original interviewer in order comparatively to analyse the concept maps that resulted from earlier research, they considered the benefits of pedagogic frailty to the development of greater mutual understanding between different staff members by way of nurturing resilience.
Bibliographic citation
Wiley, Christopher and Jo Franklin. ‘Framed Autoethnography and Pedagogic Frailty: A Comparative Analysis of Mediated Concept Maps’, in Ian M. Kinchin and Naomi E. Winstone eds. Pedagogic Frailty and Resilience in the University. Rotterdam: Sense, 2017, pp. 17–32.
Further information
Listing of the volume on the publisher’s website: https://www.sensepublishers.com/catalogs/bookseries/other-books/pedagogic-frailty-and-resilience-in-the-university/
10 March 2017
Christopher Wiley
Educational Research, Publication, Teaching
arts and humanities, autoethnography, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, concept maps, Department of Higher Education, education, Higher Education, Ian Kinchin, Ian M. Kinchin, Kinchin, mediated concept maps, Music, pedagogic frailty, resilience, School of Arts, Surrey, teaching, University, University of Surrey, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley and Professor Ian M. Kinchin (Department of Higher Education, University of Surrey) have co-authored an article published in the international peer-reviewed journal Arts and Humanities in Higher Education.
Entitled ‘Tracing pedagogic frailty in arts and humanities education: An autoethnographic perspective’, the article represents an autoethnographic study of Dr Wiley as a leading academic in arts and humanities teaching in higher education, using Professor Kinchin’s model of pedagogic frailty (see diagram below) in order to develop a series of mediated concept maps.
Supplemented by Dr Wiley’s own narratives and with an extended conclusion contemplating the benefits of pedagogic frailty and the autoethnographic process, it constitutes the most extensive single-subject study of pedagogic frailty in higher education to date.
Dr Wiley has previously used autoethnographic approaches in relation to pedagogic research in an article published in Learning at City Journal in 2014.
Further information about Professor Kinchin and Dr Wiley’s journal article, including the abstract, may be found at the following link: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1474022217698082
Bibliographic citation
Kinchin, Ian M. and Christopher Wiley. ‘Tracing pedagogic frailty in arts and humanities education: An autoethnographic perspective’, Arts and Humanities in Higher Education: An international journal of theory, research, and practice (2017), pp. 1–24. doi: 10.1177/1474022217698082
Full text
The full text is available for free download under licence from Surrey Research Insight Open Access: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/813547/
1 March 2017
Christopher Wiley
Educational Research, Presentation, Teaching
arts and humanities, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, education, electronic voting systems, Higher Education, Music, presentation, teaching, teaching innovation, Turning Technologies, University, University of York, Wiley, workshop, York
Dr Christopher Wiley presented a workshop on using Turning Technologies response technology in the arts and humanities, at a ‘Lunch and Learn’ session held in the JB Morrell Library at the University of York on Wednesday 1 March 2017.
The invitation to deliver the workshop, ‘Enhancing Student Engagement Through Electronic Voting Systems: Innovative Pedagogies and Creative Applications’, followed Dr Wiley’s presentation at the Turning Technologies User Conference in London last year, at which he advocated the use of electronic voting systems in areas other than the STEMM and business subjects with which they are more readily associated.
As an external speaker and International Distinguished Educator with Turning Technologies since 2012, Dr Wiley has recently addressed audiences representing a wide range of disciplines and universities across England, including Lancaster, Exeter, Sussex, Birmingham, Southampton Solent, Durham, Hull, and Surrey.
He has also spoken internationally at conferences in Ireland, Crete, Germany, and Denmark; delivered an internationally broadcast webinar; presented at the Higher Education Academy’s Arts and Humanities Conference in Brighton; and published a Higher Education Academy report on electronic voting systems.
27 February 2017
Christopher Wiley
Presentation, Public Output, Research
Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, deafness, ethel smyth, feminism, feminist musicology, gender studies, Guildford, Guildford Hard of Hearing Support Group, hard of hearing, memoirs, Millmead Centre, Music, music and literature, musical biography, musicology, opera, presentation, research, Surrey, Surrey Heath, The Boatswain's Mate, University, University of Surrey, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley delivered a talk entitled ‘Ethel Smyth’s (feminist?) opera, The Boatswain’s Mate’ at the Millmead Centre, Guildford on 27 February 2017, for Guildford Hard of Hearing Support Group.
The Boatswain’s Mate was the fourth of six operas composed by Smyth (who suffered from distorted hearing and deafness for the last several decades of her life), and was the most popular and most frequently performed during her own lifetime. It was recently released in its first complete modern recording by Retrospect Opera (of which Dr Wiley is a part).
An acknowledged expert on Smyth, Dr Wiley provided an outline of the circumstances of the composition of The Boatswain’s Mate, its plot, and interesting features of the music. He also discussed the extent to which the work constitutes a ‘feminist opera’, as has previously been suggested.
This is the second time that Dr Wiley has addressed Guildford Hard of Hearing Support Group, having delivered a presentation on Smyth’s life and works two years ago in January 2015. Dr Wiley has also recently given talks on Smyth at The Guildford Institute and at the composer’s childhood home in Frimley Green.
18 January 2017
Christopher Wiley
Presentation, Public Output, Research
Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, ethel smyth, Guildford, Music, music and literature, presentation, research, Surrey, The Guildford Institute, University, University of Surrey, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley delivered a talk entitled ‘Dame Ethel Smyth, Groundbreaking Composer, Writer, and Suffragette’ at The Guildford Institute, Guildford on Wednesday 18 January 2017.
Speaking to a capacity audience of 70 in the Institute’s Assembly Room, Dr Wiley outlined Smyth’s significance to music, literature, and women’s suffrage, as well as her local connections to Surrey, illustrating his talk with excerpts from a variety of her works.
An acknowledged expert on the subject, Dr Wiley has recently given several talks on Ethel Smyth in the local area, including one at Smyth’s childhood home in Frimley Green, Surrey last September.
Further information on the event is available on The Guildford Institute’s website: http://guildford-institute.org.uk/whats-on2/dame-ethel-smyth-groundbreaking-composer-writer-and-suffragette/
9 November 2016
Christopher Wiley
Presentation, Public Output
Ambassadors Theatre, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, Don Giovanni, Glyndebourne, Glyndebourne Tour, Madama Butterfly, Milton Keynes, Milton Keynes Gallery, Milton Keynes Theatre, MK Gallery, Mozart, Music, New Victoria Theatre, opera, pre-event talk, pre-performance talk, presentation, Puccini, Rhoda McGaw Theatre, Surrey, University, University of Surrey, Wiley, Woking
Dr Christopher Wiley has delivered two pre-performance talks for Glyndebourne Tour 2016, to preface its productions of Mozart’s Don Giovanni and Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, on 8 and 9 November, respectively.
Both talks were delivered at the MK Gallery, Milton Keynes prior to performances at the nearby Milton Keynes Theatre. Speaking to some 60 audience members, Dr Wiley introduced the plots and characters of the operas, their historical backgrounds, noteworthy features of the music (such as Puccini’s use of authentic Japanese tunes in the score of Madama Butterfly), and aspects of the interpretations taken by Glyndebourne’s productions.
Dr Wiley has previously given pre-performance talks for Glyndebourne in 2014 and 2015, but this is the first time that he has been invited to speak at Milton Keynes.
Update: Dr Wiley reprised his pre-performance talk on Puccini’s Madama Butterfly to some 60 opera-goers in the Rhoda McGaw Theatre, Woking on 30 November, by way of introduction to Glyndebourne’s production later that evening in the adjacent New Victoria Theatre.
11 September 2016
Christopher Wiley
Presentation, Public Output, Research
ATD Fourth World, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, ethel smyth, Frimhurst, Frimhurst Family House, Frimley Green, Music, music and literature, presentation, research, Surrey, Surrey Heath, University, University of Surrey, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley gave a talk entitled ‘Ethel Smyth: Composer, Author, Suffragette, and Surrey Resident’, at Frimhurst Family House, Frimley Green (Ethel Smyth’s childhood home), on 11 September 2016.
Dr Wiley addressed an audience of some 50 members of the public during an event celebrating Ethel Smyth, part of the ‘Century of Sound’ Festival organised annually by Surrey Heath Borough. The full programme for the Festival is available here: http://www.centuryofsound.co.uk/event-programme.
Other features of the afternoon event included included performances of Smyth’s solo piano music by Dr Maureen Galea and of some of her songs by the Surrey Heath Singers, as well as a tour of the premises and a talk about the work of the charity ATD Fourth World, which now operates at Frimhurst Family House.
The event was jointly organised by Surrey Heath Museum, the University of Surrey, and ATD Fourth World.
2 August 2016
Christopher Wiley
Publication, Research
booklet, CD, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, comic opera, David Chandler, ethel smyth, liner notes, Music, musicology, Odaline de la Martinez, opera, Publication, research, Retrospect Opera, Surrey, The Boatswain's Mate, The Bosun's Mate, University, University of Surrey, Wiley
Retrospect Opera’s newly released CD of Ethel Smyth’s The Boatswain’s Mate, the first complete modern recording of the work, includes an essay by Dr Christopher Wiley in the accompanying booklet.
The recording appears in the centenary year of Smyth’s comic opera, which premiered on 28 January 1916 at the Shaftesbury Theatre, London. It features singers Nadine Benjamin, Edward Lee, and Jeremy Huw Williams in the principal roles, accompanied by the Lontano Ensemble conducted by pioneering Smyth interpreter Odaline de la Martinez.
Dr Wiley is acknowledged as an academic expert on Ethel Smyth, with recent research activity including publication of a major journal article, a score preface, and promoting Smyth’s music in concert, in addition to giving several public lectures on the composer. His essay ‘The Boatswain’s Mate in the context of Smyth’s life and works’ appears in the CD booklet alongside contributions by Odaline de la Martinez and Retrospect Opera’s Professor David Chandler.
The CD is available direct from Retrospect Opera at the following link: http://www.retrospectopera.org.uk/CD_Sales.html
It may also be ordered through Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Boatswains-Mate-Ethel-Smyth/dp/B01HIJX83Q/
Full text
The full text of Dr Wiley’s essay is available for free download under licence from Surrey Research Insight Open Access: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/811593/
23 May 2016
Christopher Wiley
Academic Management, Media, Teaching
academic management, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, Dance, Drama, Drama & Dance, Guardian, Guardian league tables 2017, Guildford School of Acting, Higher Education, league tables, Music, Music & Sound Recording, School of Arts, student experience, student satisfaction, Surrey, teaching, The Guardian, theatre, undergraduate, University, University of Surrey, Wiley
The School of Arts at the University of Surrey is celebrating excellent rankings in The Guardian’s UK University League Tables 2017, published today as part of the Guardian University Guide.
The Guardian league tables rank the University of Surrey No. 1 nationally for Music, No. 2 nationally for Drama & Dance, and No. 4 nationally in the overall league table.
As Director of Learning & Teaching for the School of Arts, Dr Christopher Wiley has taken a lead in developing the School’s learning & teaching and student experience strategies. This has included the initiatives by which its students have been engaged in completion of the National Student Survey, the latest results for which similarly placed the School’s subject areas at No. 1 and No. 2 nationally.
The Guardian league tables represent one of the most influential rankings of UK universities, and incorporate multiple metrics from the National Student Survey including student satisfaction with teaching, satisfaction with feedback and assessment, and overall satisfaction with the course.
Further information on the successes of the School of Arts in The Guardian league tables 2017 may be found here: http://blogs.surrey.ac.uk/arts/2016/05/23/guardian-league-table-2017-results-music-at-no-1-drama-dance-at-no-2/
3 February 2016
Christopher Wiley
Media, Public Output, Teaching
#LTHEchat, blog, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, education, Higher Education, learning, Music, social media, Surrey, teaching, Twitter, Twitter chat, University, University of Surrey, Wiley
On 3 February 2016, Dr Christopher Wiley was invited to guest-host the 44th Learning and Teaching in Higher Education Twitter chat, which runs weekly on Wednesdays from 8-9pm GMT using the hashtag #LTHEchat, and involves HE practitioners from across the UK and beyond at all stages of their career.
Dr Wiley’s #LTHEchat, on the subject of ‘Using music creatively to enhance non-music teaching’, generated a large volume of lively debate from its many contributors and resulted in some 500 tweets in the course of the scheduled 60 minutes. A SocioViz visualisation of the network of participants during the chat is pictured above right, and a Storify of the session is available here: https://storify.com/LTHEchat/tweetchat-no-44
Update: Following the #LTHEchat, Dr Wiley was invited to contribute a guest post to the University’s Surrey Social Media blog, on Twitter chats and their value to academics. He discusses his experiences of #LTHEchat in his post, ‘Twitter chats – why are they useful and how do they benefit academic staff?’, which appeared on 5 February and may be read here: http://blogs.surrey.ac.uk/socialmedia/twitter-chats-why-are-they-useful-and-how-do-they-benefit-academic-staff/
28 January 2016
Christopher Wiley
Media, Research, Teaching
#SurreyInReview, Annual Review 2015, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, education, Music, research, Surrey, teaching, University, University of Surrey, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley is featured in the University of Surrey’s Annual Review 2015, as one of 3 Inspiring Academics and 6 Exceptional Students across the institution.
Dr Wiley (profiled on p.11 of the Annual Review) discusses highlights of the past year including the Opportunities & Networking Event and ‘Careers in the Arts’ panel discussion, being nominated for the Students’ Union Academic Staff Member of the Year award, gaining Senior Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy, and writing a report on the use of electronic voting systems in arts and humanities teaching, as well as his prolific activity in 2015 as a research-active Musicologist, publishing book chapters, organising an international conference, presenting papers at major UK universities, and giving talks for the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Glyndebourne Tour.
The Annual Review may be downloaded in full here: http://ow.ly/XEIuO
1 December 2015
Christopher Wiley
Presentation, Public Output
Ambassadors Theatre, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Glyndebourne, Glyndebourne Tour, Mozart, Music, New Victoria Theatre, opera, pre-event talk, pre-performance talk, presentation, Rhoda McGaw Theatre, Surrey, University, University of Surrey, Wiley, Woking
Dr Christopher Wiley delivered a pre-performance talk for Glyndebourne Tour 2015, as a prelude to its production of Mozart’s opera Die Entführung aus dem Serail in the New Victoria Theatre, Woking, the tour’s final venue, on 1 December 2015.
Dr Wiley’s talk was held in the adjacent Rhoda McGaw Theatre, which was at capacity with some 200 opera-goers in attendance. Over the course of half an hour, Dr Wiley discussed the historical context of Die Entführung aus dem Serail, its extensive use of spoken dialogue, the virtuosic nature of some of its vocal writing, its orchestration and its portrayal of the East, as well as exploring aspects of Glyndebourne’s critically-acclaimed production.
Die Entführung aus dem Serail, which Mozart composed in 1781–2, holds a special place in Glyndebourne’s history: it was the work that brought its founder, John Christie, into contact with the soprano Audrey Mildmay, whom he subsequently married and who inspired the Glyndebourne Festival. This year’s production was the company’s seventh of the opera in its 80-year history.
The invitation for Dr Wiley to deliver this talk followed the success of his pre-performance talk for Glyndebourne Tour in October 2014 on another Mozart opera, La finta giardiniera, and was similarly well-received.
23 November 2015
Christopher Wiley
Academic Management, Prizes & Awards, Teaching
academic management, award, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, Director of Learning and Teaching, education, learning, Music, School of Arts, Surrey, teaching, teaching excellence, teaching innovation, University, University of Surrey, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley has received awards and nominations for several major teaching prizes at the University of Surrey in 2015, after less than two years in post as Director of Learning and Teaching for the School of Arts.
In April 2015, Dr Wiley was nominated for The Lynne Millward Award for Academic Staff Member of the Year, which is run by the University of Surrey Students’ Union (awards ceremony pictured, right). Nominations for this award are submitted by the students themselves and it is therefore highly competitive.
Then in June, Dr Wiley was announced as the winner of the Faculty Learning and Teaching Award for the Faculty of Arts and Human Sciences (prior to its becoming the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences), as well as being shortlisted for The Vice-Chancellor’s Teaching Excellence Award.
Finally, at a prestigious awards ceremony on 23 November 2015 (pictured below), Dr Wiley was announced as the runner-up for The Vice-Chancellor’s Teaching Excellence Award. This award recognises sustained excellence in teaching, innovative curriculum development, and enhancement of the student experience – thereby illustrating the impact that Dr Wiley has made within the University of Surrey in a relatively short space of time.
8 October 2015
Christopher Wiley
Academic Management, Presentation, Teaching
acting, careers in music, careers in the arts, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, collaboration, Dance, digital media arts, extra-curricular activity, Guildford School of Acting, Music, musical theatre, networking, opportunities, professional production skills, School of Arts, Sound Recording, teaching, theatre, theatre and performance, University, University of Surrey, Wiley
The School of Arts at the University of Surrey held its first ‘Opportunities and Networking’ event in the Ivy main auditorium, Ivy Arts Centre on Thursday 8 October 2015, organized by Dr Christopher Wiley.
Over 100 students were in attendance across the subject areas of Music and Sound Recording, Theatre, Dance, Digital Media Arts, and the Guildford School of Acting.
The event introduced students to the many different possibilities for them to collaborate with one another on different School of Arts programmes, provided them with information about extra-curricular University activities related to the arts, facilitated their networking with students elsewhere in the School, and enabled them to register their interest in collaborating with one another via sign-up sheets.
Dr Wiley compèred the event, which featured contributions from range of other School of Arts staff as well as students. The evening ended with a series of networking activities designed to enable students to meet one another and to discuss their interests in collaborating on arts projects, followed by more informal opportunities to chat over pizza and soft drinks.
This ‘Opportunities and Networking’ event follows in the footsteps of an equally successful and well-attended panel discussion on ‘Careers in the Arts’, co-organized by Dr Wiley and hosted by the School of Arts earlier in the year.
7 October 2015
Christopher Wiley
Media, Publication, Research
30th anniversary, Boublil and Schönberg, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, film music, Les Misérables, media, Music, musical theatre, musicals, musicology, stage, Surrey, teaching, The Conversation, The Conversation UK, theatre, University of Surrey, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley has contributed an article to The Conversation on the enduring popularity of Les Misérables, the world’s most successful musical, ahead of the 30th anniversary of its London production on 8 October 2015.
Dr Wiley’s article, ‘Les Misérables at 30: breaking hearts and records’, discussed aspects of the show’s plot and musical score, the role played by writers Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg and by producer Cameron Mackintosh, as well as more recent developments such as Tom Hooper’s 2012 film adaptation.
The full article may be read here: https://theconversation.com/les-miserables-at-30-breaking-hearts-and-records-48535
This is the second time that Dr Wiley has written for The Conversation, the first being a scholarly response to Stephen Fry, which has received 4,000 hits to date.
Founded in Australia in 2011 and launched in the UK in 2013, The Conversation is an independent global news website featuring stories and opinions sourced from the scholarly community. The University of Surrey is one of its founding UK partners.
Update: Dr Wiley’s Les Misérables article received over 1,300 hits by the end of 8 October (UK time), with readers fairly evenly distributed between the UK, US, Australia, and Continental Europe.
12 August 2015
Christopher Wiley
Academic Management, Media, Teaching
academic management, BMus, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, Creative Music Technology, Dance, Guildford School of Acting, HEFCE, Higher Education, Higher Education Funding Council for England, Music, National Student Survey, National Student Survey 2015, NSS, NSS 2015, School of Arts, student experience, student satisfaction, Surrey, teaching, teaching excellence, undergraduate, University, University of Surrey, Wiley
The School of Arts at the University of Surrey is celebrating excellent results in the 2015 National Student Survey (NSS), including a score of 95% for overall satisfaction, with Dance and Music reaching No. 1 and No. 2 in the national subject rankings, respectively.
The School made gains in every one of the survey’s 22 questions, including a score of 99% satisfaction overall in the ‘Teaching on the course’ category. Three programmes – BMus Music, BMus Creative Music Technology, and BA Dance – all scored the maximum 100% for overall satisfaction.
As Director of Learning and Teaching for the School of Arts, Dr Christopher Wiley has taken a lead in developing the School’s student experience strategy, including the initiatives by which its students were engaged in completion of the NSS.
The National Student Survey is an independently conducted annual survey of final-year undergraduate students across the UK, and has become a high-profile measure of student satisfaction nationally since its introduction ten years ago.
Further information on the achievements of the School of Arts in the 2015 National Student Survey may be found here: http://blogs.surrey.ac.uk/arts/2015/08/12/national-student-survey-2015/
6 August 2015
Christopher Wiley
Performance
Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, concert, Guildford, Guildford Cathedral, Margaret Ozanne, Margaret Roberts, Music, oboe, performance, recital, Surrey, University, University of Surrey, Wiley, Łukasz Jakimów
Dr Christopher Wiley performed in a recital at Guildford Cathedral as part of its 2015 series of Summer Coffee Concerts, attended by a diverse audience of around 100.
Dr Wiley played Handel’s oboe sonata in G minor, HW364a and Saint-Saëns’s oboe sonata, Op. 166, as well as Madeleine Dring’s ‘Romance’ from Three-Piece Suite.
The recital was given jointly with Polish clarinettist Łukasz Jakimów, who performed Burgmüller’s Duo, Op. 13 and Debussy’s Première Rhapsodie. Both soloists were accompanied by Margaret Ozanne (piano).
The full schedule for the Cathedral’s 2015 Summer Coffee Concerts is available here: http://www.guildford-cathedral.org/news/2015/free-coffee-concerts
16 June 2015
Christopher Wiley
Colloquium, Presentation, Research
Bach, biography, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, colloquium, conference, Faculty of Music, historiography, history, J. S. Bach, literature, Marchand, Music, music and literature, music history, musical biography, musicology, myth, mythology, nationality, Oxford, presentation, research, seminar, Surrey, The Master Musicians series, University, University of Oxford, University of Surrey, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley presented his paper ‘National Trends in Musical Biography’ in the Music Research Colloquia series at the Faculty of Music, University of Oxford on 16 June 2015, to close the series for the 2014–15 academic year.
Speaking to some 25 academics and postgraduate students in the Faculty’s Denis Arnold Hall, Dr Wiley explored the relationship between musical biography and nationality, in terms of the status of the genre at particular times and places as well as its development over time.
Case studies upon which Dr Wiley drew included biographical retellings of the story of J.S. Bach’s keyboard contest with Louis Marchand, and the ideologies that emerge from the original volumes of the ‘Master Musicians’ series. Dr Wiley had presented earlier versions of this research at the Institute of Musical Research, University of London in 2015 and 2014.
The weekly colloquia are organized by graduate students and feature musicological research presented by a range of leading academics and younger researchers from universities around the world.
Details of Dr Wiley’s Research Colloquium may be found here: http://www.music.ox.ac.uk/event/research-colloquium-chris-wiley/
10 April 2015
Christopher Wiley
Conference, Presentation, Research
Bach, biography, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, conference, historiography, history, Institute of Musical Research, J. S. Bach, literature, London, Marchand, Music, music and literature, music history, musical biography, musicology, myth, mythology, presentation, research, Surrey, University, University of London, University of Surrey, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley and Dr Paul Watt (Monash University, Melbourne) have co-organized a two-day international conference on musical biography held at the Institute of Musical Research, University of London, on 9-10 April 2015.
The conference, entitled ‘Musical Biography: National Ideology, Narrative Technique, and the Nature of Myth’, brought together a broad range of some 50 interdisciplinary scholars from the UK, US, Australia, and Continental Europe.
In addition to several panel sessions, the conference incorporated two invited roundtable discussions, whose speakers included Professors Simon Keefe (University of Sheffield), Mark Evan Bonds (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), Jonathan Cross (University of Oxford), and Rosamund Bartlett (Oxford).
In the course of the conference, Dr Wiley also chaired three of the panel sessions as well as presenting his paper ‘Myth-making and the Politics of Nationality in Narratives of J.S. Bach’s 1717 Contest with Louis Marchand’, which discussed the ideological significance of the variations in retellings of a single biographical story across different countries in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
The schedule for the event may be viewed at the conference website: http://events.sas.ac.uk/imr/events/view/17765/Music+Biography+Conference
The full conference programme may be downloaded here.
31 March 2015
Christopher Wiley
Conference, Publication, Research
Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, City, City University London, conference, ethel smyth, gender studies, London, Music, music and literature, music historiography, music history, musical biography, musical canon, musicology, presentation, Publication, Radical Music History Symposium, research, Sibelius Academy, Surrey, symposium, University, University of Surrey, Wiley
An essay written by Dr Christopher Wiley, entitled ‘Musical Biography and the Myth of the Muse’, has appeared as the final chapter of a new anthology in which 17 international musicologists subject the writing of music history to groundbreaking scrutiny.
Critical Music Historiography: Probing Canons, Ideologies and Institutions is edited by Vesa Kurkela and Markus Mantere, and developed from the Radical Music History Symposium held at the Sibelius Academy, Finland (now part of the University of the Arts Helsinki) in December 2011, at which Dr Wiley presented a paper.
Dr Wiley’s essay explores the pattern in musical biography of specific female characters being cast in the role of ‘muse’ to a male genius, rising to prominence at specific points in that person’s life story as a signifier of their productivity and increasing artistic powers. Such women were thereby portrayed as having inspired their associated composer to greater heights, while implicitly denied the possibility of undertaking analogous creative activity themselves.
Further information
Listing of the volume on the publisher’s website: http://www.ashgate.com/default.aspx?page=637&title_id=19817&edition_id=1209349954&calcTitle=1
Listing of the volume on amazon.co.uk: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Critical-Music-Historiography-Ideologies-Institutions/dp/1472414195/
Bibliographic citation
Wiley, Christopher. ‘Musical Biography and the Myth of the Muse’, in Vesa Kurkela and Markus Mantere eds. Critical Music Historiography: Probing Canons, Ideologies and Institutions. Farnham: Ashgate, 2015, pp. 251–61.
Full text
The full text is available for free download under licence from Surrey Research Insight Open Access: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/803216/
26 January 2015
Christopher Wiley
Presentation, Public Output, Research
autobiography, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, deafness, ethel smyth, gender studies, Guildford, Guildford Hard of Hearing Support Group, hard of hearing, Millmead Centre, Music, music and literature, musical biography, musicology, presentation, research, Surrey, University, University of Surrey, Virginia Woolf, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley presented a talk entitled ‘The Composer Dame Ethel Smyth and her Deafness’ at the Millmead Centre, Guildford on 26 January 2015, for Guildford Hard of Hearing Support Group.
Smyth, who was active as composer, writer, and suffragette, was afflicted by distorted hearing and deafness for the last several decades of her life, particularly from the later 1910s until her death in 1944.
An acknowledged expert on Smyth, Dr Wiley has previously given public talks on the artist at the University of Surrey and The Women’s Library, London, as well as writing for the OUP Blog and organizing a recital of Smyth’s music to commemorate the 70th anniversary of her death last year.
16 December 2014
Christopher Wiley
Media
Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, Disney, Eagle Radio, education, film music, Frozen, Higher Education, learning and teaching, Let It Go, media, Music, music and the moving image, musical theatre, musicology, newspaper, popular music, press, radio, Radio Verulam, study, Surrey, The Independent on Sunday, The Telegraph, University, University of Surrey, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley has contributed expert comment to an article appearing in The Telegraph on 16 December 2014, on the continuing success of ‘Let It Go’ from Disney’s Frozen.
‘5 reasons why Frozen’s Let It Go is so addictive’ by Alice Vincent may be read at the following link: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/music-news/11296986/Frozen-let-it-go-why-so-popular.html (subsequently republished on 25 December 2016)
Dr Wiley is quoted a total of six times in the course of the article, as a specialist in musical theatre and music and the moving image.
This press appearance comes three weeks after comments from Dr Wiley opened an article in The Independent on Sunday, ‘All you need is a music qualification’ by Widget Finn (23 November 2014), on studying Masters degrees in music.
Update: Dr Wiley has also given interviews on the Frozen news story for Surrey and Hampshire’s Eagle Radio (30 December, four bulletins) and West Hertfordshire’s Radio Verulam (28 December, live). An article featuring Dr Wiley was published on Eagle Radio’s website on 30 December (now cached).
Update: Dr Wiley was also quoted in this iTech Post article from 26 December 2016: http://www.itechpost.com/articles/68632/20161226/frozens-go-experts-explain-songs-popularity-through-science.htm
Update: Separately from the above, Dr Wiley was quoted on Frozen in this South Wales Life article from 17 January 2020: https://southwaleslife.com/frozen-the-musical/
31 October 2014
Christopher Wiley
Academic Management, Educational Research, Publication, Teaching
academic leadership, academic management, academic practice, autoethnography, BMus, BMus degree, change management, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, City, City University London, collaborative leadership, education, Higher Education, learning, MA in Academic Practice, metric-based performance, Music, professional development, programme director, teaching, University
Dr Christopher Wiley has published an article on academic leadership in higher education in City University London’s in-house Learning at City Journal.
Dr Wiley’s essay, ‘Academic Leadership in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education: A Personal Reflection on one Programme Director’s Professional Development’, provides a retrospective evaluation of his development as an academic leader to date, with particular reference to his previous position as Programme Director of City’s Music BMus programme (2009–13).
Based on work originally undertaken for his MA in Academic Practice, the article considers change management, collaborative leadership, metric-based performance, and the challenges faced by the UK higher education sector today, as well as discussing the ways in which Dr Wiley has sought to apply theories from the scholarly literature to his various leadership roles.
Further information about this publication, including the abstract, may be found at the following link: http://openaccess.city.ac.uk/4896/
Bibliographic citation
‘Academic Leadership in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education: A Personal Reflection on one Programme Director’s Professional Development’, Learning at City Journal, Vol. 4, No. 2 (October 2014), pp. 39–49.
Full text
The full text of the article is available for free download via City Research Online: http://openaccess.city.ac.uk/4896/1/L%40C_Journal_Volume_4_Number_2_-_Article_4.pdf
28 October 2014
Christopher Wiley
Presentation, Public Output
Ambassadors Theatre, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, Glyndebourne, Glyndebourne Tour, La finta giardiniera, Mozart, Music, New Victoria Theatre, opera, pre-event talk, pre-performance talk, presentation, Rhoda McGaw Theatre, University, University of Surrey, Wiley, Woking
Dr Christopher Wiley has given a pre-performance talk for Glyndebourne Tour 2014, to preface its production of Mozart’s opera La finta giardiniera in the New Victoria Theatre, Woking on 28 October 2014.
Speaking to an audience of over 100 opera-goers in the adjacent Rhoda McGaw Theatre, Dr Wiley endeavoured to enhance the audience’s experience and enjoyment of the evening’s performance by providing some contextual knowledge of the opera.
In the course of the half-hour talk, Dr Wiley explored the plot of La finta giardiniera, its historical background, and its significance within Mozart’s output, as well as drawing attention to noteworthy musical features and key aspects of Glyndebourne’s performance.
Mozart composed the score to his comic opera La finta giardiniera in 1774, at the age of 18. Glyndebourne’s acclaimed 2014 production was its first ever of this work.
23 October 2014
Christopher Wiley
Presentation, Public Output, Teaching
Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, film music, Goldfinger, James Bond, Music, musical theatre, musicology, popular music, pre-event talk, pre-screening talk, Stephen Sondheim, Surrey, Sweeney Todd, Tim Burton, University of Surrey, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley has delivered two pre-screening talks at the University of Surrey as part of its programme of film screenings in the Rik Medlik Building during the 2014/15 season.
Dr Wiley’s talk ‘Music and the James Bond Phenomenon’ preceded a screening of Goldfinger on 23 October 2014, which inaugurated a series dedicated to some of the best-loved Bond films. The 45-minute presentation examined the celebrated phenomenon of the theme songs to individual Bond films as well as their relationship to their associated films’ musical scores, showing how they have become an integral and instantly recognizable part of the franchise.
On 5 November 2014, Dr Wiley gave his talk ‘Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd in Context’ prior to a screening of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, part of a scheduled series of films directed by Tim Burton. Dr Wiley discussed the literary origins of the Sweeney Todd story, situated Sondheim’s musical within his wider theatrical output, and explored the show’s cinematic adaptation.
Both events were well received by their respective audiences – more people attended Dr Wiley’s pre-screening talk on Sweeney Todd than stayed on to watch the film itself!
18 July 2014
Christopher Wiley
Conference, Presentation, Research
aesthetics, biography, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, conference, historiography, history, Institute of Musical Research, literature, London, Music, music and literature, musical biography, musicology, presentation, research, Surrey, The Master Musicians series, University, University of London, University of Surrey, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley presented his paper ‘Life and Works: The Master Musicians Series (1899–1906) as Victorian Period-Piece’ at the ‘Music Literature, Historiography, and Aesthetics’ Conference held at the Institute of Musical Research, University of London, on 17-18 July 2014.
Dr Wiley’s paper explored elements of Victorian ideology (including preoccupations with evolutionist theory and with ‘working partnerships’ between men and women) that emerge strongly from a close reading of the volumes of the original Master Musicians series. He then showed how these concerns yielded important consequences for the authors’ discussions of the musical works themselves.
The conference’s call for papers is available here: http://artsonline.monash.edu.au/news-events/call-for-papers-conference-on-music-literature-historiography-and-aesthetics/
The full conference programme may be downloaded here: http://music.sas.ac.uk/sites/default/files/files/Music%20Literature%20Historiography%20and%20Aesthetics%20programme%20(1).doc
Dr Wiley had previously presented a paper at a related conference held at Monash University, Melbourne earlier in the year.
16 June 2014
Christopher Wiley
Media, Public Output, Research
#PeoplesQs, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, education, ethel smyth, Higher Education, media, Music, musicology, People's Questions, research, Surrey, Twitter, Universities Week, University, University of Surrey, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley was among the researchers and academics who took questions from members of the public via Twitter as part of Universities Week 2014.
Using the hashtag #PeoplesQs, Dr Wiley took questions about his research on the music of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and on Dame Ethel Smyth, as well as on challenges faced by music education today.
A round-up of the week’s activity from University of Surrey academic staff may be viewed here: https://storify.com/UniOfSurrey/universities-week-2014 (click on the ‘Read next page’ button for some details of Dr Wiley’s contribution)
The complete list of panellists is available here: http://www.universitiesweek.org.uk/stories/Pages/PeoplesQs.asp
8 May 2014
Christopher Wiley
Media, Public Output, Publication, Research
blog, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, ethel smyth, Music, music and literature, musicology, OUPblog, Oxford Journals, Oxford University Press, research, Surrey, The Musical Quarterly, University, University of Surrey, Wiley, Woking
Dr Christopher Wiley has contributed a text to the OUPblog, Oxford University Press’s Academic Insights for the Thinking World, to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the death of Dame Ethel Smyth, the pioneering composer and writer, on 8 May 1944.
Dr Wiley’s 1,000-word post, ‘Five facts about Dame Ethel Smyth’, may be read here: http://blog.oup.com/2014/05/facts-dame-ethel-smyth/
This blog entry follows Dr Wiley’s article on Smyth published in Oxford journal The Musical Quarterly last year.
To mark the anniversary, Dr Wiley also organized a lunchtime recital of Smyth’s music which took plan on 8 May 2014 in Woking, the town where she was resident from 1910 until her death.
Update: Dr Wiley’s blog entry was subsequently selected as one of the Editor’s Picks, appearing on the front page of the OUPblog for some weeks.
8 May 2014
Christopher Wiley
Performance, Presentation, Public Output, Research
Chris Wiley, Christ Church, Christ Church Woking, Christopher Wiley, concert, ethel smyth, Isabella Stocchetti, Margaret Roberts, Maureen Galea, Music, music and literature, musicology, presentation, recital, research, Sebastian Forbes, Surrey, University, University of Surrey, Wiley, Woking
Dr Christopher Wiley organized a recital of the music of Dame Ethel Smyth, given at Christ Church Woking by staff and students of the School of Arts at the University of Surrey, to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the composer’s death in Hook Heath, near Woking on 8 May 1944.
The one-hour lunchtime recital of chamber, vocal, and solo keyboard works featured pianists Maureen Galea and Margaret Roberts, Isabella Stocchetti (flute), and Christopher Wiley (oboe, organ), as well as members of the University Chamber Choir. The full programme was as follows:
- Two Interlinked French Folk Melodies (1928, from the opera Entente cordiale) for flute, oboe, and piano (Isabella Stocchetti, flute; Christopher Wiley, oboe; Margaret Roberts, piano)
- Aus der Jugendzeit!! E. v. H. (c.1878–80) (Maureen Galea, piano)
- Nocturne (Kanon in Gegenbewegung) (c.1877–80) (Maureen Galea, piano)
- ‘O Gott du frommer Gott’ and Canon on ‘O Gott du frommer Gott’ (Nos. IIa & IIb from Short Choral Preludes, c.1882–4) (Christopher Wiley, organ)
- Piano Suite in E major (c.1877–1880) (Maureen Galea, piano)
- Variations on Bonny Sweet Robin (Ophelia’s Song) (1928) (Isabella Stocchetti, flute; Christopher Wiley, oboe; Margaret Roberts, piano)
- Overture to the opera The Boatswain’s Mate, Piano transcription (1913–14) (Maureen Galea, piano)
- ‘Laggard Dawn’ and ‘The March of the Women’ (Nos. 1 & 3 from Songs of Sunrise, 1910) (University Chamber Choir, dir. Isabella Stocchetti; Maureen Galea, piano)
Dr Wiley, who has been conducting research on Ethel Smyth for over a decade, also gave spoken introductions to each piece, and Surrey History Centre provided their ‘Musical Passions’ exhibition celebrating Smyth’s life.
Attended by some 50 audience members, this commemoration followed the Ethel Smyth Symposium hosted at the University in February of this year.
Update: The event was favourably reviewed by Sebastian Forbes, who wrote that ‘Senior lecturer Christopher Wiley, who has done much research into Smyth, not only devised and introduced the concert but also, very expertly, played oboe and organ.’
The review is available here: http://blogs.surrey.ac.uk/arts/2014/05/12/celebrating-the-life-and-work-of-dame-ethel-smythe-concert-at-christ-church-woking/
12 April 2014
Christopher Wiley
Conference, Research
Australia, autobiography, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, conference, ethel smyth, Master Musicians series, Melbourne, Monash University, Monash University Law Chambers, Mozart, Music, music and literature, musical biography, musicology, presentation, research, Surrey, University, University of Surrey, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley was among the speakers who presented at the ‘Words About Music’ conference held at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia on 12 April 2014.
Dr Wiley’s paper, ‘Music and (or?) Musical Biography’, examined aspects of the complex relationship between the life and the works in a range of composer biographies. Using case studies drawn from several different areas of his wider research – including the celebrated story of Mozart’s Requiem, the original volumes of the ‘Master Musicians’ series, and the autobiographical writings of Ethel Smyth – Dr Wiley illustrated how biographical narrative may shed much direct light on the music, or very little, or may even present a contradictory perspective from that evident from the score itself.
Held at Monash University Law Chambers, the international conference brought together scholars from across Australia and the UK, representing a range of disciplines including musicology, literature, history, and sociology.
19 February 2014
Christopher Wiley
Conference, Performance, Presentation, Public Output, Research
autobiography, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, Clive Williamson, concert, ethel smyth, gender and sexuality, gender studies, Isabella Stocchetti, lesbian studies, LGBT History Month, Margaret Roberts, Maureen Galea, Music, music and literature, musical biography, musicology, opera, presentation, Sophie Langdon, Surrey, symposium, University, University of Surrey, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley contributed to a Symposium dedicated to Ethel Smyth (1858-1944), the Surrey-based composer and writer also noted for her suffrage activity in the early 1910s, which was held in the Performing Arts Technology Studios at the University of Surrey on 19 February. This was the University’s first ever event for LGBT History Month, for which Smyth was named as one of the faces of the 2014 theme of Music.
Introduced by Professor Diane Watt, Head of the University’s School of English and Languages, the Symposium commenced with a talk by Dr Wiley entitled ‘Dame Ethel Smyth (1858-1944): In Search of a Lesbian Identity in Music and Literature’, in which he discussed possible ways of interpreting Smyth’s artistic output as reflecting her sexual identity and feminist sensibilities, with musical illustrations provided by Maureen Galea (piano) and the University Chamber Choir.
A drinks reception followed the talk, during which audience members were able to view the ‘Musical Passions’ exhibition celebrating the life of Ethel Smyth, provided courtesy of Surrey History Centre.
The Symposium closed with a concert of solo, chamber, and vocal works by Ethel Smyth, featuring staff and students of the University including pianists Maureen Galea and Margaret Roberts, Isabella Stocchetti (flute), and Christopher Wiley (oboe), as well as the University Chamber Choir. Highlights included a performance of Smyth’s Violin Sonata with guest artist Sophie Langdon and the Head of Performance, Professor Clive Williamson. The full programme was as follows:
- Two Interlinked French Folk Melodies (1928, from the opera Entente cordiale) for flute, oboe, and piano (Isabella Stocchetti, flute; Christopher Wiley, oboe; Margaret Roberts, piano)
- Aus der Jugendzeit!! E. v. H. (c.1878–80) (Maureen Galea, piano)
Nocturne (Kanon in Gegenbewegung) (c.1877–80) (Maureen Galea, piano)- Sonata for Violin and Piano in A minor, Op. 7 (1877) (Sophie Langdon, violin; Clive Williamson, piano)
- Variations on Bonny Sweet Robin (Ophelia’s Song) (1928) (Isabella Stocchetti, flute; Christopher Wiley, oboe; Margaret Roberts, piano)
- Overture to the opera The Boatswain’s Mate, Piano transcription (1913–14) (Maureen Galea, piano)
- ‘Laggard Dawn’ and ‘The March of the Women’ (Nos. 1 & 3 from Songs of Sunrise, 1910) (University Chamber Choir, cond. Isabella Stocchetti, dir. Russell Keable; Maureen Galea, piano)
The Symposium was held in association with the University of Surrey Equality and Diversity, the School of Arts, the School of English and Languages, LGBT History Month, and Surrey History Centre. Both the talk and the concert were attended by around 50 people, including staff and students of the University and external visitors.
Further information
Event website: http://www.surrey.ac.uk/arts/music/events/ethel_smyth.htm
Poster: http://www.exploringsurreyspast.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/LGBT-History-Month-Final-2014-21-01-14.pdf
Surrey History Centre: http://www.exploringsurreyspast.org.uk/lgbt-2014/
Update
An academic response to Dr Wiley’s talk, ‘Musical Inversions: Ethel Smyth’ by Dr Heike Bauer (Birkbeck University of London), appeared on the blog A Violent World of Difference on 21 February 2014: http://violentworldofdifference.wordpress.com/2014/02/21/21-feb-2014-musical-inversions-ethel-smyth/
20 November 2013
Christopher Wiley
Presentation, Publication, Research
autobiography, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, ethel smyth, gender and sexuality, gender studies, lesbian studies, Music, music and literature, musical biography, musicology, opera, Publication, research, seminar, Surrey, The Musical Quarterly, University, University of Surrey, Virginia Woolf, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley presented a research seminar based on his paper ‘Music and Literature: Ethel Smyth, Virginia Woolf, and “The First Woman to Write an Opera”’ at a research seminar hosted by the School of Arts at the University of Surrey on 20 November 2013.
Dr Wiley joined the University of Surrey in September 2013 following a nine-year tenure at City University London. One aspect of his research concerns the intellectual dialogue between Ethel Smyth and Virginia Woolf (pictured, R-L). The article on which his paper is based is being published in the refereed journal The Musical Quarterly.
15 November 2013
Christopher Wiley
Conference, Publication, Research
Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, Haydn, Joseph Haydn, London, Music, musical biography, musicology, myth, mythology, Publication, The British Library, Wiley
A book chapter written by Dr Christopher Wiley, entitled ‘Mythological Motifs in the Biographical Accounts of Haydn’s Later Life’, has appeared in a recently-published anthology that represents a major new contribution to Haydn scholarship.
The volume, The Land of Opportunity: Joseph Haydn and Britain, is edited by Richard Chesser and David Wyn Jones and has its origins in a conference hosted by The British Library (who also published the book) in 2009, organized to commemorate the bicentenary of Haydn’s death.
Dr Wiley’s essay investigates three prominent stories in life-writing on Haydn’s later life: his visit of 1795 to the monument erected in his honour by Count Harrach at Rohrau; the performance of The Creation in March 1808; and the episode of his death the following year. It explores various revealing themes that emerge from their retellings in musical biographies over the decades, including the rising social status of the artist, Haydn’s reconciliation with Beethoven, and notions of The Creation as a harbinger of the composer’s death.
Bibliographic citation
Wiley, Christopher. ‘Mythological Motifs in the Biographical Accounts of Haydn’s Later Life’, in Richard Chesser and David Wyn Jones eds. The Land of Opportunity: Joseph Haydn in Britain. London: The British Library, 2013, pp. 195–211. ISBN 978-0-7123-5848-4.
Full text
The full text is available for free download under licence from Surrey Research Insight Open Access: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/800492/
Further information
Listing of the volume in the British Library Publishing catalogue:
Listing of the volume on amazon.co.uk: http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Land-Opportunity-Joseph-Britain/dp/071235848X/
11 October 2013
Christopher Wiley
Publication, Research
Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, ethel smyth, gender studies, Music, music and literature, musical biography, Musical Quarterly, musicology, Oxford Journals, Oxford University Press, research, The Musical Quarterly, University, University of Surrey, Virginia Woolf, Wiley
A major article by Dr Christopher Wiley, ‘Music and Literature: Ethel Smyth, Virginia Woolf, and “The First Woman to Write an Opera”’ (doi: 10.1093/musqtl/gdt012), has been published in The Musical Quarterly, Vol. 96.
Dr Wiley’s article calls into question the impression of the extent of women’s contributions to music composition given by Smyth’s published literature. He examines the traces of revisionism evident between her earlier and later prose writings, asking whether Smyth may have sought to present herself as essentially unique given her status as a female composer. Dr Wiley also explores the differences between music and literature as professions to which creative women aspired in the early twentieth century, with reference to Smyth’s Female Pipings in Eden and Woolf’s Three Guineas.
Founded in 1915 and published by Oxford University Press, The Musical Quarterly has long been cited as the foremost scholarly musical journal in the United States.
Bibliographic citation
Wiley, Christopher. ‘Ethel Smyth, Virginia Woolf, and “The First Woman to Write an Opera”’, The Musical Quarterly, Vol. 96, No. 2 (Summer 2013), pp. 263–95. doi: 10.1093/musqtl/gdt012
Full text
The full text is available for free download under licence from Surrey Research Insight Open Access: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/800523/
Update: Dr Wiley’s article reached no.1 in The Musical Quarterly’s monthly ranking of most-read articles (based on full-text and PDF views) throughout the final quarter of 2014, and continued to hold the top spot at the start of 2015. http://mq.oxfordjournals.org/reports/most-read
9 October 2013
Christopher Wiley
Academic Management, Prizes & Awards, Teaching
award, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, City, City University London, education, HEA, Higher Education, Higher Education Academy, London, Music, National Teaching Fellow, National Teaching Fellowship, NTF, Surrey, teaching, University, University of Surrey, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley was one of 55 award winners honoured at the 2013 National Teaching Fellowship Award Ceremony, held at Middle Temple Hall, London on 9 October 2013. Dr Wiley represented both his current and former institutions, the University of Surrey and City University London, respectively.
Run by the Higher Education Academy (HEA) and funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW), and the Department for Employment and Learning in Northern Ireland (DELNI), the National Teaching Fellowship Scheme recognizes individual excellence in learning and teaching in Higher Education.
Individuals are nominated for the Scheme every year by some 350 eligible higher and further education institutions across England, Northern Ireland, and Wales. Successful nominees receive an award of £10,000 to enable their continuing professional development in learning and teaching.
Dr Wiley is pictured below receiving his award from Professor Sir Robert Burgess, Chair of the HEA Board, during the Ceremony. The announcement that Dr Wiley had been awarded a National Teaching Fellowship was made in June 2013.
13 August 2013
Christopher Wiley
Academic Management, Media
2013, BMus, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, City, City University London, HEFCE, Higher Education, Higher Education Funding Council for England, London, Music, National Student Survey, NSS, programme director, student experience, student satisfaction, teaching, teaching excellence, undergraduate, University, Wiley
City University London’s BMus Music programme has been ranked as top in the UK with 100% student satisfaction in the 2013 National Student Survey (NSS), voted by the students themselves.
Dr Christopher Wiley assumed the position of BMus Programme Director in 2009, following a year when student satisfaction – as determined by the final question of the NSS, ‘Overall, I am satisfied with the quality of the course‘ – was at just 31%. Under his leadership, student satisfaction has steadily increased to 62% (2009), 68% (2010), and to 81% last year.
Other highlights of the programme’s 2013 survey results included responses to the questions ‘Staff are good at explaining things’ and ‘Staff have made the subject interesting’ (both 100%); ‘Staff are enthusiastic about what they are teaching’, ‘The course is intellectually stimulating’, and ‘I have been able to contact staff when I needed to’ (all 97%); and six other scores in the 90s.
Launched in 2005, the NSS is an annual national survey of final-year undergraduate students, conducted by Ipsos MORI on behalf of the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), and provides the standard measure of student satisfaction used in a number of major league tables. The full results of the 2013 National Student Survey are available from HEFCE’s website.
The University’s statement on its 2013 student satisfaction scores acknowledged Music’s top position in the UK.
12 August 2013
Christopher Wiley
Media, Publication, Research
Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, City, City University London, ethel smyth, London, media, Music, musical biography, musicology, Publication, research, Stephen Fry, Surrey, teaching, The Conversation, The Conversation UK, University, University of Surrey, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley has contributed an article to The Conversation UK, reflecting on aspects of Stephen Fry’s open letter on Russia’s controversial new anti-gay laws (which called for a ban on the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi) from his own perspective as musicologist, scholar, and teacher.
One claim that Fry made in his letter about the potential consequences of exploring Tchaikovsky’s sexuality and its relationship to his life and work under Russia’s controversial new legislation prompted Dr Wiley to reconsider elements of his own research on musical biography, not just on Tchaikovsky but also on Britten and Ethel Smyth.
Published on 12 August 2013 shortly after Fry’s letter went viral, Dr Wiley’s article, ‘Academics should stand with Fry against anti-gay Russia’, broke new ground for The Conversation UK for its content. It soon received thousands of views, helped in part by a mention by Fry himself on Twitter three days after it originally appeared.
The Conversation UK is an independent news and commentary website offering in-depth analysis, research, news, and ideas from academics and researchers, and has received over 300,000 visitors since its launch three months ago. Modelled on its successful Australian counterpart, its founding partners comprise 13 UK universities including City University London and the University of Surrey.
5 July 2013
Christopher Wiley
Conference, Educational Research, Presentation, Teaching
Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, City, City University London, conference, Crete, education, electronic voting systems, Greece, Higher Education, ICICTE, Jay Carpenter, learning, London, Music, musical theatre, popular music, presentation, research, teaching, Turning Technologies, University, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley facilitated a workshop on electronic voting systems at the International Conference on Information Communication Technologies in Education (ICICTE) in Chania, Crete on 5 July 2013.
Dr Wiley’s presentation, entitled ‘Increasing Instructional Interactivity with Turning Technologies Response Technology’, was chaired and moderated by Jay Carpenter, UK Territory Manager from Turning Technologies.
Highlights of Dr Wiley’s presentation included findings from his research into student engagement with electronic voting systems, aspects of his own teaching in musical theatre and pop music, and even a dodecaphonic piece improvised on an iPad piano app.
Last year, Dr Wiley became the first ever person from the arts and humanities appointed to Turning Technologies’ global Distinguished Educator programme (see here).
The day’s programme for the conference may be accessed at the following link: http://www.icicte.org/ICICTE13Programme3.htm
A review of the conference by Olivia Fox may be found here: http://blogs.city.ac.uk/educationalvignettes/2013/08/01/review-of-icicte-technology-innovations-conference/
27 June 2013
Christopher Wiley
Media, Prizes & Awards, Teaching
award, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, City, City University London, education, HEA, Higher Education, Higher Education Academy, London, Music, National Teaching Fellow, National Teaching Fellowship, NTF, teaching, University, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley was among the 55 UK higher and further education staff awarded a 2013 National Teaching Fellowship by the Higher Education Academy. As the highest national award in learning and teaching in Higher Education, there are fewer than 600 National Teaching Fellows across the whole of the UK sector.
The Fellows were chosen from nominations submitted by some 350 eligible higher and further education institutions across England, Northern Ireland, and Wales. Submissions were assessed against three criteria: individual excellence, raising the profile of excellence, and developing excellence. Successful Fellows receive an award of £10,000, to support their professional development in teaching and learning.
The names of the successful 2013 National Teaching Fellows were announced on 27 June, and they will officially receive their awards at a ceremony due to take place in London on Wednesday 9 October.
Further information
Dr Wiley’s profile at the Higher Education Academy website: http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/contacts/detail/ntfs/2013/Wiley_Christopher_profile_ntfs_2013
News item by City University London: http://www.city.ac.uk/news/2013/jun/two-city-staff-awarded-national-teaching-fellowships-for-2013
The Guardian article on the 2013 National Teaching Fellows: http://www.guardian.co.uk/higher-education-hea-partner-zone/national-teaching-fellows-2013-hea
14 June 2013
Christopher Wiley
Media
Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, live interview, London, Monocle 24, Music, music history, popular music, radio, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley was interviewed live on global radio station Monocle 24, as part of the show ‘The Briefing’, Episode 422, broadcast on 14 June 2013.
‘The Briefing’ is intended to provide an analysis of the day’s major news stories, and is broadcast at 12noon London time on weekdays. It also functions as the station’s ‘drivetime show for the US East Coast’.
The subject of Dr Wiley’s interview was the recently filed lawsuit challenging the copyright to ‘Happy Birthday to You’. Dr Wiley was interviewed in his capacity as a music historian.
The interview may be heard at the following link: http://monocle.com/radio/shows/the-briefing/422/ (listen from 22.55-27.40 for Dr Wiley’s interview). The episode is also available for download in iTunes.
30 May 2013
Christopher Wiley
Publication, Research, Research Supervision
Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, City, City University London, Donat Berköz, London, Music, musicology, popular music, research, research supervision, Sini Timonen, University, Wiley
Two students whose doctoral research was supervised by Dr Christopher Wiley are celebrating recent publications.
Sini Timonen has written a book chapter on all-girl groups in garage, beat, and rock in the 1960s and 1970s for the anthology Women Make Noise: Girl Bands from Motown to the Modern, edited by Julia Downes (see here). Sini also contributed the Foreword to the e-book It’s Different for Girls, written by Merle Phillips and Margaret Brown (see here), two members of Mandy and the Girlfriends, an all-female beat group based in Hull and active in the 1960s. Its authors were first inspired to publish their reminiscences back in 2010, after Sini had interviewed them for her PhD dissertation on women musicians’ contribution to popular music in England between 1962 and 1971.
Dr Donat Berköz’s book chapter on the Turkish artist Nazan Öncel and women’s rights in modern Turkey appears in the anthology Resistance in Contemporary Middle Eastern Cultures: Literature, Cinema, and Music, edited by Karima Laachir and Saeed Talajooy (see here). Donat graduated from City University London in 2012 with a PhD dissertation entitled ‘A Gendered Musicological Study of the Work of Four Leading Female Singer-Songwriters: Laura Nyro, Joni Mitchell, Kate Bush, and Tori Amos’.
16 April 2013
Christopher Wiley
Academic Management, Educational Research, Research, Teaching
academic management, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, Director of Learning and Teaching, learning, Music, new appointment, School of Arts, Senior Lecturer, Surrey, teaching, University, University of Surrey, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley has been appointed Senior Lecturer and Director of Learning and Teaching in the School of Arts at the University of Surrey. The University’s School of Arts comprises the subject areas of Music and Sound Recording, Dance, Film, and Theatre, as well as the Digital World Research Centre, the Lewis Elton Gallery, and the acclaimed Guildford School of Acting (GSA).
Dr Wiley commences his new position in September 2013. His academic profile on the University of Surrey website may be viewed here: http://www.surrey.ac.uk/schoolofarts/people/complete_staff_list/christopher_wiley
19 March 2013
Christopher Wiley
Performance, Teaching
BMus, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, City, City University London, concert, London, Music, musical theatre, performance, teaching, University, Wiley
A major Musical Theatre concert featuring students of City University London, curated by Dr Christopher Wiley, was presented in the University’s Performance Space on Tuesday 19 March 2013, to tie in with the ‘Musical Theatre’ module currently being delivered by Dr Wiley on the BMus programme.
The concert’s broad range of solo numbers included ‘The Man I Love’ (Lady Be Good), ‘If I Loved You’ (Carousel), ‘Adelaide’s Lament’ (Guys and Dolls), ‘So Long, Dearie’ (Hello, Dolly!), ‘Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again’ (The Phantom of the Opera), ‘Why, God, Why?’ (Miss Saigon), ‘There’s a Fine, Fine Line’ (Avenue Q), ‘Falling Slowly’ (Once), and ‘Left Behind’ (Spring Awakening).
Also featured were the chorus numbers ‘Do You Hear the People Sing?’ and ‘One Day More’ (Les Misérables) performed by the City University Musical Theatre Chorus, a staged version of ‘What is this Feeling’ (Wicked), and a set by the City University Big Band that included ‘They Can’t Take That Away from Me’ (Shall We Dance), ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’ (The Wizard of Oz), and ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’ (We Will Rock You).
Some 60 performers were involved in the concert, which attracted a sell-out audience. Other highlights included the fully staged chorus ‘Another Op’nin’, Another Show’ (Kiss Me, Kate; shown above in rehearsal) to start the event, and a choreographed ‘Cell Block Tango’ (Chicago) featuring the City Block Tango Dancers.
For further information, please see: http://www.city.ac.uk/events/2013/march/a-night-at-the-musicals
Update: A promotional video about the concert and its associated academic module, featuring interviews from the students as well as footage of lectures and of the performance itself, was released in June 2013 and may be viewed here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CC01cbDvaw0
12 February 2013
Christopher Wiley
Academic Management, Presentation
BMus, careers, careers evening, careers in music, careers in the arts, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, City University London, employability, employment, London, Music, Wiley
The Centre for Music Studies at City University London hosted its inaugural ‘Careers with a Music Degree’ evening on Tuesday 12 February 2013 from 6-9pm, organized by Dr Christopher Wiley.
The event welcomed external speakers from a range of different music-related professions including venue management, teaching, freelance performance, the music business, music therapy, sound recording, and graduate positions. In addition to explaining their own roles and professions, the panel of experts had many useful employability tips to pass on to the students.
Speakers represented organizations including the British Broadcasting Corporation, the Barbican, The Latymer School, ForeSound School of Music and the Performing Arts, Mazars LLP, and the Incorporated Society of Musicians. Several were recent graduates of the City BMus programme who were now in key positions within their profession.
Around 50 current students were in attendance (together with former students and staff). Many have now made important new contacts and some have even secured placement opportunities as a direct result of the event.
13 January 2013
Christopher Wiley
Media
Alexander S. Bermange, Bermange, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, media, Music, musical theatre, musicology, radio, Radio Verulam, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley returned to Radio Verulam on 6 and 13 January 2013 as a guest on the Arts Programme, speaking in his capacity as a professional musicologist based in the St Albans area.
Presenter Alexander S. Bermange interviewed Chris live on a variety of recent developments in the world of music and musical theatre, including the UK release on 11 January of the film version of Les Misérables, whose all-star cast is led by Hugh Jackman.
Chris has become a semi-regular guest on the show in recent months, having made five appearances since April last year (see here).
Chris (left) and Alexander (right) are pictured below at the Radio Verulam studio.
Chris spoke on Radio Verulam again a few months later, on 5 May, giving a live telephone interview on Ghost: The Musical, which had recently returned to London.
18 December 2012
Christopher Wiley
Media, Publication, Research
Chris Wiley, Christopher R. Smit, Christopher Wiley, City University London, Michael Jackson, Michael Jackson studies, Music, musical biography, musicology, Publication, research, Wiley
An interdisciplinary volume of essays on Michael Jackson published earlier this year, Michael Jackson: Grasping the Spectacle, includes a chapter on musicology written by Dr Christopher Wiley.
Informed by his participation in the international press coverage of Jackson’s death in 2009 and crystallizing around the iconic tracks ‘Thriller’ and ‘Black or White’, Dr Wiley’s essay, ‘Putting the Music Back into Michael Jackson Studies’, seeks to refocus attention on Jackson’s music in relation to discussion of his music videos and their sociocultural contexts.
It concludes by exposing the danger of over-interpreting the art through the lens of the biography of the originating artist, asking whether Jackson’s celebrity will ultimately rest on his contribution to the late twentieth-century entertainment industry or on the serious controversies with which he became associated.
Bibliographic citation
Wiley, Christopher. ‘Putting the Music Back into Michael Jackson Studies’, in Michael Jackson: Grasping the Spectacle, new essays ed. by Christopher R. Smit. Farnham: Ashgate, 2012, pp. 101–16.
Full text
Dr Wiley’s essay is available for download from City Research Online, the University’s research repository, at the following link: http://openaccess.city.ac.uk/1211/
15 December 2012
Christopher Wiley
Media
BMus, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, City, City University London, Jane McConnell, London, Music, programme director, University, Wiley
The current issue (Vol.25, No.4) of Ireland’s Education magazine includes a major feature, ‘A unique music degree in London’, on City University London’s BMus Music course.
Describing the degree as ‘a very attractive package for those wishing to pursue a career in music or the self-expression that music involves’, the double-page spread includes an interview with Dr Christopher Wiley, Director of Undergraduate Studies, who is quoted as saying that ‘We are very averse to sending away interesting and well-qualified candidates. We like to engage with people as individuals not as statistics or a series of grades.’
The feature also includes information about the course structure, admissions, performance possibilities, and employment prospects, as well as a profile of second-year BMus student Jane McConnell.
Appearing on pages 16-17 of the magazine, the article may be viewed at the following link: http://issuu.com/educationmagazine/docs/education_magazine_25-4?mode=window&viewMode=doublePage
22 November 2012
Christopher Wiley
Media, Teaching
BMus, BMus degree, careers, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, City, City University London, Dionysios Kyropoulos, dissertation supervision, employability, employment, London, media, Music, music degree, press coverage, programme director, teaching, The Independent, University, Wiley
An article published today (22 November) in the Creative Arts supplement of The Independent newspaper features quotations from Dr Christopher Wiley as well as a profile of his recently-graduated BMus student Dionysios Kyropoulos.
In ‘Notes on working in music’, by journalist David Crookes, Chris tops a list of UK academics quoted in the article, who between them explain that a music degree can open up a wealth of career opportunities for the aspiring student. Chris notes that ‘There certainly is more to being a successful musician than simply playing an instrument’, before outlining some of the many career-enhancing benefits of studying music at university.
Dionysios, whose dissertation on historically-informed gestures in Baroque vocal performance was prepared under Chris’s supervision, explains how his passion for classical singing and opera led him to the UK (from Greece) and to City University London, in order to benefit from solid academic foundations for his studies in tandem with high-quality singing training.
Click here to read the full article in scanned form, or here to read the article at The Independent website.
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