51¹ú²úÊÓƵ

The interview with Stuart Dunlop, the director of music at the 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of East Anglia (HE & Me, 4 September), contained the very encouraging suggestion from Dunlop that ¡°it [the university] has made a substantial commitment to music¡±. Many of the thousands of students reading for degrees in music in the UK, as well as the hundreds who teach them, will be surprised at this claim, however, since the UEA took the decision to close its School of Music within the past few years. They may be doubly surprised when they are made aware of the fact that UEA¡¯s director of music moved there from the 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Reading, where he had held a similar post, again just after the university had closed its department of music.

None of this would be cause for comment were it not for the very clear statements to the effect that music ¡°is for listening to, not reading about¡± in the article. Dunlop makes this point by quoting David Bedford¡¯s programme note to his 1973 A Horse, His Name was Hunry Fencewaver Walkins, for guitar and ensemble. He then goes on to suggest (perhaps inadvertently) that those who do however think that music is for reading about ¨C as well as listening to and performing ¨C ¡°are lost¡±. Music has been read about as well as listened to since antiquity, and has formed a central plank of scholarship in all ages and cultures. At a stage where music is now key to so much work in science and medicine, as well as the humanities and social sciences, to deny that place seems illogical at best, and runs counter to the experience of everyone involved.

¡°Music should have a place in the heart of every university,¡± Dunlop says, and who could disagree? But almost all universities in the country do exactly that by building on a 700-year-old tradition of studying music in departments of music. Here composition, performance and technology are integrated with historical, critical and analytical understanding in ways that educate and enrich the cultural life of students and staff and open up opportunities for new musical experiences across campus. This is the most surefooted, vibrant means of nurturing musical creativity in universities, a rich environment that ought to underpin the work of directors of music.

Mark Everist, president, The Royal Musical Association
Matt Brennan, chair, International Association for the Study of Popular Music-UK
Rachel Cowgill, chair, National Association for Music in Higher Education
Emma Hornby, chair, The Plainsong and Medieval Music Society
Julian Horton, president, Society for Music Analysis
Amanda Villepastour, chair, British Forum for Ethnomusicology
Graham Welch, chair, Society for Education, Music and Psychology Research
Graham Wells, chairman, The Galpin Society
Michael Wright, chair, Music Acoustics Group, Institute of Acoustics
Simon Zagorski-Thomas, chairman, Association for the Study of the Art of Record Production
Alexandra Wilson, Oxford Brookes 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ
Allan Moore, 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Surrey
Amanda Glauert, Royal College of Music
Andrew Kirkman, 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Birmingham
Andrew Sparling
Chris Banks, Imperial College London
Barbara Eichner, Oxford Brookes 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ
Barbara Kelly, Keele 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ
David Clarke, Newcastle 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ
Ronald Woodley, Birmingham City 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ
Michael Zev Gordon, 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Birmingham
Hugh Cobbe
Susan Bagust
Laurence Dreyfus, 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Oxford
Julian Rushton, emeritus professor, 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Leeds
Thomas Schmidt, 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Manchester
Susan Wollenberg, 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Oxford
Martin Clayton, Durham 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ
Christopher Fox, Brunel 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ London
Simon McVeigh, Goldsmiths, 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of London
Jeanice Brooks, 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Southampton
Katharine Ellis, 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Bristol
Chris Collins, Bangor 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ
Christopher Dingle, Birmingham City 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ
Richard Witts, Edge Hill 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ
Warwick Edwards, 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Glasgow
William Drabkin, emeritus professor, 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Southampton
Sarah Hibberd, 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Nottingham
Susan Rankin, 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Cambridge
Philip Olleson, emeritus professor, 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Nottingham
Nicholas Cook, 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Cambridge
Nicholas McKay, Canterbury Christ Church 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ
Deborah Mawer, Birmingham City 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ
Jonathan Wainwright, 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of York
Keith Chapin, Cardiff 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ
David Cooper, 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Leeds
Justin Williams, 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Bristol
Pauline Fairclough, 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Bristol
Annette Davison, 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Edinburgh
Robert Saxton, 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Oxford
Jan Smaczny, Queen¡¯s 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ Belfast
Elaine Kelly, 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Edinburgh
Michael Finnissy, 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Southampton
Rebecca Herissone, 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Manchester
John Butt, 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Glasgow
Eric Clarke, 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Oxford
Ian Pace, City 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ London
Michael Spitzer, 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Liverpool
Nanette Nielsen, 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Nottingham
Martin Iddon, 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Leeds
Michael Spencer, 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Leeds
Richard Barrett
Lauren Redhead, Canterbury Christ Church 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ
Paul Attinello, Newcastle 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ
Katy Hamilton
Emily Payne, 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Oxford
Jonathan Dunsby, Eastman School of Music, 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Rochester
Tomas McAuley, Indiana 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ
Peter Atkinson
Paul Watt, Monash 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ
Simon Keefe, 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Sheffield