PhD Studentships in Collaboration with the National Trust

The studentships, to begin in October 2009, are for the project 'Music Collections, Music Rooms and Musical Practice in British Country Houses, 1780-1860', directed by Professor Jeanice Brooks. The project aims to expand understanding of domestic musical practice in British country houses of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, investigating the intersections of space, material musical culture, musical repertory and performance practice characteristic of this milieu. In addition to conducting their research, the students will create historically sensitive musical events and materials for dissemination through heritage bodies so that country house spaces 'sound' for contemporary visitors in informative and stimulating ways. The practical context for both studentships will be provided by the National Trust, principally through two major music collections still held in the houses in which they were first used, Tatton Park (Cheshire) and Killerton House (Devon).