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The University of Southampton
MusicPart of Humanities

Prestigious Organology Award for Southampton Postgraduate

Published: 12 October 2017
lucy anne taylor

Lucy-Anne Taylor, who has recently embarked on a joint PhD in Music and Archaeology, has just been announced as the winner of the 2017 Terence Pamplin Award for Organology.

Organology is the study of the history, design and construction of musical instruments of all kinds, and the Award honours Terry Pamplin, a maker and historian of musical instruments, and former director of the London College of Furniture's instrument-making course. It is administered by the Musicians' Company of London. Lucy-Anne will receive a cash prize and certificate, to be presented during a formal banquet in one of the London livery halls used by the Musicians' Company.

Lucy-Anne began research on Anglo-Saxon musical instruments as part of her recently completed Master of Music course at Southampton, which she pursued after an undergraduate in Archaeology. She focussed on Anglo-Saxon wind instruments, notably one found in Hungate, York. This involved detailed work into what type of reed instruments could possibly have existed at that time, a particularly complicated task since no Anglo Saxon reeds survive today. Through recreating the body of the instrument and experimenting with different ways of making reeds, Lucy-Anne discovered what the instrument may once have been and what type of materials could have been used to create it. This made further assessment of the instrument possible, and also supported research into its place in the culture of the time. The award will enable her to recreate further Anglo-Saxon instruments during her PhD, particularly the wind instruments.

The chair of the Pamplin Award's judging panel commented:

"I am delighted that this year's winner Lucy-Anne Taylor has been awarded the prize. Undoubtedly Terence Pamplin, in whose memory the award is made, would have approved. Anglo Saxon musical instruments are very under-researched and Ms Taylor will need to undertake some challenging original research. The judges gave credit for this as well as it being a cross-discipline area combining the major disciplines of organology with archaeology. Ms Taylor's work will involve academic study with making a replica instrument. The application was well presented with detailed realistic cost estimates. This was the first winner from Southampton University and it is good to see the University is encouraging organological research."

The recreated Anglo Saxon instrument
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