Karen had two speaking engagements last weekend – one, a brief talk about our Bass Culture research project, and the other about the Wighton and Jimmy Shand music collections at Dundee Central Library.  (We looked at the Shand acquisition on one of our visits to Dundee last year.)

At the University of Glasgow, the audience was a group of Royal Conservatoire of Scotland students.  They will be experimenting with performing some of Robert Burns’s songs in the Scots Musical Museum and George Thomson’s more upmarket collections, as part of a big project in the Scottish Literature department at the University.  Karen’s talk about the Bass Culture project sat alongside talks about singing tutors and contemporary costume design, to provide context for the Burns project.

And a day later, the talk to the Friends of Wighton went well. Karen launched herself as a harpsichordist (believe that if you will!) to play a few examples from Shand’s early Scottish tune books.  A talk with illustrations is always nicer.  The Wighton harpsichord  was lovely to play; and the Friends of Wighton were certainly interested and appreciative.