Category: Historical research
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Thomas Cromwell
I have spent a lot of time this week re-writing the chapter I blitzed in January on the Thomas Cromwell ballad flyting. I was never very happy with it, mainly because all I did was throw all my thoughts about each ballad down on paper before trying to chop it into themes, which was rather…
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Cambridge Archives
I spent this week in Cambridge. I’ve not been back to Cambridge since I went to the folk festival in 1994, where I got showered in (someone else’s) beer when the Saw Doctors came on stage and everyone cheered. That was before I got my A-level results. At eighteen, I was offered a place at…
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Psalm Culture and the Politics of Translation
This week I finally have something a bit different to say. I am aware, you see, that writing a blog about writing a PhD is a bit repetitive: “read some ballads, thought about the music, wrote about some ballads, went to a supervision meeting, did some more research, wrote a bit more, read some secondary…
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Summer Holidays
Yesterday, my three children broke up for the summer. This will have a significant, negative impact on the amount of work I get done, of course, but that was always part of the deal. My summer action plan contains lots of little bits of work that can be broken off part way through, like transcriptions,…
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There it was, gone
A funny sort o f week. Today I sent off all my work for my panel meeting, which is scheduled for next week. My supervisors certainly have plenty to keep them busy – my research plan, training log and chapter plan don’t take up too much space, but the draft chapter on combining music and…
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Redrafting
This week I’ve been working from home again. I’ve redrafted my chapter on ballad music ready for my panel meeting and redrafted my article, although I’m not certain where I’m going to send it to. Between them, they have taken me all week. I’m going to proofread them tomorrow, as I think it’s more or…
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Panic!
Almost. Not quite. Well, perhaps sometimes. It comes over me in waves, usually on a Saturday or Sunday. This weekend it was Sunday, today, that the enormity of trying to perfect my chapter before my panel meeting. Now, if I only had to perfect my chapter in time for my panel meeting, things might be…
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Summer Goals (Round 2)
My summer goals • Definition of ‘ballad’ for introduction • Transcription of digital copies of ballads from MSS in the British Library, consulted last autumn. • Archive visits during summer 2013: Stonyhurst College, Lancashire County Record Office, National Archives etc • Completion of article on ballad epitaph • Revise ballad flyting chapter. These goals are…
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Multitasking
The panel date has been set for July 10, so I have been frantically trying to write a chapter this week. Well, not the entire chapter in a week, but I have managed to get a first draft finished in the last ten days, which is good. It still needs a lot of work, because…
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Histfest!
I was very pleased to attend Lancaster University‘s postgraduate history conference yesterday, where I spoke about my work on knowingness in Tudor ballads and the links between sacred and secular music. I think they had a bit of a shock when I started singing ‘Down in Yon Forest‘ to demonstrate the simplicity of melody and…
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