Oxford Brookes Popular Music Research Unit
Supporting research in Popular Music
Friday, 19th April: Oxford Brookes Think Human festival presents Changing Hearts and Minds with Music
This event showcases the talent of musical artists from across Oxfordshire, and features performances from legendary folk artist Martin Carthy and blues musician, academic and author Tom Attah. Think Human Festival is putting musicians in dialogue with academics, including PMRU members Dr Jan Butler and Dr Adam Lonsdale, to tackle the theme of ‘Changing Hearts and Minds with Music’.
From 14:00 - Arrive early to catch a selection of local artists, (including Brookes students and staff), who submitted songs for inclusion in a special Think Human curated collection performing their tracks in the John Henry Brookes Building Forum.
At 16:00 - A short set from Balkan/Gypsy-inspired punk party band The Balkan Wanderers, will set us up for our discussion.
At 17:00 - Our discussion on Changing Hearts & Minds with Music begins, during which Martin Carthy and Tom Attah will perform and join the conversation with academics from Music, Psychology, Education and Politics.
This promises to be an excellent mix of live music and discussion about the songs that have made the greatest impact on our lives.
All proceeds from this event will go directly to the Samaritans charity.
This is a ticketed event. Sign up for tickets here.
About us
Oxford Brookes' Popular Music Research Unit (PMRU) was established in 2009 by Drs Dai Griffiths, Jan Butler and Lisa Busby as a focus of popular music research in the department, and has particular expertise in pop music analysis, production analysis, popular music history, popular music on screen, music publishing and music journalism. Our research has been disseminated at international and national conferences, through publication (both as authors and editors) and regionally, through support for events and media. Our work has also been integral to the pop music modules on the BA in Music, MA in Music and now the MA in Creative Industries at Brookes.
PMRU has held regular events such as conferences, symposia and student study days since its inception, exploring different aspects of popular music according to the interests of current members of the unit, and has also collaborated with other researchers and journalists on various topics.
Since 2020, we have expanded beyond the music department to bring together researchers from across Oxford Brookes with an interest in popular music from fields as disparate as philosophy, Japanese and psychology in search of fruitful interdisciplinary connections. If you are a researcher with an interest in popular music at Brookes, we would love to hear from you.
We have also supervised several PhD students to completion, and our PhD candidates are encouraged to get involved with PMRU activities. We welcome applications from postgraduate students, particularly in the fields of popular musicology, record production analysis, popular music analysis, popular music on screen and music journalism.
Questions?
Contact jan.butler@brookes.ac.uk for more information