Dr Matthew Spring

Personal Statement

Personal Statement

Senior Lecturer: BA Music. School of Music and Performing Arts

PhD [Oxford University], Mmus [London University], BA [keele University]

Personal Statement:

Born in Tanzania and went to School in West Cornwall. Some 13 years in University Education and gap year in the USA (Sarah Lawrence College). One year spent working as a trainer for the Stock Exchange after Oxford Dphil, otherwise I have been a musical researcher, performer and lecturer since being a student. Part-time lecturing posts at London Guildhall University, and De Montford University, and Associate Lectureships at Birmingham University and Bath Spa before becoming full time at Bath Spa in 2003. I have a very active career as a performer on lute and other associated early music instruments and have appeared on over 50 CD recordings. I am active as a researcher of lute music and its history with books and articles on this subject to my name. My OUP book on the lute was the first published attempt to write a history of lute. This book was awarded the Bessabov Prize for best book on musical instruments published in the years 2000-01 and was awarded by the AMIS in 2003.

Professional Qualifications

Dhil Oxford Univ; Mmus London Univ; BA Keele Univ; Dip Early Music RCM;
ARCM LTCL

Membership of Professional Bodies/Subject Associations

Member of Higher Education Academy; Lute Society; Member of the Performing Rights Society; Member of advisory commitee to the Early Music network and National Early Music Association (NEMA)

Teaching Specialism

Musicology, Early Music, World Music and Ethnomusicology.

Key Publications/Exhibitions/Performances

Lute in Britain (Oxford, 2001), 536 pages. Published by OUP, ISBN 0-19-816620-6
[Awarded the American Bessabov Prize for best book on Musical Instruments published in 2000/1 for my book on the lute.]
The Balcarres Lute Book (paperback edition 2004)
First Continental performance of Howard Skempton's Concerto for Hurdy-Gurdy and Percussion with Bavarian Radio Orchestra (July 2003)
30 Pieces by John Wilson for Lute (Utrecht, 1996) - edited by Mattew Spring
Chapter in Wainwright and Holman (eds.) From Renaissance to Baroque (Ashgate, 2004)
Chapter in Ashbee and Holman (eds.) John Jenkins and his Time (Oxford, 1996)
Review in Music and Letters 85/1 (2004) of editions of Vincenzo Galilei and Giovanni Terzi (pp.152-3)
Articles in Grove7 (1998-2000) on Robert Johnson, Cuthbert Hely, Thomas Mace, John Rogers and Robert Kindersley.
Articles in the New Dictionary of National Biography (2004) on Robert Johnson, Jacques Gaultier and Thomas Mace
`The English lute `fantasia-style' and the music of Cuthbert Hely' Chelys (1996-7), 65-77
`The Balcarres Lute Manscript', The Lute 32 (1992), 2-45
Article in the NEMA Early Music Year book 2005 on the Horniman Musical Instrument Collection

Current Scholarship

Balcarres Lute Book - 2 volume publication of music. One volume of introductory study and transcription the other of facsimile. This is a very large project, expected date next year. Publisher Aberdeen and Glasgow University Press.

The Mixed Consort Music Project- a new and large project to produce all the English Mixed Consort music for publication by The Lute Society

Study of the Life and Music of Jacques Gaultier - new project

Day conference on Music in Scotland at Aberdeen University - 2001

External Examiners

External Examiner for Music DPil at York University.
External examiner for the BA Music programme at Colchester Institute.

Other External Roles

External auditing/review:

Member of review panel for the revalidation of the Postgraduate Diploma in Musical Instrument Making at West Dean College, Sussex University

External advisor for the Consort EM project run by The National Foundation for Early Music in association with York University in developing new digital instruments for students with disabilities.

Conductor of the UCL Classical Band

Recent Professional Updating

Visiting Lecturer for Graduate Diploma in Musical Instrument Making at West Dean College.

International concert performances in Germany (September 2005), France (April 2006) and Poland (August 2006)

Teacher and organiser on the Chalemie Summer School (2006)