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Sue Miller – Cuban Flute Improviser, Writer & Academic

British Academy Summer Showcase Feature 19-20 June 2020

“Latin music in the USA was booming in the 1950s and 1960s, with New York recording studios humming with the sounds of Cuban flute, tenor voices, charanga violins, congas, timbales, güiro, bass and piano. Over time the move from traditional recording techniques to new technologies changed the way this music was performed. Join musicologist Sue […]

The Musicians’ Perspectives

In this post musicians from Charanga del Norte reflect on their recording experiences on this British Academy funded project which involved studio recordings with some live takes (for the rhythm section and then the string section) and then the live takes at All Hallows Church, Hyde Park, Leeds at the end of 2019. In these reflections, musicians talk about the pros and cons of live take recording and about capturing that all important element of spontaneity and sabor essential to Cuban/Latin dance music performance.

Charanga del Norte LIVE Recording ‘Bronx Pachanga’

This is the first of several live music documentaries of Sue Miller and her Charanga del Norte made by Tim Blackwell and recorded on ribbon microphones by Paul Thompson and Barkley McKay. This forms part of a research project funded by the British Academy. Here is a live take of Sue’s arrangement of ‘Bronx Pachanga’ with a cheeky little Watusi middle.

New Book by Sue Miller – Improvising Sabor: Cuban Dance Music in New York

My New Book comes out next year in hardback and paperback and if you pre-order there are really good discounts available from the University Press of Mississippi. More details here: https://www.upress.state.ms.us/Books/I/Improvising-Sabor      

The Cuban Flute Sound – documentary film

This documentary forms part of a British Academy funded research project and is a shorter version of the ‘Capturing Liveness’ video available on the main British Academy page.  

Learning the 5-key Charanga Flute – Practice Journal

This is a practice blog on my progress learning the 5-key wooden flute used in Cuban charanga. In these two short videos I am following the fingerings Cuban flute players taught me in 2011 but I haven’t as yet had time to learn the instrument – the Covid19 pandemic has led to me teaching my University performance students online and I have asked them to keep an audio-visual practice diary. I usually don’t ask students to do things I haven’t road tested myself and although I documented my practice in my PhD I did not record my private practice in video form, only band rehearsals and live performances – so here goes for some ‘practice what you preach!’

Research Talk at RNCM Wednesday 26 February 2020

Performance and Practice Research: Three Acts of Translation Dr Sue Miller (Leeds Beckett University) Wednesday 26 February 4.15pm Forman Lecture Theatre https://www.rncm.ac.uk/performance/performance-and-practice-research-three-acts-of-translation/ Taking Simon McKerrell’s paper ‘Towards Practice Research in Ethnomusicology’ as a starting point I present here three examples of my own practice research which use performance as ‘a central methodology,’ as a ‘translation […]

Charanga del Norte Live Recording

Sue Miller and her Charanga del Norte are recording a new live album using ribbon microphones. Here’s a photo of our October recording session – recorded by Dr Paul Thompson and Barkley McKay from the department of Music and Sound at Leeds Beckett University and filmed by Tim Blackwell, course leader for Broadcast Media at […]

British Academy Recording Project

The sounds of New York to be re-created in Leeds Beckett music studios
A new research project – bringing to life the practice and history of mid-20th century New York-based Latin music – has launched at Leeds Beckett.
Dr Sue Miller and Dr Paul Thompson, Readers in Music in the School of Film, Music & Performing Arts, are investigating the original recording studio techniques and performance aesthetics of this traditional style of dance music.

Invited Talk Newcastle University Wednesday 16 October ‘ PRACTICE RESEARCH IN ETHNOMUSICOLOGY’

PRACTICE RESEARCH IN ETHNOMUSICOLOGY:
THREE ACTS OF TRANSLATION IN MY OWN PRACTICE RESEARCH

DR SUE MILLER

Taking Simon McKerrell’s paper ‘Towards Practice Research in Ethnomusicology’ as a starting point I present here three examples of my own practice research which use performance as ‘a central methodology, ’ as a ‘translation of artistic performance aesthetics’ and as a ‘research outcome sited in original performance.’ (McKerrell, 2019, 1)
In the three examples presented here (monographs on performance aesthetics and improvisational creativity), a British Academy funded performance and production project, and a music, dance and animation collaboration), I will demonstrate how, in my translational role, I have employed my own performance practice to produce text, performances, scores, audio and audio-visual research outputs which translate research findings and insights for outside the artistic community of practice, and, in some cases, within it.