Prof Zack Moir

University Academic Publishes New Edited Volume on Popular Music Education

University Academic Publishes New Edited Volume on Popular Music Education
Apr 4, 2019

Summary Dr Zack Moir, lecturer in music, has just published his new edited volume ’The Bloomsbury Handbook of Popular Music Education: Perspectives and Practices’, which features chapters from three other members of the music team, Bryden Stillie, Renée Stefanie, and John Hails. This book draws together current thinking and practice on popular music education through a series of unique chapters from authors working at the forefront of music education, and explores the ways in which an international group of music educators each approach popular music education.

People Renée Stefanie
John Hails
Zack Moir
Bryden Stillie

Outputs The Bloomsbury Handbook of Popular Music Education: Perspectives and Practices

Org Units School of Arts and Creative Industries

Research Areas Music
Education

Research Centres/Groups Applied Music Research Centre

URL https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/the-bloomsbury-handbook-of-popular-music-education-9781350049413/

Summary	Dr Zack Moir, lecturer in music, has just published his new edited volume ’The Bloomsbury Handbook of Popular Music Education: Perspectives and Practices’, which features chapters from three other members of the music team, Bryden Stillie, Renée Stefanie, and John Hails. This book draws together current thinking and practice on popular music education through a series of unique chapters from authors working at the forefront of music education, and explores the ways in which an international group of music educators each approach popular music education.
People	Renée Stefanie John Hails Zack Moir Bryden Stillie
Outputs	The Bloomsbury Handbook of Popular Music Education: Perspectives and Practices
Org Units	School of Arts and Creative Industries
Research Areas	Music Education
Research Centres/Groups	Applied Music Research Centre
URL	https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/the-bloomsbury-handbook-of-popular-music-education-9781350049413/

University Academics and Students Engage in Live Improvisation Over Networks at Prestigious International Conference
Apr 3, 2019

Summary Can a network performance be defined, planned and executed in 90 minutes? Teams of attendees and remote performers at the Network Performing Arts Production Workshop in Prague were tasked with creating a network performance leveraging the technologies discussed throughout the conference with predetermined remote partners. Final performances have been premiered and academics and students from Edinburgh Napier University were central to this endeavour.

People Paul Ferguson
Zack Moir

Summary	Can a network performance be defined, planned and executed in 90 minutes? Teams of attendees and remote performers at the Network Performing Arts Production Workshop in Prague were tasked with creating a network performance leveraging the technologies discussed throughout the conference with predetermined remote partners. Final performances have been premiered and academics and students from Edinburgh Napier University were central to this endeavour.
People	Paul Ferguson Zack Moir

Music students take on trans-atlantic music composition project with students in New Jersey

Music students take on trans-atlantic music composition project with students in New Jersey
Jan 28, 2019

Summary Zack Moir and Bryden Stillie from music have, in collaboration with Andy Krikun from Bergen Community College in New Jersey, USA, launched an international songwriting/composition project. Each of the first years on the BA Popular Music programme here at Edinburgh Napier University, will team up with students from the Songwriting programme at Bergen Community College to compose and produce music using the web-based production software 'Soundtrap'. This allows students to collaborate in the composition and production of new music, and to produce professional recordings with people on either side of the Atlantic, without having to leave their respective locations. This means that students from both institutions have the opportunity to expand their professional network and work with people who they would be unlikely to meet, otherwise. Working in this way also reduces the need for travel and this

Moir, Stillie, and Krikun will use this creative project as the basis for a pedagogical research project that will explore issues surrounding creativity, collaboration, inclusion and international partnerships. This work will be presented at the Association of Popular Music Educators conference at New York University in June of this year.

Soundtrap have supported the project by providing free licences for all of our students, and they have asked us to provide a report on the outcomes of the project.

People Zack Moir
Bryden Stillie

Org Units School of Arts and Creative Industries

Research Areas Music
Education

Themes Culture and Communities

Research Centres/Groups Applied Music Research Centre

Summary	Zack Moir and Bryden Stillie from music have, in collaboration with Andy Krikun from Bergen Community College in New Jersey, USA, launched an international songwriting/composition project. Each of the first years on the BA Popular Music programme here at Edinburgh Napier University, will team up with students from the Songwriting programme at Bergen Community College to compose and produce music using the web-based production software 'Soundtrap'. This allows students to collaborate in the composition and production of new music, and to produce professional recordings with people on either side of the Atlantic, without having to leave their respective locations. This means that students from both institutions have the opportunity to expand their professional network and work with people who they would be unlikely to meet, otherwise. Working in this way also reduces the need for travel and this Moir, Stillie, and Krikun will use this creative project as the basis for a pedagogical research project that will explore issues surrounding creativity, collaboration, inclusion and international partnerships. This work will be presented at the Association of Popular Music Educators conference at New York University in June of this year. Soundtrap have supported the project by providing free licences for all of our students, and they have asked us to provide a report on the outcomes of the project.
People	Zack Moir Bryden Stillie
Org Units	School of Arts and Creative Industries
Research Areas	Music Education
Themes	Culture and Communities
Research Centres/Groups	Applied Music Research Centre

Edinburgh Napier academic uses personal experience of living with diabetes to inspire composition
Jul 4, 2018

Source https://www.napier.ac.uk/about-us/news/making-music-from-diabetes-data

Summary An Edinburgh Napier academic is using his personal experience of living with diabetes to fuel his passion for making music. Dr Zack Moir, lecturer in popular music at the University, was diagnosed with diabetes when he was 17-years-old. Living with the condition sees Zack walk a daily tightrope as he manages the disease. The constant battle of making sure that his insulin doses match his food intake is something that he has had to live with on a day-to-day basis for a number of years.

However, after receiving an insulin pump in 2014 as part of his treatment, the condition has become easier to manage, not least because he now no longer has to inject himself 8-10 times a day. But in addition to contributing to his health improvements, the pump has also brought new inspiration to another key part of the academic�s life � his music making.

A Medtronic insulin pump has the ability to upload a user�s data to a computer and present it in a series of highly informative tables and graphs. On studying his own insulin use, Zack saw that the rise and fall of some of the graph lines could in fact represent elements of music so he decided to convert one of the graphs into just that.

Taking statistics from the month of January in 2016 � including figures for blood glucose levels, the amount of active insulin in his system, the doses of insulin he gives himself whenever he eats carbohydrate and the total amount of insulin he takes each day � he set about turning these figures into specific pitches.

He then created a track made from sounds that are related to the daily experience of living with diabetes. Zack sampled the sounds of some of his diabetes paraphernalia including the sound of an insulin vial being struck, the twang of a blood glucose test strip, the beep of a blood glucose meter and the zip of the case that the meter is stored within.

After all the elements of the project were brought together, the result was an experimental track that represented the various ebbs and flows of living with diabetes.

Behind the process...

Zack said: �I�m a bit of a self-confessed geek and after studying the data from my insulin pump intensely for a certain period of time, I started to see structures that felt �musical� to me within the graphs and data that I was viewing. One idea led to another and I quickly built up an intricate tapestry of musical information that I think is at times chaotic and more relaxed at other points � mirroring what living with the condition is like.

�The result of the project is an experimental synthesiser type track that a live musician improvises over using a basic score that gives a sketch of the ups and downs of these aspects of the disease. The cumulative effect of the musical components conveys the nature of the physical feelings associated with high/low blood sugars.

�It is my job, as the soloist in this piece, to make sense of the chaos of the music that is derived from the data and react musically to the sounds produced. Sometimes this is beautiful and tranquil, and other times it is tumultuous and distressing, again, mirroring daily life with this unpleasant condition.�

The final track has recently been recorded and mixed in the studios of Edinburgh Napier University and has been released to stream and purchase with all funds raised being donated directly to Diabetes UK on an ongoing basis.

Diabetes UK is one of the largest funders of diabetes research in the UK. The charity supports pioneering research into cause and prevention, improving care and treatment, and working towards finding a cure.

Zack has also publicly performed the piece, most recently in Stockholm at the Royal College of Music, as doors continue to open as a result of his musical wellbeing journey.

He added: �Despite not being a great deal of fun to have a condition that can make you feel pretty rough a lot of the time, I should make it clear that I am very aware that many people are far worse off than I am. However, I�ve always been interested in turning negatives into positives and I feel that this process has helped me do just that with my own experience of living with diabetes.�

�It sounds cheesy but I like to think I see music a little differently to the norm and throughout the process of making this track, I�ve tried to push the boundaries of my approach to composition. Taking something that is really personal to me and turning it into something that others can both listen to and learn a little bit more about what it is like to live with diabetes has been a really enjoyable process.�

The track � IDDM � by Zack Moir is now available to stream on Spotify and is available to purchase through iTunes.

People Zack Moir

Source	https://www.napier.ac.uk/about-us/news/making-music-from-diabetes-data
Summary	An Edinburgh Napier academic is using his personal experience of living with diabetes to fuel his passion for making music. Dr Zack Moir, lecturer in popular music at the University, was diagnosed with diabetes when he was 17-years-old. Living with the condition sees Zack walk a daily tightrope as he manages the disease. The constant battle of making sure that his insulin doses match his food intake is something that he has had to live with on a day-to-day basis for a number of years. However, after receiving an insulin pump in 2014 as part of his treatment, the condition has become easier to manage, not least because he now no longer has to inject himself 8-10 times a day. But in addition to contributing to his health improvements, the pump has also brought new inspiration to another key part of the academic�s life � his music making. A Medtronic insulin pump has the ability to upload a user�s data to a computer and present it in a series of highly informative tables and graphs. On studying his own insulin use, Zack saw that the rise and fall of some of the graph lines could in fact represent elements of music so he decided to convert one of the graphs into just that. Taking statistics from the month of January in 2016 � including figures for blood glucose levels, the amount of active insulin in his system, the doses of insulin he gives himself whenever he eats carbohydrate and the total amount of insulin he takes each day � he set about turning these figures into specific pitches. He then created a track made from sounds that are related to the daily experience of living with diabetes. Zack sampled the sounds of some of his diabetes paraphernalia including the sound of an insulin vial being struck, the twang of a blood glucose test strip, the beep of a blood glucose meter and the zip of the case that the meter is stored within. After all the elements of the project were brought together, the result was an experimental track that represented the various ebbs and flows of living with diabetes. Behind the process... Zack said: �I�m a bit of a self-confessed geek and after studying the data from my insulin pump intensely for a certain period of time, I started to see structures that felt �musical� to me within the graphs and data that I was viewing. One idea led to another and I quickly built up an intricate tapestry of musical information that I think is at times chaotic and more relaxed at other points � mirroring what living with the condition is like. �The result of the project is an experimental synthesiser type track that a live musician improvises over using a basic score that gives a sketch of the ups and downs of these aspects of the disease. The cumulative effect of the musical components conveys the nature of the physical feelings associated with high/low blood sugars. �It is my job, as the soloist in this piece, to make sense of the chaos of the music that is derived from the data and react musically to the sounds produced. Sometimes this is beautiful and tranquil, and other times it is tumultuous and distressing, again, mirroring daily life with this unpleasant condition.� The final track has recently been recorded and mixed in the studios of Edinburgh Napier University and has been released to stream and purchase with all funds raised being donated directly to Diabetes UK on an ongoing basis. Diabetes UK is one of the largest funders of diabetes research in the UK. The charity supports pioneering research into cause and prevention, improving care and treatment, and working towards finding a cure. Zack has also publicly performed the piece, most recently in Stockholm at the Royal College of Music, as doors continue to open as a result of his musical wellbeing journey. He added: �Despite not being a great deal of fun to have a condition that can make you feel pretty rough a lot of the time, I should make it clear that I am very aware that many people are far worse off than I am. However, I�ve always been interested in turning negatives into positives and I feel that this process has helped me do just that with my own experience of living with diabetes.� �It sounds cheesy but I like to think I see music a little differently to the norm and throughout the process of making this track, I�ve tried to push the boundaries of my approach to composition. Taking something that is really personal to me and turning it into something that others can both listen to and learn a little bit more about what it is like to live with diabetes has been a really enjoyable process.� The track � IDDM � by Zack Moir is now available to stream on Spotify and is available to purchase through iTunes.
People	Zack Moir

World First for Remote Transatlantic Real-Time Album Recording
Sep 20, 2017

Summary The first notes have been played in a project that will see an album recorded by musicians at opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean - in real-time. In what is believed to be a world first, Dr Paul Ferguson and Dr Zack Moir (both from Music) have linked up with Berklee College of Music in Boston to record an album together at the same time � without either leaving their respective countries.

Utilising advanced audio-visual streaming technology called LOLA (low latency) and cloud-based features of recording software Pro Tools, the band has started the process of collaboratively recording an album together, with musicians in Edinburgh, London, and Boston being brought together through the technology.

The band � which consists of Edinburgh Napier lecturer Dr Zack Moir on saxophone, Edinburgh Napier graduate Ewan Gibson on bass, Dr Gareth Dylan Smith, independent researcher and musician, on drums, and Dr Joe Bennett, Vice President at Boston Conservatory at Berklee, on guitar � see each other by being projected onto large glass panels in both studios.

And despite being more than 3,000 miles away across the Atlantic Ocean, the time difference is a mere 40 milliseconds (one way), meaning that sound qualities are almost identical to the band being in the same room at the same time. This compares with an average sound lag of around 500 milliseconds for a regular Skype call.

The band has written a number of songs aimed at pushing the capabilities of LOLA, with many featuring intricate parts with a view to challenging the system.

The project is the latest in Edinburgh Napier�s development and testing of LOLA technology, with the University using the system in the past to connect musicians across the UK and Europe for demonstrations and teaching. This is the first time it has been used for real-time transatlantic recording by the University, and is a world-first.

People Paul Ferguson
Zack Moir

URL https://www.napier.ac.uk/about-us/news/word-first-for-transatlantic-real-time-album-recording

Summary	The first notes have been played in a project that will see an album recorded by musicians at opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean - in real-time. In what is believed to be a world first, Dr Paul Ferguson and Dr Zack Moir (both from Music) have linked up with Berklee College of Music in Boston to record an album together at the same time � without either leaving their respective countries. Utilising advanced audio-visual streaming technology called LOLA (low latency) and cloud-based features of recording software Pro Tools, the band has started the process of collaboratively recording an album together, with musicians in Edinburgh, London, and Boston being brought together through the technology. The band � which consists of Edinburgh Napier lecturer Dr Zack Moir on saxophone, Edinburgh Napier graduate Ewan Gibson on bass, Dr Gareth Dylan Smith, independent researcher and musician, on drums, and Dr Joe Bennett, Vice President at Boston Conservatory at Berklee, on guitar � see each other by being projected onto large glass panels in both studios. And despite being more than 3,000 miles away across the Atlantic Ocean, the time difference is a mere 40 milliseconds (one way), meaning that sound qualities are almost identical to the band being in the same room at the same time. This compares with an average sound lag of around 500 milliseconds for a regular Skype call. The band has written a number of songs aimed at pushing the capabilities of LOLA, with many featuring intricate parts with a view to challenging the system. The project is the latest in Edinburgh Napier�s development and testing of LOLA technology, with the University using the system in the past to connect musicians across the UK and Europe for demonstrations and teaching. This is the first time it has been used for real-time transatlantic recording by the University, and is a world-first.
People	Paul Ferguson Zack Moir
URL	https://www.napier.ac.uk/about-us/news/word-first-for-transatlantic-real-time-album-recording

Lecturer in Music is Editor of Recently 'Routledge Research Companion to Popular Music Education'
Jan 24, 2017

Summary Dr Zack Moir from music is one of the editors of the recently published 'Routledge Research Handbook of Popular Music Education', which is a new edited volume containing contributions from a wide range of global scholars and practitioners.

Popular music is a growing presence in education, formal and otherwise, from primary school to postgraduate study. Programmes, courses and modules in popular music studies, popular music performance, songwriting and areas of music technology are becoming commonplace across higher education. Additionally, specialist pop/rock/jazz graded exam syllabi, such as RockSchool and Trinity Rock and Pop, have emerged in recent years, meaning that it is now possible for school leavers in some countries to meet university entry requirements having studied only popular music. In the context of teacher education, classroom teachers and music-specialists alike are becoming increasingly empowered to introduce popular music into their classrooms. At present, research in Popular Music Education lies at the fringes of the fields of music education, ethnomusicology, community music, cultural studies and popular music studies. The Routledge Research Companion to Popular Music Education is the first book-length publication that brings together a diverse range of scholarship in this emerging field. Perspectives include the historical, sociological, pedagogical, musicological, axiological, reflexive, critical, philosophical and ideological.

People Zack Moir

URL https://www.routledge.com/The-Routledge-Research-Companion-to-Popular-Music-Education/Smith-Moir-Brennan-Rambarran-Kirkman/p/book/9781472464989

Summary	Dr Zack Moir from music is one of the editors of the recently published 'Routledge Research Handbook of Popular Music Education', which is a new edited volume containing contributions from a wide range of global scholars and practitioners. Popular music is a growing presence in education, formal and otherwise, from primary school to postgraduate study. Programmes, courses and modules in popular music studies, popular music performance, songwriting and areas of music technology are becoming commonplace across higher education. Additionally, specialist pop/rock/jazz graded exam syllabi, such as RockSchool and Trinity Rock and Pop, have emerged in recent years, meaning that it is now possible for school leavers in some countries to meet university entry requirements having studied only popular music. In the context of teacher education, classroom teachers and music-specialists alike are becoming increasingly empowered to introduce popular music into their classrooms. At present, research in Popular Music Education lies at the fringes of the fields of music education, ethnomusicology, community music, cultural studies and popular music studies. The Routledge Research Companion to Popular Music Education is the first book-length publication that brings together a diverse range of scholarship in this emerging field. Perspectives include the historical, sociological, pedagogical, musicological, axiological, reflexive, critical, philosophical and ideological.
People	Zack Moir
URL	https://www.routledge.com/The-Routledge-Research-Companion-to-Popular-Music-Education/Smith-Moir-Brennan-Rambarran-Kirkman/p/book/9781472464989

Prof Zack Moir's News (6)