Belfast's Traditional Music Scene: A Narrative of Change and Development

Today Belfast is home to a vibrant traditional music scene. There have never been more sessions, concerts, classes or lectures devoted to traditional music in the north's biggest city. A complex system of promoters, performers and listeners has emerged in a city that is growing in confidence as it moves away from the dark days of the Troubles. But how does this system function? While Dowling (2014) has examined the development of traditional music-making in Belfast as it shifted from a pre-conflict to conflict ridden environment, little research has been carried out into the reasons behind the boom in traditional music-making in a post-conflict setting.

This paper examines the impact upon the traditional music scene of the first wave of students to arrive in Belfast after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. These musicians, such as Donal O'Connor, Ruadhrai O'Kane and Aidan Walsh have had a lasting impact upon the lives of musicians native to Belfast, helping to bring traditional music to new venues and audiences.

The work of Belfast-based music schools with varying remits, such as Belfast Trad., and the Andersonstown School of Traditional and Contemporary Music, is also examined for the purpose of illustrating how both adults and young people are being educated about their musical heritage.

To be inside someone else's dream: On Music for Sleeping & Waking Minds

Music for Sleeping & Waking Minds (2011-2012) is a new,overnight work in which four performers fall asleep while wearing custom designed EEG sensors which monitor their brainwave activity. The data gathered from the EEG sensors is applied in real time to different audio and image signal processing functions, resulting in continuously evolving multichannel sound environment and visual projection. This material serves as an audiovisual description of the individual and collective neuro physiological state of the ensemble. Audiences are invited to experience the work in different states of attention: while alert and asleep, resting and awakening.

Compositional and Performance Mapping in Computer Chamber Music: A Case Study

The mapping problem is inherent to digital musical instruments (DMIs), which require, at the very least, an association between physical gestures and digital synthesis algorithms to transform human bodily performance into sound. This article considers the DMI mapping problem in the context of the creation and performance of a heterogeneous computer chamber music piece, a trio for violin, biosensors, and computer. Our discussion situates the DMI mapping problem within the broader set of interdependent musical interaction issues that surfaced during the composition and rehearsal of the trio. Through descriptions of the development of the piece, development of the hardware and software interfaces, lessons learned through rehearsal, and self-reporting by the participants, the rich musical possibilities and technical challenges of the integration of digital musical instruments into computer chamber music are demonstrated.

Semiconductor photocatalysis: an environmentally acceptable alternative production technique and effluent treatment process

New environmentally acceptable production methods are required to help reduce the environmental impact of many industrial processes. One potential route is the application of photocatalysis using semiconductors. This technique has enabled new environmentally acceptable synthetic routes for organic synthesis which do not require the use of toxic metals as redox reagents. These photocatalysts also have more favourable redox potentials than many traditional reagents. Semiconductor photocatalysis can also be applied to the treatment of polluted effluent or for the destruction of undesirable by-products of reactions. In addition to the clean nature of the process the power requirements of the technique can be relatively low, with some reactions requiring only sunlight.