Dan Elphick

Graphic with concluding words from the RMA statement: "We urge the University of Nottingham in the strongest terms to reverse its decision to suspend recruitment to all undergraduate programmes in music, and to continue to provide whole- hearted support to a department that has already achieved so much in so many different areas of music, and which, with its highly talented and deeply committed staff body, is excellently positioned to thrive in the future."

RMA statement on the proposed suspension of recruitment to all UG music programmes at the University of Nottingham: www.rma.ac.uk/2025/11/17/s...

Two newly discovered Bach keyboard works are premiering in 1 hour

There is no viable path toward financial stability for anything in AI. It’s all gonna collapse and our economy is going to tank as a result of so many institutions carelessly hedging their bets on it.

Prof. Katherine Butler Schofield awarded the AMS Otto Kindledey Award

https://www.rma.ac.uk/2025/11/13/prof-katherine-butler-schofield-awarded-the-ams-otto-kindledey-award/

‘BBC apologise to Trump: “We asked Panorama to edit one of your speeches to make it make sense, but they couldn’t”’

Student Committee Election - Call for Candidates

https://www.rma.ac.uk/2025/11/12/student-committee-election-call-for-candidates-3/

Reminder: If you use generative AI for *any of your writing tasks* you are a Slopper not a writer and should be ashamed of yourself. The end.

I *still* believe that the BBC is excellent, despite its ever growing list of flaws.

*When* it's sold off for parts future generations won't know what they missed

The Today Programme.

A university without arts and languages is not a university.

Sign the Petition Stop the suspension of undergraduate music courses at The University of Nottingham

PETITION HERE: Stop the suspension of undergraduate music courses at The University of Nottingham @uniofnottingham.bsky.social www.change.org/p/stop-the-s...

Music and modern languages courses suspended at University of Nottingham In a statement the institution also says it is

Horrific, stupid news from @uniofnottingham.bsky.social — they are closing their music department. Apparently they all found out suddently in a meeting yesterday.

It is one of the best music departments in the country — solidarity with my colleagues and their students

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Gonna need someone to check the dictionary definition of 'to pre-empt' because what else is this but pre-empting the decision of Council?

You'd hope those Council members don't appreciate having their hands tied like this. Because this is proper governance failure.

Only a few years ago @uniofnottingham.bsky.social liked to call themselves "Britain's global university". What kind of global institution stops teaching languages?

Even the BBC disapproves...

Wrote about this slow, miserable drift away from modern languages for @thenewworldmag.bsky.social last year.

This week's curriculum review won't help either.

www.thenewworld.co.uk/losing-the-p...

This is dire! We need music. We also (it goes without saying) need modern languages. Music and modern languages were my late father's absolute passions - he taught both, and he'll be turning in his grave.
#Nottingham #NotMusic! #NotModernLanguages!

...Just... woah. My musician dad and uncle got their music degrees from Nottingham 65 years ago. It's a department with a long and proud history. Awful news.

Music and modern languages courses suspended at University of Nottingham In a statement the institution also says it is

Well this is awful news: tinyurl.com/yr65mjkx
'All modern language and music courses are being suspended for new students at the University of Nottingham.'

Nottingham friends: please be assured that we will join you in protesting against this decision in the strongest possible terms. Solidarity.

I tend to agree with this. If AI works like its cheerleaders claim/hope it will - replacing whole swathes of human labour - then they need a real economic plan for dealing with the consequences of that. This can only mean heavily redistributing the profits.

“The researchers aim to show that the ‘inevitability’ of AI is just a marketing frame perpetrated by the industry and that pushback is a lot more possible than we often see.” Yes!

Statement on the Proposed Cancellation of the Initial Teacher Training Bursary for Music

https://www.rma.ac.uk/2025/10/31/statement-on-the-proposed-cancellation-of-the-initial-teacher-training-bursary-for-music/

Graphic with details of the upcoming talks (full details available in the link below).

University of Glasgow Research Colloquia in Music

Glasgow hosts a series of colloquia on behalf of the Royal Musical Association featuring national and international guest speakers, along with staff and postgraduate students.

The tech right is at once obsessed with Tolkien and utterly unable to comprehend what his books are actually about

On the train on my way into town for this. Looking forward to a day of great papers!

Overcrowded lectures. Growing admin. Unpredictable numbers.

On LBC last night, Jo Grady spoke about how higher education workloads are becoming inherently stressful.

This ballot is our chance to say: enough.
Vote YES for manageable workloads and fair pay.

#WeAreTheUniversity #UCU

Largest study of its kind shows AI assistants misrepresent news content 45% of the time – regardless of language or territory An intensive international study was coordinated by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and led by the BBC

Yet again, we can't afford to let LLMs become a source of epistemic grounding for society.

After submitting a FOIA request UKRI, I obtained success rates by three grant call scheme and I can only say that I am disheartened by the results:

- AHRC Responsive Mode 2025: 2%
- ESRC New Investigator Grant 2025: 1%
- ESRC Research Grant Round 2025: 1%

Annnd into work for 8am, ready for a 12-hour day (finishing around 8pm). Two lectures, office hours, meetings, emails, some actual writing (!), but, most (genuinely) exciting of all -

SMA seminar this evening, starting 6pm UK time: I'm joining an online panel analysing Schnittke's Third Quartet!

It promises to be a great day of varied talks. Get in touch if you're interested in last-minute registration for attending.
Full details here: static1.squarespace.com/static/52246...