Leeds Metropolitan University creates pioneering partnerships with the arts and sport. It is well-known for its strong cultural partnerships include links with Opera North, Northern Ballet Theatre, West Yorkshire Playhouse and the Harrogate International Festival.

Black Dyke Doctoral Studentship

In 2005, the University formed a partnership with the world-renowned Black Dyke Band and the two partners are pleased to announce the creation of the Black Dyke Band Doctoral Studentship, to commence in September 2008. The award is to allow a suitably qualified student to study for a PhD on the topic outlined below.

This project seeks to situate the band within the wider context of social, economic and cultural change over a period which saw the brass band move to a central place in northern popular musical life4BR

Grant

The University will pay a grant of £12,600 per annum., plus necessary research expenses and fees, to an approximate total of £3,500 per annum.

The Black Dyke Mills Band, 1855-c1955: a social and cultural history

The British brass band movement was one of the most significant working-class cultural institutions to emerge in the nineteenth and earlier twentieth centuries and the Black Dyke Mills Band was one of its most significant and celebrated products.

This project seeks to situate the band within the wider context of social, economic and cultural change over a period which saw the brass band move to a central place in northern popular musical life, only to be pushed into a far more marginal position.

It would focus on such issues as the social composition of the band; its relationship to its employer and sponsor, John Foster and Son; its role in the local community; rivalries with other bands and what these tell us about both the movement and wider territorial identities; music and masculinity; bands and social opportunity and advancement; brass bands and musical education and so on

Sources

The sources for this study are rich and various. The band holds a rich musical archive. Primary sources relating to the history of the mill and copies of the relevant local press are easily available in or close to Leeds, while the brass band 'trade press' can be accessed in the National Newspaper Library in Colindale, north London.

Succesful candidate

The successful candidate will be situated in the Institute of Northern Studies, established at Leeds Metropolitan University in 2006 to explore the history, culture and idea of the north.

The Institute is a research centre, teaching unit and focal point for public activities in the wider community committed to the highest standards in research and teaching, and to the widest possible involvement of the public in higher education.

Further information

For more detail see:

http://www.leedsmet.ac.uk/vco/institute_of_northern_studies.htm

Supervision

Lead supervision will be provided by Professor Dave Russell, author of Popular Music in England.

A Social History (Manchester University Press, 1997) and numerous other books and articles on the history of English popular culture.