Stuart Eydmann
Honorary Fellow
- Celtic and Scottish Studies
- School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures
Contact details
- Email: seydmann@ed.ac.uk
Address
- Street
-
Celtic and Scottish Studies
50 George Square - City
- Edinburgh
- Post code
- EH8 9LH
Background
Throughout his working life Stuart pursued two parallel career strands: heritage conservation and ethnomusicology.
He performs, researches, and writes on Scottish vernacular music and is particularly concerned with aspects of the instrumental revivals of the twentieth century. He was a lecturer and PhD supervisor on traditional music history at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, an Associate Lecturer on popular music at the Open University and both Post-Doctoral Research Fellow and Traditional Artist in Residence at Celtic and Scottish Studies, University of Edinburgh. He has acted as an external examiner at Dundee University and at Glasgow Caledonian University.
He served as a member of the Traditional Arts Working Group that reported to Scottish Ministers in 2010. https://ifacca.org/news/2010/01/31/report-traditional-arts/
Stuart is currently collaborating with TRACS, the national organisation established in 2011 to advocate for traditional arts, in exploring the options for a new national traditional music archive for Scotland and is curator of the online audio archive raretunes.org and serves on the Board of the University journal Review of Scottish Culture.
He plays fiddle and concertina with the long-standing Whistlebinkies, folk group with which he has made six commercial recordings, and he is currently finalising production of the premiere DVD recording of the band’s performances of works specially written for it by composer John Cage for Mode Records of New York.
Stuart researches and writes on Scottish heritage, both tangible and intangible, and for over a decade he was a tutor on the MSc in Architectural Conservation at Edinburgh College of Art, University of Edinburgh. He has acted as External Examiner at The University of Dundee and has recently undertaken pilot studies into the intangible cultural heritage of a sample of monuments in care for Historic Environment Scotland. He has had a principal roles in the delivery of built heritage conservation projects, including the restoration and conversion of Linlithgow Burgh Halls to a community arts venue, the award-winning repair and restoration of Blackburn House (https://www.shbt.org.uk/our-projects/blackburn-house/) and the restoration of the Alexander Nasmyth-designed bridge at Mid Calder, West Lothian.
Stuart was a Trustee of the UK and Ireland Institute of Historic Building Conservation with responsibilities for Scotland, Education and Profession Accreditation and Standards.
He served on Historic Scotland’s Rural Buildings Conservation Working Group and on topic groups of the Historic Environment Advisory Council for Scotland that reported to the Minister for Culture, External Affairs and the Constitution and authored various publications for the organisation.
He devised and introduced the pioneering Public Art scheme for West Lothian Council and was co-author of the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland's architectural guide to the area.
Qualifications
Diploma : The Glasgow School of Art
PhD : The Open University
Current research interests
Current projects include research into the musical traditions of south west Scotland in conjunction with Dr Jo Miller. Cassette Culture a deeper understanding of, and public access to, archival material associated with the culture and folklore of the River Forth Estuary.Past research interests
https://tracscotland.org/blog/mapping-the-instrumental-folk-music-revival-in-scotland/ https://www.blogs.hss.ed.ac.uk/revival-fiddle/revival/ (site under revision)Selected published works:
‘On first hearing: the John Junner Collection of Scottish and Irish music recordings’. In Liz Doherty and Fintan Vallely (eds.) Ón gCos go Cluas – From Dancing to Listening. Fiddle and Dance Studies from around the North Atlantic. (Aberdeen University Press. Aberdeen, 2019) pp. 66-75.
‘Sounds Across the Moyle: Musical resonances between Argyll and Antrin’. In William Roulston (ed.) Antrim and Argyll: Some Aspects of the Connections. (Ulster Historical Foundation. Belfast, 2018) pp. 97-140.
‘A Celtic Connection: Scotland at the Festival Interceltique de Lorient’. In Camille Manfredi and Michel Byrne (eds.) Bretagne-Ecosse: contacts, transferts et dissonances. (CRBH/HCTI. Brest, 2017) pp. 221-234.
The Buildings at Risk Toolkit (Historic Environment Scotland. Edinburgh, 2014). Published online at https://www.buildingsatrisk.org.uk/toolkit
With Dolina MacLennan and Jim Gilchrist. An Island Girl’s Journey. (Islands Book Trust. Stornoway, 2014).
With Pat Dennison, Annie Lyell, Peter Lynch and Simon Stronach. Painting the Town. Scottish urban history in art. (Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. Edinburgh, 2013). This book was shortlisted for the Saltire History Book of the Year 2014.
‘Davy Hutchison (1899-1975), Accordionist’. in Chris Wright (ed.) Tobar an Dualchais: Ulaidh Nàiseanta / Kist o Riches: A National Treasure. (Tobar an Dualchais. Sleat, Isle of Skye, 2014), pp. 105-106.
With Katherine Campbell and Linda Gunn. Research Scoping Study: Ulster-Scots Music Traditions A Report for Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure, Northern Ireland . (University of Edinburgh. Edinburgh, 2013).
‘Pantile’. In Building Scotland. Celebrating Scotland’s Traditional Building Materials. (Historic Scotland. Edinburgh, 2010), pp. 143-155.
‘Diversity and Diversification in Scottish Music’. In John Beech et. al. (eds.) Scottish Life and Society: A Compendium of Scottish Ethnology (vol. 10, Oral Literature and Performance Culture). (John Donald. Edinburgh, 2007), pp. 193-212.
‘Unravelling the birl : using basic computer technology to understand traditional fiddle decorations’. In Ian Russell, Mary Anne Alburger (eds.). Play It Like It Is. Fiddle and Dance Studies from around the North Atlantic. (Elphinstone Institute. Aberdeen, 2006), pp. 33-41
With Russel Coleman. Development and Archaeology in Historic Towns and Cities. (Historic Scotland. Edinburgh, 2004).
‘From the Wee Melodeon to the Big Box: The Accordion in Scotland since 1945’. Musical Performance, Vol. 3, parts 2-4, 2001, pp. 107-25.
Rural buildings of the Lothians Conservation and Conversion. (Historic Scotland. Edinburgh, 2000).
‘Scotland's historic towns: a conservation officer reflects’. In Patricia Dennison (ed.) Conservation and Change in Historic Towns. (Council for British Archaeology. York, 1999), pp. 196-208.
‘As Common as Blackberries: The First Hundred Years of the Accordion in Scotland, 1830-1930’. In Folk Music Journal, Volume 7, Number 5, 1999, pp. 595-608.
‘Current issues in the revival of traditional stone paving’. In Context, No. 56, December 1997, pp. 36-38.
‘The Concertina as an Emblem of the Folk Music Revival in the British Isles’. In British Journal of Ethnomusicology, Vol. 4, 1995, pp. 41-49.
‘St Paul's Church Mission Hall, Glasgow’. In Charles Rennie Mackintosh Society Newsletter 33 (September 1982), pp. 3-4.
‘Routes, roles and folk on the edge: Scotland’s instrumental music through the revival lens’. In Gary West and Simon McKerrell eds. Understanding Scotland Musically: Folk, Tradition and Policy. (Taylor & Francis. United Kingdom, 2018), pp. 201-216.
With Hélène Witcher, ‘Seeking Héloïse Russell-Fergusson’. In M. J. Grant ed. Hearing Heritage Selected essays on Scotland’s music from Musica Scotica conferences. (Musica Scotica Trust, Glasgow, 2020), pp. 73-83.
‘Traditional Music in the 1946 and 1947 reports of The Sixth Advisory Council on Education in Scotland.’ In Ethnomusicology Ireland: Special Issue: Access and Participation in Traditional Music in the Anglo-Irish World, Issue 9. 2024, pp. 52-76. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/667d262aab8e6c7b3656f7f7/t/66c885946b5d614902a28b1f/1724417432160/Eydmann.pdf
‘Rare Tunes’. In Towards a Scottish Traditional Music Archive. (TRACS. Edinburgh, 2013). pp. 21-27. https://tracscotland.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Archive-Day-report-2.pdf
‘Folk : Music – a photo essay’. in Concept Journal : Special Issue: Arts & Culture for All Volume 14, No 3, Winter 2023. https://concept.lib.ed.ac.uk/issue/view/578