Peggy Duesenberry
Lecturer in Ethnomusicology
Lecturer in Ethnomusicology
Peggy Duesenberry is an ethnomusicologist and fiddler with a special interest in Scottish
music. In the School of Music, she offers supervision and more general training to
postgraduate research students. She also teaches a performing arts research module in the PG Cert
in Supervision (Creative Practices) at the Glasgow School of Art. Her main research interests
are in Scottish fiddle music, and in traditional music and the mass media; she also has an
interest in disability studies, particularly in research on artistic inclusion in
music.
Peggy was formerly ethnomusicology editor for
The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (2nd ed.), and joint Course Leader for
RSAMD’s BA(Scottish Music). She has performed as a dance fiddler throughout Scotland and New
England. She was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship for research for her PhD thesis “Fiddle
Tunes on Air: A Study of Gatekeeping and Traditional Music at the BBC in Scotland, 1923 –
1957” (University of California Berkeley, 2000).
Doctoral Supervision Interests:
- Scottish and related musical traditions (ethnomusicology)
- Mass media and traditional music
- Ethnography of performance
- Practice-based research in music
- Notation and oral tradition
- Disability studies and music/cultural disability studies
Supervision of Completed Doctorates:
Simon McKerrell (2005) “Scottish competition bagpipe music: sound, mode and
aesthetics"
Selected Publications and Papers
Duffy, C. and Duesenberry, P. (forthcoming 2011). "Wha's like us?": A new Scottish
conservatoire tradition. In I. Papageorgi and G. Welch (eds.),
Investigating Musical Performance in Higher Education: Studies in Advanced Musical Teaching and
Learning. Farnham, Surrey: SEMPRE/Ashgate.
Grant, Aonghas, B. McOwen, L. Risk, and P. Duesenberry. (2010)
The Glengarry Collection: the Highland Fiddle Music of Aonghas Grant (Pacific, MO:
Mel Bay), vol 1; (vol. 2 in press)
Duesenberry, P. and Raymond MacDonald. (2008) “Sounds of Progress in the Academy: an
Emerging Creative Partnership.”
The Review of Disability Studies 4(1):6-18.
Duesenberry, P. (2008) “The Elephant in the Room: the hidden power of ‘classical’ music
ideas in perceptions of the process of tradition in Scottish music” Paper presented in the panel
Reassessing Discourses of Orality and Literacy; 9
th SIEF Congress, University of Ulster, Derry.
Miller, J. and Duesenberry, P. (2007) “Where are they now? The First Graduates of the BA
(Scottish Music) degree.” Paper presented at
True North Palatine Conference, Perth College/UHI, June 2007. Read it
here.
Duesenberry, P. (2006) “Ethnomusicology and the Performer-Researcher: synergies for
practice-based research in music.” Paper presented at
Teaching, Learning and Performing Music (Palatine), Royal Northern College of Music,
Manchester, UK, July 2006.
Duesenberry, P. “Early broadcasting of fiddle tunes,” (2005)
Over the Waves: Music in/and Broadcasting conference, MacMaster Unversity, Hamilton
Canada, supported by British Academy Overseas Conference Grant.
Collinson, F. and Duesenberry, P. (2001) “Scotland II: Traditional music,” in
The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (London: Macmillan).
Duesenberry, P. “Ceilidh at the Conservatory: Formal teaching and learning for
traditional musicians in Scotland,” Society for Ethnomusicology conference, Detroit,
2001.
Duesenberry, P. “Rhythmic aspects of notation and oral tradition in Scottish traditional
music,” European Seminar in Ethnomusicology conference, Jerusalem, 1998.
Duesenberry, P. “Reception theory and the Scottish Fiddle Tradition: Notes from a Study
of Mass-mediated Performance,” British Forum for Ethnomusicology conference, Winchester,
March 1996.
Guest Editor for
British Journal of Ethnomusicology, vol. 4, 1995.
Transcriptions for booklet to accompany “The Fiddler and His Art,” Scottish Tradition
Series, no.9 (Tangent Records, for the School of Scottish Studies, University of Edinburgh,
1989).
Book and recording reviews (various) for
World of Music,
Folk Music Journal,
British Journal of Ethnomusicology,
Notes.


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