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karenmca.bsky.social
Musicologist, Historian #AltAc. A Social History of Amateur Music-Making and Scottish National Identity: Scotland's Printed Music 1880-1951 (Routledge 2025) https://karenmcaulaymusicologist.blog/
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I'm here. Church is there. Gonna get drenched! #organist

submitted 8 hours ago • 1 comment

Sure, you have to kiss a lot of frogs before you meet a prince. So here's how to ensure you don't waste time on toads ...

submitted 10 hours ago • 0 comments

We sang. The church choir, a whole hall-full of people and a LOT of Scottish songs. There was also haggis, neeps and tatties ... I was very brave. I sang a solo AND played a concertina tune. Two firsts!

submitted 1 day ago • 1 comment

I have never seen such joyous dancing!

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

Sometimes, you get unexpected glimpses of the personal interests of the people you're researching. So now I know, FOR A FACT, that the MD of Thomas Nelson & Co. was a keen fisherman and train enthusiast. Very keen! #AmResearching, honest!

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

1950s etiquette: publishers Thomas Nelsons were delightfully, faultlessly courteous, even with rejections: 'Thanking you for the courtesy of your offer'. But between colleagues about the same manuscript, memos were a bit more blunt. 'I think there is only one answer and that is in the negative.'

submitted 2 days ago • 1 comment

Thomas Nelson's editors were so CIVILISED in the 1940s. Just looking at a letter from the Edinburgh office to their oppos in Toronto. 'We look forward very keenly to your next visit. The Tea Party will be most disappointed if you stay away too long.' Awww!

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

When it's NOT all about research - aiming for 100% public engagement! karenmcaulaymusicologist.blog/2025/02/20/s...

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

Gleefully realise that my @iashedinburgh.bsky.social fellowship adds a fourth uni to @russellgroup.bsky.social universities I've attended. Don't suppose I'm unique by any means, but it's quite nice all the same!!

submitted 4 days ago • 0 comments

Strange things in the archives ... karenmcaulaymusicologist.blog/2025/02/18/s...

submitted 5 days ago • 0 comments

What a sad individual I must be. Excited at the thought of a helpful robot vacuum cleaner 😓. Watch this space!

submitted 6 days ago • 1 comment

Have you met #ScholarlySatan? karenmcaulaymusicologist.blog/2025/02/17/s...

submitted 6 days ago • 0 comments

Apparently, I cannot say that my hearing aids don't restore 100% hearing, because I am only speaking from experience and haven't read it somewhere ...

submitted 6 days ago • 1 comment

Sung to the tune of 'Oh, for 1000 tongues to sing'. Sir Hugh Roberton's lyrics:- "There was an auld Seceder Cat, And it was unco gray; It brocht a moose into the hoose Upon the Sabbath day: They took it to the Sess-i-on, Wha it rebukit sore, And made it promise faithfully To do the same no more.

submitted 7 days ago • 0 comments

Right, church historians, especially Scottish Kirk ones. I know the story about Calvinists prohibiting practising psalms with their proper words, hence 'The old seceder cat' (Mice and Men). But is it true? Evidence? @historylecturer.bsky.social

submitted 7 days ago • 1 comment

Doesn't everyone spend 3 hours of a Saturday evening creating an auld seceder cat? (For it was unco' grey) #SecederCat www.heraldscotland.com/news/1229819...

submitted 7 days ago • 0 comments

Happy #ValentinesDay to @glasgowburns.bsky.social

submitted 8 days ago • 0 comments

'My love is like a red, red rose, that's newly sprung in June': I played it at the station, but Their piano's no' in tune. I plinked and plonked the ivories, And some were slow or mute, I'll no' be playin' there again, Of that, I ha'e nae doubt.

submitted 9 days ago • 1 comment

Baltic but bright in Edinburgh today. In today's archival folder, a letter from London to Edinburgh in June 1947 tells an editor that their London heatwave continues & 'I think longingly of Miss Yule's capacious teapot!' Me too! Wonder if it was fancy or plain? Surely, English breakfast tea ...

submitted 9 days ago • 0 comments

This is joy. This is something to be proud to have as part of your country. Well done, @gurdeep.ca & well done #Canada

submitted 10 days ago • 0 comments

A bit of #gratitude goes a long way. Look ....

submitted 10 days ago • 0 comments

I forgot I'd written this blog and never actually posted it! Robert Wilson, Scottish singer and entrepreneur... karenmcaulaymusicologist.blog/2025/02/12/s...

submitted 11 days ago • 0 comments

📢 Call for Expressions of Interest! The Editorial Board of the History of Education Society is looking for a new Book Reviews Editor. Deadline: March 15th 2025 Full information here: historyofeducation.org.uk/eoi-bookrevi... #histed #eoi #history #education #edusky

submitted 11 days ago • 0 comments