#TrinityCollege Dublin, The University of #Dublin: News

Throughout the month of February, Catering will be offering plant based milks (soy, almond, oat, coconut) at NO EXTRA CHARGE! So get your climate friendly hot drink on at all Trinity Catering outlets this month – the Buttery, Forum Cafe, Perch, etc.

Mid-Term Camp is BACK at Trinity Sport Centre from the 21st – 25th Feb. LIMITED SPACES – Book now!

Our multi sport camp will provide boys and girls aged from 4 – 13 years with a fun filled week packed with activities! *Camp begins at 8:45am – 16:15 each day*

Prices from €145 for members and €165 for non members. For more information and to book click the link below.

‘I Second that Emotion’: Modifiers as Expressive Devices in Early Motown’ a talk by : Dr Bláithín Duggan as part of the School of Creative Arts Research Forum in association with the Trinity Long Room Hub.

The School of Creative Arts Research Forum meets fortnightly at 10am on Mondays during term and is led by the School’s doctoral students. The aim of the Forum is to give a space for School researchers, both staff and postgraduate students, to share their ideas in a supportive environment. It is also an opportunity for the School to hear about the research of colleagues both from within TCD and outside who share our research interests. In line with the research agenda of the School, talks will encompass traditional research and practice-based research and will be followed by Q&A

Register here

This paper analyses a singer’s vocalisms through the topic of paralanguage: a sub-category of nonverbal communication that addresses characteristics of speech that alter meaning, add nuance of expression, or convey emotion. Popular song is a strong candidate for this analysis because it is plurimedial – comprising of several means of expression (Nicholls 2007). Taking early Motown (1959-1965), the first Black popular song record label, as a case study, I will address two gaps in Motown scholarship: the first application of a paralinguistic analysis to Motown recordings, and a close analysis of the stylistic forebears of early writers (Berry Gordy, Smokey Robinson, Holland-Dozier-Holland) and performers (Mary Wells, Marvin Gaye, The Miracles, The Supremes, The Marvelettes, The Four Tops, etc.). Together, these writers, performers, and The Funk Brothers house band created the Motown sound – a distinctive soundscape which transgressed racial and gender boundaries, appealed to a global audience, and marked a musical and cultural revolution.

By examining selected songs from this early period, I detail voice modifiers, which combine vocal qualifiers and differentiators and are affected by respiratory air (Poyatos 1983b). This is achieved through a bespoke interdisciplinary methodology of computational analysis, music theory, and linguistics. I argue that the songs themselves, relatively simplistic accounts of love, loss, and light-hearted encounters, gain their significance through paralinguistic voice qualities employed in performance. This will contribute to the increasing focus on connected histories, methods, and topics shared by multiple disciplines to offer insight into aspects of sounds which are heard, often acknowledged, but not easily analysed.

Dr Bláithín Duggan’s research focuses on a multidisciplinary approach to the analysis and interpretation of nineteenth and twentieth century popular song. This encompasses music theory and analysis, sound studies, performance studies, film studies, philosophy, analysing the singing voice, and linguistics. Bláithín completed her undergraduate thesis at University College Dublin (UCD) in 2013 and a Masters in Musicology at UCD in 2014. Bláithín’s doctoral thesis, ‘Paralanguage and The Beatles’, was completed under the supervision of Dr Simon Trezise at Trinity College Dublin. In 2020, Bláithín was the inaugural recipient of the Society for Musicology in Ireland Harry White Doctoral medal for this thesis. Bláithín is currently teaching ‘popular song’ and ‘music history’ at Dublin City University and is the editor for the Society for Musicology in Ireland newsletter.

Please indicate if you have any access requirements, such as ISL/English interpreting, so that we can facilitate you in attending this event. Contact: grilec@tcd.ie

Thanks to “Impact Analysis using Social Data” a person will engage with advanced techniques to analyze data and to distinguish a causality link from a simple correlation. We will do it by looking both at the theoretical side and at the most recent application.

Being able to identify causality links represents a crucial skill for a person interested in understanding the data that today’s world produces.

The CPD Impact Analysis using Social Data teaches students how to apply quantitative methods to conduct causal impact analysis using social data. In particular, students will learn how econometric methods can be used to answer questions related to human behaviour and strategic decision-making with the help of regression based econometric methods.

The module has an applied focus, demonstrating the use of econometric methods used for impact evaluation with practical applications and referring to examples from recent studies that apply those methods to answer key questions in the social sciences.

On successful completion of this module students will be able to:

determine which methods can be used to analyse different datasets for addressing different questions of relevance to the social sciences.
critically assess findings of studies that apply these methods.
design their own randomized experiments.
conduct their own causal regression analysis using the statistical software package R.
On successful completion of the CPD, students will receive a Certificate of Completion.

Please join us for vegetarian and vegan nibbles outside the Forum Cafe to kick off Green Week!  Our Guest speakers are Senator David Norris and Co-Founder and CEO of Food Cloud Iseult Ward who will be joined by Provost Linda Doyle, Vice President for Biodiversity and Climate Action Yvonne Buckley, Students Union Environmental Officer Samantha Foley and Sustainability Advisor Michele Hallahan.   The theme of this 20th anniversary of Green Week is Repairing Our Broken Food systems