Facilities/Equipment/Resources

Audio/video recording equipment

The School has specialised equipment available from our technician. If the equipment is required for reasons other than a prescribed music university course or if the purposes of the recording are beyond normal course requirements, (eg, audition cd/dvd for overseas) then a charge will be made. See the Technician for details of the equipment and the charges.

Computers

There is a state of the art Apple Mac music computer laboratory with 15 units located in Room 339 in the Maths and Computer Science building. In addition the University’s Information Technology department has many computers with non-music programmes such as word-processing available for students.

Electroacoustic sound laboratories

Three electroacoustic sound laboratories in the School provide training for the student wishing to explore the realm of machine manipulated sound. These laboratories are fully digitised and the main one is at the cutting edge of new technology and sound sources. In addition to informal work, students are able to enrol in courses up to and including graduate level.

Instruments

The School is replete with many fine keyboard instruments. We are proud of our grand piano by Fazioli of Italy. This superb instrument is supplemented with grand pianos by Steinway, Bösendorfer and Grotrian Steinweg, numerous pianos in staff rooms, lecture theatres and practice rooms, as well as the period instruments of harpsichord and clavichord.

Also available to students is a violin by Fausto Cacciatori and a baroque cello by Bruce Carlson, a bass clarinet by Selmar, an alto flute by Emerson, a baroque guitar and archlute by Barber/Harris, a set of recorders by Netsch and a baroque flute by Paul Downie.

A full Balinese gamelan gong kebyar, a modern orchestra of more than thirty, colourful, beautifully decorated and vibrant metallophones, gongs and drums, forms the focus of performance in ethnomusicology courses and gives regular concerts. Also associated with the gamelan are a set of 4 gender, for the performance of shadow puppet plays, and sets of bamboo instruments such as tingklik (xylophones), angklung (shake rattles) and kulkul (slit drums).

The organ and its literature have long been important at Canterbury. The first professor of music was the pre-eminent organist, J C Bradshaw, and the organ donated to the School of Music by his widow in 1978 is a landmark instrument in the classical revival in this country.

Instruments on order for delivery in 2007 include a harpsichord and forte piano by Paul Downie.

Library resources

The Central Library's extensive music collection, is staffed by specialist librarians and equipped with audio and video facilities. The School of Music building includes a resource centre with a substantial collection of reference materials, scores, and sound recordings, together with listening facilities. These recordings and scores have recently been extended by several large bequests from private donors.

Publications

The School of Music maintains important series of publications in music education and music history and reference. These publications - The Canterbury Series: Studies in Music Education and The Canterbury Series of Bibliographies, Catalogues and Source Documents in Music - are oriented primarily towards music in New Zealand and the Canterbury region and have received international recognition. In many ways they break new paths in the areas of local history and music education and in the methodology of its documentation. Music at Canterbury, 1891-1991, a centennial history of the School of Music by John Jennings, is also available. (This history includes a roll of graduates in music.) Sound Ideas was first published in 1997. It was, until 2004, a tri-annual publication but since then has changed its format to an annual publication of research and peer-reviewed articles, and is an important vehicle for the dissemination of ideas in music education in the country. Enquiries regarding these publications may be directed to the Administrator at the School of Music.

Recordings

The School of Music has a fulltime technician, together with recording equipment. There is a nominal charge for music students requiring recordings for their course work (as defined by the lecturer concerned).

Other amenities such as practice and teaching rooms, a keyboard laboratory, computer facilities, and a range of video equipment complement the busy and stimulating environment at the School.