Documenting the Midland Youth Jazz Orchestra 1968 to 1980 through radio-style production

Musson, Alan (2025) Documenting the Midland Youth Jazz Orchestra 1968 to 1980 through radio-style production. Doctoral thesis, Birmingham City University.

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Text Alan Musson PhD _Thesis_Final Version_Final Award February 2025.pdf - Accepted Version Download (2MB)

Abstract

This practice-based doctoral research project uses a series of radio-style documentary productions to explore the ways in which we investigate, mediate, and interpret the music cultural practices of the past. By focusing on the development of a youth jazz orchestra in the English West Midlands in the 1960s and 1970s, and more generally exploring how we can make the practice of radio documentary a developed and sophisticated research method in itself, I contribute to a number of issues of debate within media and cultural studies about local jazz culture and history. I contend that the radio documentary form can be seen as qualitative research in its own right and use this approach to explore an original way to tackle questions of research that have emerged in what has been called ‘The New Jazz Studies’. In particular, I have sought to utilise approaches from oral history and ideas of ethnography from cultural studies and ethnomusicology, combined with ideas from the musicologist, Christopher Small, in the development of a core concept of ‘ethnomusicking’.

In surveying the field, I looked at literature from radio and podcast studies, jazz studies and ethnomusicology as well as extant jazz history radio and television documentaries and jazz oral histories. My historical study is researched through archives and interviews. I explore my central proposition through an iterative process of documentary-making and auto-ethnographic reflection, here drawing upon my background as a producer and presenter in community radio. The products of this process are submitted as three radio-style ‘drop-ins’ or features intended for broadcast on community radio and three podcast-style episodes with a supporting written component to form an integrated thesis.

I found rich detail on the youth jazz orchestra movement in the West Midlands as well as key insights for radio producers on using ideas of oral history, ethnomusicking and story-telling as frames for documentary production.

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Dates:	Date Event 27 February 2025 Accepted
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Jazz, Popular Music, British Jazz, Jazz in the United Kingdom, Jazz in the West Midlands, Radio, Musicology, Community Radio , Midland Youth Jazz Orchestra, Radio Documentary Production, Podcast Production, Ethnography, Ethnomusicology, History, Jazz Oral Histories, Auto-ethnography, Ethno-musicking, Media and Cultural Studies, Interviewing for radio documentary production
Subjects:	CAH15 - social sciences > CAH15-01 - sociology, social policy and anthropology > CAH15-01-06 - cultural studies CAH24 - media, journalism and communications > CAH24-01 - media, journalism and communications > CAH24-01-05 - media studies CAH25 - design, and creative and performing arts > CAH25-02 - performing arts > CAH25-02-02 - music
Divisions:	Doctoral Research College > Doctoral Theses Collection Faculty of Arts, Design and Media > College of English and Media
Depositing User:	Louise Muldowney
Date Deposited:	22 Jul 2025 13:36
Last Modified:	22 Jul 2025 13:46
URI:	https://www.open-access.bcu.ac.uk/id/eprint/16530

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