Magdalen music students on BBC Radio 3

Over the weekend, Magdalen Lecturer James Donaldson and four of his third-year music students were featured on BBC Radio 3’s Sunday Feature, titled: A Little History of Surreal Music.

The programme, which was recorded at Oxford University’s Music Faculty, celebrated a century of surrealist music. During the episode, presenter Ian McMillan discovered the main tenets of surrealist composition, aided by James and his students. James spoke about his research into the connections between music and surrealism, and what it is that really makes music 'surreal'.

"This was a rare opportunity to bring together the three worlds of teaching, research, and public outreach," said James. "The students and I met over the summer to develop our portion of the programme, with unbounded enthusiasm and creativity from all four of them. A testament to the longevity of surrealist ideas - exactly what the programme was aiming to uncover!"

Inspired by his research, the programme explored what surrealist music can sound like, demonstrated by Magdalen third-year students Aidan, Lulu, Ynyr, and Jessie on saxophone, viola, ukulele, and vocals. Each of them contributed ideas that ended up in the programme, providing new insights into the intersections of music and surrealism. "When we first started studying music analysis with James," Jess said, "we would never have guessed that we'd end up on a BBC Radio 3 show with Ian McMillian, let alone that I'd be bringing my ukulele along to a professional academic discussion broadcast on national radio."

During the development of the programme, it became clear to James that active music-making would help enrich the concepts central to the surrealist movement. Inviting undergraduate students, who are well-versed in both tutorial discussion and creating music, seemed perfect. Indeed, a music degree is relatively unique since it involves performance, composition, theory, and history, all of which were on show by the students; in the process they helped bridge the crucial gap from cultural history to the specific characteristics of surrealist music.

It was such a brilliant experience, an opportunity that I never imagined I would be in from studying music here!

Along with presenter Ian McMillan, the students formed a kind of surrealist performance troupe, experimenting with surrealist techniques, and discussing their experiences as young musicians working with surrealism in a modern context. "It was such a brilliant experience, an opportunity that I never imagined I would be in from studying music here!" Lulu, said. "We combined our critical thinking tutorial skills with fun creative surrealist games using our voices and instruments, and it was fascinating seeing the recording process behind these programmes."

In case you missed it, the episode is still available on BBC iPlayer.