Dr Lisa ColtonL.M.Colton@hud.ac.uk | 01484 472401
Lisa Colton is Subject Leader for Music, a role that she has undertaken since January 2010. She joined the University of Huddersfield as a Lecturer in 2003. Lisa gained a First Class BMus (Hons) Music at the University of Huddersfield before continuing her studies with an MA in Historical Musicology (Distinction) and PhD at the University of York. Her doctoral thesis, 'Music and sanctity in England, c.1260-c.1400' explored themes of nationalism, sanctity and virginity in late medieval English music, and was funded by the AHRC. Having completed the PCPD, Lisa is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. She is Chair of the Plainsong and Medieval Music Society, and is the external examiner for undergraduate Music courses at Bath Spa University and the University of Glasgow.
As a performer, Lisa plays bass viol and directs the University Choir. She is also an active member of the Royal Musical Association, the American Musicological Society, the Plainsong and Medieval Music Society, the Viola da Gamba Society, and the Campaign for Real Ale. In 2010, Lisa founded the Centre for the Study of Music, Gender and Identity (MuGI) at the University of Huddersfield, which aims to stimulate musical and interdisciplinary research in this area.
Lisa’s recent research has largely divided between medieval and twentieth-century topics. Her current work focuses on the historiography of medieval English music, but she is also preparing articles on medievalism in the music of Benjamin Britten, and working on the music of Lady Gaga and John Dunstaple.
Colton, L (2013) ‘Review of: Emma Dillon, The Sense of Sound: Musical Meanings in France, 1260-1330 (Oxford and New York, Oxford University Press, 2012)’ French History . ISSN 0269-1191
Colton, L (2012) ‘Mapping medieval music’ Early Music , 40 (2), pp. 308-310. ISSN 0306-1078
Colton, L (2011) ‘English Masses at home and abroad’ Early Music , 39 (4), pp. 621-623. ISSN 03061078
Colton, L (2011) ‘Languishing for provenance: Zelo tui langueo and the search for women's polyphony in England’ Early Music , 39 (3), pp. 315-326. ISSN 03061078
Colton, L. and Iddon, M. (2010) ‘Introduction: Recycling and Innovation in Contemporary Music’ Contemporary Music Review , 29 (3), pp. 229-230. ISSN 0749-4467
Colton, L (2010) ‘The Female Exotic: Tradition, Innovation and Authenticity in the Reception of Music by Judith Weir’ Contemporary Music Review , 29 (3), pp. 277-289. ISSN 0749-4467
Colton, L (2010) ‘A Unique Source of English Tablature from Seventeeth-Century Huddersfield’ Music and Letters , 91 (1), pp. 39-50. ISSN 0027-4224
Colton, L (2009) Scrupulosa quorundam sententia. Plainsong and Medieval Music Society .
Colton, L (2009) ‘Music and Identity in Medieval Bury St Edmunds’. In: St Edmund, King and Martyr: Changing Images of a Medieval Saint. Woodbridge: York Medieval Press. . ISBN 9781903153260
Colton, L (2008) ‘Breaking into song’ Early Music , 36 (3), pp. 507-508. ISSN 03061078
Colton, L (2008) ‘Languishing for Provenance: The Troubled History of Zelo tui langueo and the Search for Women's Polyphony in England’. In: Medieval and Renaissance Music Conference, 24 - 27 July 2008, University of Bangor, Wales
Colton, L (2008) ‘Princess, Abbess, Archbishop, Virgin: Text, Music, and Gender in the Office of Saint Ursula’. In: International Congress on Medieval Studies, 8-11 May 2008, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo MI
Colton, L (2008) ‘Kate Bush and Hounds of Love. By Ron Moy. Ashgate, 2007. 148 pp. ISBN 978-0-7546-5798-9 (pb)’ Popular Music , 27 (2), pp. 329-331. ISSN 0261-1430
Colton, L (2008) ‘Princess, Abbess, Archbishop, Virgin: The cult of the Eleven Thousand Virgins in medieval York’. In: PMMS Conference 2008: Ave/Eva: Text, Music and Gender in the Middle Ages, 26 April 2008, University of Bristol
Colton, L (2008) ‘Listening to Hildegard’. In: Second Early Music Festival, 8-10 February 2008, University of Leeds
Colton, L (2008) ‘Book Reviews’ Studies in Musical Theatre , 1 (3), pp. 309-324. ISSN 17503159
Colton, L (2008) ‘The Articulation of Virginity in the Medieval Chanson de nonne’ Journal of the Royal Musical Association , 133 (2), pp. 159-188. ISSN 02690403
Colton, L (2007) The York Masses A Performing Edition [Composition]
Colton, L (2006) ‘Reconstructing Cluniac music: Bryan Gillingham, Music in the Cluniac ecclesia: a pilot project (Ottawa: Institute of Medieval Music, 2006), $96’ Early Music , 34 (4), pp. 675-677. ISSN 03061078
Cowgill, R., Biddle, I., Colton, L., Holliday, R. and Attinello, P. (2006) ‘Roundtable: ‘Music and Queer Theory’’. In: RMA Research Students' Conference 2006, 4-7 January 2006, School of Music, University of Leeds
Colton, L (2005) ‘The earliest songbook in England: The later Cambridge songs, ed. John Stevens (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), 60/$110’ Early Music , 33 (4), pp. 707-708. ISSN 03061078
Colton, L (2005) ‘The Age of Innocence: Chastity and the chanson de nonne in Late Medieval France’. In: International Medieval Congress 2005, 11-14 July 2005, University of Leeds
Colton, L (2005) ‘The age of innocence: chastity and the chanson de nonne in the Montpellier Codex.’. In: Medieval and Renaissance Music Conference, 13-16 July 2005, Centre d’Études Supérieures de la Renaissance, University of Tours, France
Colton, L (2005) ‘Early Music, 1000-1600’. In: Classical Music. : Dorling Kindersley Books. pp. 46-75. ISBN 9781405306102
Colton, L (2005) ‘Choral Music in York, 1400-1540’. In: Mass and Parish in Late Medieval England: The Use of York. Reading: Spire Books. pp. 41-56. ISBN 1904965024
Head, M., Cowgill, R., Cusick, S., Fuller, S. and Colton, L. (2003) ‘Round Table: Lesbian Historiography’. In: 39th RMA Annual Conference 2003: Music Historiography, 12–14 September 2003, School of Music, Cardiff University
Colton, L (2003) ‘Music in pre-Reformation York: a new source and some thoughts on the York Masses’ Plainsong and Medieval Music , 12 (1), pp. 71-88. ISSN 09611371
In the summer of 2008, Lisa was awarded a Visiting Scholarship at St John’s College, Oxford, where she worked on the preparation of articles relating to issues of identity in English music. In 2009 she was awarded the Pauline Alderman Award for an outstanding journal article relating to women in music for her article ‘The articulation of virginity in the medieval chanson de nonne’, Journal of the Royal Musical Association (2008). In 2010, Lisa co-edited a special issue of the journal Contemporary Music Review, ‘Innovation and Recycling in Contemporary Music’. She has organised or co-organised many study days and conferences, including those at the University of Huddersfield and colloquia run for the Plainsong and Medieval Music Society. With Dr Catherine Haworth, Lisa is organising the first conference for the Centre for Music, Gender and Identity (MuGI) at Huddersfield (6-7 October 2012): Gender, Musical Creativity and Age. Lisa has appeared on television and radio as an expert in early music, including on BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour, BBC Radio Leeds, BBC1’s National Lottery Live, and Channel 4’s Revealing Secrets.
Lisa's research interests are wide, ranging from archival work to exploring notions of music, gender and identity in various historical contexts. She has supervised undergraduate, taught postgraduate and research students on diverse topics, including the legacy of Benjamin Britten, the film scores of Jerry Goldsmith, power and transvestism in popular music, medieval English carols, medievalism in 20th-century British music, and the regional identity of the Pennine brass band tradition. Lisa welcomes proposals from prospective research students on any subject, but particularly in areas of medieval music, music and gender, and popular musicology.
Subject Leader and Course Leader for BMus (Hons) Music and BA (Hons) Music with English / Drama / Modern Language
Lisa’s teaching is primarily within Musicology. She is module leader for AHM3310 Research for Music and AHM3309 Music and Gender. She lectures as part of AFM1906 Music, History and Culture 1 and AIM2302 Popular Music Studies. She leads seminars within the MMus on topics such as critical thinking, reviewing, issues of canon and reception. Lisa also supervises a range of dissertation topics relevant to her research interests. As Subject Leader, Lisa is responsible for all degree programmes within Music.
