Dr Andrew Killick

Department of Music

Reader of Ethnomusicology

Director, MA in Traditional and World Music (distance learning)

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a.killick@sheffield.ac.uk

Full contact details

Dr Andrew Killick
Department of Music
1.12
Jessop Building
Leavygreave Road
Sheffield
S3 7RD
Profile

I’m currently Reader in Ethnomusicology and teach on our distance learning MA programme in Traditional and World Music. I teach in all areas of ethnomusicology and world music and also in popular music studies. My research has been primarily on the music and musical theatre of Korea and more recently on world music transcription and analysis more generally.

I’ve supervised PhDs on topics ranging from the traditional, popular and (Western-style) classical musics of East Asia to Nigerian popular music, the adaptation of traditional Cretan music to the classical flute and the flat-second scale degree in various traditions worldwide. I like to take a holistic view of music, valuing all forms of music and all approaches to the study of music for what they can teach us about human musicality.

I came to Sheffield in 2003 after working my way east around the world. My BMus at Edinburgh was followed by a winter in India studying dhrupad singing, then an MA at the University of Hawaii and a PhD at the University of Washington, both with periods of fieldwork in Korea. I taught at Illinois State and then Florida State before completing the circle back to my native Yorkshire. When not engaging with music, I enjoy walking and running in the Peak District.

Qualifications
  • PhD in music (ethnomusicology), University of Washington, 1998.
  • MA in music (ethnomusicology), University of Hawaii, 1990.
  • BMus in music, University of Edinburgh, 1984.
Research interests

I have published on traditional and contemporary musics of Korea, musical theatre of various cultures, world music transcription and analysis, ethnomusicological theory and method and the teaching of world and popular musics.

My main focus at present is “global notation” (globalnotation.org.uk), a new form of music notation that I have developed with the aim of being able to represent any kind of music in terms of its own principles while being as easy to learn as possible. I am currently working on refining and extending the system to cover a wider range of musical situations and purposes and making it easier to produce and play back.

For the longer term, I am using global notation for the examples in a book with the provisional title The Making of the Musical World. Most existing overviews of “world music” portray the world as a set of separate cultures developing different forms of music to suit their different needs, but that is, at most, only half the story, and I’m trying to tell something of the other half by tracing how musical ideas tend to be generated and disseminated through contact between different cultures.

My view is that the intrinsically interconnected nature of the world’s musical idioms will be best revealed through a common and culturally unspecific notation system, global notation.

Books

2015 Hwang Byeonggi yongu: Hanguk cheontong eumak-ui jipyeong-eul neolpida. (Korean translation by Kim Hee Sun of my 2013 book Hwang Byungki: Traditional Music and the Contemporary Composer in the Republic of Korea.) Seoul: Pulbit.

2013 Hwang Byungki: Traditional Music and the Contemporary Composer in the Republic of Korea. Aldershot: Ashgate.

2010 In Search of Korean Traditional Opera: Discourses of Ch’angguk. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.

2005 Southerners, Northerners. Translation (with Cho Sukyeon) of novel Namnyok saram pungnyok saram by Lee Ho-Chul. Norwalk, Connecticut: EastBridge.

Edited books

2002 Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, Vol. 7: East Asia. New York: Garland. (Associate editor and author of 16 articles.)

Journal articles

2021 Holzapfel, Andre, Emmanouil Benetos, Andrew Killick, and Richard Widdess. “Humanities and Engineering Perspectives on Music
Transcription.” Digital Scholarship in the Humanities.

2020 “Global Notation as a Tool for Cross-Cultural and Comparative Music Analysis.” Analytical Approaches to World Music 8(2): 235-279. With responses by eight senior scholars in world music analysis.

2017 “Traditional Music and the Work-Concept: The Kayagŭm Sanjo of Hwang Byungki.” Yearbook for Traditional Music 49: 1-25.

2014 “Should World Music Teachers Teach World Music? Popular Music and the World Music Survey Course.” Journal of World Popular Music 1(1): 156-182.

2007 “Hwang Byungki and North-South Musical Exchange.” Papers of the British Association for Korean Studies 11: 49-56.

2006 “Holicipation: Prolegomenon to an Ethnography of Solitary Music-Making.” Ethnomusicology Forum 15(2): 273-299.

2005 “Ch’angguk: A Hybrid-Popular Musical Theatre of Korea.” CHIME Journal 16-17: 204-215.

2003 “Road Test for a New Model: Korean Musical Narrative and Theater in Comparative Context.” Ethnomusicology 47(2): 180-204.

2003 “Jockeying for Tradition: The Checkered History of Korean Ch’angguk Opera.” Asian Theatre Journal 20(1): 43-70.

2002 “Korean Ch’angguk Opera: Its Origins and its Origin Myth.” Asian Music 33(2): 43-82.

2001 “National Music and National Drama: The Musical Eclecticism of Ch’angguk.” Tongyang Umak 23: 179-191.

2001 “Ch’angguk Opera and the Category of the ‘Traditionesque’.” Korean Studies 25(1): 51-71.

1998 “Ch’angguk: Re-making P’ansori as ‘Korean Traditional Opera’.” Korean Culture 19(2-3): 4-13.

1998 “The Choson Songak Yon’guhoe and the Advent of Mature Ch’angguk Opera.” Review of Korean Studies 1: 76-100.

1997 “Putting P’ansori on the Stage: A Re-study in Honor of Marshall R. Pihl.” Korea Journal 37(1): 108-130.

1992 “Musical Composition in Twentieth-century Korea.” Korean Studies 16:43-60.

1991 “Nationalism and Internationalism in New Music for Korean Instruments.” Korea Journal 31(3): 104-116.

Chapters

2021 “Composing at the Intersection of East and West: Beyond Nationalism and Exoticism?” In Tong-Soon Lee, ed., The Routledge Handbook on Asian Music: Cultural Intersections. New York: Routledge. Pp. 47–71.

2016 “Music in Korean Traditional Theatre.” In Siyuan Liu, ed., Routledge Handbook of Asian Theatre. New York: Routledge. Pp. 146–149.

2014 “Visual Evidence in Ethnomusicology.” In The Routledge Companion to Music and Visual Culture. Ed. Tim Shephard and Anne Leonard. New York: Routledge. Pp. 75-84.

2014 “Avant-garde Music for Traditional Instruments: Extended Techniques in the Music of Hwang Byungki.” In Contemporary Music in East Asia. Ed. Hee Sook Oh. Seoul: Seoul National University Press. Pp. 31-63.

2013 “Tradition and Innovation in Changgeuk Opera.” In Rediscovering Traditional Korean Performing Arts. Ed. Haekyung Um and Hyunjoo Lee. Seoul: Korea Arts Management Service. Pp. 64-71.

2012 “Backstage Musical.” In Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World, Vol. 8: Genres: North America. Ed. John Shepherd, David Horn, and Dave Laing. London: Continuum. Pp. 27-9.

2012 “Broadway Musical.” In Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World, Vol. 8: Genres: North America. Ed. John Shepherd, David Horn, and Dave Laing. London: Continuum. Pp. 95-112.

2011 “An Ethnomusicology of Individual Success: Hwang Byungki and ‘National Music’ in the Republic of Korea.” In Ethnomusicological
Encounters with Music and Musicians: Essays in Honor of Robert Garfias. Ed. Timothy Rice. Aldershot: Ashgate. Pp. 31-48.

2008 “Individuality, Nationality, and Universality in the Music of Hwang Byungki.” In Essays on Music Offered to Dr. Lee Hye-ku in Honor of His Hundredth Birthday. Ed. Hwang Junyon. Seoul: Minsokwon. Pp. 747-764.

2008 “Changgeuk.” In Pansori. Ed. National Center for Korean Traditional Performing Arts. Seoul: National Center for Korean Traditional
Performing Arts. Pp. 97-127.

2007 “Ch’angguk,” “Music and Musical Instruments: Korea,” “P’ansori,” “Yosong kukkuk.” In Encyclopedia of Asian Theatre. Ed. Samuel Leiter. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. Vol. 1 pp. 95-96, 446-447; Vol. 2 pp. 495-496, 869.

2005 “Broadway.” In Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World. Ed. John Shepherd, David Horn, and Dave Laing. London: Continuum. Vol. 4 pp. 286-290.

2002 “Wax Philosophical: Re-writing the History of Chinese Musical Influences in Korea.” In Korean Music. Ed. Young-Key Kim Renaud, R.
Richard Grinker, and Kirk W. Larsen. Washington, D.C.: Sigur Center for Asian Studies. Pp. 27-32.

2001 “Music as Ethnic Marker in Film: The ‘Jewish’ Case.” In Soundtrack Available: Essays on Film and Pop Music. Ed. Arthur Knight and Pamela Robertson Wojcik. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. Pp. 185-201.

2001 “The Traditional Opera of the Future? Ch’angguk’s First Century.” In Contemporary Directions: Korean Folk Music Engaging the Twentieth Century and Beyond. Ed. Nathan Hesselink. Berkeley: Center for Korean Studies, University of California. Pp. 22-53.

1997 “Cracking a Rock with an Egg: Problems and Solutions for Korea’s ‘Traditional Opera’ Ch’angguk.” In Onji nonch’ong samjip (Onji Institute Research Papers, Vol. 3: A Festschrift for Cho Nam-kwon). Ed. Cho Kyoik. Seoul: Onji Hakhoe. Pp. 279-309.

1995 “The Penetrating Intellect: On Being White, Straight, and Male in Korea.” In Taboo: Sex, Identity, and Erotic Subjectivity in Anthropological Fieldwork. Ed. Don Kulick and Margaret Willson. London: Routledge. Pp. 76-106.

Reviews

2021 Keith Howard, Songs for ‘Great Leaders’: Ideology and Creativity in North Korean Music and Dance. Music and Letters 102(1): 163 166.

2016 Ian Russell and Catherine Ingram, eds., Taking Part in Music: Case Studies in Ethnomusicology. Folk Music Journal 11(1): 77–79.

2014 Haekyung Um, Korean Musical Drama: P’ansori and the Making of Tradition in Modernity. Music and Letters 95(4): 694-6.

2014 July 24, 1896: Korean First Recording and Hyelim Kim: Taegum Collection: Nim. Yearbook for Traditional Music 46: 241-3.

2013 Nathan Hesselink, SamulNori: Contemporary Korean Drumming and the Rebirth of Itinerant Performance Culture. Ethnomusicology 57(2): 354-7.

2011 Keith Howard, Chaesuk Lee and Nicholas Casswell, Korean Kayagum Sanjo: A Traditional Instrumental Genre. Ethnomusicology Forum 20(2): 280-83.

2008 Simon Mills, Healing Rhythms: The World of South Korea’s East Coast Hereditary Shamans. Psychology of Music 36(4): 499-501.

2006 Adelaida Reyes, Music in America: Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture. British Journal of Music Education 23(1): 117-119.

2005 “Review Essay: Some Recent Books on the Musical.” Popular Music

24(3): 445-452.

2004 Chan E. Park, Voices from the Straw Mat: Toward an Ethnography of Korean Story Singing. Asian Theatre Journal 21(2): 206-208.

Websites

2018 Global Notation (website). globalnotation.org.uk

Research group

I’ve supervised research on a wide range of topics in ethnomusicology and popular music studies, including doctorates by Dissertation and by Performance Studies. Many of these projects have been related to my own primary area of research, traditional music of East Asia, while others might focus on any part of the world with my input being mainly methodological. I am particularly interested in supervising research that applies analytical approaches to world and popular music.

Current PhD projects

  • John Ball: Transmission of Indian Classical Music in the UK
  • Xiao Gao: Musical Culture of the Chinese Diaspora Community in Indonesia
  • Xinyi Liang: Piano Transcriptions of Chinese Traditional Music from the Cultural Revolution Period
  • Kate Walker: Taiko and the UK

Completed PhDs

  • Adewale Adedeji: Yoruba Culture and its Influence on the Development of Modern Popular Music in Nigeria
  • Chingyi Chen: Claiming Musical Hybridity: Guoyue and Guoyue Tuan in Contemporary Taiwan
  • Julia Chieng Chin Yee: Sound Properties, Festival Experience and Soundscape Perception of the Rainforest World Music Festival in Sarawak Cultural Village, MalaysiaFay Hield: English Folk Singing and the Construction of Community
  • Li-Hua Ho: Buddhist Music and Dance in Contemporary Taiwan
  • Sheng-Wei Hsu: Interpreting the Piano Music of Taiwanese Composer Kuo Chih-Yuan
  • Chiung-Hui Hwang: The Multilayered Monophony and Sliding Tones of Qin Music: Perception, Structure and Aesthetic Interpretation
  • Efi Ioannidou: Greek Cypriot Wedding Music and Customs: Revival and Identity
  • Shu Jiang: Yaogun Is Not Rock 'n' Roll: Place, People and Performance in Chinese Yaogun (1997-2008)
  • Celia Ya-Chen Lee: Chen Qigang’s Voices, 1995-2008: Cross-cultural Aesthetic, Ethnicity, Translated Modernity, Gender and Politics
  • Sarha Moore: The Other Leading Note: A Comparative Study of the Flat Second Pitch Degree in North Indian Classical, Ottoman or Arabian Influenced, Western, Heavy Metal and Film Musics
  • Ruth H. Mueller: Female Participation in South Korean Traditional Music: Late Chosŏn to the Present Day
  • Lonán Ó Briain: Hmong Music in Northern Vietnam: Identities, Traditions and Modernities
  • Lijuan Qian: Pop Song Composition in China in the 1980s: An Elite Synthesis for the Mainstream
  • George Zacharioudakis: Interpreting Early Cretan Dance Music with Cretan Instruments and with the Western Flute: A Musical Revival
  • Yue Zhao: The Musicality of C-Pop: A Study of Chinese Popular Music from 1985-2010
Professional activities and memberships
  • Sheffield Korea Day: performance contest adjudicator (2018, 2019)
  • Local Arrangements Chair, Annual Conference of the British Forum for Ethnomusicology (2017)
  • Co-editor, Ethnomusicology Forum (2007-2010)
  • Secretary, British Forum for Ethnomusicology (2004-2007)
  • Council Member, Society for Ethnomusicology (2000-2003)
  • President, Association for Korean Music Research (2000-2002)