Dr Janet K Halfyard
Head of Undergraduate StudiesPhD (Birmingham)
MA
BSc (Hons)
email Steve Halfyard
Tel: 0121 331 6913
Dr Janet K Halfyard is a senior lecturer at Birmingham Conservatoire where she teaches courses in film music as well as twentieth century and contemporary music. Her publications include papers on extended vocal technique and on film and television music. Recent projects include an edited collection of essays on Berio’s Sequenzas for Ashgate Academic Publishers, contributions to two collections of essays on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and to an anthology of essays on European Film Music.
She performs as Steve Halfyard, specializing in extended vocal technique, and she has worked with a number electroacoustic composers, including Simon Emmerson, Neil Farwell, Simon Hall, Joseph Hyde and Paul Wilson. She has been working with the composer, Ed Bennett, for several years and is a founder member of his ensemble, Decibel, performing new works, many of them multimedia compositions. Recent performances include performances with the ensemble in London, York, Belfast and Dublin, and with Simon Hall in Birmingham and Florida. Following several years as Assistant BMus Course Director, she was appointed Head of Undergraduate Studies in 2008.
Research & Teaching Specialisms
- Film and television music
- Extended vocal technique
- Contemporary performance practice
Current/Recent Projects
- Editor of Berio’s Sequenzas: essays on aesthetics, analysis, and performance with a foreword by David Osmond-Smith. Volume of 17 essays by authors from the United Kingdom, United States, Italy and France, currently in preparation for publication by Ashgate Academic Publishers.
- “Screen Playing: cinematic representations of classical music performance and European identity” in European Film Music eds. Miguel Mera and David Barnand (London: Ashgate). 2005/6
Publications & other public output
Publications
2002: "Ballet and Theatrical dance", "Choreography", "Choreology", "Ballet de Cour", and 18 other articles and revisions in The Oxford Companion to Music, ed. Alison Latham. OUP: Oxford.Recordings
December 2001: “Love, death, curses and reverses (in F minor): music, gender and identity in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel.” Slayage: the online international journal of Buffy Studies, volume 4. Link.
2004: Danny Elfman’s Batman: a film score guide Scarecrow Press: Lanham. Link
2005: “The Dark Avenger: Angel, music and cinematic superheroes” in Reading Angel, ed. Stacey Abbott. IB Tauris: London and New York.
2003: “Vox Mecanix” (Joseph Hyde) on Legacies: works from BEAST volume 2, Sargasso (SDC28046). LinkRecent Conference Papers
Decibel Ensemble (various composers). Recorded Ealing, July 2004. Produced by Phayd-X Music, forthcoming 2005. Part of a research project by Russell Hepworth-Sawyer (producer) at Leeds College of Music. Link
April 2001: “Requiem for the Vampire: music in Neil Jordan’s Interview with the Vampire (1994)”. Paper given at the RMA conference, Southampton University.
October 2002: “Singing their Hearts Out: performance, sincerity and diegesis in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel”. Paper given at Blood, text and fears: reading around Buffy the Vampire Slayer, University of East Anglia.
August 2003: “Before Night Comes: gender and narrative in Berio’s Sequenza III.” Paper given at the Music and Gesture, University of East Anglia.
May 2004: “The greatest love of all: Cordelia’s journey of self-discovery.” Paper given at the Slayage Conference on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Nashville, Tennessee.
June 2005: “Can’t even shout: voice and power in the Buffyverse.” Paper given at Bring your own subtext: the work of Joss Whedon, Huddersfield University.