Barbara Dignam

Dr.

Contact Details


Assistant Professor
All Hallows Campus AHC S114

T:017007480

E:Barbara.Dignam@dcu.ie
Profile Photo

Dr Barbara Dignam (she/her) is Assistant Professor in Music in the School of Theology, Philosophy, and Music. She holds a PhD in musicology from Maynooth University, a professional qualification in teaching and learning (PGDHE) and was awarded a DCU President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching and Learning for her Distinctive Approaches to Assessment in 2021. Her research explores 20th and 21st century musics that intersect sound, language, and digital technologies in her investigation of, among other things, human interactions with cultural output and the relationships and processes underpinning them. Her engagement with new music and its practitioners facilitates the capture of contemporary experiences of new concepts, approaches and technologies in use. This includes examining how digital technologies can influence, support and impact learning and teaching in music.

Barbara is principal editor of and contributor to Creative Impulses, Cultural Accents: Brian Boydell’s Music, Advocacy, Painting and Legacy (UCD Press). She has written extensively on electroacoustic music in Ireland for the Irish Musical Studies series, on Roger Doyle's masterwork Babel (the subject of her PhD) in Irish Musical Analysis (Four Courts Press) and on current debates around women and electroacoustic music/sound art in Ireland in Women and Music in Ireland (Boydell & Brewer). Her research on contemporary DIY culture has featured in TEMPO (Cambridge University Press) and in the Association of Irish Composers’ New Music JournalHer research on Babel was the subject of a Contemporary Music Centre of Ireland's Amplify podcast. Barbara also contributed several articles to The Encyclopaedia of Music in Ireland (UCDP). In the field of music education and the scholarship of teaching and learning, she co-authored early-career faculty perceptions on teaching praxis (Routledge) and is a co-PI on the Erasmus+ project PRESTO (2021–23) with partners in Hungary, Finland, Scotland and Ireland. Barbara sits on the Council of the Society for Musicology in Ireland and is current Chair of SMI Grants.

Book Chapter

Year Publication
2022 Barbara Jillian Dignam (2022) 'Surveying the scene: current thoughts on women and electroacoustic music in Ireland' In: Boydell & Brewer. Suffolk : Boydell & Brewer. [Link]
2021 Barbara Dignam (2021) 'Everyone’s Music: The Rhetoric of Advocacy in Brian Boydell’s Early Broadcasts for RTÉ Radio' In: Creative Impulses, Cultural Accents: Brian Boydell's Music, Advocacy, Painting and Legacy. Dublin : UCD Press. [Link]
2014 Barbara Dignam (2014) 'Multiplicities of musical language and compositional techniques in Roger Doyle’s Babel (1989–99)' In: Irish Musical Studies 11: Irish Musical Analysis. Dublin : Four Courts Press. [Link]
2008 Barbara Dignam (2008) 'The Development of a Combinational Model for the Analysis of Acousmatic Music' In: Maynooth Musicology Vol.1. Maynooth, Co. Kildare : National University of Ireland, Maynooth.

Edited Book

Year Publication
2021 Barbara Dignam & Barra Boydell (Ed.). (2021) Creative Impulses, Cultural Accents: Brian Boydell's Music, Advocacy, Painting and Legacy. Dublin: UCD Press, [Link]
2008 Barbara Dignam, Paul Higgins & Lisa Parker (Ed.). (2008) Maynooth Musicology Vol.1. Maynooth, Co. Kildare: National University of Ireland, Maynooth,

Peer Reviewed Journal

Year Publication
2023 Clarke, M.; Barrett, T.; Dignam, B.J.; Galvin, Á.; Hyland, S.; Jennings, D. (2023) 'Early-career STEM faculty members’ perceptions on their teaching praxis'. International Journal for Academic Development, 28 (1). [Link] [DOI]
2017 Dignam, BJ (2017) 'CHASING SONIC THREADS: DISENTANGLING THE ELECTROACOUSTIC TAPESTRY OF IRELAND'. Tempo, 71 :5-26. [DOI]

Other Journal

Year Publication
2018 Barbara Jillian Dignam (2018) 'Music from the Mothership ('The Curious Works of Roger Doyle' Review)' . [Link]
2016 Tighe-Mooney, Sharon, Meliosa Bracken, & Barbara Dignam (2016) 'Peer Assessment as a Teaching and Learning Process: The Observations and Reflections of Three Facilitators on a First-Year Undergraduate Critical Skills Module' 8 (2) . [Link]
2016 Barbara Jillian Dignam (2016) 'Unravelling the electrosonic tapestry: six contemporary threads of electroacoustic music in Ireland' . [Link]

Conference Publication

Year Publication
2017 Morag Munro & Barbara Dignam (2017) Proceedings of the International Conference on Engaging Pedagogy, 'Voice of the Educator' 'Aligning Maynooth University's Accredited Teaching and Learning Programmes with the National Professional Development Framework: Reflections on our journey so far' ICEP 2017, Griffith College Dublin,

Conference Contribution

Year Publication
2022 Barbara Dignam; Róisín Blunnie (2022) Society for Musicology in Ireland Plenary Conference Adaptability and Empowerment: Self-Directed Learning and Shared Problem-Solving in the Conductor-Choir Relationship University College, Cork, .
2022 Róisín Blunnie; Barbara Dignam (2022) Interdisciplinary and Intersectoral Futures for Music Education Hearing, Seeing, Sounding: Creating Future-Ready Resources for Choral Learning through the Erasmus+ PRESTO Project DCU, .
2019 David Jennings & Barbara Dignam (2019) UCD Teaching and Learning Symposium 2019, ‘Inspiring Lectures: Inspiring Learning’ ‘A blended approach to learning: Where TEL and the lecture meet' (workshop) University College Dublin, .
2018 Barbara Dignam & Morag Munro (2018) All Ireland Conference on Learning, Teaching and Assessment in Further and Higher Education (AILTA2018) ‘MAPpd – Benchmarking Accredited Teaching and Learning Programmes against the National Professional Development Framework’ Marino Institute of Education, Dublin, .
2017 Barbara Jillian Dignam (2017) 15th Annual Plenary Conference of the Society for Musicology in Ireland Session: ‘Music Technology and Electroacoustic Music’ Queens University Belfast, .
2017 Morag Munro & Barbara Dignam (2017) Joint HEA–QQI Conference on Internationalisation, ‘Internationalisation – a driver of quality in Irish Higher Education’ ‘Integrating a transcultural approach to curriculum design, pedagogy and assessment into CPD for academic staff’ Printworks, Dublin Castle, .
2017 Barbara Jillian Dignam (2017) Boydell100: Brian Boydell Centenary Conference https://boydell100.wordpress.com/ Royal Irish Academy of Music & Trinity Long Room Hub Arts & Humanities Institute, Trinity College Dublin, 23/06/2017-24/06/2017.
2016 Barbara Jillian Dignam (2016) Society for Musicology in Ireland Annual Plenary Conference 'Intertextual Narrativity and Intermedial Networks in a Virtual Sonic Arcology: Stories from the Babel Tower' St Patrick's College, Drumcondra, .
2015 Barbara Jillian Dignam (2015) Doctors in Performance Conference 2nd Festival Conference of music performance and artistic research Royal Irish Academy of Music, .
2015 Barbara Jillian Dignam (2015) Ninth International Conference on Music Since 1900 ‘Stories from the Tower: An Exploration of Intertextual Narrative in Roger Doyle’s Babel’ Glasgow University, .
2015 Barbara Jillian Dignam (2015) Society for Music Analysis ‘KeeleMAC’ ‘Constructing a Sonic Arcology: Intertextuality as a compositional and unification device in Roger Doyle’s Babel’ Keele University, .
2015 Barbara J. Dignam & Sharon Tighe-Mooney (2015) Maynooth University CTL Assessment Seminar ‘Assessing Group Work in the Critical Skills Programme’ Maynooth University, .
2014 Barbara Jillian Dignam (2014) 5th Annual Conference of the Society for Music Education in Ireland ‘Transitions and Transformations: Employing a music–specific transferable skills module to address engagement and experience in higher education’ DIT Conservatory of Music & Drama, .
2014 Barbara Jillian Dignam (2014) 3rd Women & Music in Ireland Conference ‘Listener Connectivity with the Contemporary Work and its Composer: The Musicologist’s Involvement’ St Patrick's College, Drumcondra, .
2013 Barbara Jillian Dignam & Gráinne Mulvey (2013) Sonic Symbiosis: the relationship between Composer and Musicologist 'Introductory Lecture' Maynooth Univesrity, .
2013 Barbara Jillian Dignam (2013) Society for Musicology in Ireland Annual Plenary Conference ‘Sonic Symbiosis: Reflections on the relationship between Composer and Musicologist’ Maynooth University, .
2013 Barbara Jillian Dignam (2013) Sonic Symbiosis: the relationship between Composer and Musicologist a one–day professional seminar Maynooth University, .
2012 Barbara Jillian Dignam & Gráinne Mulvey (2012) 2nd Women & Music in Ireland Conference ‘Sonic Symbiosis: the relationship between Composer and Musicologist’ Royal Irish Academy of Music, .
2011 Barbara Jillian Dignam (2011) Electroacoustic Music Studies Network International Conference, EMSN ‘Multiplicities, Hybridisations and Eclecticisms: The Musical Language of Roger Doyle’s Babel’ New York University, .
2011 Barbara Jillian Dignam (2011) Society for Musicology in Ireland Annual Plenary Conference ‘The Establishment of Electroacoustic Music in Paris and Cologne’ Royal Irish Academy of Music, .
2010 Barbara Jillian Dignam (2010) Society for Musicology in Ireland Annual Plenary Conference ‘‘Up here in the Tower’: Architectural Structuring and Compositional Devices in Roger Doyle’s Babel’ University of Ulster, .
2010 Barbara Jillian Dignam (2010) 1st Women & Music in Ireland Conference ‘Laptops & Lipstick: women & electroacoustic music in Ireland’ Maynooth University, .
2010 Barbara Jillian Dignam (2010) First International Conference on Irish Music & Musicians ‘Electroacoustic Music in Ireland: Exploring Roger Doyle’s Babel’ Durham University, .
2009 Barbara Jillian Dignam (2009) Society for Musicology in Ireland Annual Plenary Conference ‘Exploration of Language in Roger Doyle’s Babel’ Royal Irish Academy of Music, .
2008 Barbara Jillian Dignam (2008) Society for Musicology in Ireland Annual Plenary Conference ‘Style and Structure in Roger Doyle’s Babel’ Waterford Institute of Technology, .
2007 Barbara Jillian Dignam (2007) Society for Musicology in Ireland Annual Plenary Conference ‘Roger Doyle and the Dawn of Electroacoustic Music in Ireland’ DIT Conservatory of Music and Drama, .
2006 Barbara Jillian Dignam (2006) Society for Musicology in Ireland Annual Plenary Conference ‘Schaefferian Theory: the experience, perception and classification of sound’ Mary Immaculate College, University of Limerick, .

Encyclopedia Entry

Year Publication
2013 Barbara Jillian Dignam (2013) ‘Electroacoustic Music’, The Encyclopaedia of Music in Ireland (EMIR). Dublin: ENC
2013 Barbara Jillian Dignam (2013) ‘New Irish Recording Company’, The Encyclopaedia of Music in Ireland (EMIR). Dublin: ENC
2013 Barbara Jillian Dignam (2013) ‘Roger Doyle’, The Encyclopaedia of Music in Ireland (EMIR). Dublin: ENC
2013 Barbara Jillian Dignam (2013) ‘Victor Lazzarini’, The Encyclopaedia of Music in Ireland (EMIR). Dublin: ENC
2013 Barbara Jillian Dignam (2013) ‘Michael Alcorn’, The Encyclopaedia of Music in Ireland (EMIR). Dublin: ENC
2013 Barbara Jillian Dignam (2013) ‘Donal Hurley’, The Encyclopaedia of Music in Ireland (EMIR). Dublin: ENC

Guest Lectures

Year Publication
2019 Barbara Jillian Dignam (2019) ‘On being ‘doubly disadvantaged’: women and the gendered worlds of electroacoustic composition in Ireland’. GL
2019 Barbara Jillian Dignam (2019) 'Babel at 20: Evaluating Roger Doyle’s masterwork for current listeners'. GL

Reports

Year Publication
2018 Barbara Dignam & Morag Munro (2018) Update Report to National Forum International Expert Group on funded project ‘Aligning Maynooth University’s Accredited Teaching & Learning Programmes with the National Professional Development Framework’ & launch of ‘MAPpd’ suite of outcomes-based evaluative tools for mapping programmes to the PD Framework, Royal Irish Academy Dublin. REPORT

Invited Seminars

Year Publication
2019 Barbara Jillian Dignam (2019) 'Cultural Engagement in Teaching Classics', UCD School of Classics. INVS

Seminar

Year Publication
2018 Barbara Dignam & Morag Munro (2018) Webinar – ‘Aligning accredited Teaching and Learning programmes with the National Professional Development Framework’, National Forum Seminar Series 2017/2018. SEM
Certain data included herein are derived from the © Web of Science (2024) of Clarivate. All rights reserved.

Professional Associations

Association Function From / To
Society for Musicology in Ireland (SMI) Council Member (2021–24; 2015–18); Chair of SMI Grants Committee (2021–24); Website Administrator (2012–18); Ordinary Member (2006-date) 01/09/2006 -
All Ireland Society for Higher Education (AISHE) ordinary member 01/01/2017 -
Society for Music Education in Ireland (SMEI) Ordinary Member 01/09/2021 -
Kodály Society of Ireland Ordinary Member -
Royal Musical Association Ordinary Member -

Honors and Awards

Date Title Awarding Body
01/01/2002 Bridget Doolan Memorial Medal Waterford Institute of Technology
01/01/2011 Society for Musicology in Ireland Travel Grant Society for Musicology in Ireland
19/05/2021 President's Awards for Excellence in Teaching 2020/2021 - Special Award for Distinctive Approaches to Assessment and Feedback Dublin City University

Committees

Committee Function From / To
Classical Arts Ireland 14/12/2017 -
Joint SMI and ICTM-IE Postgraduate Conference 2022 13/09/2021 -
Boydell 100: Brian Boydell Centenary Conference & Celebration Born in Dublin in 1917, Brian Boydell was one of Ireland’s major 20th century composers. As a musicologist, he published seminal research on music in 18th century Dublin. As a broadcaster, performer, adjudicator, public lecturer, an often outspoken agitator for music, singing teacher, Professor of Music at Trinity College Dublin, one of the founders of the Music Association of Ireland and long-time member of the Arts Council, his influence on music and music education in Ireland was significant. An honorary DMus of the National University of Ireland (1974) and Fellow of the Royal Irish Academy of Music (1990), he was elected to Aosdána, the affiliation of creative artists in Ireland, in 1984. To mark his centenary, a celebratory conference will be held on Friday 23/Saturday 24 June 2017 at the Royal Irish Academy of Music and Trinity Long Room Hub, Trinity College Dublin, to re-evaluate his contributions to Irish musical, artistic and academic life, and their place within the wider contexts of musical, cultural and artistic developments in Ireland in the 20th century. 06/06/2016 - 24/06/2017

Education

Start date Institution Qualification Subject
Maynooth University PGDHE
Maynooth University PhD

Enterprise Engagement

Year Engagement Type Client Description
2019 Continuous Professional Development/Training University College Dublin Two Guest Seminars, ‘Embedding intercultural competence across the curriculum: student engagement’ & ‘Cross-cultural Group Work’ in conjunction with UCD Global ‘Global Insights’ Series 2018/2019
2019 Other University College Dublin Organisational Lead, 'Learning Through Research Dissemination Event', UCD
2015 Consultancy Maynooth University Member of the Critical Skills Pilot design & delivery team

Outreach Activities

Year Engagement Type Organisation Description
Educational Outreach/Public Engagement Music Current, hosted by Dublin Sound Lab & held at the Contemporary Music Centre, Dublin Expert panel member, ‘Are You Talking to Me? Public Panel Discussion’ for Music Current 2017, Contemporary Music Festival
Presentations/Talks to an external audience Association of Irish Composers In Conversation Series, held at Filmbase, Dublin Invited talk and interview, ‘Unravelling the Electrosonic Tapestry’, AIC In Conversation Series

Media

Title Year Type Authors
Contemporary Music Centre 'Amplify' Podcast Series 2022 Podcast Barbara Dignam (in conversation with Jonathan Grimes)
Edge of Discovery Podcast Series, President's Award Series, "Designing Assessment" 2021 Podcast Barbara Dignam (in conversation with Fiona O’Riordan, Teaching Enhancement Unit DCU)
Why Music Can’t Stay Still 2012 Documentary radio documentary produced by Brian Connolly for broadcast on RTÉ LyricFM

Research Interests

My research interests include:

Contemporary Art Musics: 20th & 21st century musics (history, musicology, analysis incl. methodologies, aesthetics, performance and presentation); Electroacoustic music studies, alternative musicologies, sonic arts, and transitory art;  Women in/and contemporary music; DIY culture; Intertextuality, intermediality, inter–art and interdisciplinarity in contemporary musics; Cultural mediation, cultural hybridity and music in the global digital world; Contemporary music in Ireland; Relationships between the composer, musicologist, performer/practitioner and audience (incl. ethnographic research and audience studies)  

Digital Technologies & Creative Arts: Visualisation of Sound using Digital Technologies;  Technological mediation in music (incl. AI); Sound, space, narrative and visualisation; 

Education & Music: Learning & Teaching Music in HE; Internationalising the music curriculum; Universal Design for Learning and music programme development; Music advocacy and education in the wider societal context (incl. music and technology); Arts culture and policy






Research Projects

Title Role Description Start date End date
PRESTO: Practices and Resources for Equipping Schools to Teach Music Online DCU Co-PI 26/04/2021 26/04/2023
Towards the New Transcendental: The development of non-functional tonal harmony in a cappella choral music in the United States during the Twentieth Century (Kevin Boushel) DCU PI 01/09/2022 31/08/2025

Current Postgraduate Students

Student Name Degree Supervision
Millington ,Hannah PhD Supervisor
Boushel ,Kevin PhD Supervisor

Teaching Interests

My pedagogical philosophy is built upon the fundamental interwoven strands of critical and reflective thinking, interactive discourse and practice–led approaches within a student–centred, integrated and creative learning environment. My pedagogical practice draws on a variety of learning approaches (visual, auditory and experiential) in addition to the application of digital technologies as a symbiotic teaching and learning tool. This combinative approach stems from my keen interest in and practical implementation of Universal Design for Learning (UDL), Inclusive and Culturally–responsive Teaching Strategies, Social Constructivism, and Constructive Alignment.

Teaching include:
Composition, Theory and Applied Techniques
Harmony & Counterpoint
Topics in Musicology
Music Analysis
Music Technologies & Electroacoustic Composition
Music Leadership - music technology in music education

Modules Coordinated

Term Title Subject
2022 Composition, Theory and Applied Techniques 1 MC101
2022 Composition, Theory and Applied Techniques 2 MC102
2022 Music: Genres and Practices 1 MC106
2022 Introduction to Harmony and Counterpoint B MC113
2022 Topics in Musicology 4 MC204
2022 Composition, Theory and Applied Techniques 5 MC301
2022 Composition, Theory and Applied Techniques 6 MC302
2022 Topics in Musicology 6 MC304
2023 Composition, Theory & Applied Techniques 1 MC101
2023 Composition, Theory & Applied Techniques 2 MC102
2023 Music: Genres and Practices 1 MC106
2023 Composition, Theory and Applied Techniques 5 MC301
2023 Composition, Theory and Applied Techniques 6 MC302
2023 Topics in Musicology 6 MC304
2020 Music Leadership MC404