Dr Frances Wilkins

Biography

Frances Wilkins is Senior Lecturer in Ethnomusicology at the Elphinstone Institute. She is also a professional musician, performing Scottish traditional music on English concertina. As a researcher, she specialises in Scottish and Northern Canadian singing and instrumental traditions and has worked on research projects in Scotland, Canada and Germany. She teaches on the MLitt in Ethnology and Folklore and supervises PhD students in Ethnomusicology and Folklore. She has presented papers at numerous academic conferences, including of the British Forum for Ethnomusicology, European Seminar in Ethnomusicology, and the International Council for Traditional Music. She has written articles for journals including Musiké, MUSICultures, Folk Music Journal, and Northern Scotland and her first monograph, Singing the Gospel along Scotland's North-East Coast, 1859-2009 was published by Routledge as part of the SOAS musicology series. She has been invited to give lectures on her research in Scotland and internationally for the St Andrews Society of Toronto, Waskaganish 350 Year Anniversary Festival (Quebec), Banff Preservation and Heritage Society Annual Founders Lecture, Mayfest, The Universities of Durham, Sheffield and Newcastle, Orkney Folk Festival, North Atlantic Fiddle Convention, Scottish Fisheries Museum and at Aberdeen Saltire Society.

Wilkins has worked as a guest editor for Musiké and MUSICultures academic journals and website reviews editor for The World of Music (new series). She is on the editorial board for Folk Music Journal and convened the British Forum for Ethnomusicology annual conference in Aberdeen in 2019. She has convened conferences for the BFE (2009 and 2019) and the North Atlantic Fiddle Convention (2018). She organised Button Boxes & Moothies: A Free Reed Convention in 2015. In 2018 she was on the judging panel for the BFE Book Prize. 

Frances Wilkins took up the position of Lecturer in Ethnomusicology at the Elphinstone Institute in 2013.

External Memberships

Invited Peer reviewer for articles for the following journals, publishers and organisations: Ethnomusicology, The International Journal of Traditional Arts, MUSICultures, Routledge, State Education Development Agency, Riga, Latvia. 

Invited guest editor for the following journals: MUSICultures and Musiké

Website Reviews editor, world of music (new series)

External examiner for the University of Cork (MMus in Ethnomusicology) and University of South African (2020)

Member of Folk Music Journal editorial board, committee member of the British Forum for Ethnomusicology (2018-19)

Research Overview

• Scottish instrumental and vocal music traditions
• James Bay fiddle music
• Sacred singing traditions of coastal communities of Northern Scotland and the Northern Isles
• Musical traditions of the Scottish diaspora
• Scottish musical traditions in Canada
• Field videography and annotation
• Funeralscapes
• Traditional music education and performance in the UK
• English concertina history and performance
• Soundscape studies

Current Research

Sacred Singing Traditions of Scotland's Coastal Regions

Frances Wilkins has been researching sacred singing in context in Scotland since 2005. From 2005-2008 she conducted extensive ethnographic fieldwork in the coastal communities of North-East Scotland, and her subsequent book, Singing the Gospel Along Scotland's North-East Coast, 1859-2009 (London: Routledge, 208) was published as part of the SOAS Musicology Series. In 2019 Wilkins received a Research Incentive Grant from the Carnegie Trust for continuation of her research in Scotland, titled Seinn Coisrigte anns a' Ghaidhealtachd an Iar agus 'sna h-Eileanan Siar / Sacred Singing of the West Highlands and Western Isles. This is a research and documentation project with the aim of recording and analysing current sacred singing practices in the region, and the role of singing in worship within the faith communities and in the social, linguistic, cultural and occupational contexts. It will involve extensive field research in teh region in 2019 and 2020. 

Fiddle and Dance Traditions in James Bay, Northern Ontario and Quebec

Since 2011, Frances Wilkins has been conducting research into the Cree fiddle tradition of James Bay, Northern Canada, and its links to Scottish traditional music. This has involved six fieldwork visits to the region where she has conducted research in Moose Factory, Wemindji, Waskaganish, Chisasibi, Mistissini, and Oujé Bougoumou. Fieldwork has been funded by research grants from the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Carnegie Trust, the Foundation for Canadian Studies in the UK, and Wemindji Cultural Department. 

Her initial interest in fiddle music of the James Bay region of Quebec (Eeyou Istchee) and Ontario, Canada, came from research into the fiddle 'at sea' amongst seafarers from the Northern Isles of Scotland. This spared her interest in fiddle tunes and dances that had crossed the Atlantic with fur traders and been adopted into the musical worlds of indigenous peoples, possibly lost altogether in Scotland but staying alive within other performance contexts. In 2011 she had the opportunity to travel for the first time to James Bay with funding from the Royal Society of Edinburgh and Foundation for Canadian Studies in the UK. She made connections in Wemindji and Moose Factory and travelled to the communities to conduct ethnographic fieldwork. This became the beginning of a long-term relationship with many families in the region and she continues to keep regular contact with people across the region. Highlights of this were a photographic exhibition in 2012 in Aberdeen and Wemindji, and bringing two of the region's most celebrated musicians, fiddler and pecussionist James and Daisy Cheechoo, from Moose Factory to Scotland in 2013, with funding from Aberdeen City Council's 'Vibrant Aberdeen' scheme. 

In 2018 Frances Wilkins worked in partnership with the Aanischaaukamikw Cree Cultural Institute in Oujé-Bougoumou, Eeyou Istchee, Quebec, and the Special Collection centre at the University of Aberdeen to curate the exhibition, Nimitaau / Let's Dance. With the expertise of academics and curators from both Scotland and Eeyou Istchee, they were for the first time able to create an account (in Cree, English and Gaelic) of the tradition from both an Eeyou and Scottish perspective, showing how increasingly important self-representation is when curating exhibitions such as this. 

Follow the research blog here

Other Projects

Wilkins was Early Career Researcher on the AHRC-funded 'Sharing All Our Stories' project in 2011, led by Dr Elizabeth Curtis. she has worked on collaborative research projects including Funeralscapes and Soundscapes Rostock.

Selected Recent Conference Papers and Public Lectures

• 2012 Archivist, The James Bay Fiddle Archive, Wemindji, Quebec.
• 2009-2010 Archives Assistant, The Elphinstone Institute, University of Aberdeen.
• 2009 Participant on the Ethnomusicological Video for Instruction and Analysis Digital Archive Summer Institute at Indiana University, Bloomington. Training in annotating field video recordings.
• 2002 – 2004 Cecil Sharp House Sound Archives. Digitiser for BBC collection of Scottish field recordings and Hugh Tracey African collection

Collaborations

• 2019 Nimitaau / Let's Dance: Fiddle-Dancing through Scots and Eeyou Cultures. Public exhibition curated in collaboration with the Aanischaaukamikw Cree Cultural Institute in Oujé-Bougoumou, Eeyou Istchee, Quebec, and the Special Collection centre at the University of Aberdeen. 
• 2014 Funeralscapes: Re-Experiencing Sound and Rites in a Viking, Early Christian, and Pre-Christian Landscape with Dr Shane McLeod (University of Stirling) and Dr Carlos Galan-Diaz (University of Aberdeen)
• 2012 Cree Nation of Wemindji Cultural Department. Working in collaboration with anthropologist Katherine Scott to develop the James Bay Fiddle sound library and photographic exhibition in the community. 
• 2010-2011 Eurolecturer position at Rostock University of Music and Theatre October 2010-February 2011. Working in collaboration with the ethnomusicologist Dr Barbara Alge to develop teaching in ethnomusicology fieldwork techniques and 'soundscapes' documentation at Rostock University of Music and Theatre. Curation of the ‘Soundscapes Rostock’ photography, text, and audio installation, Haus Böll, Rostock, with Dr Barbara Alge, in association with the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Rostock. Development of Soundscapes Rostock website. 

Funding and Grants

• 2022-22 The British Academy, Mid-Career Fellowship. Seinn Coisrigte anns a'Ghaidhealtachd an Iar agus anns na h-Eileanan Siar / Sacred Singing of the West Highlands and Western Isles.
• 2019 The Carnegie Trust, Research Incentive Grant (£9,982.70). Seinn Coisrigte anns a' Ghaidhealtachd an Iar agus anns na h-Eileanan Siar / Sacred Singing of the West Highlands and Western Isles. 
• 2014 Enterprise Music Scotland, Traditional Arts Small Grant Fund (£2,000). Aberden Button Boxes and Moothies Festival 2015 (with Prof. Ian Russell).
• 2014 'The North' Public Engagement fund (£1,200). uneralscapes', with Dr Shane McLeod (University of Stirling) and Dr Carlos Galán Díaz (University of Aberdeen).
• 2014 'How to Collaborate Virtually' funding competition award, Centre for Academic Developoment, University of Aberdeen (£1,000). 'Funeralscapes', with Dr Shane McLeod (University of Stirling) and Dr Carlos Galán Díaz (University of Aberdeen).
• 2014 The Carnegie Trust, Small Research Grant (£2,500) 'Scots in the Sub-Arctic: Music and Dance Migration from Orkney to James Bay'.
• 2013-14 'Sharing All Our Stories'. Early Career researcher on the AHRC-funded project, led by Dr Elizabeth Curtis in the School of Education, University of Aberdeen.
• 2013 ‘Vibrant Aberdeen’ cultural grant, Aberdeen City Council (£2865). ‘Bringing the Music Home: James Bay Fiddling in Aberdeen’.
• 2013 ‘The North’ Research Theme grant, University of Aberdeen (£1250).
• 2012 Wemindji Protected Area Project, Wemindji, Quebec. Installation of Archive and Photography exhibition in Wemindji ($5,000)
• 2011-2012 Royal Society of Edinburgh, Small Research Grant in the Arts and Humanities (£6,500), 'Scots in the Sub-Arctic: Musical Fingerprints among the Cree Fiddlers of James Bay'.
• 2011-2012 Foundation for Canadian Studies in the UK, Independent Scholar's Award, 'Scots in the Sub-Arctic: Musical Fingerprints among the Cree Fiddlers of James Bay'.
• 2010-11 Toepfer Foundation, Hamburg, Germany, Eurolecturer position, Hochschule für Musik und Theater Rostock, Germany.

Teaching Responsibilities

EF5003 (MLitt) - History, Core Genres, and Methodologies of Ethnology and Folklore

EF5004 (MLitt) - Perspectives on Tradition, Identity, and Fieldwork

EF5503 (MLitt) - Oral Traditions

EF5504 (MLitt) - Intellectual and Practical Approaches to Scottish Contexts

EF5505 (MLitt) - Dissertation Supervision

EF2501 (Undergraduate) - Scottish Folklore and Oral Traditions

EF3501 (Undergraduate) - Scottish Folklore and Oral Traditions

EF4501 (Undergraduate) - Scottish Folklore and Oral Traditions