Help me fund my PhD
Donation protected
My name is Adam Pultz Melbye. I am a Danish double bassist and composer living in Berlin.
I have been offered a PhD position at Sonic Arts Research Centre in Belfast, Northern Ireland. I’ve managed to source almost one-third of my tuitions fees through external funding but I still have some way to go and I therefore ask your help.
My academic background consists of training at the music Conservatories in Esbjerg and Copenhagen, Denmark, completing a Bachelor’s, Master’s and Soloist Degree in music performance. I’ve been active as a professional musician and composer during this time, performing over most of the world and releasing numerous albums.
My research interests lie in the fields of experimental sound, with a particular focus on the embodiment, psychology and perception of sound.
I am interested in developing works and research that deal with the interaction of sound with its environment. Within my own practice, this has led to the development of interdisciplinary performance approaches that investigate the relation of gesture and embodiment to perception.
For instance, I am currently developing an electro-acoustic environment whereby the perceiver feels as if she is placed inside the double bass, experiencing the wood move and resonate all around her.
The Horizontal Feedback Bass (see the video above) is an electroacoustic system that amplifies the double bass through itself. By touching the body of the bass, the player can create beautifully complex sonic environments that resonate through both player and instrument. Such musical ecosystems where performer and instrument enter into symbiotic relationships fascinate me and I want to develop this much further.
I am interested in how the mental focus on detailed sound environments can alter our experience of these. Through my own meditation practice, I have experienced how continuous concentration can induce deep states of attention – an approach that I also apply to my musical practice. I believe that the investigation of perception through the concentration on subtle as well as immersive sonic phenomena can teach us to pay attention to our own minds as well as the environment in which we move.
Sonic Arts Research Centre will contribute immensely towards placing my research within an international academic field, and would allow me to access to knowledge otherwise unavailable to me as an independent researcher. The PhD will equip me with invaluable tools and allow me to apply for research and teaching positions within academia, putting my skills to use for further research and education. The facilities at the university, such as the Sonic Lab, a 48-channel concert hall, will give me the possibility of creating immersive sound works with state of the art equipment.
I have an existing relationship to the faculty at SARC, I have lectured there and have ongoing collaborations with my supervisor Paul Stapleton. I am therefore certain that my studies will benefit the school as well as the international research community in general. I believe very strongly in what I do and want to share that with researchers and students. And I want to take this research beyond academia and place it in the world, to the enjoyment of people everywhere.
I am asking help in paying the tuition fees for the PhD. I will continue doing research-related work as a free-lance musician and composer during my studies to support my own upkeep.
I have applied and am applying numerous funds in my home country Denmark to help with my studies, but artistic research is not yet a possibility in Denmark and funding is therefore also scarce.
Timeline:
I will start my studies on the 7th of January 2019 and am looking for funds immediately.
My first goal is to reach one-third of my fees (4946 €) and thereafter two-thirds (9892 €).
November 12th, 2018: The Danish fund Knud Højgaards Fond has generously donated 4300 € towards my tuition fees.
Details:
PhD-Studies at Sonic Arts Research Centre, Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Supervisors: Professor Paul Stapleton and Dr Simon Waters
Tuition fees: 14838 €
Adam Pultz Melbye: www.adampultz.com
Sonic Arts Research Centre: www.sarc.qub.ac.uk
Offers:
All donators will be mentioned on my research website and will receive a digital copy of my thesis.
Please get in touch if you have other ideas on how I can enrich your life.
10 € : Eternal gratitude
30 € : A signed album from my discography.
80 € : A signed album from my discography + 1 music lesson or talk about my research for you or a friend.
150€: My entire available physical discography (including downloads).
400 € : 3 lessons for you or a friend AND a copy of every available album in my personal discography. A mention on the thank-you page in my final thesis.
1000 € : A live concert and talk on my research for you and a couple of your friends.
A copy of every available album in my personal discography. A mention on the thank-you page in my final thesis.
All on-site rewards are subject to geographical availability. Please get in touch before placing a donation that require us to meet in person (especially if you live outside of Europe).
What people say about me:
Professor Paul Stapleton and Dr Simon Waters, Sonic Arts Research Centre:
"Pultz Melbye is an active research collaborator of Dr Stapleton (proposed first supervisor), and has already delivered concerts and workshops at SARC during a previous residency and subsequent invited research visits.
The funding of this particular project would allow us to significantly build on existing relationships, which would have clear mutual benefit to both the applicant and a broad range of researchers at SARC. The applicant will also be integrated into the Translating Improvisation research group, and will gain access to the local experimental music scene through SARC’s formal connections with local promoter Moving on Music. SARC’s position within both formal and informal inter-institutional networks of research (...) provides Pultz Melbye with unrivalled networking possibilities - practical and theoretical.
In summary, we do not hesitate to give Pultz Melbye our highest recommendation."
Jury at my post-graduate soloist exam performance at the conservatory in Copenhagen:
Adam Pultz Melbye is an amazing musician and performer who explores the different elements and their relationship to each other. He is an ultra-consequent artist who does not compromise in his work.
The performance is a total extension of his almost scientific research on his instrument - as fully shown in the report.
Adam Pultz Melbye shows incredible skills in his highly personal approach to his instrument. The innovative strength in his art is the he himself becomes the artwork.
I have been offered a PhD position at Sonic Arts Research Centre in Belfast, Northern Ireland. I’ve managed to source almost one-third of my tuitions fees through external funding but I still have some way to go and I therefore ask your help.
My academic background consists of training at the music Conservatories in Esbjerg and Copenhagen, Denmark, completing a Bachelor’s, Master’s and Soloist Degree in music performance. I’ve been active as a professional musician and composer during this time, performing over most of the world and releasing numerous albums.
My research interests lie in the fields of experimental sound, with a particular focus on the embodiment, psychology and perception of sound.
I am interested in developing works and research that deal with the interaction of sound with its environment. Within my own practice, this has led to the development of interdisciplinary performance approaches that investigate the relation of gesture and embodiment to perception.
For instance, I am currently developing an electro-acoustic environment whereby the perceiver feels as if she is placed inside the double bass, experiencing the wood move and resonate all around her.
The Horizontal Feedback Bass (see the video above) is an electroacoustic system that amplifies the double bass through itself. By touching the body of the bass, the player can create beautifully complex sonic environments that resonate through both player and instrument. Such musical ecosystems where performer and instrument enter into symbiotic relationships fascinate me and I want to develop this much further.
I am interested in how the mental focus on detailed sound environments can alter our experience of these. Through my own meditation practice, I have experienced how continuous concentration can induce deep states of attention – an approach that I also apply to my musical practice. I believe that the investigation of perception through the concentration on subtle as well as immersive sonic phenomena can teach us to pay attention to our own minds as well as the environment in which we move.
Sonic Arts Research Centre will contribute immensely towards placing my research within an international academic field, and would allow me to access to knowledge otherwise unavailable to me as an independent researcher. The PhD will equip me with invaluable tools and allow me to apply for research and teaching positions within academia, putting my skills to use for further research and education. The facilities at the university, such as the Sonic Lab, a 48-channel concert hall, will give me the possibility of creating immersive sound works with state of the art equipment.
I have an existing relationship to the faculty at SARC, I have lectured there and have ongoing collaborations with my supervisor Paul Stapleton. I am therefore certain that my studies will benefit the school as well as the international research community in general. I believe very strongly in what I do and want to share that with researchers and students. And I want to take this research beyond academia and place it in the world, to the enjoyment of people everywhere.
I am asking help in paying the tuition fees for the PhD. I will continue doing research-related work as a free-lance musician and composer during my studies to support my own upkeep.
I have applied and am applying numerous funds in my home country Denmark to help with my studies, but artistic research is not yet a possibility in Denmark and funding is therefore also scarce.
Timeline:
I will start my studies on the 7th of January 2019 and am looking for funds immediately.
My first goal is to reach one-third of my fees (4946 €) and thereafter two-thirds (9892 €).
November 12th, 2018: The Danish fund Knud Højgaards Fond has generously donated 4300 € towards my tuition fees.
Details:
PhD-Studies at Sonic Arts Research Centre, Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Supervisors: Professor Paul Stapleton and Dr Simon Waters
Tuition fees: 14838 €
Adam Pultz Melbye: www.adampultz.com
Sonic Arts Research Centre: www.sarc.qub.ac.uk
Offers:
All donators will be mentioned on my research website and will receive a digital copy of my thesis.
Please get in touch if you have other ideas on how I can enrich your life.
10 € : Eternal gratitude
30 € : A signed album from my discography.
80 € : A signed album from my discography + 1 music lesson or talk about my research for you or a friend.
150€: My entire available physical discography (including downloads).
400 € : 3 lessons for you or a friend AND a copy of every available album in my personal discography. A mention on the thank-you page in my final thesis.
1000 € : A live concert and talk on my research for you and a couple of your friends.
A copy of every available album in my personal discography. A mention on the thank-you page in my final thesis.
All on-site rewards are subject to geographical availability. Please get in touch before placing a donation that require us to meet in person (especially if you live outside of Europe).
What people say about me:
Professor Paul Stapleton and Dr Simon Waters, Sonic Arts Research Centre:
"Pultz Melbye is an active research collaborator of Dr Stapleton (proposed first supervisor), and has already delivered concerts and workshops at SARC during a previous residency and subsequent invited research visits.
The funding of this particular project would allow us to significantly build on existing relationships, which would have clear mutual benefit to both the applicant and a broad range of researchers at SARC. The applicant will also be integrated into the Translating Improvisation research group, and will gain access to the local experimental music scene through SARC’s formal connections with local promoter Moving on Music. SARC’s position within both formal and informal inter-institutional networks of research (...) provides Pultz Melbye with unrivalled networking possibilities - practical and theoretical.
In summary, we do not hesitate to give Pultz Melbye our highest recommendation."
Jury at my post-graduate soloist exam performance at the conservatory in Copenhagen:
Adam Pultz Melbye is an amazing musician and performer who explores the different elements and their relationship to each other. He is an ultra-consequent artist who does not compromise in his work.
The performance is a total extension of his almost scientific research on his instrument - as fully shown in the report.
Adam Pultz Melbye shows incredible skills in his highly personal approach to his instrument. The innovative strength in his art is the he himself becomes the artwork.
Organizer
Adam Pultz Melbye
Organizer
Berlin
