Dr Rowan Oliver

Dr Rowan Oliver

Senior Lecturer in Music

Faculty and Department

  • Faculty of Arts Cultures and Education
  • School of The Arts

Qualifications

  • BA (University of York)
  • PGCert (University of Hull)
  • PhD / DPhil (University of Hull)
  • PGCert (University of Hull)

Summary

Alongside his academic career, Rowan continues to record and perform internationally as a multi-instrumentalist session musician. He also produces original music and remixes, as well as composing for film.

Before joining the University's staff, he spent several years touring the world as the drummer in Goldfrapp (among various musical exploits).

Recent outputs

View more outputs

Book Chapter

In dub conference : empathy, groove and technology in Jamaican popular music

Oliver, R. (2017). In dub conference : empathy, groove and technology in Jamaican popular music. In Music and empathy. Routledge

Bring that Beat Back: Sampling as Virtual Collaboration

Oliver, R. (2016). Bring that Beat Back: Sampling as Virtual Collaboration. In S. Whiteley, & S. Rambarran (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Music and Virtuality (65-80). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199321285.013.11

Breakbeat syncretism: The drum sample in African American popular music

Oliver, R. (2015). Breakbeat syncretism: The drum sample in African American popular music. In J. Metcalf, & C. Spaulding (Eds.), African American Culture and Society After Rodney King: Provocations and Protests, Progression and 'Post-Racialism' (177-192). Ashgate

Digital Artefact

Quickbeam

Oliver, R. (2024). Quickbeam. [Digital Audio]

Burning Boat

Oliver, R. (2024). Burning Boat. [Digital Audio]

Research interests

Rowan's musicological research deals with groove, sampling and the musician’s relationship with time and sound, focusing particularly on Black Atlantic popular music and breakbeats. He is an associate member of the Centre for Black Music Research (Columbia College, Chicago), and was recently awarded a CBMR ‘Travel to the Collections’ grant to support a research visit to their archives. Other interests include composing for film and the use of technology in performance.

Postgraduate supervision

Dr Oliver welcomes applications in the areas of groove, rhythm, sampling, and Black Atlantic popular music.

Awards and prizes

'Best Film Music' prize – Festival International du Premier Film d’Annonay

2007

For my original score to "Mouth To Mouth" (dir. Alison Murray)

Conference presentation

Blurring the Groove: Layered Breakbeats and Rhythmic Ambiguity

2020

'Muddy Rhythms and Broken Beats', RITMO Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies in Rhythm, Time and Motion

Rebecoming Analogue: Sampling as Collaboration

2019

Art of Record Production Conference, Berklee College of Music, Boston USA

In Dub Conference: Empathy, Groove and Technology in Reggae

2017

Reggae Research Network: Scoping the Field

What Does it Mean to ‘Feel’ Music? Cross-Cultural Perspectives from European Classical and Jamaican Popular Musicians (co-presented with Dr Elaine King)

2017

Musical Cultures Conference

The Most Forward Sound Around: Reggae Aesthetics in Jungle Music

2017

Reggae Research Network: Reggae Futures

Britcore Breaks: The Distinctive Groove of UK Hip Hop Production (1989-92)

2016

‘It Ain’t Where You’re From, It’s Where You’re At’: International Hip Hop Studies Conference

Metonymic Groove: The Breakbeat as Time Capsule

2016

'Making Time in Music' conference

The Evolution of Hip Hop

2015

Guest Panellist at British Science Festival, Bradford

How Small is a Piece of Funk? Groove, Sound and Sampling

2013

International Conference on Analyzing Popular Music

Breakbeat Syncretism: The Drum Sample in African American Popular Music

2013

'The African American Experience Since 1992' Conference

Rebecoming Analogue: Old Beats in the New World

2013

Critical MASS – American Studies seminar series

Signifiyin’ on the Changing Same: Rhythmic Synergy Between the Improvising MC’s Flow and the Breakbeat’s Groove in Hip Hop

2010

Leeds International Jazz Conference

External examiner role

External Examiner – BA Creative Music Production & Technology and BA Commercial Music – Canterbury Christ Church University

2021 - 2025

External Examiner – Music & Sound Technology modules – Imperial College London

2018 - 2022

External Examiner – BA Singing – Institute of the Arts, Barcelona

2016 - 2020

External Examiner – BA Music Production & Performance – Leeds Beckett University

2015 - 2019

External Examiner – UG popular music programmes – University of Salford

2014 - 2019

External Examiner – PG performance programmes – London College of Music (University of West London)

2012 - 2017

Journal editorial role

Reviews Editor – Journal of Music, Technology & Education

2008 - 2010

Journal peer reviewer

Peer Reviewer – Journal of Popular Music Studies

2020

Peer Reviewer – Music Perception journal

2018

Membership/Fellowship of professional body

Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

2022

Other

Peer Reviewer – Manchester University Press

2019

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