In this podcast, Professor Sharon Ruston speaks with us about the influence of the Aeolian harp on Romantic poets and their work.

Sharon Ruston Biography: Sharon Ruston joined the University of Salford as Chair of Nineteenth-Century Literature and Culture in January 2009. She is authorof Shelley and Vitality (2005), Romanticism: An Introduction (2007), editor of Essays and Studies: Literature and Science (2008), and co-editor of Teaching Romanticism (2010). She has published a number of articles and essays on the interrelationships between Romantic-period literature, science and medicine. You can find out more about here work here: http://www.espach.salford.ac.uk/page/sharon_ruston

John Rooney is a lecturer at the University of Salford, lecturing to undergraduate and postgraduate students in the school of Art and Design. Before this he ran a graphic design consultancy in Manchester with clients from across the national and international creative arts sector including several major commissions from Tate Gallery Liverpool. He is currently undertaking a PhD, the content of the project will posit a question of how to visualise the creative gesture of a place. In 2010 John set up a new national typographic research initiative in conjunction with Birmingham City University, and is also coordinating the Salford University presentation of a forthcoming typographic exhibition to be presented early 2012 in Media City.

In this podcast, John describes his latest project, in which he collaborates with Acoustics researchers on exploring the typography and the creative gesture through sound. Please see John’s website for more on his work  http://www.johnrooney.co.uk

Dr Penelope Gouk is a historian based at the University of Manchester. Her research investigates how and why Western medical explanations for music’s effects changed between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries. Building on her previous research into musical healing and the use of musical models in medical and scientific thought, this project explores how changes in musical practice fundamentally transformed early modern understandings of the human body and psyche. In our podcast, she discusses the role music plays in the development of science. You can read more about Penelope’s research in her book, Music, Science and Natural Magic in Seventeenth Century England.

Charlie Mydlarz, a research technician and PhD student at Salford University’s Acoustics Research Centre discusses the Sound Around You project  in which people around the world use mobile phones to contribute their thoughts on the sonic environment. For more details about the project, please visit www.soundaroundyou.com

The Singing Ringing Tree produces sounds when the wind blows over thin slots cut in the pipes. As the air moves across the slots, changes in pressure excite the pipe’s air columns into motion. Once the air begins to vibrate at a speed that matches the natural frequency of the pipe, you will begin to hear mysterious sounds.

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