Hans Keller's 'Group functioning of a string quartet'
As part of the Castalian String Quartet’s residency, this session will consist of brief presentations by Eric Clarke, Jacob Downs, Laura Tunbridge, and Jennifer Walshe. Our point of departure for discussion is Hans Keller’s ‘Group functioning of a string quartet’, which we will consider in relation to distributed cognition/creativity and improvisation, intimacy, models for unity and disintegration, and how a quartet might be infiltrated by external creative forces.

Keller’s text takes the form of a letter, responding to a questionnaire circulated by sociologist Margaret Phillips about small-group psychology in 1942. It is reproduced in Music and Psychology: From Vienna to London, 1939-52, ed. Christopher Wintle and Alison Garnham (London: Plumbago, 2003), pp. 41-47. We encourage you to read this short text before the session.
Date: 8 May 2025, 17:15
Venue: Faculty of Music, St Aldate's OX1 1DB
Venue Details: Denis Arnold Hall
Speakers: Laura Tunbridge (Professor of Music, Faculty of Music), Professor Eric Clarke (University of Oxford), Dr Jacob Downs (University of Oxford), Professor Jennifer Walshe (University of Oxford)
Organising department: Faculty of Music
Organisers: Betty Yan (Faculty of Music), Jessica Edgar (Faculty of Music)
Organiser contact email address: events@music.ox.ac.uk
Part of: Graduate Research Colloquium
Booking required?: Not required
Booking url: https://www.music.ox.ac.uk/event/25-05-08-graduate-research-colloquia
Cost: Free
Audience: Public
Editor: Laura Howorth