Laurie Stras
@lauriestras.bsky.social
Feminist, musicologist, musician, extreme knitter, gardener. Not necessarily in that order. Girl groups from Ferrara to Motown; all the nuns, all the time; disability studies
Prof Emerita of Music, Uni of Southampton; director @musicasecreta.bsky.social
Prof Emerita of Music, Uni of Southampton; director @musicasecreta.bsky.social
Pinned
Laurie Stras
@lauriestras.bsky.social
· Nov 9
What Does It Mean When A Woman Sings? Keynote lecture, MedRen Music Conference 2020
YouTube video by MusicaSecreta
youtu.be
Hello to all my new followers. Want to know what I do? Here's the long version (recorded in 2020, hello Long Covid). Curtis the OG #MedRenPet makes an extended appearance halfway through #caturday #earlymodern
tl;dr in next skeet
youtu.be/5ojRaQA2b08?...
tl;dr in next skeet
youtu.be/5ojRaQA2b08?...
Honestly the single most damaging decision for UKHE - worse even than removing the HEFCE grant for humanities degrees. The underlying driver for casualisation, prioritising capital project spending above wages etc etc. Terrible terrible idea.
'Bols and Maguire trace the current financial problems higher education institutions are facing back to the government’s decision to remove the limit on student numbers in 2015-16 and deregulate student recruitment, while maintaining caps on tuition fees, thus limiting universities’ income.' 2/3
November 28, 2025 at 9:54 AM
Honestly the single most damaging decision for UKHE - worse even than removing the HEFCE grant for humanities degrees. The underlying driver for casualisation, prioritising capital project spending above wages etc etc. Terrible terrible idea.
Reposted by Laurie Stras
‘When a doctor told me I’d come close to dying, and that the play had to stop using real knives, I remember thinking: “You just don’t understand theatre.”’
Actor stabbed with a real knife during a performance of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. #drama #tragedy #edfringe www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...
Experience: I was stabbed in the back with a real knife while performing Julius Caesar
Our student theatre group had the bright idea of using actual knives on stage for authenticity. The blade missed my aorta by about a centimetre
www.theguardian.com
November 28, 2025 at 8:21 AM
‘When a doctor told me I’d come close to dying, and that the play had to stop using real knives, I remember thinking: “You just don’t understand theatre.”’
Reposted by Laurie Stras
CD Besprechung: Musik aus einem Frauenkloster des 16. Jahrhunderts - Musica Secreta/Laurie Stras critica-musica.blogspot.com/2025/11/musi...
Musik aus einem Frauenkloster des 16. Jahrhunderts - Musica Secreta
Alte Musik
critica-musica.blogspot.com
November 20, 2025 at 4:03 PM
CD Besprechung: Musik aus einem Frauenkloster des 16. Jahrhunderts - Musica Secreta/Laurie Stras critica-musica.blogspot.com/2025/11/musi...
what a truly wonderful essay
I wrote an essay for @bostonreview.bsky.social about what I learned about close reading when I taught at West Virginia University
www.bostonreview.net/articles/the...
www.bostonreview.net/articles/the...
The Claims of Close Reading - Boston Review
Literary studies have been starved by austerity, but their core methodology remains radical.
www.bostonreview.net
November 26, 2025 at 5:55 PM
what a truly wonderful essay
To be clear, it would be more understandable if reviewers routinely said this about double albums of Beethoven piano sonatas, or even recordings by an unaccompanied male group like the Orlando Consort. But they don’t. #EverydaySexism
And then I read this in a recent review of Musica Secreta: "... with the limited contrast of all female voices it’s probably best to be a bit selective rather than take this extensive programme in a single sitting."
2/5
2/5
November 26, 2025 at 10:20 AM
To be clear, it would be more understandable if reviewers routinely said this about double albums of Beethoven piano sonatas, or even recordings by an unaccompanied male group like the Orlando Consort. But they don’t. #EverydaySexism
Reposted by Laurie Stras
🚨The Petition calling for a public inquiry into Russian influence on UK politics & democracy has now rocketed past 55,000 signatures! Let’s get it to 100,000. If a petition is what it’s going to take let’s get this done!
petition.parliament.uk/petitions/74...
petition.parliament.uk/petitions/74...
November 26, 2025 at 8:41 AM
🚨The Petition calling for a public inquiry into Russian influence on UK politics & democracy has now rocketed past 55,000 signatures! Let’s get it to 100,000. If a petition is what it’s going to take let’s get this done!
petition.parliament.uk/petitions/74...
petition.parliament.uk/petitions/74...
Reposted by Laurie Stras
I wish I didn’t have to share this. But the BBC has decided to censor my first Reith Lecture.
They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
November 25, 2025 at 9:26 AM
I wish I didn’t have to share this. But the BBC has decided to censor my first Reith Lecture.
They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
Just listening to a piece on #r4today about bro-coding, which describes how women are switching the gender of their postings to beat the gendered algorithms on social media.
1/5
1/5
November 26, 2025 at 8:00 AM
Just listening to a piece on #r4today about bro-coding, which describes how women are switching the gender of their postings to beat the gendered algorithms on social media.
1/5
1/5
Reposted by Laurie Stras
My understanding is juries are summoned, in a legal sense, to defray this summary power which has been abused to fuck over the centuries. No judge, no matter how trained and prepared, is able to just unilaterally make all calls from the bench. No single human can shoulder and do that well.
November 25, 2025 at 9:17 PM
My understanding is juries are summoned, in a legal sense, to defray this summary power which has been abused to fuck over the centuries. No judge, no matter how trained and prepared, is able to just unilaterally make all calls from the bench. No single human can shoulder and do that well.
Reposted by Laurie Stras
You’ve heard the album , can you wait for the book? We can’t!
Ok, so the Element is still not available, but it *is* nice to see the video abstract online. Maybe, just maybe, the essay will make an appearance in 2025? Place your bets... vimeo.com/1121777240
Elements in Women in Music: Music at a Florentine Convent
The Biffoli-Sostegni manuscript, MS 27766 of the Bibliothèque du Conservatoire royal de Bruxelles, is the only volume of sixteenth-century polyphony with…
vimeo.com
November 25, 2025 at 8:37 PM
You’ve heard the album , can you wait for the book? We can’t!
Ok, so the Element is still not available, but it *is* nice to see the video abstract online. Maybe, just maybe, the essay will make an appearance in 2025? Place your bets... vimeo.com/1121777240
Elements in Women in Music: Music at a Florentine Convent
The Biffoli-Sostegni manuscript, MS 27766 of the Bibliothèque du Conservatoire royal de Bruxelles, is the only volume of sixteenth-century polyphony with…
vimeo.com
November 25, 2025 at 9:27 AM
Ok, so the Element is still not available, but it *is* nice to see the video abstract online. Maybe, just maybe, the essay will make an appearance in 2025? Place your bets... vimeo.com/1121777240
Reposted by Laurie Stras
Happy St Katherine's Day to all scholars, librarians, and Katherines. May you win an argument against an annoying man today, in the true spirit of Katherine herself.
November 25, 2025 at 7:08 AM
Happy St Katherine's Day to all scholars, librarians, and Katherines. May you win an argument against an annoying man today, in the true spirit of Katherine herself.
Because of exhausting and vigorous fundraising on my part, in October I was able to offer my musicians the same fee I was paying musicians in 2003 - £25 more than I was paying them in 2024.
In 1995, I (then age 13) asked someone with a master’s degree about her career and what advice she had as part of a Scouting project.
“Never accept less than $30,000,” she told me.
1996.
Job ads like that are such an indictment of where our society is.
“Never accept less than $30,000,” she told me.
1996.
Job ads like that are such an indictment of where our society is.
November 24, 2025 at 12:34 PM
Because of exhausting and vigorous fundraising on my part, in October I was able to offer my musicians the same fee I was paying musicians in 2003 - £25 more than I was paying them in 2024.
Reposted by Laurie Stras
This is a difficult read but explores why people made vulnerable by previous birth trauma or poor care during or after pregnancy loss may put at even more risk.
Influencers made millions pushing ‘wild’ births – now the Free Birth Society is linked to baby deaths around the world
Influencers made millions pushing ‘wild’ births – now the Free Birth Society is linked to baby deaths around the world
A year-long investigation reveals how mothers lost children after being radicalised by uplifting podcast tales of births without midwives or doctors
As Esau Lopez was asphyxiated for the first 17 minutes of his life on Earth, the atmosphere in the room remained serene, even ecstatic. Acoustic music crooned from a speaker in a modest two-bedroom apartment in a suburb of Pennsylvania. “You are a queen,” murmured one of three friends in the room.
Only Esau’s mother, Gabrielle Lopez, felt something was wrong. She was pushing hard, but her son would not be born. “Can you help [him] out?” she asked, as Esau crowned. “Baby is coming,” the friend replied. Four minutes later, Lopez asked again, “Can you grab [him]?” Another friend murmured, “Baby is safe.” Six minutes passed. Again, Lopez asked, “Can you grab [him]?” Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
November 22, 2025 at 11:15 AM
This is a difficult read but explores why people made vulnerable by previous birth trauma or poor care during or after pregnancy loss may put at even more risk.
Reposted by Laurie Stras
Just saw someone described as an "ontologist" and now I want Clinical Ontologist to be a job title.
Welcome to the Department of Clinical Ontology. Let's go over your chart. I see that you are. Are you still as you were or are you otherwise? For your case of being, I prescribe becoming.
Welcome to the Department of Clinical Ontology. Let's go over your chart. I see that you are. Are you still as you were or are you otherwise? For your case of being, I prescribe becoming.
November 21, 2025 at 5:25 PM
Just saw someone described as an "ontologist" and now I want Clinical Ontologist to be a job title.
Welcome to the Department of Clinical Ontology. Let's go over your chart. I see that you are. Are you still as you were or are you otherwise? For your case of being, I prescribe becoming.
Welcome to the Department of Clinical Ontology. Let's go over your chart. I see that you are. Are you still as you were or are you otherwise? For your case of being, I prescribe becoming.
Reposted by Laurie Stras
There are plenty of links between the anti-trans “women’s rights” movement & anti-feminist conservatism. And opposing abortion is a logical conclusion for a movement that says no, you should not have agency over your own body; no, you do not know best about yourself; no, you have no choice.
No way I’m sharing Stock’s UnHerd article. But I am going to point to this bit which amply demonstrates the anti-trans=>anti-women’s rights pipeline. “Abortions should only be done for a highly restricted set of reasons. They should not be just nodded through for any reason a pregnant woman likes.”
November 22, 2025 at 10:40 AM
There are plenty of links between the anti-trans “women’s rights” movement & anti-feminist conservatism. And opposing abortion is a logical conclusion for a movement that says no, you should not have agency over your own body; no, you do not know best about yourself; no, you have no choice.
Reposted by Laurie Stras
For those of you in the UK, especially if you are a UK citizen, can you please take part in the consultation on changes to Indefinite Leave to Remain (Settlement) that were just proposed by the UK government. We need as many people as possible to reject these proposals. www.gov.uk/government/c...
Earned settlement
The government is consulting on how the current settlement system should be reformed and how those reforms should be implemented.
www.gov.uk
November 21, 2025 at 11:13 AM
For those of you in the UK, especially if you are a UK citizen, can you please take part in the consultation on changes to Indefinite Leave to Remain (Settlement) that were just proposed by the UK government. We need as many people as possible to reject these proposals. www.gov.uk/government/c...
Reposted by Laurie Stras
Odd coverage of the #covidinquiry by the Today Programme.
November 21, 2025 at 8:42 AM
Odd coverage of the #covidinquiry by the Today Programme.
Reposted by Laurie Stras
Sure, monks loved their eels. But so did the nuns!
In 1235 Henry III granted a charter to the nuns of Godstow Abbey that included the rights to local eel-rents.
Or, rather, some rights. Turns out, the nuns couldn't get eels all year round...just in the autumn. 1/2
🗃️🧪
In 1235 Henry III granted a charter to the nuns of Godstow Abbey that included the rights to local eel-rents.
Or, rather, some rights. Turns out, the nuns couldn't get eels all year round...just in the autumn. 1/2
🗃️🧪
November 19, 2025 at 5:27 PM
Sure, monks loved their eels. But so did the nuns!
In 1235 Henry III granted a charter to the nuns of Godstow Abbey that included the rights to local eel-rents.
Or, rather, some rights. Turns out, the nuns couldn't get eels all year round...just in the autumn. 1/2
🗃️🧪
In 1235 Henry III granted a charter to the nuns of Godstow Abbey that included the rights to local eel-rents.
Or, rather, some rights. Turns out, the nuns couldn't get eels all year round...just in the autumn. 1/2
🗃️🧪
You have to repost it
just learned we won an award for our blog post about Tom Holland and stormwater management.
remember, when you see an article about stormwater management, you repost it. i don’t make the rules.
remember, when you see an article about stormwater management, you repost it. i don’t make the rules.
What Tom Holland’s historic lip-sync showcase taught us about stormwater management
Grab your umbrella and your tights.
neorsd.medium.com
November 19, 2025 at 10:37 AM
You have to repost it
Reposted by Laurie Stras
This is beautiful. It's poetry, but as an osteologist, your bones will only ever tell us a fraction of who you were - and your sex and gender will only ever be estimates, if studied. Even with the grave goods your loved ones leave with you, we'll only ever build a part of the picture of who you are.
I am often to be found caring for the unknown dead, who emerge, shattered, from their ancient and forgotten graves. Collecting them, burying them, praying them back to their rest. It makes me think, sometimes, of the transphobic refrain that in a thousand years our bones will somehow betray us.
November 18, 2025 at 4:49 PM
This is beautiful. It's poetry, but as an osteologist, your bones will only ever tell us a fraction of who you were - and your sex and gender will only ever be estimates, if studied. Even with the grave goods your loved ones leave with you, we'll only ever build a part of the picture of who you are.
Reposted by Laurie Stras
If you're in the UK, tune in to @BBC Radio 3's #InTune programme today to hear pianist Samantha Ege talk about her forthcoming release of Avril Coleridge-Taylor's Piano Concerto. @leahbroad.bsky.social
Pre-order the CD now👉https://bit.ly/4oQIvSa
Pre-save the album👉https://orcd.co/brx5gxg
Pre-order the CD now👉https://bit.ly/4oQIvSa
Pre-save the album👉https://orcd.co/brx5gxg
November 17, 2025 at 3:46 PM
If you're in the UK, tune in to @BBC Radio 3's #InTune programme today to hear pianist Samantha Ege talk about her forthcoming release of Avril Coleridge-Taylor's Piano Concerto. @leahbroad.bsky.social
Pre-order the CD now👉https://bit.ly/4oQIvSa
Pre-save the album👉https://orcd.co/brx5gxg
Pre-order the CD now👉https://bit.ly/4oQIvSa
Pre-save the album👉https://orcd.co/brx5gxg
Totally lovely story to heal your heart this morning
We lived in a pub when I was growing up and when I was 3 (50 years ago!) we had someone in to draw the pub for a business card. I sat next to him and watched him draw every line. I was transfixed and it was a huge inspiration for me. I’ve dreamt about owning that drawing for years…
November 18, 2025 at 8:14 AM
Totally lovely story to heal your heart this morning
Reposted by Laurie Stras
I’ve written a piece on the curious lack of media and political interest in the issues faced by our national @britishlibrary.bsky.social. This is strange given we live in a world where ideas, knowledge and research are a long-term source of innovation and insight
www.cityam.com/the-british-...
www.cityam.com/the-british-...
The British library is in crisis: why does nobody care?
The widespread indifference to the British Library's crippling cyberattack demonstrates a perilous failure to value the knowledge infrastructure vital for national prosperity
www.cityam.com
November 18, 2025 at 6:27 AM
I’ve written a piece on the curious lack of media and political interest in the issues faced by our national @britishlibrary.bsky.social. This is strange given we live in a world where ideas, knowledge and research are a long-term source of innovation and insight
www.cityam.com/the-british-...
www.cityam.com/the-british-...