Helen has been studying for most of her life, mainly in the realms of words and music and in particular the realm of medieval song. A special interest has been medieval songs in the woman's voice.

Formal Qualifications

B. A. (Hons.) (La Trobe), B. Mus. (Melbourne), M. A. (Hons.) (Music, Monash), PhD (Melbourne).

Helen's academic life began at La Trobe University where she graduated as a Bachelor of Arts (Hons.) with a double major in English in 1981. Next came a Bachelor of Music, majoring in performance (singing) at the University of Melbourne in 1990.

In 2001 Helen graduated as a Master of Arts in music (Hons). This included coursework in medieval musicology and a minor thesis which explored a genre of thirteenth-century French women's song: ' "An halte tour": Age, Time and Gender in the Anonymous Chansons de Toile'.

Helen graduated as a Doctor of Philosophy in 2006. Her thesis investigated the effect of genre and gender on the functioning of desire in twelfth and thirteenth-century northern French secular song. It is now published as a book: Desire by Gender and Genre in Trouvere Song.

Prizes, scholarships and funding

Over this time Helen received a number of prizes and scholarships.

Since her PhD Helen has received funding for a number of projects from the Network of Early European Research and other bodies. These include funding to respond to invitations to speak at conferences, in Australia and overseas, funding to present a program of medieval women's songs, based on her PhD research, at the Adelaide Fringe Festival with medieval music ensemble Troveresse, and funding to organize a conference in November of 2009 entitled "The Medievalism of Nostalgia". See conference website for details.

Helen is now a research fellow in the School of Culture and Communication (literary studies). Her research interests at present centre on "medievalism", sometimes called the afterlife of the Middle Ages. Her main project is one which links listener responses to medieval music, obtained online and through interviews, with the current thirst for "medieval" fantasy fiction and film. She continues to be interested in bringing together her research interests in medieval studies and medievalism with her work as a medieval musician.

Publications

Books

Desire by Gender and Genre in Trouvère Song
Suffolk: D. S. Brewer, series: Gallica, ed. Sarah Kay, July 2008.

Journal articles

' "Yearning for the Sweet Beckoning Sound": Music and Longing in Medievalist Fantasy Fiction', forthcoming in postmedieval: journal of medieval cultural studies, 2: 1, 2011.

'Music for myth and fantasy in two Arthurian films', forthcoming in August 2009, special issue Screening the Past, ed. Louise D'Arcens.

'Past, Present, Future Perfect: Paradigms of History in Medievalism Studies',Parergon: Journal of the Australian and New Zealand Association for Medieval and Early Modern Studies, 25.2 (2008): 58-79.

'Desire and Generic Differentiation in Trouvere Song', Parergon,Vol. 22.1 (January 2005): 17-46.

'Voices, "Realities" and Narrative Style in the Anonymous Chansons de Toile'
Parergon: Journal of the Australian and New Zealand Association for Medieval and Early Modern Studies. New Series Vol. 18, No 2 (January 2001).

Edited special issues

The Medievalism of Nostalgia, lead editor with Louise D'Arcens and Andrew Lynch, forthcoming in postmedieval: journal of medieval cultural studies, 2: 1, March 2011.

Reviews

Geri L. Smith, The Medieval French Pastourelle Tradition for Speculum: A Journal of Medieval Studies, forthcoming 2010.

Work in progress

Book on current research project: 'Music and the Medievalism of Nostalgia: fantasies of medieval music, 1945 to 2010'.