Andreas Helles Pedersen, doktorand i musikvetenskap

What do you write about?

I am doing an interdisciplinary project that examines streaming music and digital music archives. I work from a hypothesis stating that the infrastructures and architectural logics of digital music archives bind datafied music together with metadata in a manner informing the music in ways that destabilize the historical positions of recorded music, calling for new thinking and conceptualization within the discipline of music historiography.

How far along are you in your phd studies?

I have finished the first 1½ years of my doctoral studies.

How is the transition to distance education for you?

When the crisis really struck I was on a research stay in England. Now, I have been recalled from England and put in quarantine at home for 14 days. This means that my current studies have been halted, but luckily I have got a lot of data to work with and can do both relevant writing and reading from home.

What is most difficult in this new situation?

In the coming months I was supposed to do some PhD courses, which have been postponed to next year. Therefore, I am in the midst of rescheduling the rest of the semester and changing my current course activities. A relevant solution will be to do some reading courses in connection to my dissertation work.

Do you have some recommendations for students in the same situation?

My best tip is very simple and practical: if possible, install a workspace in your home that is allocated for working only, so that you can create a feeling of being at work and being off work. To me, it is both unproductive and stressful if work and leisure time merge.

Finally, what do you wish for most of all right now?

My answer has to be twofold. First, I wish I had an actual office space at home with a proper desk and an office chair – it is hard for the back to work at the dinner table. Second, I wish for a negotiation of cost free prolongations of the doctoral students’ employments – it is not that pertinent for me at this moment, but some of my colleagues doing field work or comprehensive archival studies are losing valuable time over the coming months.