The Irish Metamusic Project is a partnership between three Music Departments (SPCD, DKIT & NUIM) and a national cultural resource centre -the Contemporary Music Centre (CMC). The objectives of the project are:
1. To digitise the scores and audio material held by the Contemporary Music Centre (CMC), in ways that maximizes their availability and usability for music research
2. To add scholarly value to the CMC collection furthering knowledge and understanding of Irish art music in the 20th and 21st centuries.
3. To work towards a platform for the digital publication of research on music in Ireland

The Contemporary Music Centre (CMC) is Ireland's national archive and resource centre for new music. Its unique library and sound archive comprise the only comprehensive collection in existence of music by modern Irish composers from both the Republic and Northern Ireland. It contains C. 4,500 music scores & 6,000 sound and video recordings dating from 1907 to the present day. These represent not only the work of Irish composers, but instrumentalists & conductors active as professional and amateur musicians in Ireland during the 20th and 21st century. Context for this archive is provided in parallel collections of concert programmes, fliers, posters, articles, reviews, books and interviews in audio and video format. It also contains the complete collection of Irish composers’ recordings (performances, talks, interviews) from the RTÉ sound archive (c. 1951 to the present). This is complemented by CMC’s own information resources: biographical data, photographic resources, performance calendars, composer interviews etc.

Currently the archive is only accessible from the CMC’s premises in Dublin. IMP seeks to work with CMC to gradually digitise the full collection and to collect and record associated metadata in preparation for public access and versatile searches through a web interface. By working with national and international musicologists it seeks to carry out this work in a way that enables future music research based on this resource.

Research on Irish Composers of the 20th century is an emerging field in Irish Musicology. For a number of reasons this era has been overlooked by scholarship and much primary research remains to be carried out. The rich resource contained in the CMC archive will provide primary sources for the development of monographs on selected composer’s works together with thematic research on areas such as performance practice in Ireland or a survey of compositional output in a particular genre such as string quartet. Linking primary data to secondary information and sources contained in the archive such as critical reviews, programmes notes will also enable wider contextual research. Currently the archive of CMC is more frequently accessed by performers and promoters than those involved in music research. However, the wider access afforded by a digital interface and the searches possible through this interface will enable a stronger and enhanced use of this resource by music researchers.

Hardcopy publication of music research has always been challenged by the difficulty of including music examples. In the past music quotations in standard notation were included. This excluded all but the most skilled musicians from a full engagement with the text and often resulted in isolating musicology from research in the wider humanities. Through working towards a digital publication platform it will be possible to overcome the two-dimensional nature of current formats and for the reader to simultaneously follow a notated score and audio recording within a written text.

The Project is funded and supported by the Research Committees of SPCD and DKIT , The Contemporary Music Centre and An Foras Feasa SPCD, DKIT and NUIM