I received my early education in Pembrokeshire before coming to Bangor University to study Music in 2004.  After graduating with a First Class Honours, I was awarded a 5-year Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol [Welsh Language College] Scholarship to study an M.A and PhD.  I completed an M.A Musicology in 2008 and a PhD focusing on ‘Music, Health and Wellbeing in Wales’ in 2012.

In 2012, I became a Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol-funded Lecturer in Music, and am currently a Senior Lecturer in Music in the School of Arts, Culture and Language.  In recent years, I have led on Undergraduate and Postgraduate teaching in the areas of Music, Health and Wellbeing, Community Arts and Music Teaching. I have also been responsible for pastoral care (2018-2021), disability (2022-23) and Postgraduate Research matters (2023) in the school.  I am a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Community work is at the heart of my teaching and research.  I work closely with numerous music charities on project evaluations, research and employability opportunities, and am a Trustee for Canolfan Gerdd William Mathias, Sistema Cymru Codi’r To and Forget-me-not Chorus.   In 2023, I was a member of the Welsh Government’s Overarching Steering Group developing a new Culture Strategy for Wales.

Position: Senior Lecturer in Music

Email: g.ifan@bangor.ac.uk

Phone number: +44(0) 1248 388 206

Location: Music Building, 1st floor

Undergraduate

WXC-1300 Cerddoriaeth ers 1850

WXM-2269/3311 Community Arts Placement

WXM-2270/3270 Music Teaching in Context

WXM-2309/3309 Music, Health and Wellbeing

Postgraduate

WMP-4062 Advanced Research Methods in Music

WMP-4064 Music Education: Theories and Practices

WMP-4124 Contemporary Music Education Project

WMP-4065 Teaching Music Today

Current PhD Students

  • Bethan James
  • Cadi Williams
  • Lisa Boas
  • Anna Huang
  • Min Zhu

Completed PhD Students

  • Irfan Rais (2022), ‘Abodes of Harmony: An investigation of traditional music session culture along the Menai Strait’ (Second supervisor)
  • Catherine Jones (2022), ‘Dyffryn Ogwen: a Musical Microcosm: Aspects of Choral Music in Dyffryn Ogwen, 1840-1914, and the Interaction Between Industry, Religion and Music-Making’ (second supervisor)

My research focuses on music, health and wellbeing. My main interests are:

  • Choral-singing and wellbeing
  • The value of community arts projects
  • Music education and childhood development.

2022

2018

2017

2016

2015

2011

2022

  • BU-IIA Funded Project: Bridging the gap: Welsh identities in post-Brexit and post-Covid Europe

    Working with our company partner, Codi’r To, this project will engage with the local community in exploring what it means to be Welsh today, particularly post-Brexit and post-Covid. It will do so through the medium of opera, using Pontio as a centre point bringing together the participants in direct engagement with the community. Over the course of five months a group of local school children working with Codi’r To and a professional poet, composer and choreographer will write, rehearse and publicly perform a bilingual opera in miniature, on the theme ‘Wales today / Cymru heddiw’.

    Funding awarded through the Bangor University Innovation and Impact Award (Research Wales Innovation Funding). Value = £19,903

    1 May 2022 – 30 Apr 2023

    Activity: Other (Contributor)

2018

  • Corneli Cudd

    16 Feb 2018

    Activity: Invited talk (Speaker)
  • Dydd Miwsig Cymru

    9 Feb 2018

    Activity: Participation in Academic workshop, seminar, course (Speaker)

2017

  • SIMMPosium (Social Impact of Making Music)

    ‘A qualitative inquiry into the impact of an intergenerational musical residency for young people and care home residents with dementia’

    Jul 2017

    Activity: Participation in Academic conference (Speaker)
  • Developing Dementia-Friendly Churches

    ‘Hidden corners: Developing artistic intergenerational projects for people with dementia’

    Mar 2017

    Activity: Invited talk (Speaker)
  • Dydd Miwsig Cymru

    10 Feb 2017

    Activity: Participation in Academic workshop, seminar, course (Speaker)

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009