In November, Professor Eubanks Winkler's book, Music, Dance, and Drama in Early Modern English Schools (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020), was awarded an honorable mention in the Diana McVeagh Prize competition. The McVeagh Prize, named in honor of pioneering British music writer, Diana McVeagh, is awarded every other year by the North American British Music Studies Association. The McVeagh Prize recognizes books on British music, musical culture, and musical life in Great Britain and elsewhere.

The citation from the prize committee follows:

This is the first scholarly study on the topic, and [it] fills an important gap in our knowledge of the role that the performing arts played in the education of the upper classes in early modern English (and Scottish) society, and in this respect will add important context to the existing body of research on non-professional music-making in the period, as well as enriching our understanding of the pedagogical activities of professional musicians, and how these were interwoven with their better-known roles in the church and at court.

A superb monograph: this is really fine scholarship based on a remarkable synthesis of manuscript sources, assembled and interpreted by a nimble and brilliant critical intelligence. A delight to read, a book that surely deserves accolades. The theoretical edge to the writing – theories of agency and gesture – is very welcome.