Bill Strang

Bill Strang was educated at The Royal High School, Edinburgh, and at Durham University (BA) and Reading University (PGCE).

He joined the staff of the Open University in 1976 as a Course Assistant in Music and held various short-term posts before becoming Project Officer in Music. The purpose of this post is to act as an interface between the music department and administrative and production areas of the university. In this capacity Bill has contributed to the production of every course which has included music since A308, but mainly to the major music courses. For A314 From Baroque to Romantic: studies in tonal music this included producing LPs and teaching cassettes, for A214 Understanding Music: Elements, Techniques and Styles creating the music examples in the then novel Score music-copying programme, while for more recent courses AA302, AA314 and AA317 he has also prepared for production the compilations of scores.

He has acted as a critical reader for drafts of most of the 60-point music courses and has occasionally contributed as an author: a unit on Janáček for A308 The Rise of Modernism in Music, and one for A341 Beethoven; an introduction to listening to the elements of music in A102; a chapter on gay sexuality in music for AA314 Studies in Music 1750–2000: Interpretation and Analysis, using Tchaikovsky as a case study. Recently he was academic editor for Book 2 of AA317 Words and Music.

Bill has also been a keen supporter of practical music making at the Walton Hall campus and in the local community in Milton Keynes. He has conducted The Open University Choir since 1977, building it up to its current strength of 80 and directing three programmes of varied repertoire each year. He has encouraged the Choir to commission new work for special occasions and to perform music researched by members of the music department.

In 2005 he was invited to conduct the newly-formed Open University Orchestra.