The Sound and Music (SaM) Summer School was something I didn’t even expect to get a place on, let alone enjoy to the extent I did. At the beginning, I was sure that the thing I would treasure the most would be the final composition, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. It was the friendships. The people. The evening where the entirety of Bubble 2 would retire to the common room in Avison House and sing songs until the chaperones were chasing us all to bed.

These people have changed how much I value my musical capabilities and every day since we left The Purcell School of Music, we have been messaging one another on a WhatsApp group chat – over 789 messages the other day, entirely about music! 

Not only was it my classmates who have helped me to find my people, but also the teachers. They were wonderful and they never ceased to help me. What was even nicer, was that at no point did they show disbelief in me or my ideas and they completely supported me. I was so, so fortunate to also get to work with some amazing musicians who were so helpful and lovely when I was writing my score.

All of these people contributed to creating a wonderful experience which taught me such valuable things. For example, I started the week not even knowing what a graphic score was and ended the happiest week of my life with just that. I relearned about modes and how to use them, about using notation in more adventurous ways, composing for tabla and marimba and getting to be among ‘some of the first people to notate traditional indian singing. 

This week has helped me to develop so much as a musician and make lasting friendships with wonderful radiators, rainbows and sunflowers. I think I’ve left changed for the better. 

And what moved me most of all about the week, was that I never thought I was capable of writing something that would be called pretty let alone something that was called beautiful.