In the vocal group at the Sound and Music Summer School we have developed collaboration skills and singing techniques as well as learning strategies and tips for composing specifically for the voice. The whole experience has been very accessible while also proving challenging for my existing compositional format. For example, I had never written a graphic score before going to the SAM Summer School, but the tutors encouraged me to have a go and gave practical advice on how to approach it. With this I was able to create a thunderstorm soundscape using only vocal techniques and a percussive use of the piano. This new experience for me is one that I loved, especially when exploring the scope of the vocal ability. 

The biggest things that I took away from the summer school are to be open to new ways of approaching composition and to worry less about making it perfect. But most of all, I learnt that a key part of the making process is experimentation through collaboration: it creates space for ideas that you would never have thought of on your own.

^examples of experimentation with graphic notation