The film music taster sessions tested my ability to write music in a limited time frame, and I ultimately found that I could do so. It provided me with an introductory experience to writing music that mimics the movements and actions within a 30 second film clip. The initial challenge of the task pushed me […]
It’s been fantastic to have the opportunity to work within the musical disciplines outside of my Key Tutor Group, such as Film Music. I’ve found that these stylistically varying sessions have broadened my knowledge of how to write for specific instruments and individuals within an ensemble. When working with film, I’ve also gained an understanding […]
To close the first day of this year’s Sound and Music Summer School, the students received an insightful jazz improvisation session from British jazz multi-instrumentalist, Orphy Robinson. Orphy kicked off the evening by getting each student to produce a completely spontaneous vocal sound on the spot! As a collective, the results were quite profound (make […]
Having completed the Sound and Music Summer School at the Purcell School I can honestly say that it was one of the best weeks of my life. In that week I grew so much as a composer, and it will be invaluable to me in the future when I pursue my career in music. The […]
The evening of day six and the morning of day seven were dedicated entirely to concerts of the final pieces which people had produced. This started with the ‘Film’ group, and then the ‘Jazz’ group. I particularly enjoyed the Jazz concert, as it was done in such a way that it mimicked a dimly lit […]
The day had come: it was time to hear my piece. Everyone in my group arrived to breakfast the next day rather bleary-eyed and sleep-deprived. I could only assume that they, like me, had pulled a late night trying to finish their compositions in time. I was excited to hear the fruits of everybody’s labour, […]
Day five was the most tiring, intense and stressful day of the lot. Writing three minutes of music, entirely by hand, in a crowded environment, for instruments I had never written before and in just 24 hours was, to put it lightly, hard work. But this is not a complaint; that’s what I came for. […]
Day four marked the first day in which we would be working on our final piece. It was therefore with excitement, but also some slight apprehension, that we headed down to breakfast. Before we could work on our piece though, we first had to listen to everyone’s piece based around the rhythmic cycles we had […]
After being introduced to the instruments which were available to us to use, the obvious next step was for us to learn how we might be using them. We had a fantastic opportunity in having Kuljit Bhamra working with us, a well-established musician, specialising in the Indian Tabla, specifically when being used in more Western […]
This was the first day where we were given taster sessions for the other courses available. For me, this involved the advanced instrumental session and the vocal session. As a classically trained musician, the instrumental session appealed to me naturally. We were given the task of writing a short piece for a solo instrument – […]
Meeting people is always a scary experience. There is always a heavy sense of anticipation as you draw nearer to your destination, which you know is unnecessary but which you just can’t stave off. For this reason the long drive to the Purcell School was nerve-racking, to say the least. This was only made worse […]
The second part of day two!
There are so many areas to cover we have split today’s pictures into two posts! Here are the earlier photos…
