The Holiday for Eggs

So I felt to keep in the productive side of graded unit I would have an update on my holiday escapades and the and how this season has benefited and brought me closer to my aspirations as a musician...not too much in all honesty. Firstly a small update on the last week of college.

In the last week before breaking up there were a few lectures and speaker that were both interesting and educational. Firstly games composer Stuart (“I can’t quite remember”) came in and talked about his time at Perth and what the life of writing for video games was like. It was good to hear from someone who had successfully pulled together a career from their time at Perth College and also to hear about the methods and abilities that are needed to become a composer. The second fascinating talk also took place in the Brahan lecture theatre and consisted of a successful engineer referring to his career and how he had managed to climb up the employee ladder to become the boss of an established company. This talk really helped to motivate me for the gradual rise in jobs to become accomplished striked similarities to that of being a session musician.

Now however the holidays areover and have almost been too good and enjoyable to return for as I gradually drive up the treacherous A83 for my return Perth, all fun and motivation seems to drain. With 7-9 weeks till the end of college and now at the last hurdle I need to find all the enthusiasm and focus I can for the many hours of studying that lies ahead.

Having access to a piano over the holidays has given me a much better balanced practice schedule with the weighted keys and acoustic sound restoring some enthusiasm and fun into playing. At my last piano lesson before the holidays I sadly had to reschedule my associated board grade 4 exam for a later date. Recently I had begun to notice my practice schedule had been cut due to college assignments and so I feared that work may get in the way again as the exam date drew closer only leading to stress and lack of preparation. So now I set my target for November sadly making my planning stage goals one less completed.

Speaking of Associated board exams after what seems months of waiting I finally opened up my e-mails to find out that my exam results for my grade 5 theory had been published online. After finally finding the old e-mail with my password and account number on it I logged in and slowly watched the buffering page reveal that I had passed with distinction -93%! This result has given me a boost to look at the grade 6 paper and although I know it is rare seeing as grade 5 is the bench mark I feel that it would benefit me, obviously on an academic level but also force me to learn more about the classical side of music and the fundamentals that come with it. It is after all the foundations of popular music and to an extent helped to shape it to what we know it as.

I don’t know what it is about this course but it seems the more I study the popular side of music the greater my admiration to western arts music and orchestral music seems to grow. Whether this is because I have a natural reaction to rebel or because it is a genre I lack knowledge in it seems that more and more frequently my iPod is churning out Debussy over Dave Matthews band and Thomas Newman (film composer) over Tool. Whatever the reason it has caused me to look into this genre for choosing my transcription for articulation class. Over the holidays I have looked over countless contenders in terms of chamber music, overtures and symphonic poems however the position is still open and the quicker it is filled the better. I feel the next stop will be an analysis of film composer that could become a candidate for my complex analysis. Although this is an extreme challenge I believe that the amount I will learn from classical music and the orchestra in general will benefit me in later life.

One other thing I forgot to mention is that while at home I was strangely asked to be on the judging panel at a local music talent contest. This opportunity was both fun and difficulty as I had never before judged anyone’s talents in such a formal manner and had always been one to be judged and brought to criticism than bring it on others. The contestants were of all ages and talents with acts ranging from guitar, accordion and violin players to singers/songwriters and small choirs. The talents that some people showed were incredibly admirable for their age with posture, intonation, maturity and their general musical ability commendable. I almost felt that some of these young kids had a better knowledge of their instrument and music that they could replace many students here at Perth.

So that was another experience to add to my portfolio with it I also managed to get a picture in the local paper.

So that’s my thoughts on this ever so sunny day, back to college in a few days whether it be for better or for worse I don’t know.