Took me ages but here's a new post :)

I suppose I'm not overly surprised that this happened... As our workload increased I obviously became busier and busier and my blog got forgotten.
Anyway - here we are, almost at the end of term one! It's been interesting, settling in and getting used to everything.
I've got a few deadlines to contend with for next week but other than that it should be a fairly pleasant end of term. Very much looking forward to a break and seeing everyone.
I managed to finish a draft of my wind quintet yesterday, which is the first of my final week deadlines, on monday. It's quite different to most of what I've written before - which isn't much of a surprise seeing as I've learnt loads already! For those of you who don't know - a wind quintet is made up of a flute, oboe, clarinet, french horn, and bassoon. It posed quite a challenge for me as I've never really written for wind before, let alone a chamber ensemble.
However, I think the outcome is fairly satisfying, especially considering the fact that I only had one lesson with Richard on it!
I've got media music in a couple of hours which always flies by as it's only an hour long, and then watching some sort of film or documentary with the composers before going out for our christmas meal - all you can eat chinese! Brilliant :)
It seems odd that term one is almost over, but I've learnt so much already - I can't wait to learn even more in the remaining eleven twelfths of my university experience!

A New Post at Long Last!

So, the inevitable has happened and I haven't written on this in ages! My apologies.
To be fair - there's not been a huge amount to add; things have been proceeding smoothly as the term progresses. I'm having a great time. I'm now feeling less out of my depth than when I started, which is a relief!
I'm afraid this will only be a short post as I haven't got too long, or indeed a great deal to say. I'm going to chorus in a few minutes which is pretty fun. I'm feeling surprisingly tired actually. Early night tonight I think.
It was lovely to see the family and Katy again this week. Mummy had clearly missed tidying up after me as it took her a few minutes after arriving to offer to hoover my bedroom floor - which, I hasten to add, I had hoovered myself the previous day. Our carpets are rubbish and don't look hoovered even when they are.
She even cleaned my bathroom! Brilliant :)
If any of you reading this want to talk to me or anything, then I'd love to hear from you - maybe the easiest way is through the wonder that is Skype - I wouldn't be surprised if grandad already has it - but you can download it for free at http://www.skype.com/intl/en-gb/ and then add jamesjotto as a contact and then you can ring me for free!
Right, I need to go! Speak to you all soon xxx

Learning to swim

I've had my first few composition classes this week: compositional studies, where we all look at each other's stuff; composition workshop, where we have a talk from a composer who tells us about their works and plays some of it to us; contemporary art and music; and media music.
The first two of these took place on tuesday, and I immediately felt like I had been thrown in at the deep end, or rather, I was in over my head! In comp. studies, half our class gave presentations about themselves and their work and I felt completely immature amongst this group of more adventurous, interesting composers.
We then finished tuesday with a workshop from Ed Bennett, one of the composition tutors at college, whose work was completely crazy, and very alien to me. I suppose I felt out of my depth as I've never studied music like this before, and as a result was unable to grasp his motivations or, indeed, his talent, for writing what sounded like a cacophonic mess. I am eager to learn about all this stuff, though. I feel like I need to - there's a huge gaping gap in my musical knowledge.
Yesterday was a better day though, with a couple of semi-interesting lectures (it's all still very introductory at this stage - haven't got into the nitty gritty yet) followed by our contemporary art and music lesson, which was interesting. We spent the entire lesson playing a game, with our teacher wanting us to think about what made something art. It proved to be a very interesting and fun way to start that part of our course.
Wednesday's final lesson was my favourite - Media Music. This is what I want to do - as I would imagine most composers would aspire to - and as a result I felt I could fully engage with the lesson without feeling like I had to say something which would probably highlight my ignorance. The lesson was very interesting, although we were mainly just setting up for the year, I'm really looking forward to that module.
Today's my day off, so I'm just having a rest (not that I've done much!) and trying to rid myself of this irritating cold.
I suppose I'm not surprised to be 'thrown in at the deep end' - I've been looking forward to being challenged and stretched. Our timetable starts properly next week, with everything kicking in. I can't wait.

Bring it on.

End of week 1

Tonight's 'Back 2 Skool' disco marks the end of our fresher's week. It's been fun. I'm slightly surprised with the ease at which I seem to have settled in. Maybe I haven't really settled in at all and am going to spend much of next week - when the work begins - in floods of tears, missing home. We shall see.

Currently, though, I am thoroughly enjoying the experience of cooking what I want for myself, showering twice a day (might as well make the most of 'free' utilities), and sharing each day with loads of people who are as addicted to music as I am.

My flatmates are a lovely bunch. There's Paul (another male - yessssss) who is a jazz pianist, seemingly quite quiet, but definitely enjoys a good night out. Reminds me somewhat of Joe Chet. There's also Laura - a flautist - who is short and not very fast. 'Fast?', you say. Allow me to explain. Laura is like Sam in that she is often the one you are waiting for. She is however - and I never thought I would be able to say this - worse than Sam. She doesn't particularly enjoy the walk to the conservatoire from our flat, but insists on bringing an enormous, apparently superfluous rucksack which is literally half her size. That will give you some idea of both the size of the rucksack and the size of Laura. Also in our flat are Autumn - who plays classical guitar - and Hannah, who likes to get wasted and homesick.

Anyway - gotta go, we're off to the disco now =] No doubt I'll think of something to write tomorrow! Lotsa love x

p.s. still no idea why she's called steve.

Day One...

So, I decided to copy Helen and start a blog. It seemed the most practical way to keep everyone updated instead of sending some sort of round robin email.

Today was our first day at the conservatoire. The day began with an hour long talk from the principal, as well as the vice-principal, and the registrar. That was followed by another almost-an-hour-long talk from a woman called Steve who is in charge of undergraduate studies. Slightly disconcerting. I don't know why she is called Steve. I think she said her name is actually Jane.

After a bit of a wander around Brum with a few new friends, we headed back to Opal - our accomodation. It's pretty nice - reasonably sized rooms, roughly the same size as my bedroom back home, only now I have an en suite. Good times.

I'm feeling very nervous about enrollment, which is at 1510 today. As I don't have any student finance stuff, I'm hoping they aren't going to invoice me with the full amount!

My flatmates are very nice, one boy and three girls. We're all conservatoire students and all from the same school year, so that's nice.

We got our timetables today too, so it was interesting to see what we're going to be doing. It's a bit scary, as it's definitely going to be hard work, but to be fair - should I have expected anything less?

I'm missing everyone at home a huge amount. A hug from that girl in Northampton would go down well too. Anyway, love to all xx