I’ve always believed that behind every song there’s a musicalstory waiting to be told. Like many, my love of music comes from the fact thatit is a free form of personal expression.
For me,the beauty in music comes from the ability to communicate feelings that wordsalone cannot. Music is much like a langue with setsounds and symbols corresponding to written notation that have grammar likerules. Speech and music are often very alike with higher pitch, morefluctuations in pitch and rhythm, and faster tempos conveying happiness, whilethe opposite conveys sadness. The point is fundamentally music is alanguage that we all can universally relate to without any borderers orboundariesMy love of free-formimprovisation and the artistic freedom that it entails has led to my decisionto study music at degree level. However, you could say that improvisation isless harmonically complex and structured when compared to composition, but nonetheless, I am still very interested insubjects such as advance musical analysiswhich is very mathematically involved. So, you could say that music is some sortof social study or a study of human cultureas music is such a remarkably broad subject with many sub-disciplines.Apart from my main instrument the guitar, I’ve also beeninterested in piano and keyboard related music so for the past year I have taken on the challenge of learning the pianohoping that it can soon be my second instrument. I feel that learning the piano has helped myunderstanding of music theory and furthered my composition skills as the guitarfretboard can be somewhat vague and confusing.
As I am always keen to explore subjects beyond my B-techmusic, I have recently explored the technological side of music with recordingand mix engineering. It seemed logical to learn about this as I would be able to record my own music and savemoney. With Pro Tools and Logic x, I recorded and edited my own songs, but I didn’tget any practical training until I volunteered to help my local church with theP.
A. One of my main strengths is my willingness to be open-minded and diverse in my interests. I’vebeen a long time Arts Ekta workshop leader specialising in multiculturalcollaboration and this community job has allowed me to develop many valuableand transferable skills such as teamwork and organisation, attributes whichwill undoubtedly prove valuable at university During my time at Art Ekta,I worked in the cultural coach project and I contributed to many projects- suchas the award-winning Belfast Mela. I managed my own research, formulatedworkshop plans, participated in group projects and meetings.
Utilising myexcellent communication skills, I developed a successful working relationshipwith my peers and colleges. Outside of college,I’ve tried to keep an active life with a goodmixture of music and non-music related activities. I practise andrehearse regularly with my jazz fusion band “Random Folk” and we have performedat many different venues around Belfast with great success. In my leisure time,I enjoy going Ice skating and this has led to my active involvement in freestyleice skating (a sport that combines figure skating and aggressive inline skating).
It has always been a goal of mine to pursue a degree in music.As someone who has been and still is involved in the music industry, I feel as though I am up of the challengespresented by higher education. I have the focus and drive needed to completethis degree to the highest standards. In10 years’ time, I see myself having composedand released my own debut album, playing regular gigs and teaching guitar onthe side.