Sarah’s Blog
Hi, I’m Sarah. I absolved the preperatory course ‘Filmscoring and Production’ at Musicube Academy and now I am a first year student for Composition for Film and Theatre. In this blog I’m gonna share my personal experience as a student at ArtEZ in Arnhem.
Any questions: sarahs_blog@yahoo.com
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Time is running so fast again. The classes are all over, only my cello teacher decided to teach me further til I’m back at home (He such a nice guy I’d really recommend taking him as a minor!!).
Exams are alomst done. Last week I had three aural skill test (two written, one oral) and also my General Music Theory Test. Today I had my last theory test, the harmony analysis and tomorrow I’m gonna have to face rhythm lab and harmony at the piano.
Everything went quite well though I’m a little stressed right now ‘cause I have to prepare 20min of music for my final main subject audition in two weeks.
The last three days I spent with a fellow student writing lyrics and recording vocals for a Musical Project he is doing right now. It’s a low budget but kind of professional production with lots of people involved. It was amazing! I’m writing songs for quite a while now and I never had so much fun working with somebody. On some days we literally worked from morning til evening and I didn’t even feel that exhausted.
I guess I can feel it now ‘cause after three days of intense working I feel like I could use a break. We decided that we’re gonna do our own musical one day and I really can’t wait for this to happen. Usually I prefer working alone but you can really benefit a lot from a work buddy.
You have more ideas, inspire each other and you keep yourself motivated. Especially the last part improves the outcome a lot. In higher years there are some composers doing the same thing. These people always seem to be the most organised and productive ones.
Another good thing is to already start doing projects while you study. Of course many of us might think they are not good enough to start doing real projects but if you start early you grow into it and finding a job might be easier after you finish your studies.
Of course you have to adjust the level of the projects you’re working on. You would probably never start with scoring a Hollywood blogbuster. But every little experiences makes you work better and faster. As a composer you also have to learn how to deal with people (directors and co) and the best way to learn this is to just dive right into it.
To get projects it can help to connect with other composers or looking for student-made projects. It’s good to be connected to students studying film etc. Probably you don’t get paid in the beginning but you could make a deal that the producer helps you out in the future with something you need (like producing a marketing video etc for you).
This adds value to your music and motivates you to do your best so you can work with that person in the future. Students are the professionals of tomorrow and if you already make friends with them when you are both studying it is really likely that they would hire you again.
It can be a lot of fun to work with directors when you really get along well and then your job becomes your passion. You admire each others work and it inspires you to do even greater things. This is important if you really want to do it for a long period of time.
Human beings are social beings so I think we need good human connections to be happiest and most efficient(in a healthy and good way). In your private life as well as at work 😉
All the best,
Sarah