Sarah’s Blog
Hi, I’m Sarah. I absolved the preparatory course ‘Filmscoring and Production’ at Musicube Academy and now I am a third year student of 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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Every year feels different here at ArtEZ. In the first year, everything was still so new and I had all the courses together with my composer year. By the second year, that had already loosened up a bit and I had several courses together with instrumentalists and composers from higher years.
This year I feel different again. Of course, this is also related to my personal development, but also to the new courses I was allowed to choose this year. Since I’m now sure that I don’t want to work in the business of film music, I’m focusing more on classical composition and being a singer/songwriter this year. The studies are getting more and more individual and therefore we are allowed to decide more and more freely what we want to do in class.
That’s why I decided to study a symphony in my major, to learn the old technique of composition. How to process motifs, write in a certain form, but also general things like voice leading and harmony.
I can also learn a lot in writing for orchestra. My goal afterwards is to write a symphony myself, or at least a first movement. I definitely have a lot of respect for that, but I’m also looking forward to it. Whether it will really sound like a symphony in the end, I don’t know, but I’m sure I’ll learn a lot that way.
Afterwards, I’m also going to work on some John Williams scores together with some fellow students. For that we will have group lessons again, which we can also decide ourselves.
To really think about what you want to learn directly brings a completely different motivation to learn. I also notice in my course that some fellow students become more ambitious and focused. Because of this great freedom, there is enough room for everyone to find their own way, which in turn motivates them to go on a quest.
This year there is again the block system, but only two main subject teachers. You are also free to choose between these two. My course and I chose both. Not only because they are good-hearted people on a personal level, but because they are both composers from whom we will still learn a lot, who come from different backgrounds and thus both have different strengths.
I am always asked why I am still studying Composition for Film&Theatre when I am so sure I will never work in the industry. But I have already taken so much from my studies and because of the many choices, I still have a wide range of development opportunities at ArtEZ. I am really glad that I ended up here and that I decided to finish my studies anyway 🙂
All the best,
Sarah