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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The first year is already almost over! I passed all my exams til now and tomorrow is the last one (main subject). Then we’re going into our summer holidays til the end of August. I just came back from a trip with my friends. We went to the ocean that is only 1.5h drive from Arnhem and spent a few days together. To finish our holiday we visited Amsterdam for a few hours that is also not too far from here.
We had an amazing time and it made me look back on the whole year. Out of personal reasons I’m not gonna study further (it would take too long to explain) but it has nothing to do with the studies and leaving ArtEZ and all my friends here is one of the toughest things right now.
But I’m so incredibly grateful for this year and everyone who made it this special. I learned so much and these are memories I won’t forget. First of all moving out let me grow a lot. I lived with a few friends(all composers of the first year) and we became a real family. It was one of the biggest things that made this year so intense.
But I didn’t only grow personally but also musically. One of the subjects I found hardest (rhythm lab) actually gave me the greatest results in the end. Also learning a completely new instrument (Cello) and doing all these new interdisciplinary projects are things I appreciate a lot.
There was no point where I really struggled (others did) with anything and sometimes I wished it would challenge me more but things are gonna change in the future to make it even more efficient. And it definitely doesn’t mean that I didn’t learn anything.
Although there was a lot going on with Corona I didn’t feel a huge loss in studying. Some rules where annoying and some projects looked a little different but I didn’t feel like I missed out on anything important (even though I don’t really like the online lessons). Of course social life around it is a little bit harder but it still didn’t keep me from having a wonderful year.
One thing I really loved about the studies here are the teachers. It’s such a personal atmosphere that you feel comfortable to open up and work better on your pieces. You don’t feel judged too much and you can really feel that everyone here just wants the best for you. I didn’t expect the eye to eye level of students and teachers when I applied for CFT but it has such a strong impact on how you feel during the studies.
The teachers are eager to help and often even give their free time for that. Some of them are more friends to me now than teachers. For instance my Cello teacher Réné Berman was supposed to do only 20min a week but he always gave me around an 1h a week and sometimes even made time for me in the evening. When we needed help with writing for Matangi Rainer and Andries gave a lot of their free time too.
Also in general I felt really supported by ArtEZ. Natascha was always there to talk about whatever you needed and made sure you felt good at any time. Even though the organisation of ArtEZ is sometimes a little bit messy I felt kind of at home here.
It’s a place with a lot of possibilities. They are always open for suggestions like new electives or changes in the studies so it works best for you. Still it depends a lot on you. If you want to get the most out of it you have to be active and create it yourself. The ground to build it on will be offered by ArtEZ.
Even though I’m quitting my studies I don’t feel like it was a waste of time. I wish it would work for me to continue ‘cause I know there is a lot of potential growth for me in this studies but my life seems to be about something else and that’s okay. I enjoyed every second here and I would always do it again!
I’m gonna miss all that!
One last time I’m wishing you all the best! 🙂
Sarah