Back in the swing of things

Wow I didn't realise how long it had been since I'd posted! So much has happened since November as you can imagine so the next few posts will probably be a bit disjointed or working in reverse chronological order - hope you can keep up!

Performing Trumpet Tune at
 Carols by Candlelight with
Philip Wilby

Yesterday I had my orchestral excerpts exam (mid-year minor assessment) and I'm very pleased to say that it went fairly well. The extracts I played were; 1812 Overture - Tchaikovsky, Ravel's Bolero and his Piano Concerto in G major, Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel Overture & "Ralalala" and Beethoven's Symphony no.9. Now if you remember, back in November I was looking for a D/Eb trumpet to purchase and I'm delighted to say that a great deal popped up and I jumped at the chance so I was able to choose and play excerpts on my new D trumpet! It's been challenging but very exciting learning to play a new instrument relatively quickly and it means I can expand my repertoire and range of styles further. Over the Christmas period I was also fortunate enough to perform with Philip Wilby at a few local church events. His daughter had arranged "In the First Light" for choir, piano and D trumpet (signifying the angels), in which I was asked to play. Philip and I also performed Handel's "O had I Jubal's Lyre" and Purcell's "Trumpet Tune" for trumpet and organ along with some descants to the carols during the services - quite a lot of playing in the end! It was a joy to work with someone as talented, professional and down to earth as Philip, whose brass band compositions I have experienced on several occasions.

Before I start waffling on even more, I'll let you know that in a few weeks I will be starting a new blog about my CoLab project (15th-19th Feb) called "Dans le Noir" so look out for that!

Now then, what else to tell you of the many things I've been up to? I suppose the biggest thing to do with Conservatoire life currently is that I've applied to the Erasmus scheme which means I may be studying abroad for a term next academic year! I had an interview today with the programme leader to find out if I'm a suitable candidate and apparently I am (yay!) so the next step is to create an impressive recording and send it with an application to my 3 choices. Aarhus in Denmark is my favourite place from the research I've done, hoping to study under Kristian Steenstrup whose Breathing exercises and teaching methods are said to completely change your outlook on playing the instrument. There are loads of ensemble opportunities and the Academy regularly plays with the Resident professional symphony orchestra as well as a military band who are always asking for student deps (ideal for me as I want to join a military band after graduating!). It would also be sooo cool to live in Denmark for a while and experience the different culture and no doubt they speak better English than we do... Hopefully you'll be hearing more about this so I'll make sure to keep you updated with where I'm at! For now though, I need to practice something that's not excerpts to return myself to a relatively sane state. You'll hear from me soon!


S x