Studies and other things

So I have been in London for almost four weeks now. This means that I can give a clearer picture of student life as it is here. The picture shows my school building (King Charles Court) which is Trinity College of Music.

It took quite a while for my school to figure out my schedule but after a week of induction and a week of classes I finally got my (almost) final schedule AND I got into the classes I wanted. These are proving to be interesting and quite different from my previous experience. The most important difference from Oberlin is that there is no such thing as set reading assignments. The course descriptions come with a list of recommended readings. There are some projects to be done and by the end of the year there is an exam! I have just started the recomended readings!

My most exciting class so far is Public Presentation and Performance. We meet once a week and work on giving speaches to the other class members. In the first class we were "given" a word and we then had to talk about it for a minute. I had to talk about trees! For the next class I have to prepare a 5 min speach but I am only allowed to note down 5 words. That should be interesting.

My lessons with my new teacher are going very well. I am really exited. It is all so new but it was the right thing for me to do. Walter Reiter has a very interesting way of teaching. He will ask the student to imagine the music in their mind and then copy what they hear. It is quite fustrating at first in a way but it makes you so much more aware of what you are really doing. It also brings out the personal interpretation very strongly which is what he is after. He has already put me into an audition and an in-school competition so I not idel!

Outside school I have been exploring London a bit. Last weekend I went to Covent Garden and Notting Hill with a girl I met in the church I go to. This weekend a friend from Oberlin called me and we went to chinatown where we tried some restaurants and walked around.

The church which runs the student house I live in is really wonderful - and not just because they allow me to practise there! I have met so many nice people. A lot of the congregation consists of people who are studying in London or have come here from such countrie as: Brazil, U.S.A., Germany, Filipines, Finland... There are also a few musicians and I think we will have a small string-group playing in the service soon. I am also getting into various ensembles at Trinity so I will be busy. I am having rehearsals with two different groups next week...