My international life as a student musician – against all odds
Welcome back again!
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This blog will be a bit different than my other ones.
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In this one, I will tell my story of how I discovered and deepened my passion for music through high school and university abroad. If you’re interested, do stick around and read the rest!
I’ve always had an affinity for music. I constantly listen to music, new songs and play classical pieces with my violin.
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When living in Germany in my early years, I played the violin, took private lessons and played in auditions and performances to further my playing. Classical music is highly incorporated as part of Germany music culture. But that all changed when I moved abroad to continue high school in Malaysia.
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Asia is quite different from Europe (obviously).
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However, in Malaysia, it’s not just the culture, their food and the people – also broadly speaking their appreciation for classical music.
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Even after Britain colonised Malaysia, classical music was never a big part of Malaysian society– this made it difficult for a classical music lover like me to be satisfied.
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In high school, I wanted to elect Music Higher Level in the International Baccalaureate (IB) as one of my courses so that I could follow the path of becoming a professional violinist. Unfortunately, this particular course was taken down from the curriculum as there weren’t enough volunteers – so they say.
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I was forced to take other courses (English, German and Biology for Higher Level). I tried to make the best out of the situation, but I couldn’t help but think of any other way of getting to study music when my high school didn’t offer the course!
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Therefore, I delved deeper into my passion by joining a string ensemble. Even though I had almost daily string ensemble lessons in class, I took private lessons to further my violin skills. I tried to get hold of any musical opportunity there was and with a bit of luck, I passed an audition and joined the high school orchestra pit to accompany the musical Beauty and the Beast (best weeks of my life).
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As I was brought up bilingually – speaking both English and German at home – I’ve always had an affinity to England. Also, as I was born there, the culture and language were what had primarily drawn me to the island.
However, after weeks of research for what university I should apply for, I stumbled over my course, Music Industries. The vibrancy and variety of music genres were what ultimately persuaded me to study at Birmingham City University – turns out it was the best choice I’ve ever made.
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SOURCE:
Birmingham City University (n.d.) 12th BAAL LGaS SIG event: Intersections of language, gender and sexuality in media and technology. Available at: https://www.bcu.ac.uk/news-events/calendar/baalgalsig12 [Accessed 8 May 2020].
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In just over a year, I’ve learned so many skills: photography, videography, editing to valuing music, learning about the importance of local and global connections, as well as the music industries business side.
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Now, I’ve gotten to know Birmingham better and discovered various Birmingham music venues. In Malaysia, I was only exposed to Jazz at No Black Tie and classical music by regularly attending weekly performances by the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra (MPO) at the Dewan Filharmonik Petronas (DFP), a majestic concert hall. There, they play a wide range of music, including classical music.
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SOURCE:
LeQuattroStagioni (2018) The interior of Petronas Philharmonic Hall. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petronas_Philharmonic_Hall#/media/File:Interior_of_Petronas_Philharmonic_Hall.jpg [Accessed 8 May 2020].
Birmingham, in comparison, has more than six music communities (Wikipedia, n.d.). I think there are more – too many to count 🙂
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In Birmingham, BCU and BIMM work towards student musician interconnectivity in its thriving music scene (BIMM Institute, 2019).
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A year ago, I joined the folk student music community at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire – It’s totally freaky
(We planned to perform at Green Man Festival, St. Patrick’s Day and more but due to the pandemic, all performances were cancelled)
You can check future folk performances here. I never knew all instruments could come together to make music!
We have 70 students that play: violin, accordion, trumpet, wind instruments, drums and all kinds of guitars. As a student musician, these rehearsals are important to me as I’m able to play my violin – at least for two hours.
So, you can see I found my love for music in Birmingham – against all odds.
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What about you? How did you come to discover music? Comment below!
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References:
Anonymous (2014) 2O14/15 SEASON CONCERT CALENDAR AUG 2O14 – JUNE 2O15. [pdf] Malaysia Philharmonic Orchestra. Available at: http://mpo.com.my/v2/wp-content/uploads/SeasonBrochure2014-15.pdf [Accessed 8 May 2020].
Bennett D. (2016) Developing employability in higher education music. [pdf] Arts and Humanities in Higher Education 15(3-4):386-395: SAGE Publications. Available at: file:///Users/leoniegross/Downloads/ArtsandHumanitiesinHigherEducation-2016-Bennett-386-95.pdf [Accessed 8 May 2020].
BIMM Institute (2019) BIMM’s role within Birmingham’s thriving music scene. Available at: https://www.bimm.ac.uk/news/bimms-role-within-birminghams-thriving-music-scene/ [Accessed 8 May 2020].
Birmingham City University (n.d.) 12th BAAL LGaS SIG event: Intersections of language, gender and sexuality in media and technology. Available at: https://www.bcu.ac.uk/news-events/calendar/baalgalsig12 [Accessed 8 May 2020].
LeQuattroStagioni (2018) The interior of Petronas Philharmonic Hall. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petronas_Philharmonic_Hall#/media/File:Interior_of_Petronas_Philharmonic_Hall.jpg [Accessed 8 May 2020].
LIVEBrum (n.d.) Folk. Available at: http://livebrum.co.uk/genres/folk [Accessed 15 May 2020].
Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra (n.d.) Meet the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra. Available at: http://mpo.com.my/about-us/ [Accessed 15 May 2020].
No Black Tie (n.d.) No Black Tie KL’s premier jazz club. Available at: https://www.noblacktie.com.my/ [Accessed 15 May 2020].
Royal Birmingham Conservatoire (n.d.) 10 music venues you must visit in Birmingham. Available at: https://www.bcu.ac.uk/conservatoire/student-info/why-birmingham/music-map [Accessed 15 May 2020].
Wikipedia (n.d.) Popular Music of Birmingham. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popular_music_of_Birmingham [Accessed 8 May 2020].
