I'm writing this post in Cardiff, sitting in the library of the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. I moved down to South Wales last August to study jazz flute at the Royal Welsh. I’ve been re-reading my blog post from May 2024. I was so excited, and so nervous to move away. It’s so strange to think that this time last year I was finishing my graded unit for my HNC in Mareel.
This year has been amazing, ridiculously busy, but amazing. I’ve met some brilliant musicians, both my coursemates and our tutors. I am fortunate enough to be taught by some of the most skilled musicians in jazz right now. This type of studying is intensive. I spend a lot of hours a day in college, whether in classes or rehearsals, practising, or performing. I began my year taking part in two big band projects, which I had no previous experience with. It was really good fun, though it was a big learning curve. I’ve played many times in our weekly jazz gig AmserJazz, and in spring I got to help out teaching with National Youth Jazz Wales’ first residency in over 10 years. I’m very interested in jazz education, and it was such a joy to see other young people get involved in the genre. I was very glad that I started composing during my HNC, we get to do a lot of composing at college. It’s so exciting to hear my music being played by other musicians. I’ve also been enjoying exploring Wales. I’ve continued making art, and have loved the change of scenery for my landscape paintings.
I maintain that an HNC with the UHI was the best path I could have taken. In many ways, studying at Mareel is like an introduction to conservatoire life, being in a building that is industry-standard and having access to so many resources, my time there helped me immensely.
My advice now is similar to before, try to put yourself out there as much as you can, look for opportunities, big and small, that can help you learn a bit more. I was very fortunate to play across Shetland with the High Level Hot Club, learning how to operate in the industry from a young age. So to those living in remote places, please keep pursuing your niche! I want to again thank those at the UHI, Shetland Arts, and my instrumental teachers Sioban, Sue and Arthur for helping me get to where I am today.
If you would like to hear what I’ve been getting up to. Me and amazing jazz pianist Jennie Beard, are going to be playing a set of tunes, some of them from Shetland, at AmserJazz on the 20th of June, you can catch the livestream of that gig from 17:30 on the RWCMDTV YouTube channel!
