Onto the next chapter...
It’s official, I am a graduate. Feels weird to say. But it also makes me feel good, because I have officially achieved something.
While many people see graduation as a point to start looking to the future, thinking about the next step, I am very much taking it as an opportunity to look back at all the opportunities that The University of Liverpool has offered me over the last three years.
Those people who knew me before I started university will tell you I was rather shy and timid, scared to speak up in class and always worrying. Needless to say, I still worry, but I would like to think I am much more confident now then I was when I was a fresh-faced first year. It Is this new-found confidence I owe to The University of Liverpool and everything it has both forced me to do and given me the opportunity to do.
It’s not often you’ll hear a musician saying this but, I really hate doing solo performances. I can think of nothing worse than standing in front of a crowd of people, no matter how small, and playing. Stage fright is my nemesis, but in first year performance it was something I had to do for my assessment and sure enough, alongside my trusty accompanist, I did it. Although I also vowed never to have to do it again, a vow I have manged to keep.
On to second year. A year which provided me with the best opportunities for musical growth. It all started with being part of the team who ran the Stage and Screen Orchestra (SSO) and Concert Band within the University of Liverpool Music Society (LUMS). Although a lot of hard work, it was very rewarding to see people of varying abilities who were doing all sorts of degrees from French, to Medicine, to Geography, all uniting in creating music. It was also my first chance at conducting an orchestra, something I had always wanted to do but had always been too scared to, and it was everything I had dreamed it to be.
The other opportunity second year had to offer came from the Liverpool University Student Theatre Society (LUST). After playing in a pit band for their performances of Musical classic ‘Guys and Dolls’ I was asked to be the Musical Director (MD) for one of their next shows, ‘Bare: A Pop Opera’. After much deliberation, I decided to take on the role of MD, which was somewhat daunting, but it was the best decision I ever made. Although this particular show was one I had never heard of, it is one which now holds a very special place in my heart, as do all the cast, crew and pit band members as it was the show that started all my dreams of becoming an MD. Through all the stresses of 4-5 hours rehearsals twice a week, alongside my studies and other commitments, I knew this was something that I would always want to go back to. I hadn’t felt such a sense of teamwork and community for a long time, and the show nights were just so exhilarating. In true showbiz style, some of the shows weren’t perfect, and some quick thinking was required to get the cast and band back in sync with each other, but it just proved to me that I was more than capable to do the job. It was also through this show that I met someone very special to me, if I hadn’t have chosen to do the show life could be very different for me right now.
Next came third year, my final year as an undergraduate. Although this posed many new challenges, it was one of the best years of education in my lifetime. I went to many socials as part of LUMS, even organised a few of them myself! I was also running Concert Band alongside my best friend which gave me even more conducting experience, which is another thing I love doing. I was the MD for another LUST show, this time one with music by Dolly Parton ‘9 to 5’, which really showed me the way I wanted to make a living, by being an MD. This show was SO MUCH FUN! I had a much bigger pit band to coordinate, this time with an added reed section and percussion section, with people who were an absolute dream to work with, making me laugh multiple times in rehearsals. Not to mention that even the band had to be in costume in 70’s office wear, which is a shock to the musician’s wardrobe of black, black and more black. Lastly, I was able to research a musical genre close to my heart for my dissertation, which really opened my eyes to the world of Irish rebel songs and the history that comes with them.
All in all, University has been a blast, and hopefully I’ll be able to stay for another year if all goes to plan over the next couple of weeks. And just remember, you are still a musician even if you don’t like standing in front of people playing, if what you do is in any way musical you are a musician. and don’t even let anyone else tell you otherwise.
To those people who I met at university, thank you for being a part of my musical journey. It’s probably apt for me to quote a musical so here goes:
‘Because I knew you, I have been changed for good’ – a quote from the song ‘For Good’, Wicked
If you take anything away from this post let it be this:
Grab every opportunity you can, you never know where it could lead to or who it could bring into your life. You only have one life, so you have to live it to the full and do everything you ever dreamed of doing because you don’t ever want to have any regrets.