UNIT 6

Online Portfolio

ART - https://www.instagram.com/rosiep.art/?hl=en

MUSIC - In order to apply for Bath Spa, I also had to produce an music portfolio consisting of three tracks I had written myself. I uploaded these songs to a Soundcloud account and sent them off alongside an audio portfolio form displayed below.

Why did I choose to apply for music courses instead of art?

Through the process of this year I have come to solidify my thoughts that I want to pursue an HE course in music rather than a fine art degree, or anything else falling under the 'art' heading. I think I always knew this in the back of my mind but needed some time out from A level to spend a year researching courses while still being productive during the week, to explore possible future pathways. From a young age I have known that I want to pursue a career in the performing arts industry, whether that be in the musical theatre or simply music performance as an artist as a songwriter. By visiting universities on open days and researching courses alongside my work in this art foundation, I have come to the realisation that I want to follow a music pathway in terms of voice (perhaps also being able to include other instruments I play such as saxophone, piano, ukulele and guitar).

Completed UCAS Form - Personal Statement

Further evidence of my UCAS application can be evidenced through the acquisition of university offers (displayed below).

Evidence of Open Days

Royal Holloway

I was keen to visit Royal Holloway initially because I fell in love with the campus, location and community feel of the university I observed through visiting my brother when he did Physics there. Upon visiting on the 30th September, I was not disappointed to discover that the same atmosphere still exists nearly 8 years on, and decided to explore the music and languages department on guided tours and attended course talks for Music BA, Modern Languages and Liberal Arts. I decided to apply for two courses at this university, as initially after the Liberal Arts course talk I thought I had found my course due to the flexibility and distinct opportunity to build your own course from different modules and subjects. For me I would be choosing Language modules alongside Music, but could also incorporate anything I wanted to revisit from previous studies such as history or take up something new like phycology or sociology. However, I found out that in the Music section of the Liberal Arts degree is very limited, and does not have the full range of modules available. Therefore, if I wanted to do a split Music and Spanish course (as I had expected) I needed to apply for the Modern Language and Music course.

After applying to the Liberal Arts course and receiving an offer i was invited back to visit an applicant open day, which I currently haven't signed up for as I am still waiting to hear from the Modern Language and Music BA course on my UCAS track. When the offer has been confirmed or denied I plan to book an open day to revisit the Campus.

Bath Spa

After visiting Bath Spa on an open day, I solidified my previous thoughts about which type of music course I wanted to apply for. I compared both the straight Music course, and the Commercial Music course (which I didn't know existed prior to the open day), and realised that the commercial music course was the exact course I had been looking for. This is because it encapsulates every aspect of music and being a performer that I want to enhance about myself, and perfect during the 3 (or 4) year degree. Not only is it about playing an instrument to a high level and performing, but also incorporates the business and technical side of being a musician in the 21st century, for example learning to use the software and professional recording equipment, and how to self promote yourself as a performer in todays technological driven society. This opened my eyes to a new type of course, and made me realise why I hadn't been keen or massively impressed by any of the other Music BA courses I had researched - because what really wanted to find was a Commercial Music course.

Offers Received as of 2/2/18

Having received and offer from Royal Holloway, and interview offers from Bath Spa and Chichester, I decided to deny an invitation to interview at BIMM to study vocal performance, as having further researched the course online, a lot of people said that it didn't turn out to be what they thought it would be and therefore to me it made more sense to focus my efforts into trying to get into the Bath Spa course rather than spread myself out between to many interviews.

Having said this, I am still contemplating whether to book and attend an audition at Chichester University next week for the Vocal Studies course, to gain a full range of understanding of the different types of vocal courses available to me.

UNIT 6 PROFORMA

Identify your progression route - After visiting several open days and spending times researching different courses and course reviews online, I have decided to study a variation of Music and Spanish next year. Unfortunately I won't be continuing studies into Fine Art, but instead allowing my work from this year to become a solid foundation of exploration, and a valuable backlog of insight into the creative world, which I will be able to bring into my music creation next year.

Why did you choose it? - Although I do count myself as an artist, it has always been in a very broad sense of the word, and I have never been someone to particularly specialise in one area of something. However, now looking into degree courses I have realised the need to condense this range of art into one specialised area, which I have chosen to be vocal studies. Not only is this something I hugely enjoy, but I want to be able to have a career in an industry I love and ill enjoy working in.

What other options did you consider? - I considered continuing on in an art based degree, whether that be at AUB or further afield, however this was always a very small possibility, and I have decided to pursue my greatest passion which is music. Alongside this however, lies Languages, in particular Spanish, which together with Art and Music, make up my A level choices. I am still considering the possibility of Spanish alongside music, however wouldn't take a language degree alone. Another possibility for me has always been to take a year out in a Spanish speaking country to spend some time immersing myself in the culture and further improving my language skills, while taking a step back from constantly having to be producing work. I'd love to either volunteer for an organisation, for example the Turtle Conservation programmes that are vey popular currently in Costa Rica, or go back to Cuba on a partnership with the university of Havana.

Give examples of how you have presented yourself and your work to others - I am constantly analysing and evaluating my own work in the studio, but also have kept an up to date blog and record of my work. In the group I sit with in the studio, we are always sharing ideas and sharing work, which is hugely beneficial to me. For example, today I presented my work to my peers aided by a powerpoint, where I summed up my journey over the last few weeks and my work. I also have a thriving Instagram account which I am constantly uploading my work to, which acts as my platform for my online portfolio. As I am not applying to any art universities or art courses, there is no need for me to have a formal online art portfolio, so the account acts more of a virtual documentation for me. I also have my music Soundcloud account where I have presented myself as a musician to universities, and if I do decide to audition at Chichester, I will need to perform an audition piece to them too.