Life as a music student at NAFA

I'm done with my recital! So that's it, 3 years of my Diploma in Music Performance gone by. It has been a fulfilling journey so far and I feel in the mood to share my experience of how the course is like.

Entering the course, I already had set my sights on becoming an orchestral player. It was something I wanted to do from the moment I said to myself that I want to become a musician. However, experience and knowledge wasn't on my side. I knew very little of the repertoire, I have never played in an orchestra before NAFA. As I entered my first year, I think I was quite lucky to be able to play in orchestra straight away. It wasn't easy, and I had to come to terms with the precision needed. Technique was also in the way; I was very far from being consistent and intonation was always a struggle. But I kept the mentality of working hard, I knew I had to. Also, when I was in my first year, I had a senior who got me to come to school in the mornings to do exercises together and that's something that developed into a habit for me. Music theory was a slight struggle but I pulled through as I had classmates who had learnt the stuff before and I could always seek help from them. Aural was also a struggle especially pitch and throughout my three years it would be something I would quite unknowingly, become better at, although not fantastic even now! Between the first and second semester of first year, I took many projects and I really learnt quite a bit from there. More orchestral experience (especially etiquette) was gained during the break. After an uneventful second semester, the second year came. A change in the syllabus after the signing of the RCM agreement meant our academic syllabus especially for theory changed quite a lot. We now had to do both piano and actual theory in less contact hours per week. That was a big struggle as I have absolutely zero skill on piano; I just know which key plays what pitch. So for one year under this program, I did struggle quite a lot but again I pulled through somehow. A very influential trip to Italy really opened up my mind as to what the industry is about. Standing in the circle of big name players, playing for them, learning from them and hearing them play for one whole week was really big inspiration for me. I found I approached music almost completely differently when I came back. I paid a lot more attention to what really matters, playing whats on the page, bringing the notes to life. At this point I gained a lot more confidence in my playing. I would know when I put on a bad representation of myself and when I didn't, I'd know I should take it to the next level. Positive feedback was always an encouragement for me to further my standards. In the second semester, Mr. Lim Yau was appointed head of orchestral studies and he too really opened my mind a lot. His thought out way of dealing with the orchestra and improving its standards can be very easily seen today. Under him, I gained even more understanding of how an orchestra functions and what are the demands we can expect out there. Overall, it was a really fruitful year in school. Following that, I took the challenge of playing 2nd trombone in OMM for 6 months. Playing tenor itself was a challenge, but playing 2nd really opened up even more of my perspectives as to how important the part is and that it takes a lot of sensitivity to play the part correctly. As I got more comfortable on the tenor, I'd push myself even further to make myself a better 2nd trombone player. The need to constantly be listening to the 2 players either side of me, adjusting sound, intonation and articulation was kinda forced upon me and I'm glad for it because it's something we should all be doing as high-level musicians but it might not be apparent to us unless in cases like playing 2nd trombone. Had lots of fun on tour with OMM and looking back, my confidence grew and grew as I started to know more through knowledge gained in school and experience gained from being actively playing. At this point, with this knowledge and experience, I start to wonder how some people can get through music school with the attitudes they carry. They don't seem to have a goal to aim for nor do they seem very keen or motivated to working hard towards achieving something truly useful. It begins to dishearten me what kind of people we have here who are supposed to be representatives of the music scene here. Of course there are really good examples, but to me they are far outnumbered by the others. I really did find the school dry of initiative, of creative juices and encouragement. I'd see myself trying to help but I did feel that I lacked support. Perhaps it was because I didn't try hard enough and it's probably stuff I should continue working at and putting even more effort into. Third year did feel a bit of a routine. A trip to Holland gave even more inspiration, taught me a lot about phrasing, how to practise more efficiently and network as well. My first professional audition came and even though I didn't win the freelance position, it gave me really valuable experience as to how I should prepare for an audition. A change in teacher in the second semester did mix things up a bit but it was refreshing to be learning from someone else and have insights I wouldn't get had my previous teacher stayed. I won my first big audition under him (AYO), and although not professional, I consider it to be of high level. There was one module I didn't really like and it was Instrumental & Vocal Teaching. To me, the outreach part in the second semester didn't really help me at all and didn't seem to fit what the module should be about. I was glad when we finished it off. After that, all I had to do was focus on the exams and recital and they went through quite smoothly, save the history exam. Recital was quite a nice experience, most things went to plan. And so, poof! Here we are! Yes I know slightly over a week has passed since but most times I'm trying to enjoy life, exercising, playing more games, watching more TV. These were things I didn't do while I was focusing on my studies. It didn't seem like sacrifices to me because I enjoyed mostly what I was doing in school. I definitely enjoy playing my instrument and it really kept me going all these years. I really do not regret going down this road. It is not easy, it requires a lot of hard work, patience, humility and dedication but in the end, it is enjoyable if you can combine those.

So yup, that was a very brief summary of my life as a music student at NAFA. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to write to me on Facebook! I'll try to keep updated throughout the holidays with my activities. That's all for now, goodnight!