Thursday 6 August 2015

Gwen James, Violin, talks about her experiences so far this year

Arrival on Monday came with the usual excitement of meeting up with old friends, as well as meeting new people from our flat, section, and the rest of the orchestra. Soon afterwards, the annual realisation hit me that I hadn’t done enough practice, but finding out later in sectionals that I was certainly not the only one was a great relief!

Sectionals and full rehearsals have been great fun, as we make our way through the pieces bit by bit, not only improving on our notes and rhythms, but also our technique – my bowing has improved remarkably!! On Thursday night Paul Daniel arrived to observe our full rehearsal, before conducting us for the first time on Friday morning. He’s such a funny person, and it’s fantastic that we have the opportunity to work with him.

The best social event so far, in my opinion, has to be the tutor’s evening. Everyone had the opportunity to dress up, as we congregated in the dining hall for a 3-course meal consisting of a melon starter, roast chicken dinner, followed by profiteroles (yum!!!) Following this, everyone went over to the Student’s Union where a live band was waiting for us. This resulted in a brilliant evening of socialising and dancing, allowing us to meet more new people and to make some new friends.

The fancy dress evening on Wednesday will be great fun – a definite competitor for the best social evening of the course. The preparation of costumes has been going well, with the gathering of unwanted cardboard boxes from local stores to the painting of the costumes on the kitchen floor in any free time that we have.

Having had the opportunity to rehearse the music with the orchestra, I’m now very much looking forward to the concerts that have been lined up for us. I’m especially looking forward to playing at Theatr Y Ffwrnes in Llanelli as I’ve never been there before, as well as the final concert in St David’s Hall in Cardiff where the atmosphere is always brilliant.

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