Today marks one year from my final recital at the University of Birmingham (UoB), marking the end of my degree, so I decided to write this retrospective on my experience performing there.
During my time studying at the UoB, I was fortunate enough to be able to participate in a number of performances with different ensembles run by the university. In this article I’ll be discussing my experience playing the violin in these ensembles (I’ll leave my piano playing for another time), and what I learnt from the experience.
UoB Philharmonic Orchestra#
Previously to arriving at UoB I’d not had a huge amount of orchestral performance experience, and so I was somewhat apprehensive joining the UoB Philharmonic orchestra. I still remember the shock of my first rehearsal, a “come and try” rehearsal open to anyone before the auditions. We rehearsed the main theme from E.T., which just so happens to be a really challenging piece of music, and certainly isn’t very sight readable. Fortunately after my first semester in the orchestra my sight reading had improved a lot, and I feel like I found my place in the orchestra.
The auditions for the UoB orchestras were another source of stress in those first few weeks at university, but fortunately they were handled extremely well, and served more as a placement audition to determine where you’ll be sat in the orchestra you’re auditioning for. We’d prepare a piece of music of our own choice, and also perform 2 short extracts from the orchestral repertoire for that semester. It was amusing when we would rehearse the extracts as an orchestra, as one could easily tell that was a portion of the music that everyone had practiced more than the rest.
I also joined the String Orchestra in that first semester, which was a much more chill experience as an un-auditioned orchestra, catering to a wider range of skill levels.
Concert Highlights#
Over my time at UoB I stayed in the Philharmonic and String orchestras, slowly working my way up the chairs of the first violins. We played a variety of repertoire, from film music by John Williams and Ennio Morricone to symphonies from the greats like Tchaikovsky and Dvorak. My highlight concerts would either have to be our performance of Tchaikovsky’s 5th Symphony, or our film music concert consisting of extracts from the Godfather, and various works from Ennio Morricone’s films.
Leading the String Orchestra#
During my final year at UoB I was fortunate to be able to take over as principal violinist in the String Orchestra. As the principal, one has considerably more responsibilities including needing to do any solos, know the music inside out, and have final say in bowings. It was an extreme honour to lead 3 concerts over the course of the year.
Chamber Music at UoB#
Alongside performing with the orchestras, I also participated in a lot of chamber music. I ran on the UoB Music Society committee as Chamber Music Manager for a semester, which gave me not only the opportunity to participate in many chamber groups, but to also organise performance opportunities for the society’s chamber groups. I was in a couple of piano trios in my first year, performing part of Arensky’s piano trio, and Moszkowski’s Suite I (op.71) for 2 violins and piano. In my final year I had the opportunity to be part of a quartet performing the first movement of Dvorak’s string quartet no. 12 and another group playing Copland’s Appalachian Spring. It was a really enjoyable thing, being part of the chamber music network and coming together each week to make music in a low stakes environment.
Solo Performance and Recitals#
That wasn’t all though. I studied music, including solo performance. This involved recitals at the end of my 2nd and 3rd years, alongside regular performance platforms during the semester. These were great opportunities to perform music you were working on, and receive feedback from the head of performance. And I can’t forget the soloist competition, where I performed Mendelssohn’s Violin concerto with piano accompaniment (Thanks Toby!) for the opportunity to perform it with one of UoB’s orchestras. I ultimately didn’t win the competition, but what a fantastic experience to learn an entire concerto and play to my peers.
Looking Back on Three Years of Music Making#
Even though UoB isn’t a conservatoire, it offers fantastic practical music making opportunities for its students, whether they study music or not, and I highly recommend it for the organisation and work that the University Music team put in to give these high quality experiences to the student body. I’ve spoken from the perspective of a classical orchestral musician, and haven’t even touched on the fantastic work done by the Jazz and Folk societies, or the incredible choral work done there. Here’s to a great 3 years of performing at UoB!
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