I started the first day by becoming familiar with the environment I was in. Everyone at Drake Music Scotland was extremely friendly and soon I felt comfortable being there. I started off with an introduction to Drake Music Scotland, where I learned about their projects and what they did, and how they helped people all across Scotland access music where they otherwise might not be able to. My first task of the day was to help Bas with a database, learning about the importance of keeping up-to-date logs of everything.
I then went on to do more learning with Pete about the Digital Orchestra and how iPads are used with apps to create music.
After that, I was helping Lesley around the studio and when Varifocals band needed a bass player for their practice, I stepped in to help, and somehow managed to do quite well.
The next morning started back in the studio with Lesley and Liveheart, working on two of their original pieces of music and helping adjust the mixer and audio levels. I also helped them and was playing bass in their last song. After that was work in the office learning about Figurenotes, testing the website and packaging Figurenotes magnets.
I later joined the Digital Orchestra, who use iPads to create music. It is impressive seeing this musical technology and how it can be used to create the digital orchestra.
Wednesday started with a meeting discussing technology and software before moving on to set up a talkback microphone in the recording studio for a recording the next week. The process wasn’t without some technical difficulties, however all issues were solved and it provided a great learning opportunity.
Later in the afternoon I was with iPad Lab, creating music with iPads using ThumbJam and improvising. Later on in the day I also helped to set up the laptops for the AMT course the following morning.
On the final day of my work experience, I was with the Singing Group helping to set everything up for them, which included microphones, audio mixer and other items. It was especially exciting for me to meet someone else who also had perfect pitch and shared similar musical enthusiasm as myself.
The afternoon was spent talking to the CEO and doing admin tasks. It was clear to me after this week there is some incredible musical talent at Drake Music Scotland, an incredible community, and that nothing should be a barrier to letting someone access music.
