On Monday 14th I came to Drake Music Scotland for a week of wok experience. I have played with some of Drake’s talented pupils before but couldn’t wait to find out what happens behind their musical doors.
On my first day, Emma gave me a tour around Drake’s section of the building, I especially loved seeing the studios and was excited I would be able to take part in studio sessions during the week. I was then introduced to all the lovely staff. My first job was to write a report about their website to see what could be improved. I spent my afternoon with the band Varifocals that Lesley took, they played some rock classics whilst I accompanied on guitar.
The morning of my second day was spent in a session with a band called Liveheart, they were loud and lively just like a punk band should be. In the afternoon, I was invited to join in with Screaming Rainbows a pop band using Figurenotes and listen to the worlds first ever Digital Orchestra run by Ali and Pete. It was a really inspiring orchestra to watch. I had a great experience playing with lots of different bands playing various styles.
On my third day at Drake I helped Lauren with Figurenotes. I had tweeted a twitter poll on Tuesday for people to vote which Christmas song they’d want Figurenoted, the two favourites were Fairytale of New York and Do They It’s Christmas?. So I spent my morning transcribing standard notation into Figurenotes. In the afternoon, I put together all the Figurenotes folders for the course on Saturday, started on updating Drake’s music files and carried on writing my blog. I got a lot done, hard work pays off.
On Thursday, my day was a mixture of working in the office and sitting in on sessions. I got to join the first Music Technology course in the morning where they were working on pieces of music on the laptops, there were lots of familiar faces and I got shown a lot of new things. In the afternoon I carried on with my task from the previous day that was to update all of Drake’s Figurenoted songs. A bit of organising for Saturday’s course and then I was finished with the day.
Saturday was my last day at Drake and I was helping at their Music Teachers’ Toolbox Course about Figurenotes. I did a variety of tasks throughout the day, helping with refreshments, taking lots of photos and videos and my favourite part, getting to join in and play in Pete’s sessions. There were three different classes and one band session at the end. We played I’m A Believer, Hit the Road Jack and Last Christmas to give it a festive feel.
My time at Drake has been amazing and inspiring. It has given me an insight into the working world and I have thoroughly enjoyed myself. As a musician it has been great to be part of the Drake experience, it was the perfect placement for me. Drake empowers people to grow in confidence and self-esteem, and I feel very lucky to have been involved with the incredible work they do.
Thank you very much to all of Drake Music Scotland’s staff that I have shared my Drake experience with, and for making sure I had and incredible week. I hope to be back soon!
By Lucy Cunningham