Sunday 17 March 2019

Letter home - Jon Selin


Hello, my name is Jon Selin, and im studying music in Centria University of Applied Sciences. I'm doing my internship in Gothenburg University in Sweden.

The course selection is broad and interesting here in Gothenburg University. There's a lot of projects you can participate as an violinist. I joined the schools symphonic orchestra for three big classical projects this fall. There was repertoar from Strauss, Bartok and even some opera. As a violinist, I also had to chance to participate in the world music program and take some classes in improvisation. It was also a priviledge to sing bass in the schools chamber choir that invited me to take part in their concert tour in Verona Italy this spring. In the pedagogical studies there's something called "fieldstudies" that has given me a lot of insight and knowledge of the swedish music education system. We were invited to visit different culture schools in Gothenburg and observe the teaching methods of the local music pedagogues. 

The study culture felt really intense, since everyone was required to fully participate in every class. Those who came late had to do extra assingments for the teachers. There was a lot of exchange students from Finland, so it felt really easy to "fit in" the school. We had a lot of cool gigs and parties in the school and formed this small finnish "party band". The city itself reminded me a lot of Helsinki. You can take ferrys to beautiful islands and go to big concert halls and museums with local trams. It was really hard to find a proper sauna in the city, but the best one was probably at the harbor frihamnen.
Challenging was to wake up early every morning to the drilling sounds of a nearby construction site. The highlight was definitely all the big concerts and performances I was able to participate in.


No comments:

Post a Comment