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Music and Maths 4: Probability and Composition thumb

Music and Maths 4: Probability and Composition

In the last blog post we looked at how strict processes can be used in composition, taking examples mostly from minimalist composers. In this post we’ll be looking at a more open-ended type of process: probabilistic decision making. In the process music we looked at last time, each rule had a single possible interpretation, exactly […]

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The Process of Accepting Feedback. thumb

The Process of Accepting Feedback.

I critique as I read so you get my thoughts as I go. (Big smiley emoji). Excitement welled in my chest. I’d spent years writing my novel, and I was so proud of it. I’d found a critique group, posted my first chapter, and here it was: my very first critique. I could see it […]

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Scale – Why is the scale of things important? thumb

Scale – Why is the scale of things important?

I’m a tutor on OCA’s Interior Design courses. I was sent images of a model made by one of my students. It represented a pavilion design and was well made and interesting to look at. Trouble is, I had no idea how big it was supposed to be. The dictionary definition of scale is “The […]

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The Show Must Go On: Digital Possibilities in the Covid Era for Writers and Learners thumb

The Show Must Go On: Digital Possibilities in the Covid Era for Writers and Learners

  I am sure as a distance learner, you’ll likely be used to incorporating different technologies into your learning experience  – I was certainly Zooming ‘before it was cool’ thanks to OCA meetings and I can’t help but notice how many learning tools we seem to be early adopters of. We’re also lucky to have […]

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Top of the ‘greasy’ pole! thumb

Top of the ‘greasy’ pole!

Those of you who follow our OCA Creative Writing social media – in particular, the @ocawriters Twitter account – may have spotted a few celebratory posts earlier in the year. When we learned the course had achieved 100% student satisfaction in the 2020 NSS survey, we were all absolutely thrilled. ‘NSS’ stands for National Student […]

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Writing Great Visual Descriptions: Less or More? thumb

Writing Great Visual Descriptions: Less or More?

When practicing writing visual descriptions, the scriptwriter works towards applying the few technical rules that are required by scriptwriting standards: scene heading with indication of time and space use of active verbs in the present tense brief paragraphs no camera directions describe only what can be seen and heard Their application aims at shaping the […]

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Foundations Music: Resources thumb

Foundations Music: Resources

Sometimes during study we can hit a stumbling block which we can’t immediately solve by ourselves. When this happens, please don’t suffer in silence or let your studies fall by the wayside. Instead, reach out to your fellow students or your tutor if you’ve hit a brick wall and don’t know how to overcome it. […]

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Stuff that spins out of now thumb

Stuff that spins out of now

At the beginning of October 2020, Helen Rosemier organised a Momentum Session with the theme Contamination/Curation, which was led by tutor, Bryan Eccleshall. Open to OCA students from all disciplines, the idea was to split all participants into groups of five with the brief of creating a curatorial proposal for an exhibition comprising works submitted […]

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A conversation between Foundations Drawing student David Csaba and tutor Cheryl Huntbach thumb

A conversation between Foundations Drawing student David Csaba and tutor Cheryl Huntbach

It may be interesting for prospective students, and others to know a little about your background, your life, and art experience prior to your OCA studies- for example from where you originate (how this may or may not inform your own studies / drawing work / process.   My name is Csaba David and I have  […]

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Using Biological Curiosities for Fiction Ideas thumb

Using Biological Curiosities for Fiction Ideas

There’s a wonderful clip on YouTube that shows an octopus disappearing into the background and becoming, as a consequence, invisible. This is an attribute shared by other cephalopods such as the cuttlefish, one of which I met whilst snorkelling in Indonesia.  The water there is very clear, and the colourful marine life is plentiful and […]

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