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Music Blog Posts- Page 8 of 9 - The Open College of the Arts

To find out more details about the transfer to The Open University see A New Chapter for OCA.

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World premiere of 13 flute pieces by OCA students thumb

World premiere of 13 flute pieces by OCA students

It was a great honour to be invited to lead the first OCA Music Workshop on 12th November. The day focused on compositions for solo flute, and students were asked to submit short pieces which would be discussed during the workshop. A fantastic group of 16 music students descended upon the OCA’s Head Office in […]

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Contemporary Music – progress or … thumb

Contemporary Music – progress or …

Contemporary music can cause passionate enthusiasm in some and complete bafflement in others. For many, there remains a sense of dread, and an expectation of the ‘squeaky gate’ incomprehensibility that has become the new music stereotype. For the general public, classical music is a niche market, and within that, contemporary music has an even smaller […]

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I'm a fan thumb

I'm a fan

You might be a football supporter, love Elvis’s music, read comics, enjoy charity shop purchases or simply be an ardent fan of a local band. Whatever your interests, someone, somewhere will have made a fanzine about it. You may have not come across many fanzines as they tend not to make it onto the bookshelves […]

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It's all about pathos thumb

It's all about pathos

Does a composer write his or her best music at a time of joy, tragedy or tranquillity? There are persuasive cases to be made for all three. Indeed we should probably add a fourth option i.e. none of the above as there are plenty of composers who seemed able to turn out wonderful music on […]

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The art of keeping a sketchbook thumb

The art of keeping a sketchbook

An insight into a student-led collaboration between Music and Fine Art Over the last half year I’ve had the pleasure of visiting exhibitions of two artists local to the North East of Scotland. I was taken by surprise to find – among the seascapes of Frances Walker and Kate Downie – a similar little gem, […]

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A new OCA Course in music on the way! thumb

A new OCA Course in music on the way!

Good news for current and potential music students at the OCA!  We have commissioned Carla Rees to write a new Level 1 Music course.  Gareth’s recent interview with Carla gives some fascinating background on her interests, including her pioneering work on the 21st century flute repertoire and developments with the instrument itself (alto and bass […]

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News: courses coming in the next 12 months thumb

News: courses coming in the next 12 months

OCA is going to be further developing its curriculum in the next 12 months, and there are some exciting new additions to the existing suite as well as a couple of exciting additions to our undergraduate degree programmes. First, there is a new Textiles course at level 1 (HE4) coming in the next few weeks […]

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Carla Rees thumb

Carla Rees

Music Tutor, and soon to be author of the OCA’s second Level 1 Music Course: From The Present To The Past, Carla Rees talks to Gareth Dent about her work. I have many associations with the OCA; I came to the College initially as a photography student, and then later became a tutor on the […]

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Now where did I leave my glasses? thumb

Now where did I leave my glasses?

My reputation as a cool dude when playing jazz (pause for ironic jeers) has taken a bit of a hammering recently as I’ve had to start wearing middle distance glasses in order to see the charts. My optician tells me I’ll soon be needing multifocal lenses. Which brings me to Random Fact Number 742… In […]

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