Some more about the Uni

I guess I’ll start out with my classes. Wednesday I had Baroque Ensemble and The Ethnography of Music. I think that I am going to really enjoy both of them! I am not 100% sure how the ensemble class is going to run yet. It seems like it is a very flexible and fluid group. A bunch of the other musicians that are in that class were apparently still in Europe during class so I am not quite sure even what instruments we have. It sounds like we will break into a number of smaller ensembles and maybe play some pieces with a larger ensemble as well. I know there are a number of Baroque flutes and recorders, at least on harpsichord player, and at least one or two other violinists. I have borrowed a baroque violin and bow for the semester with gut strings and all and I am getting used to playing at 415 without a shoulder rest or a chin rest again. Oh, that reminds me, I need to go get a piece of shammy to help keep the violin from slipping off of my narrow shoulder so much.

The Ethnography of Music is mostly a class about how to do research. I think I am going to try to do my project on dance music or Australian Bush music or something. I’ll have to see what I can find in the library and by asking people. I found a really interesting web page before I left home about some of the dance music traditions: http://www.australian-heritage-dance.com/ellis.html. Peter Ellis lives only a few hours away from Melbourne so I think I am going to try to shoot him an email and maybe I can find my way over to Bendigo to play music one weekend.

On Thursday, I had my Conducting class down at the Southbank campus. It seems like it will be a very fun class. This time we spent about a half-hour waving our arms around in the air and starting to get the feel of conducting. Next week we are all bringing our instruments to form a hodge-podge ensemble to practice conducting. I think it is primarily brass and percussion with a few guitars and a token pianist (I am the only violinist!) so I think it will be fun.

Friday, I had Music and Health. It is by far my largest class with over 410 students enrolled (the rest are around 20). It is going to be a blast! We have two professors in a huge lecture hall. They walked in and started off with some call and response singing. Two of the suggested reading books for the semester are books that I already read this year for fun!

The undergraduate degree system here is a lot more focused than most programs in the US. Most programs run only 3 years and students take almost entirely classes in their degree area. Students really seem excited to be here and focused on their studies more than what I have experienced at home. Classes have a lot fewer assessments, usually just a paper or two throughout the semester that become the basis for your entire grade. I haven’t quite decided yet if I like that idea or if it will just stress me out more. I am going to have at least three big research papers this semester so I guess I’d better get started!