Masterclass

Sam Coley, Head of Radio and Fun Times

We had a bunch of about 15 highschool students into UCE today to get a “masterclass” in Music Industries and Radio. I took them in the morning for the Music Industries side of things, and fellow kiwi Sam helped them with the Radio.

It was essentially a taster day for education and those areas of future employment for them. I divided them into groups based on their genre tastes, and had them start up their own labels. They then had to scout for new talent (with the help of MySpace) and do a spot of A&R. Once they had ’signed’ their bands, they then represented them on the radio as they were interviewed by their fellow students.

It was largely a spot of roleplay, and they seemed to respond to it really well. As you might expect, there were a few really keen ones — and a couple that just thought everything was hard and unfair.

Here’s the afternoon in pictures (I’m behind the camera, so you won’t see me…)

After work, Bobbie, Jake and I went to the parent teacher meeting at Moseley School. He has to choose the subjects to take at GCSE level. Most of them are chosen for him — and since it’s a language college, he only has two choices. English, Science and Maths are a given, he will do German — and he can choose two others.

He wants to take Music and Art. And I think he should — but we also strongly feel he needs a scholarly academic subject as well as the practical, creative ones. Especially since once he starts the International Baccalaureate, after GCSE (instead of A-Levels), he will only be able to choose one “creative” subject alongside a range of other more academic stuff.

So… we’re looking for a way to accommodate that. We’re going to ask if he can do an extra GCSE, as he has his heart set on both Music and Art — and we’re pushing for History as well (his best and favourite ‘trad’ subject).

He is doing German GCSE early — in year 9 — so one option is to propose that if he gets B or above, that he be excused from taking it again in year 11, as would ordinarily be the case.

Another option would be to let him drop Italian (an extra ‘flavour’ language, over and above German — but not for GCSE) — as well as Religious Education, which is more or less compulsory at the school even if you’re not doing it for the GCSEs. That would make enough room for an extra GCSE option.

And while I think an understanding of comparative mythologies and the central literatures of different civilisations (the Bible, the Koran, etc) — Jake already has a pretty good grasp of that stuff for a devout atheist.

Any way that we can let him do what he’s really passionate about, while ticking all the boxes for the academic and creative balance that he’ll need later in school life, we’ll do our best to try and make happen.

James Brown at the Unit

Eulogy in Breakdance

Jake was staying over at a friend’s place last night, and Bobbie and I had a good night out at the Unit. It was a celebration of the life of James Brown, featuring DJs, a live funk band, breakdancers — and pretty much the entire population of Moseley and Balsall Heath in an enclosed space.

It was put on by (another) Bobbie (Bobbalin Hot) and Amy (Sister 45) — friends of ours that we know through the record shop/cafe we go to — under their DJ promotion moniker ‘Mama Feel Good‘. They must have been stoked at such a huge turnout.

Other friends of ours, DJ Cro and Roy Roast Beef played really great sets — but it all became too much for us by about 2.30 and we were home by 3. The night raged on, no doubt, till 6am, after which a couple of friends of ours (Craig and Val) were off to line up for the Big Brother auditions. Wonder how they’re getting on with that.

I took some shots — mostly of the breakdancers, because I was using my cameraphone and everything else was too dark to get a good photo of. You can see them here.

Incidentally, if you hover your mouse over the image or one of the links, and you get an annoying pop up preview thingy — that wasn’t my doing. It’s some sort of annoying thing that WordPress has got itself involved in, and you can opt out by clicking on the options and choosing ‘never show me this nonsense again’ — or something like that.

The good kind of too busy

Sometimes things get so busy at work, the only thing you can do to avoid getting completely stressed out and ovewhelmed by the whole thing is to sit down with a big piece of paper and map out a calendar for the next few weeks, and then try and figure out how, for the life of you, you’re going to fit all this stuff into that little amount of time.

So that’s what happened today.

Like most people I work with, I’ve got a pile of marking to do, a bunch of things to write, masses of prep to do before the new semester starts — and a whole lot of meetings to have. And all that’s not unusual — but occasionally between semesters, things get stupidly out of hand.

I blame the seasons up this end of the planet. We’ve had a Christmas and New Year, so naturally everyone’s been lethargic for the past month and has achieved almost nothing. But it’s not the summer holiday, so we’re all back to work quick-smart and having to deal swiftly with the fallout of a no-activity Xmas season. In New Zealand, you have until late February to warm up, and then it’s the start of a new academic year, as well as the start of a new calendar year. It makes so much sense down that end of the planet.

And speaking of seasons, it officially became cold today. It’s been so mild for the past few weeks, that I’m told Spring flowers are shooting up everywhere. I was told what their names were, but like anything to do with accountancy and motor vehicle maintenance, gardening information simply falls out of my head the moment it gets there.

Today, ice was thick on car windscreens, and gloves were necessary in order to leave the house. There’ll be snow by the weekend, I’m sure — and to do that, it has to get colder, then warm up. We’ll be sub-zero most of tomorrow. And it’s Open Day at the university: day of the locusts.

Actually, I’m quite looking forward to open day for the first time in ages. Doing Radio for so long has brought in a handful of interested 6th formers and their parents at each open day, and they become convinced that UCE is the right place to study — so they apply accordingly. The calibre is respectable, and the intake more than manageable. The new Music Industries degree has brought in a flood of applications. And some of these people have superb academic track records and industry experience. I’ve gone from presenting one of the ’boutique’ courses to one of the massively popular ones.

Last semester was the first time I’ve ever taught first-years. It’s always been 2nd & 3rd-year undergrads and Masters students. I really enjoyed it. For the most part, they were a great bunch. More of them next year — by a factor of 5 — should be interesting.

But once they go, the piles of marking on my desk will still be there. But fortunately, by now they’re in a system. Those systems tend to last a good few months with me before everything starts to unravel. Then a busy period kicks in again, and I get out another large piece of paper.

Fortunately, I’ve blocked out bits of time to do the blogging. Oddly, it’s only when I get really flat out that I ever set aside the time to write this sort of stuff. Every minute for the foreseeable future is entirely spoken for.

Obviously, there’s some sit around and relax time scheduled in there — but that’s productive lazing time. It’s non-negotiable, do-nothing, battery-recharging time. Otherwise, I’m just not going to cope with the other stuff that fills my calendar to bursting.

So — not overwhelming, but really full on. Motivating, even.

It’s the good kind of too busy.