Whilst completing my second year of Music Production at UCLan, I was selected to take part in the GSM’s first trip to Uganda along with three other undergraduate students. Whilst in Uganda, I had the opportunity to work with local musicians to record and sample their music, whilst taking in the enriching cultural surroundings of Jinja and Kampala.
Visiting Uganda proved to be a truly life altering experience for me, on both a personal and professional level, as I had previously never experienced a culture so different from my own, and I was required to apply my skills in a variety of environments which were unlike any I had worked in before.
After seeing the benefits that my work with the GSM could provide to the charities and the people that I was lucky enough to meet and engage with, I became deeply invested in the GSM project after we returned to the U.K. Working closely as part of a small team, my role was to compile and edit audio recordings and samples, in order to build high quality digital replications that could then be sold to fellow musicians and producers online. Through this process, I developed a strong working relationship with fellow team member Jack Davenport, and we went on to form our own small company which developed music for short films, advertisements and other types of visual media.
Following the successful launch of the Uganda sample package, I was invited to be a part of the GSM’s second trip to Cyprus during my third year at UCLan. Whilst in Cyprus, I was tasked with upskilling other undergraduate students, as this time the project team had grown to incorporate more members, and as such we were able to maximise our fieldwork activities. I really enjoyed being able to extend my working processes to others and watch as they adapted my methods to suit their own preferences, and I have since taken part in a few similar workshop experiences, where I have been asked to detail the techniques I often use in the development of new sampler instruments.
Working with the GSM provided me with opportunities to explore areas of music, practice and research that I would otherwise have been unlikely to develop an interest in. The benefits of working in real world environments, and within different cultures and social landscapes cannot be understated, and it is these experiences which ultimately have led me to embark upon a postgraduate degree at UCLan, where I’m currently exploring new methods in the collection, storage and dissemination of sound archives.
