Dear blog readers,
I am curious to know firstly if anybody out there has heard of Laura Marling? Secondly have you been to see her perform?
For the benefit of those who dont know, she is 20 years old from Reading and a rising folk singer and guitarist. She is strongly associated with Noel and the whale and they backed her on her first solo album. Her music draws comparisons to Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan and folk music in general from the late sixties and early seventies.
Having read about her in an article in the Sunday Times, I downloaded her album and a few rare live tracks and immediately was impressed with her style of music, in particular lyrically. I believe she is a stand out artist, who although may seem slightly old fashioned in todays RnB/Hip Hop music world but I am a true admirer of her talents and attempts to put folk back on the centre stage.
I went to see her perform at the Rescue Rooms in Nottingham, November 2008. There were 300 people in a very small room, but it was amazing to stand so near to her. She was a lot of smaller than I imagined! A real modesty about her on stage, but her performance blew me away. I especially remember a track which she said she had not long begun writing for her next album called "Rebecca" however I havent seen or heard this track again? I would love to quiz her on music, influences to learn more but just to be there to listen so closely to her perform that day was mesmerising!
Perhaps in the future, those small venues will be a thing of the past. Maybe I will get to see her perform again? I only wish I had taken a camera with me! But the memories will remain with me always.
Tuesday, 28 September 2010
Monday, 27 September 2010
My studies at Brunel
My student life at Brunel
As Albert Einstein once said, "There are two ways to live your life. One is though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle". I guess as a 24 year old student beginning my undergraduate course, I can use a philosophical statement such as this and say I can relate to the latter part of Einsteins wise take on life. Actually, I believe neither way is a bad way and the sentence is a bit of a paradox!
I decided that my time to learn a degree had not passed me by and as late ago as 2 years, I took steps to move closer towards university. I had only a couple of reasonably good GCSE results behind me and I felt that I would benefit substantially from doing an A level part time as a home study course, while I continued to work. I managed a good result and now I am here waiting to begin the hard work!
Some people advised me that doing a degree is hard enough for students who go straight from school and are more than acquinted with the process of studying hard, taking exams having done this the whole of their academic lives, could I possibly expect to go into university and achieve this? I had very little in the way of academic qualifications and I had been out of full time education for 6 years. Not to mention the financial burden I would be placing on myself!
Having only just started my course, it is impossible to reply with a realistic answer yet. However, regardless of the result of my degree I feel that if you have a certain motivation and passion towards something that you feel 100 percent certain the advantages weigh out the disadvantages, you should give yourself the benefit of that doubt and go for it. I have no doubts this will test me to the fullest, but I have my heart in it and know that I will most certainly go for it!
After all, Einstein himself as smart as he was in his profession was not an expert in everything he encountered. Everybody has weaknesses and some do not excel as well as others. But where the opportunities allow it, everybody deserves the chance to try and prove themselves. But I believe, on the condition they do it for no one else more importantly than themselves! Bring on these challenges. I look forward with great eagerness for the results that await!
www.brunel.ac.uk
As Albert Einstein once said, "There are two ways to live your life. One is though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle". I guess as a 24 year old student beginning my undergraduate course, I can use a philosophical statement such as this and say I can relate to the latter part of Einsteins wise take on life. Actually, I believe neither way is a bad way and the sentence is a bit of a paradox!
I decided that my time to learn a degree had not passed me by and as late ago as 2 years, I took steps to move closer towards university. I had only a couple of reasonably good GCSE results behind me and I felt that I would benefit substantially from doing an A level part time as a home study course, while I continued to work. I managed a good result and now I am here waiting to begin the hard work!
Some people advised me that doing a degree is hard enough for students who go straight from school and are more than acquinted with the process of studying hard, taking exams having done this the whole of their academic lives, could I possibly expect to go into university and achieve this? I had very little in the way of academic qualifications and I had been out of full time education for 6 years. Not to mention the financial burden I would be placing on myself!
Having only just started my course, it is impossible to reply with a realistic answer yet. However, regardless of the result of my degree I feel that if you have a certain motivation and passion towards something that you feel 100 percent certain the advantages weigh out the disadvantages, you should give yourself the benefit of that doubt and go for it. I have no doubts this will test me to the fullest, but I have my heart in it and know that I will most certainly go for it!
After all, Einstein himself as smart as he was in his profession was not an expert in everything he encountered. Everybody has weaknesses and some do not excel as well as others. But where the opportunities allow it, everybody deserves the chance to try and prove themselves. But I believe, on the condition they do it for no one else more importantly than themselves! Bring on these challenges. I look forward with great eagerness for the results that await!
www.brunel.ac.uk
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