Introduction
Every year the new batch of first year students of YST conservatory starts their journey with a creative project before the beginning of the first semester. This project comes traditionally at the end of the freshman orientation weeks organized by the National University of Singapore (NUS). Our music students would meet for the first time with their instruments and create music together. The challenge for them is to make their own piece from scratch, basically without writing anything down: the process is intensive, like a pressure cooker, there is no score and no conductor, the music is made through improvisation, instant composition and negotiation. Since YST studies are all in the in the classical domain (orchestral instruments, piano, voice, composition and sound registration), the student group is quite homogenous. Most of these students have neither experience in making their own music, nor experience with improvisation or composition. Since it is part of the identity of YST to emphasize
and develop the creative agency of its students, this project is a strong first impulse and signal to set this development in motion.
The 2020 creative project
Where in previous years all students worked together live, the Covid-19 situation took us this year to very unexpected and unprecedented territory. There were so many limitations that at first I only could think of cancelling the project altogether, or postpone it to the end of the semester. The main challenge was to try and realize the project without everyone present in one location at a time. Some students were already in Singapore and free to go, some were in quarantine and locked-up, some were still in their home country unable to take a flight anytime soon. Furthermore, singers were not allowed to sing, and wind and brass instruments were severely limited in numbers and not allowed to play at all with others in the same room. For the students who are present we had to
think about distancing, the maximum number of students in the room and many other things; it seemed almost an impossible task.
The way forward was to start developing ideas asynchronously, following a few tracks at the same time. I proposed the idea to let them create and send video post cards. As a result, each student made four videos: a drone, a folk song, local scenery and a short self-introduction; even before the start of the actual project they posted this on a shared drive, as a way for them to get to know each other. In the final piece some of these materials have been integrated; the pre-recorded videos, the zoom sessions with the remote students and live-playing have become a united whole. The piece itself tries to express feelings of isolation, boredom, fear, the impact of the pandemic, controversies in the news, and ultimately the desire of all of them to play together. The creative process will be presented further and analyzed in the BACKSTAGE section.