All Roads Lead to Music

Since the start of the application season, our Year 13 students have gained outstanding offers in a variety of areas. This week, we are delighted to have the chance to talk to Molly Y and Kevin Y who will major in Music. It is interesting to note that the paths of these two students are very different yet similar: Molly has been studying piano since she was five years old, and Kevin has only been studying music since he came to DHSZ, but they both share a love and passion for music and chose music production as their majors. 

Molly Y

So far, Molly has received four offers from US universities: Los Angeles College of Music; MI College of Contemporary Music; Full Sail University; and San Francisco Conservatory of Music. And she is still waiting on more offers! 

Kevin Y

Kevin's UK offers include the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, Leeds Conservatoire, Goldsmiths, University of London, and Coventry University; and his US offers include the Los Angeles College of Music, Academy of Art University, and Arizona State University. He has decided to go to the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music. 

All Roads Lead to Music 

Molly has been learning piano since the age of five, initially arranged by her parents, but in the process of learning she met a mentor who inspired her to really enjoy playing music. her growing virtuosity enabled her to go to concerts with her teacher and classmates at the Golden Concert Hall of the Nanjing Poly Theatre, where she has performed as a soloist and as part of an ensemble.

After coming to DHSZ for her IGCSE course, Molly found that she had a keen interest in music theory, music history, and music appreciation. "Before, I was learning to play the instrument alone, but the systematic study of music theory has given me a deeper sense of understanding again. The history of music, for example, gives us an insight into the styles of composition in different periods, and the history of musical instruments gives me a detailed insight into each instrument. When I play a piece after learning this, I feel the story behind it and what kind of emotion it is trying to express. I'm not just playing the piece; it's like I'm presenting the context in which the author wrote it." 

Molly’s mastery of her instruments has given her a very good sense of musicality and has helped her to compose music later on. "When I write a piece, instead of writing it exactly the way it's supposed to be written, i.e. going from chord to chord to complete a phrase, I break those rules and write the main melody based on my own sense of musicality." And having a good grasp of the characteristics of each instrument also helps Molly to be flexible with them. "I'm more comfortable picking the right instrument to reflect what I want to say. For example, if I want to compose a light and bouncy piece, I know how to use the flute to present it." In other words, her perfect sense of musicality combined with her solid theoretical knowledge has made Molly more comfortable in her compositions, and with her portfolio music submitted for the university, she has performed contemporary music on classical instruments, as well as a unique repertoire on Arabic instruments.  

When Molly started thinking about her career plans in Year 10, she also thought about studying economics, actuarial science and other more ‘popular’ subjects, but studying A-Level courses made Molly decide that she wanted to follow her passion for music to guide her future. "When I was preparing for each subject, I found that music was the one that came to me the easiest. People often say that you should choose a major that you love the most or that you are the best at, and I think music is both for me." 

After deciding on music, it was time to explore what specific major to choose. At first, Molly considered studying music education for career planning purposes. “Our music teacher at the time, Mr Mulliner, was a great support to me, but he explained to me that studying music education might be limited and that I could actually study what I wanted to study, such as performance and music production, and if after studying that I was still pretty sure I wanted to be a teacher, I could go back to study something related to music education. I thought that made a lot of sense and made me more confident in pursuing a subject I’m really interested in." In addition to this, Mr Mulliner was Molly's first teacher in learning music production. "He taught us how to pick songs and how to go about building a good music score." 

Mr Mulliner also inspired Kevin's passion for music. Kevin says he didn't know any instruments until Year 11, but a conversation with Mr Mulliner at the time enlightened him and convinced him to learn an instrument. "While he told me that learning an instrument wasn’t essential for making music, it could help me find an outlet for making lyrical music, which inspired me to give it a try.” So Kevin, who loves rhythmic music, picked the drum kit as an instrument to learn from scratch. The practice gave Kevin a deeper insight into how learning an instrument can really help improve musicality. "In making music, even inputting electronic instruments requires notes, for example for those who know piano, they can just play the melody they are inspired to play." 

Kevin said that he didn't really start learning music until after he came to DHSZ. "I needed to work harder and put more effort into it than those who had some foundation in learning an instrument from a young age." He recalls that, when he first came to DHSZ, the music lessons were a bit 'different' from what he thought they would be. In music lessons, he learned music theory from scratch, which was a bit boring but helped him to build a solid foundation in music. "Although I've heard some famous musicians say that inspiration and your own ideas are more important than music theory. I think it's actually important that you have ideas, but only if you have a solid foundation so that you know how to play with your inspiration, so I think that's essential." 

As he was introduced to music theory, Kevin absorbed it like a sponge, and in the process discovered his interest in music production. “On the one hand I felt that music production was more promising, and on the other hand, I had a great interest in digging deeper in this field myself, so I decided to work in that direction." 

Because of his interest in music production, Kevin found a lot of video tutorials online and studied them every day when he could, and he doesn't just copy other people's work. "For example, if someone makes a tune in a certain style, it definitely won't work for me to follow it note by note, because that would always be imitating someone else. So, I often add my own ideas, inspirations, and intentionally listen and study more in general to improve my sense of musicality and appreciation. For good pieces we can learn and explore our own style from them." 

Stand Higher and Look Further 

The atmosphere at DHSZ has given Kevin the feeling that he has more time and space to explore the areas he aspires to, as well as being more motivated, "because I'm surrounded by students who have their own ideas and plans and know exactly what they want, and that all inspired me to want to try more." The school also provides a lot of opportunities for Kevin and his band to take part in various musical events. There was also the House Sing-Off, where Kevin was responsible for recording, mixing and editing for Curie house. 

Molly has also been building up her skills in various school activities day by day and has been involved in many school performance productions after school, acting in ‘Kung Fu’ in 2020, ‘Guys and Dolls’ in 2021, ‘Shrek the Musical’ in 2022, and being part of the orchestra for the Chinese play ‘Spirited Away’.  "I enjoy the fact that we all stay together and rehearse, and it's very rewarding for myself to see the results after the shows."; 

This year she also served as house captain, and her extensive house activities have given her many opportunities to organise and coordinate, gradually honing her leadership skills. In addition to her musical talents, Molly is also a true "sportswoman", being the captain of the school basketball team and participating in the football team. She can be seen everywhere in school sports, which have made her more and more adept at teamwork and cooperation. Moreover, the school's English language environment has helped her improve her English, and she scored a 7 in her first IELTS exam in Year 11. “The full English course allows us to grasp the vocabulary of specialized classes, such as biology, physics, chemistry, economics, and geography We can master the vocabulary used in the classroom naturally, without the need to memorize, which makes IELTS reading and listening exams really easy to do.” 

A combination of musical expertise and a full range of soft skills has brought Molly and Kevin closer to their music dreams, and they have both received help from their counsellor at the final stage of their studies. 

During the university application process, Molly had several detailed discussions with her counsellor, Ms Serena Shi. "Ms Shi advised me to visit the school's official website more often to find out if the course at the school was something I am really into, and she also helped me research the application requirements and the documents I needed to submit for each school and reminded me of each submission deadline. Even during the Christmas holidays, she sent messages following up on my interviews and so on." It was the care and patience of the counsellor team that kept Molly's entire application process organised. 

Ms Shi was also Kevin's counsellor. "I went to talk to Ms Shi once I was sure I wanted to study music, and she gave me a lot of guidance on how to apply and how to prepare to be more likely to be accepted, and she gave a lot of experienced advice on my paperwork, audio/visual submissions, and such. Also, we started preparing for our application in Year 12, and there was a detailed timeline to help us plan in advance so I knew what to complete by what point in time, which I found very helpful." 

Advice for Lower School Students 

For those who are passionate about music, Kevin advises, "I think it's important not to be too eager or rushed, but to take it one step at a time and get a solid foundation in the lower school. If you do decide to study music, you should have a general direction and then refine what you want to study, such as performance, music production, traditional composition, or music management. Once you have a general direction, go steadily in that direction and then at the same time develop your music literacy, music appreciation and listen to as much music as you can. It's really a step-by-step process, and when you have a passion to learn, it really isn’t that difficult." 

Molly also gives her insight: "A lot of people might think that studying music and art is a rather 'artsy’ pursuit, and they might suggest that I should consider a more 'practical' major, such as studying physics, chemistry, biology or business, but I think after all, there are four years of undergraduate study, so I would still advise people to go for something that they are genuinely passionate about to study. Then when choosing a major, start preparing early, especially for majors like art and music that require portfolio preparation, and make better use of your time after class to prepare." 
 

So how do you find your passion? Molly mentioned that the school has a wealth of options for courses from which students can discover their area of interest, and she suggested that attending summer school is also a great opportunity, "Summer school allows students to go and experience the university on the ground, and these are experiences that can help you find the direction you are leaning towards inside." 

We are delighted to see Molly, who says 'learning music makes me happy'", and Kevin, who enjoys music to the beat of a drum kit, both going on to continue their love of music in the world's leading music halls.