From Percussion Rooms of the World Vol.20 | Greenwich, England Marika Tsuchiya

My name is Marika Tsuchiya and I am currently enrolled in the master's program at Trinity Laban Conservatoire Graduate School in the UK. I would like to write about the circumstances of music colleges in England, life as an exchange student, etc. in my own handwriting.

●About Greenwich

First, I would like to introduce a little bit about Greenwich, where I live.
Greenwich is a leafy city along the River Thames, approximately 40 minutes by train southeast of central London.
It is also a popular tourist spot that is visited by tourists on weekends.
Britain is famous for its pubs, and Greenwich is also crowded with people from mid-afternoon until around 11 p.m. Students also often go to pubs after classes or concerts.
Unlike central London, it is a city with a calm, local atmosphere.

●About the Conservatoire

Trinity Laban Conservatoire has three faculties: dance, music, and musical theater.
Originally, the Department of Dance and Music was a separate university, Laban Dance Center and Trinity College of Music, but merged in 2005 to form its current form.

Classes are basically completed within the faculty, but there is also a chance to interact with other faculties during a two-week project called CoLab (the atmosphere is an art festival, but it is a compulsory unit) held in February. I took part in planning an almost improvised opera, and in addition to performing, I also danced and sang.
In addition, instrumental music majors have the chance to be involved in an actual musical performance during the musical theater faculty exam. The School of Music's one-year schedule is quite busy, with orchestra and wind band concerts held once each term, as well as ensembles for each major, brass ensemble (brass + percussion), Afro-Cuban band, new music concerts, etc. In between, graduate school classes are held for two hours each, two days a week.

Ensemble practice begins two weeks or at least two days before the concert. I felt it was a good thing to have so many opportunities to perform as a project is completed in a fairly short period of time. Also, during the exam period (I was in the middle of the exam period when I was writing this article), students majoring in composition will ask me to perform their exam pieces, so some people's schedules can be quite hectic. Personally, classroom learning was the hardest for me. My brain exploded every time I listened to a two-hour lecture in English, had discussions, and did assignments...

●About percussion major

The percussion major is divided into two courses: timpani/percussion instruments and drum kit/percussion instruments, and I am enrolled in the timpani major.
This year, there are 11 undergraduate percussion students and 2 graduate students. I was very surprised to see that nine of them majored in drum kits. However, both courses must cover all genres, including classical, Latin, and jazz (in addition to percussion majors, there are also jazz majors, but drum kit students must be able to play jazz as well).

Most students take lessons under four to five teachers. Graduate students receive 38 hours of private lessons per year and can freely allocate their time to each teacher, allowing them to create a lesson curriculum that suits their future career path. Master classes are held once every two weeks on average and cover topics such as orchestral studies, drum kits, musicals, and jazz vibraphone. We also offer private lessons with external instructors.

●About percussion instruments used

Premier is a British percussion instrument manufacturer.
Most of the instruments at the university are from this manufacturer. Timpa has two sets of Premier Elite (plastic head) for actual use and practice. Genuine leather Adams Symphonic and Dörfler. I have a Hawkes and Co. baroque timpani.

I use Premier, Yamaha, and Pearl for snare, Premier for bass drum, and Grover and Black Swamp for tambourine.

The matching cymbal is Sabian. As for other cymbals, drum kit players are very particular about them, and most people have mycinbals, but Zildjian and Sabian are also popular.

I have one Marimba One, two Adams 5-octave marimbas, and two 4-1/3 octave marimbas. We have one vibraphone from Bergerault, two from Musser, and one from Premier. There are two types of glockenspiel: one in a box (Yamaha) and one with a pedal (Bergerault).

The congas and bongos are LP and Gon Bops, and the drum set is Yamaha and Prems.

When I was a student at Tokyo College of Music, majors had to do everything by themselves, such as moving instruments, loading and unloading trucks for rehearsals and performances, but here, a specialized crew (student part-time workers) basically takes care of all the arrangements, so it's much easier.

I hope that by reading this article you can learn a little more about the situation at music universities in the UK. I will continue to work hard in my second year of graduate school.

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Marika Tsuchiya Profile

Graduated from Tokyo College of Music and completed a non-degree course at the same graduate school. Currently enrolled in the Master of Music course at Trinity Laban Conservatoire Music and Dance. Trinity College London Scholarships Scholar. He has studied percussion with Jun Sugawara, Chieko Sugiyama, and Michael Doran, marimba with Hidemi Murase and Calum Huggan, timpani with Nigel Thomas, and Latin hand percussion with Mari Sekine and Hugh Wilkinson.