Hi there! Many of you know that I recently completed my Bachelor of Music degree (BMus) at the Royal Holloway, University of London, but many of you don’t know that music wasnot my first choice of a career. Growing up, music played an integral part of my everyday life. From the age of 5, I was playing the steelpan and the piano with Mrs Bernadette Roberts and Mr Ian Anthony. Around this time, like many youngsters, I wanted to be a policeman or a fireman. Perhaps it was the idea of the uniform that attracted me. By the age of 7, that quickly changed to a desire to fly.

Being a pilot became the focus of my attention for a few years until I visited the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, when I decided Astronaut! definitely Astronaut.

My Aunt and Uncle who reside in Florida often joked with my parents that I’d be the first person to play pan in space. I became so obsessed with space that the aforementioned aunt and uncle, together with my parents took my to Space Camp at the Kennedy Space Centre. Here I discovered the
concept of engineering and the idea of aeronautical and aerospace engineering. This became another obsession and one that stuck with me all the way to Form 5 (I would have been 16 at the time). I remember the next change in decision really well, because I had been visiting Tobago with my friend, Adrian, and we went to see the movie, San Andreas. In the movie I was introduced to a geophysicist. That was my decision. I was going to go to Caltech, or really any university that would have me, and study geophysics.

When I began sixth form (A’ Levels), I took Pure Mathematics, Applied Mathematics, Physics and Music. I was introduced, properly, to the world of waves and all that was the physics of sound and the movement of sound and soundwaves. ‘This is going to be my career.’ And so, I did some digging and discovered the field of Acoustical Engineering. Acoustical engineers are integral in designing everything from professional recording studios, to movie cinemas and performing arts centres. Now, this is often the time where we start looking at making our applications for university, so I began losing myself in searching for which universities offered this, and how I could maximize on the opportunity and much more.

BUT THEN… I started Caribbean Studies, which is a mandatory subject at the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (C.A.P.E. – the Caribbean A’ Level equivalent) and is ‘an interdisciplinary subject that encompasses social sciences and humanities…in order to provide a deeper understanding of Caribbean society and culture.’ While pursuing this, I discovered a passion for politics and for the Caribbean’s role in the international community and decided that a career as a diplomat might be exciting and very fulfilling.

So all this roundabout and I still didn’t reach the music yet. Well after graduating from Naparima College (San Fernando, Trinidad), I opted to take a year-off or gap year. I was working on my UCAS application, writing about how I look forward to making a change in the world and to being an ambassador for Trinidad. and Tobago, but something kept popping up in my writing – Music! I called my mother and, I suppose one would refer to this as the ‘quarter-life crisis’? Well I decided that I wanted to wake up every day and be excited to go to work and to just do something I love and so I selected everything on the word document, clicked delete and started again, writing as an aspiring musician, composer and conductor.

But you thought it stopped there. While pursuing my music degree, I was introduced to a field of music research referred to as Ethnomusicology. ‘Ethnomusicology is the study of music in its social and cultural contexts.’ I did two Special Study dissertation projects at the end of my third year of my BMus (Special Study: Dissertation – ‘Religion, Education and Steelpan – An examination of the role of religious and educational institutions in promoting steelpan as a national symbol in the twenty first century’ – and Special Study: Theory and Analysis – ‘Calypso: The Rhythm of Trinidad and Tobago – An analytical examination into the role of rhythms and global influences on Calypso music.’) I am now pursuing a Master of Music degree at the Royal Holloway, University of London with a primary focus on Ethnomusicology and a secondary focus on composition.

So why share all this information? Perhaps you are just out of high school and don’t know what to do yet. Or perhaps you are still in high school and just confused about what subjects to take, or where life will take you. Or perhaps you have finished a degree and are not working, or maybe you are working but are just feeling unfulfilled. This blog is for you to realize that, hey! life is not always the glamorous, ‘I’m going to be a doctor, lawyer or engineer’ and that’s it. Maybe you want to be one of those and that’s great! Go for it! We always need you guys! But for those of you who are lost, or who might do those things because that’s the mainstream idea, or because your parents insist, I just want to say to you, do what you want to do with your life. Maybe you want to be the next pop singer, or the next actor on Netflix (which are both easier than you think) or maybe you want to be a professor, or a teacher at the elementary/primary school level, or maybe you want to be a business owner or an influencer, or maybe even a YouTuber or a photographer. The world is your playground, my friend. Do what you want to do, do what you enjoy doing, and most importantly, have fun!