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Out of the Box 25 | The Kitchen Lighters

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The first time Isa played a musical instrument they were 7 and their brother had started piano lessons so it was easy to follow in his footsteps. Despite enjoying it, they quit after a couple of lessons because the teachers figured out that they were mostly playing by memory and wasn't good at reading sheet music. Then again at 11 Isa tagged along to their brothers' first trumpet lesson, gave it a shot and was able to make a sound despite having a cold, so the following year started proper lessons. Their dislike for sheet music continued onto a different instrument but due to their natural practical inclination, Isa managed to keep up without having to understand music theory. They then auditioned for the Conservatorio Vincenzo Bellini in Catania and would have got in, had they had enough spaces for trumpets and that was it. They focused on their academic studies and somehow the passion for music got lost along the way. After moving to Scotland at 16 they thankfully gave studying music another chance and got a qualification in Higher and Advanced Higher music. At that point, singing was simply the easiest option to choose as a second study rather than keyboard or bass guitar, which they'd started to have an interest in, alongside ukulele and guitar. After that, unsure what to really do and needing a year before being able to apply to University, due to economical reasons they applied to Edinburgh College to as a first study trumpet player on the pop course. Although being surrounded by music was definitely a step in the right direction, this didn't seem the right fit....

After some exploration here we are: Isa found their calling for jazz singing and improvisation and managed to get into the Royal Conservatoire of Music. They are also putting their photography skills at use by creating a portfolio of pictures of musicians they work with, with the aim of doing gig photography on the side! They also found an interest in designing promotional posters for projects they're involved in and want to be able to provide this as another service! If not on the stage themselves, Isa will always find a way to get involved in music!

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I have chosen the role of performer as I am a singer and trumpet player involved in various ensembles, who is keen to sing and play different styles and genres of music as a session musician.

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-videos performance both in and out of college, as a trumpet player in an orchestral setting, a lead singer and a backing singer in a pop band setting and a big band/ jazz orchestra highlighting my performance etiquette skills and stage presence, technical skills in singing, backing vocals and trumpet playing in different context and ability to perform to very different audiences.

-evidence of first study assessment performances (3)

- evidence of music theory tests, the grade 5 trinity music exam and applications of music theory knowledge, such as improvisation of harmonies, compositions and an arrangement for a big band.

- evidence of research on music business, program notes, legislation on child protection in the context of instrumental instruction

-evidence of research on online promotion and real life application of such content with links to my online promotion musician website and Ivy Big Band social media

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Research on songwriter duo Lennon/McCartney: Blackbird

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Research on songwriter duo Lennon/McCartney: Blackbird

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Highlight essential references

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Justification for research on songwriting 

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Justification for research on songwriting 

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This research on two songwriters and analysis of a specific song, researching its melodic, harmonic, rhythmical and lyrical content is relevant to my chosen role of session musician as it helps broaden my understanding of chord progressions, arrangements of songs and melodies.

This knowledge is necessary when employed in a recording session.

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Programme note for Twisted by Annie Ross

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I have included evidence of my research on music business concepts such as copyright, recording, management and publishing contracts because an understanding of such is essential for session musicians.

Knowledge of music business allows session musicians to protect their intellectual property, negotiate fair terms and understand contracts, as they typically sign them for recording sessions and their fees are based on what rights they are granting.

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I've included this artifacts as it's tangible proof of my understanding of strategies of online promotion, applied to create a musician blog.

Having a website allows for a digital portfolio with possibility for individuality and branding. Being able to apply these concepts to a real life context and be familiar with online promotion tools such as website creation is essential for self-promoting session musicians.

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I chose to include this recording of me singing and improvising over a jazz standard at a jam as it highlights essential qualities needed for a performer and a session vocalist.

This demonstrates:

my singing and improvisational skills, that are needed in the genre of music i want to focus on, but also are helpful in any session musician setting

my understanding of jam etiquette, having a good ear and silent communication on stage with musicians when it comes to taking solos.

This is also a good form of non digital networking, as going to jams is an excellent way to not only meet musician but be able to play with them and form connections.

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Justification for research on a vocal piece 

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Justification for research on a vocal piece 

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I chose to include the research I did on this song because I researched the genre, vocalese and bebop jazz and also researched an analysed the original song versus an interpretation of the song by a different singer.

This is relevant to my chosen role because as a session musician you may be involved in any style of music, and this artefacts highlights my research skills needed to expand my knowledge of different genres of music.

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When researching Annie Ross and the song "Twisted" I found this article helpful as it gave me an insight on the origin on the piece, originally a saxophone tune by Wardell Gray, and explained that Ross added lyrics to in the style of jazz vocalese.

Severino, R., 2023. Annie Ross – “Twisted”: Best Song to Describe Myself. [online] Roberto Severino, 22 Oct. Available at: https://robertoseverino.com/annie-ross-twisted-best-song-to-describe-myself-digital-marketing/ [Accessed 9 Mar. 2025]

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This artifacts contains my research on:

online strategies including SEO, social media and email marketing;

evaluation of four platforms for promotion (Tik Tok, YouTube, Instagram and websites);

research on the financial models of online platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music and Bandcamp;

research on trends in online music distribution such as short form video platforms and artificial intelligence.

I chose to include it to highlight my understanding of such concepts, which are important to know as a session musician in this digital age.

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Many shades of black - Adele, the Raconteurs

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Many shades of black - Adele, the Raconteurs

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Many Shades of Black by Adele and the Raconteurs (EUJO Time Machine)

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Trinity College London Grade 5 Isabel Nardo

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(Supporting evidence) Concepts included in the Grade 5 Trinity Theory Exam

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(Supporting evidence) Concepts included in the Grade 5 Trinity Theory Exam

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Alfie by Burt Bacharach (Dionne Warwick)

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I've included evidence of my understanding of music theory as alongside technical skills, it's one of the most vital skills to have as a session musician.

In a session context, whether that be a gig or a recording session, session vocalists may be asked to sign-sing a song, apply knowledge of intervals by improvising harmonies or be able to transpose and change the key of a song.

Also, having the musical language that is included in the Trinity music exams is essential for effective communication when collaborating with musicians

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Performance of "Rehab" by Amy Winehouse with EUJO at The Liquid Rooms

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Performance of "Rehab" by Amy Winehouse with EUJO at The Liquid Rooms

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Rehab by Amy Winehouse EUJO Time Machine

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I included a selection of solo pieces that showcase versatility in my singing, going from vocalese jazz, soft alternative pop all the way to a ballad which was composed for a movie.

Genre flexibility is vital for session musicians as it broadens your possibilities for gig or recording opportunities. It also demonstrates a mastery of your instrument.

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Valencia Edinburgh Stands With You - Student Marathon Concert - LIVE!

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Edinburgh College Music students perform a marathon concert to raise money for those affected by the floods in Valencia. Donate at https://justgiving.com/cro…

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Reharmonization of Watermelon Man (composition 1)

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Reharmonization of Watermelon Man (composition 1)

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Program notes and evaluations of solo pieces 

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Program notes and evaluations of solo pieces 

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First Study program notes and evaluations

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Research on child protection legislations

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Research on child protection legislations

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Performance of "Hot Stuff" by Donna Summers with Ivy Big Band at The Caves

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Performance of "Hot Stuff" by Donna Summers with Ivy Big Band at The Caves

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I chose to include these two videos of live performance outside of college as they show my technical singing abilities, stage presence, live performance experience singing lead vocals in a big band setting.

The videos also show my performance etiquette and professionalism on stage.

This highlights my versatility as a singer, as my other evidence for live performance is in different genres and settings.

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how the research has impacted a real life online promo

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Welcome back to Instagram. Sign in to check out what your friends, family & interests have been capturing & sharing around the world.

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Big band arrangement of "Is it a crime" by Sade 

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Big band arrangement of "Is it a crime" by Sade 

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Second study instrument - Jazz Suite No. 1: III Foxtrot by Shostakovich EC Orchestra

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Second study instrument - Jazz Suite No. 1: III Foxtrot by Shostakovich EC Orchestra

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Jazz Suite No. 1: III Foxtrot by Shostakovich EC Orchestra

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I chose to include this video as it demonstrates my ability to play the trumpet in an orchestral setting.

Proficiency in multiple instruments is a good quality to have as session musicians as it increases your possibilities for employment and highlights your overall musicality and talent.

Trumpet playing also provides transferable skills in music, such as transposition, sight-reading and many more that I can apply to my singing. For example, orchestral settings require a good ear for dynamics and coordination within a musical ensemble, skills that are needed in recording sessions.

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Instrumental Instruction - Third lesson delivery 

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Instrumental Instruction - Third lesson delivery 

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I chose to include this piece of evidence as it highlights a key skill that session musicians need: communication.

My experience of teaching the trumpet for my instrumental instruction unit gave me transferable skills that are relevant to my chosen role, such as effective and clear communication, organisational skills, technical skills in an instrument and being able to relate my chose instrument to my student who was a guitar player and had never played a brass instrument before.

This is particularly important as in a recording session a session musician needs to be able to use musical language that is understandable and can be related to instruments that are different from their own.

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What do you do to continue improving your vocal technique and musicianship?

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What do you do to continue improving your vocal technique and musicianship?

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I try to keep growing by always challenging myself and stepping out of my comfort zone. I don’t like sticking to just one genre or style, as I think exploring different kinds of music helps me stay creative and flexible as a vocalist. Whether it’s trying out a new technique, learning a song that’s totally different from what I usually sing, or even just improvising, I like pushing myself. It keeps things exciting and helps me discover new sides of my voice. I also listen really closely to artists I admire and try to understand their phrasing and emotional delivery there’s always something to learn from great musicians.

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Performance class - " 'Til I'm done" by Paloma Faith

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Performance class - " 'Til I'm done" by Paloma Faith

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Evidence of recording session doing backing vocals

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How do you prepare for a recording or a live session?

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How do you prepare for a recording or a live session?

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The first thing I do is make sure to learn the material thoroughly, covering lyrical, melodic and emotional content, as preparation is the key to a confident and successful delivery. I make sure to be well rested and hydrated beforehand, and on the day warm up extensively, adapting my routine to the demands of the material.

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Can you give us an example of a time you had to adapt quickly during a performance or a recording session?

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Can you give us an example of a time you had to adapt quickly during a performance or a recording session?

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During a recent performance with the Ivy Big Band, which typically features six vocalists, three singers were unexpectedly unable to attend. This meant several parts, including harmonies and backing vocals, had to be quickly reassigned. I was asked to cover someone else's backing vocal parts with very little time to prepare. I adapted by listening carefully during the soundcheck, taking quick notes, and communicating with the remaining singers to ensure our harmonies blended well. It was a challenge, but it also highlighted the importance of flexibility, teamwork, and staying calm under pressure—especially in a live performance setting

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Can you tell us about your vocal range and style?

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Can you tell us about your vocal range and style?

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I'm an alto with a range going from Eb3 to B4, reaching a C5 in my falsetto. My vocal style is soft, intimate, and emotionally expressive, with a smooth, almost conversational tone. It has a gentle, smoky quality that lends itself well to jazz, which is my favorite genre. I draw influence from artists like Nina Simone, Jeff Buckley, Norah Jones, and Amy Winehouse, and I aim to blend jazz phrasing with elements of soul, R&B, and funk. My voice sits comfortably in the lower register, and I focus more on emotional delivery and phrasing than on vocal power, using dynamics and tone to create a personal, authentic sound.

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Have you ever had to learn a song on short notice? How did you manage it?

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Have you ever had to learn a song on short notice? How did you manage it?

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Recently I was asked to fill in for a harmony line with very little time to learn the song before the performance. The first thing I got started on was passive learning, a technique that I've found very helpful in similar scenarios. I make the most of the little time that I have by listening to the material as much as I can, having it play in the background on a loop when I'm doing other tasks.

Next, I focus on the structure of the material, prioritising that over the lyrics. With the songs that are more complex structurally I write out the structure with cues for each section, maybe a melody line played by an instrument in the arrangement, bar numbers or anything helpful.

After having nailed the structure I find that trial and error is the best way to learn the lyrics, trying to stop reading them as soon as possible and practice with backing tracks or a metronome to ensure I fully know the song in its entirety.

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I decided to include this artefact as it shows my experience of being in a recording session, one of the main things session musicians are involved in.

This video demonstrates my abilities in harmonies and professionalism, as I improvised some harmonies in real time, adapting to the circumstances, which is a very common scenario that session musicians are exposed to, so developing these skills is essential

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Music theory (composition) - "All of me duet"

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Music theory (composition) - "All of me duet"

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I've included two of my compositions as they are an application of music theory.

The first composition is a reharmonization of a song, which demonstrates knowledge of chords and creativity, skills that are essential for session musicians, as they are sometimes employed to reharmonize or change chord progressions in existing songs. This is particularly common in jazz, the area of music I'm most interested in.

The second composition highlights my skills and understanding of rhythm, which is essential for a session musician, which is required to work with rhythm sections. This demonstrates my familiarity with different genres of rhythm and certain customs of such, in this case bossa nova.

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I included all the program notes and evaluations I've done for my vocal repertoire over the past year because they highlight two important ways of improving your craft.

Program notes require research on the song, including its genre, lyrics, backstory and an analysis of how other musicians have interpreted it, which are essential to make a song your own. As a session musician you need to be able to interpret songs quickly and efficiently, so this research shows that I am improving this essential skill.

Being able to assess a performance, and evaluate the highlights and the areas that need improvement is vital for progress and excercises the critical thinking skills that are necessary in contexts like a recording session.

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This piece of evidence is relevant to my chosen role because as a session musician I may be involved in workshops, and it's important to know legislations and policies that apply to children in the context of instrumental instruction.

This code of conduct is also helpful in any teaching context, not just involving work with children.

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Justification for live performance artefacts

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Justification for live performance artefacts

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I made sure to include videos of me singing different genres of music in different contexts and settings to show versatility, adaptability to different genres and proficiency in such. This also shows my ability to adapt my vocal interpretation and stage presence to the venue I'm in and instrumentation.

1. Fly as me by Silk sonic

This is a great example showcasing ability to be a lead vocalist in a pop band setting and arrange backing vocals to work with me

2. Strong Enough by Boygenius

This is a great example of session work as I was asked to do harmonies for a band and only ran through the piece a couple of days before the performance, still maintaining professionalism. This was also successful networking as I saw the band perform, introduced myself and expressed my availability to them.

3. any shades of black by Adele and The Raconteurs

I chose to include this as it shows my ability to adapt my vocal performance to a big band setting, as I was performing with the Edinburgh University Jazz Orchestra. This also demonstrates quick adaptability and professionalism in a performance despite minor rehearsal times.

4. To thine own self by Astro & Stella

This performance shows vocal versatility and creativity as it's an original piece that I contributed to melody-wise.

The genre and the setting is very different to most of my performances, showing versatility and my ability to change my stage presence to a different audience in the context of a charity concert.

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I included this as it's a real life application of the research done on strategies of online promotion. I've applied these techniques by contributing to the creation of a social media plan tailored for our target audience, creating inviting posters for gigs and adapting our choice of content to the most proficient current trends in online promotion, for example short form content.

Skills in self-promotion and especially online promotion are essential for a session musician in this digital world as social media is one of the biggest ways of networking with other musicians and finding opportunities of employment.

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When learning "Strong Enough" by Boygenius I listened and studied a lot of live renditions of the songs to help with my own interpretation and understand how the harmonies in the songs interlinked with each other as I was asked to fill in a particular harmony like for the Mash House gig. I found the performance linked below especially helpful as it's an acoustic, stripped down version of the song, that allowed me to focus on the vocals and their delivery

boygenius (2023) Not Strong Enough [Live @ SiriusXM]. YouTube video, added by boygenius. Available at: https://youtu.be/ZfokuIAhcFc (Accessed: 25 April 2025)

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Before starting my bossa nova composition I did some research:

Zahner, K. (n.d.) Bossa Nova Beat For Drum Set. Rhythm Notes. Available at: https://rhythmnotes.net/bossa-nova-drum-beats/ (Accessed: 23 March 2025).

This article was particularly helpful to me as it explains how to cover the three essential bossa nova rhythm parts, which are usually played on Brazilian instruments, to a traditional drumkit.

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I chose to include this artifact as it demonstrates my ability to apply music theory concepts such as chord progressions, intervals and transposing instruments such as the trumpet and saxophone when composing a piece.

I also chose to include this as it's very relevant to me and my area of specialisation as a jazz singer, as I composed two horn lines to go over the chord progression of a jazz standard, "All of me".

Being able to write melody lines for jazz standards is a skill necessary for jazz session musicians. However, this is a transferable skill to any genre of music, which is also needed for session musicians.

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When researching Annie Ross and the song "Twisted" I found this article helpful as it gave me an insight on the origin on the piece, originally a saxophone tune by Wardell Gray, and explained that Ross added lyrics to in the style of jazz vocalese.

Severino, R., 2023. Annie Ross – “Twisted”: Best Song to Describe Myself. [online] Roberto Severino, 22 Oct. Available at: https://robertoseverino.com/annie-ross-twisted-best-song-to-describe-myself-digital-marketing/ [Accessed 9 Mar. 2025]

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I chose to include this score of an arrangement of "Is it a crime" by Sade for a big band as it demonstrates my arranging and transcription skills, familiarity with a music software such as Muse Score, creativity and is an application of music theory concepts as I had to write parts for transposing instruments, write in bass and treble clef and use my knowledge of intervals and chords to create harmonies within the different parts.

These are all vital skills for any session musician, but they are even better to have as a singer as it's good to familiarise yourself with how different instruments work and what role they have in different ensembles so you're able to communicate more effectively in recording session or even gigs.

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How do you handle conflicts or disagreements in a collaborative setting?

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How do you handle conflicts or disagreements in a collaborative setting?

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The first thing I do is let the situation diffuse if it needs to, focus on the big picture, listen and take time to understand everyone's opinions before voicing my personal opinions.

When doing so I try to be as objective as possible, maintaining professionalism and prioritising the music.

To solve the disagreements I always try to start an open and respectful conversation that allows everyone's voices to be heard, understanding that compromise is important but not undermining myself.

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When researching potential interview questions I found these two articles helpful as they provided a wide variety of questions relevant to my chosen role.

Workbred. (2025). Session Musician Interview Questions (2025 Guide). Available at: https://workbred.co.uk/career/session-musician?page=interview [Accessed 23 May 2025].

Dally, R. (2025). 18 Interview Questions for Music Artists. Available at: https://www.richarddally.com/18-interview-questions-for-music-artists/ [Accessed 23 May 2025]