Rob Jones – Composition mentor & 3rd year composition student

“I always remember being fascinated by the piano when I was younger. I kept on asking my parents if I could have lessons but they said I was tooyoung so I used to bash at the piano anyway. I think eventually they got sick of that and said that I was allowed lessons! I have always sat at the piano when composing because I like trying ideas before I write them down. I also took up the saxophone at the age of 10 which introduced me to wind bands, jazz combos and saxophone quartets. I didn’t really realise I was ‘composing’ music until A Level music when my teacher took a listen to my composition for the course and said that he thought I was quite good at composing and that I could do a degree in composing if I wanted. I remember being shocked by the notion that you could do a degree in composing because at that time I assumed (like many people) that composers were generally dead!  I eventually plucked up the courage to apply for a composition course with the National Youth Orchestra which introduced me to contemporary music for the first time, and my composing life has gone on from there.”