As a musician, nothing beats being able to play your music with others. The pandemic made that delicate choreography challenging – but not impossible – as our Music Department has shown.

A second year composition module has been formulated to connect our students across the world and reach wider audiences, offering them an insight into the challenges faced by modern day musicians.

With equal access to these objects, students could explore the sound world that they wanted to create, secure in the knowledge that whether in China or the Caribbean, they could be joined by others able to perform the piece at the same time.

The result – students composing, working and playing music together across eight different time zones, with the potential to shape how musicians work in a post-pandemic world.

The project had students write scores by hand and perform each other’s pieces over Zoom. This was made possible through our Music Department’s distribution of instrument packs, comprised of 15 inexpensive objects made from wood, glass, metal and paper, providing equal access to the same sounds.

With equal access to these objects, students could explore the sound world that they wanted to create, secure in the knowledge that whether in China or the Caribbean, they could be joined by others able to perform the piece at the same time.

As well as creating their own pieces, the project enabled students to write and conduct for others across the world. The results to date have been impressive, with some memorable pieces created and students conducting each other across Zoom calls. All offer an exciting insight into how modern music continues to be shaped by the simplest of objects.

With many new collaborative projects spring boarding from this initial exercise, the Postal Composition Project was well received by our staff and students alike and is now viewed as, not simply a stop gap during a pandemic, but a vital insight into what it is like to perform as a modern day musician.