Interview with Isobel John

Isobel is a Welsh Music and English BA student in her third year at Royal Holloway. She loves being able to explore themes in musical theatre through performance, as well as studying the likes of Virginia Woolf. Recently, she has taken several opportunities to gain experience in the arts management industry and is looking forward to completing her undergraduate degree with Royal Holloway this year.

Isobel’s top tips:

• There are different ways to absorb information, find what works for you.

• Don’t be afraid to use extensions if you need to.

• Speak to your lecturers and ask for help if you need it.

• Look at the marking criteria.

• If your lecturer has referenced something in the lectures, remember to look at it when it comes to writing essays.

MIEKE:  Today I'm joined by Isobel. Can you tell me what you're studying and what module this piece was for?

ISOBEL: I'm a Music and English student, and this was for a music module in ethnomusicology.

MIEKE: Thank you. Can you tell me a bit about the essay and what inspired you to write it?

ISOBEL:   The essay concerns the concept that music helps us further understand transnational histories and cultures. I was really interested in the topic, we had a good lecture from Tina, who's part of the Music Department. She introduced us to the concept of diaspora within music and how the history of cultures can be studied through the genres of music, but also through lyrics and instrumentation.  I found the lecture really interesting. I thought it was particularly engaging and it was something new for me because, I think going through school you only learn about music within the Western world and within our country, but learning about something new was different and interesting and made me think I should be learning about other stuff than I have before.

MIEKE  Was it difficult to find case studies for this essay or any sources? Did you find it challenging considering we're generally quite focused on Western music?

ISOBEL:  Yeah.  In the beginning, because we had the lecture from Tina and the topic itself was inspired by her writing, and so she had already gotten a few works by her that were helpful when writing it, but also, that kind of helped me search in a way- I used the Royal Holloway library search a lot for stuff like this and it's quite useful. There were quite a few-which I didn't expect, sea shanties are quite a niche topic, so I did not expect to find quite a few works, but I think I got a good bibliography on this one, and I think they all tied together and worked really well.

MIEKE:  Perfect. Thank you. How did you go about planning, researching, and drafting your writing?

ISOBEL:  This one was written over Christmas, so I had quite a while to prepare for it, but at the same time, you have several assignments due over Christmas. But when it comes to choosing the question, I usually look at them and go for the option that I just feel is more interesting for myself and that I engaged with the lecture more. Just so I can enjoy writing it and learning about the topic, I usually go back to the lecture slides and refresh my memory, look at my notes from my lectures and then from there I look at the referencing to see if there are any works from the lecture itself that will be of use to me and then also if they can direct me to similar works from there. I kind of know any quotes and stand out parts from those and then put them into a document and then from there I just start writing and drafting. Drafting I find really difficult. I find it so hard to get it all down and then go back and cut stuff out and add stuff in, but I try to do two drafts, maybe a third if I feel it's needed. And then sometimes I also go on YouTube and see if there's any videos because I feel like reading a lot gets boring and when you're doing stuff like this where maybe there's not as much content, you start reading similar things from different people and Youtube helps me. I just get a visual-audio means of content instead of just reading it on the page.

MIEKE:  Is that something you would recommend to students when they're feeling a bit overwhelmed with all the writing, to maybe try and find another way to absorb information?

ISOBEL:  Yeah, for sure. And I think with music, it's so helpful as well, because I mean, it's music, you have to listen to it. And I think that listening to the genre that you're writing about is so helpful as well.

MIEKE:  Were there any particular books or articles that you found useful when writing this?

ISOBEL:  As I mentioned, Tina wrote some really good stuff, particularly on South Asian influences in music, and I found her works very useful when I was writing it, there was no doubt that I would use them. So, if you have a lecturer and you know they've written stuff on the topic that you're writing, then go and check it out because it will come in use when you're writing essays.  I talk a little bit about sea shanties, and I found this American author called Sharon Marie Risko. She talked a lot about the historical context and functions of sea shanties, and I really found her writing to be quite useful, especially because I did not know anything about sea shanties coming into it. It wasn't something that I was well informed on so, that was quite helpful as well. I think that if a lecturer has written something or has referenced a work in their PowerPoint or their lecture, then definitely use it because it would be handy.

MIEKE:  What challenges did you face while writing this essay, and how did you overcome them?

ISOBEL:  Like I said, the essay was an assignment for over Christmas.   Christmas obviously is hectic within itself, but then getting all these assignments, it's hard to find the time to get everything done. I think I ended up using an extension for this one. I think it was finished, but I felt that I needed to do one more draft to make it submittable. So, I just used the two-day extension, which, they're there for you if you feel overwhelmed. If you feel you need to use it, use it. It's free, and if you're not happy with the work that you're doing, then you should use it. But in case I didn't want to use one, I usually read it a few more times over before submitting it.  Also, on Microsoft Word, you can play your work out loud. And I play it out loud as well to make sure that it sounds coherent, because sometimes when you're reading, you do have a little hiccup where you don't read it properly. So, listening to it is something different and it helps speed up the process. So, I do that and then see if I can alter anything else, but I think that's been helpful for me because I'm very much a listener, it’s how I learn. I like to learn visually or through listening.

MIEKE:  That’s such helpful advice. What do you feel you have gained from writing the essay? Did you learn anything new?

ISOBEL:   Yeah, I think it helped me with my confidence writing as a music academic. I think throughout school and through your A-levels, you never really have a chance to study music this way. And I think coming into especially your first year can be really daunting as a musician, learning this side of writing music. And so, I think it's definitely grown my confidence from first year to now. Especially getting a good mark on it - getting a fist on it is obviously really rewarding. I think that through first year I didn’t really think I would get those kinds of marks in music writing but now it's solidified my confidence.  Also, just the knowledge of learning music within the diaspora, helping me unlock this interesting ethnomusicology which I didn't think I would be that interested in. I definitely think it's helped me within that and broadened my horizons within music.

MIEKE:  Thank you. Looking back at your second year, what would your key advice be for students in the music department?

ISOBEL:  Listen to the music that's being discussed and remember to look at the marking criteria.  When you do that, if you're confused, speak to your lecturer or your tutor, because communicating with them will just clear up all the confusion.  I feel like there's some sort of unspoken expectation that people have of themselves, or at least I have of myself where you feel like, ‘oh, going to a lecturer is a bit daunting and you shouldn't need to at this stage of your studies, you should be an independent learner’ but they're there to help you and the music department is really good at answering your questions. They're quite a small department. Any lecturer or student will be there for you if you have questions, so I think if you're confused, go to them and they will help you. And listen to the music, because, I mean, that's what the course is all about, really.

MIEKE:  Thank you for joining me, Isobel!

ISOBEL:  Thanks for having me.