Hello! I’m Bobbie, one of the PGR Studio Research Assistants. I recently completed a practice-based research degree in composition with support from the fab team at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire (RBC).
I’m primarily a composer and in the last few months have completed 4 commissions for RBC’s Learning and Participation department, two pieces for big band and voice for The Gospel Revisited Project – which was loads of fun and quite funky and finally, a piece for solo viola for Spitalfields Music which I found a challenge to get going – however, I managed to fulfil my aim of achieving plurality within singularity in the middle section.
My biggest music project to date is also a major part of my PhD fieldwork. for-Wards was a two-year citywide music programme which is quintessentially a musical ode to Brum with large scale artistic partnerships involving 40 community groups and nine other Birmingham composers. It was a massive compositional undertaking and quite stressful – a lot of people didn’t think I’d complete it, but I’m proud to say I did – with the help of a lot of people and a dedicated team to whom I am most grateful.
I used to buy a lot of vinyl – especially funk 45s and DJ-ed both nationally and internationally. I’ve been a warm-up DJ for Gilles Peterson, soul singer Charles Bradley, Hot Eight Brass Ensemble etc., however, I like early nights to bed these days, the idea of being up until 3 am is not appealing. I realise I’m becoming very middle-aged… I like gardening, cooking, baking, books and home furnishings.
I lived in Japan for 3 years and taught English in a junior high school which was a great challenge. I speak Japanese but it’s very rusty now. I absolutely love food programmes Come Dine with Me, MasterChef, The Great British Bake Off… In fact, I used to do my own bake-offs with an old DJ pal before they became a series – if only I had patented it, eh? There are some bake-off pics here!
I absolutely adore my little nephew who turns 3 the end of August. We nearly shared a birthday but he was born a few hours before his due date. We have a nice bond and I like how he calls me “Auntie Bobba”.
I’m looking forward to supporting the PGR Studio online conference and seeing how we can transfer it to a virtual space. Hope to see you there! Stay safe lovelies!
