Creative Music Technology postgraduate personal statement example

Personal statement example

At four in the morning the large spiral mixer at the wholesale bakery where I work makes a steady hum. As the dough stiffens, the motor works harder and the hum drops by roughly a semitone. After a few months of loading vans beside it, I could tell when a batch was nearly ready without looking at the timer. I mention this because it captures what interests me most in music technology: sound that carries information about a process, and the possibility of designing instruments where that relationship is deliberate rather than accidental. I want to pursue postgraduate study to develop that idea with more rigour than I managed as an undergraduate.

My BSc in Music Technology gave me a broad base in acoustics, recording, synthesis and programming. I graduated with a 2:1. The modules I enjoyed most were those where I had to build something and then justify how it behaved. For my final project I made a granular instrument using an Arduino, an ultrasonic distance sensor and a Pure Data patch. Moving a hand closer to the sensor shortened the grain length and increased density. A second sensor controlled the read position in a buffer of recordings I had made around my town: a level crossing, a swimming baths, a market hall. The early version felt dead to play, because the sensor readings were jittery and I had mapped them linearly. Smoothing the input and using an exponential curve for grain density made it much more responsive. Ten fellow students tested it, and I wrote up their comments alongside my design decisions. The most useful feedback was that people wanted a way to freeze a texture and return to it, which I added before submission. I was pleased with the result, but it also showed me how much I still had to learn about evaluating instruments beyond informal impressions.

Reading Curtis Roads's Microsound during the project helped me understand granular synthesis as a way of thinking about sound at very short timescales, not just as an effect. I have since worked through parts of Miller Puckette's writing on electronic music techniques, which clarified why some of my Pure Data patches behaved as they did. Recently I have become curious about performing across distance. Latency is usually treated as a problem to be removed, but I would like to explore how musicians might compose with it. I have only experimented in a small way, sending control data between two laptops on a home network, so I see this as a question to study rather than something I already understand.

Outside my degree, my habits are practical. I repair old cassette Walkmans bought cheaply online, mostly replacing belts and cleaning heads. It has taught me patience with small mechanisms and an affection for the wow and flutter of worn tape, which I have sampled in several pieces. I also share an allotment plot with my neighbour. It has nothing to do with music, though I have discovered that I plan sessions there much as I plan a patch: in stages, checking each one before moving on.

The bakery job has strengthened habits I value. Shifts start early, vans leave on time whether or not you are ready, and I am trusted to check orders accurately for around thirty customers each morning. I have been reliable there for two years while continuing to compose and build small projects in the afternoons.

I am applying for postgraduate study because I want structured time, critical feedback and peers who will challenge my assumptions. I would like to improve my programming beyond patching, learn proper methods for evaluating new instruments, and make work that is performed with other people rather than alone at a desk. I bring solid technical foundations, a record of finishing what I start, and a genuine curiosity about how sound and process can inform each other.