St Andrews: an unorthodox route to a music career
Charlotte Perkins (MA 2021) explains how a degree in International Relations and the many opportunities provided by the Music Centre have prepared her for the practical challenges of a career in the music industry.
St Andrews was a swerve for me, for two reasons.
First, my high school was small, state-funded, and rural. To my knowledge, I was the first graduate to move overseas for university, and I was a pretty unlikely candidate: I had never left North America.
Second, St Andrews doesn’t have a music degree. For most of my high school career, I had been preparing to audition for conservatoires in the United States. At the last possible moment, I yielded to the voice in my head that told me I wasn’t finished studying—and that I certainly wasn’t ready to commit the next four years to the isolation of a practice room.
When I told my school’s guidance counsellor I was moving to Scotland, he congratulated me and immediately suggested that I take up golf.
When I told the conductor of my youth orchestra at New England Conservatory, he said, “Fabulous! Maybe you can meet the Scottish Chamber Orchestra!”
Five years later, my conductor proved to have the greater foresight: I still have no knowledge of golf, but I do work for the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.
In my first year, I auditioned for the Gilbert and Sullivan society’s production of The Gondoliers. I had the unique advantage of having grown up in a household where G&S was ubiquitous; any vocal technique that I had had come from imitating classical singers. I walked into the stuffy room on the top floor of Younger Hall, sang the Fairy Queen’s aria from Iolanthe (‘Oh, Foolish Faye’), and left thinking I’d be thrilled to be cast in the chorus.
To my delight, the directors offered me a principal role and thus began one of the most rewarding working relationships of my life.
In my second semester I became a music director for the first time; that same semester I enrolled in voice lessons so that I could better support my cast members’ technique. I loved this work, and St Andrews provided a safe, supportive environment for me to explore it.
Two years and several shows later, when the pandemic shut down the world, including our near-complete production of Patience, I dropped everything and moved home to be with my family amidst the uncertainty.
It was from home that I wrote my dissertation on utopianism in politics, bringing together my love for political theory with my love for Beethoven—and Hannah Arendt’s writings on judgement. Since the St Andrews IR department is a wonderfully creative place, I was rewarded for this slightly eccentric undertaking. I understood, though, that my need to write about Beethoven after four years of studying IR meant that it was time for my formal association with the discipline to come to an end. It was time to pursue music.
This is where the SCO comes back in.
For the past several years, the St Andrews Music Centre has offered a Graduate Traineeship in partnership with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, which is the orchestra-in-residence in St Andrews. The Graduate Trainee’s job is to coordinate the day-to-day running of the residency, including the management of a large, vibrant community orchestra.
As an orchestral player with a love for inclusive music-making, this role represented many of the things I cared about – among them building community, pursuing excellence and exploring new ways of experiencing music. I applied for and was given the position.
I came to St Andrews as a violinist, but I am leaving it as a vocalist, arts manager and conductor as well. Meanwhile, the habits of criticality, clear-thinking, and thoroughness instilled in me by the department of International Relations have prepared me to follow the path I’m on now. I believe that if I had gone to conservatoire directly out of school, I would be less prepared to handle the practical challenges of the music industry.
I’m writing this on my final day in the office at the Music Centre, well-aware that this story doesn’t have a satisfactory ending yet. Whatever comes next, I’ll always be grateful for my St Andrews experience, and for the community I know will be ready to welcome me whenever I visit.