In this post I am reflecting and outlining on a set design which merges my practice as a saxophonist / live musician and my practices as an electronic music producer. The goal is to bridge the two universes of musical practices into a coherent live performance. I have in the past brought the two together in the studio, but up until this moment I have never worn both hats in a live music environment.
I’ve been learning to play saxophone for fifteen years now. Simultaneously, I have been messing messing around with Virtual DJ, slowly progressing to the coveted ranks of DJ at the school dance. My musical education has thus been two-pronged: I have treaded the path of conservatoire education; learning notation, music theory, counterpoint, composition and the path of popular music, which a world fundamentally different to the practices found inside the academy, with different symbols, conventions and often-times different goals.
I left Cyprus in 2018 and I came to Edinburgh to study Music. When I got here, I started working at EUSA as a DJ, playing Music at the Big Cheese (lol). As before, I kept playing saxophone, but only ever in the academic context of evaluated, conservatoire-goal-setting style of playing-for-points as my lecturer Marian Jago liked to put it.