It was my last day of work placement today at Boosey and Hawkes Music Publishers, and wow… I’m feeling much sadder than I thought I would be! It feels very strange to think that I won’t be going back next week because, despite going for the purpose of working, every Friday has actually felt like a little holiday due to it being so different from the rest of my life at University. I will definitely miss that feeling, along with the excitement of my adventure to London each week. I’m very sad to have said goodbye to everyone in the office who have been really supportive during my placement, especially my mentor Polly who has been brilliant at organising lots of exciting things for me to do each week. Strangely, I will also miss my crazy 3.30am starts and late nights home! (I unfortunately got stuck in an hour and half long traffic jam on the coach home this week, meaning I finally got home at 2am; which, on the positive side, actually gave me a lot of time to reflect on my work placement!)

I’m really happy and grateful that I got to undertake this placement because it’s allowed me to learn so much about the music industry and real working life. I’ve developed much greater IT skills, especially on Excel and Maximizer CRM Software, and I feel prepared enough for the future when I’ll no doubt have to quickly learn how to use new software. I’ve also experienced real administration work in a professional office environment which is invaluable experience. One thing that I was surprised at is just how intense a 9-5 working job is. I never expected it to be harder than a completely full day of lectures at Uni, but it really does require a lot of concentration, so I’m very glad that I have experienced this before going into my first real job because I think I would have got quite a shock!

I definitely feel a lot more prepared for the future now and have become far more independent by having to work on my own initiative in the tasks I was given to do, and by coming to London. I actually feel quite proud to have made it to London each week and to have navigated my around such a big city successfully. I feel like I now have the confidence to move further away from home and University after graduating, and I’m actually considering studying or working abroad for a while.

One of the best things about the placement is how much I’ve actually learnt about the music industry. Before this, I knew nothing about copyright or licensing, but now I understand just how much licensing affects all other areas of music. It has sparked a real interest which I think I will continue into a dissertation next year.

On my last day, I finished off all of my administration jobs that I’ve been working on and the day mainly consisted of lots of scanning. It felt quite satisfying to tie everything up in the end. Luckily, me and Polly are going to stay in touch and she said I can visit anytime I’m in London which will be great as I’d like to go back to Boosey and Hawkes one day.

This really has been a brilliant experience which has definitely changed me as a person and prepared me so much for the future. I’ve also really enjoyed writing the blogs each week which has been much more fun than I thought it would be.

Thank you Robert for setting this brilliant module up!!