Jessie Leov Music

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Auckland in a week!

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Hey everyone!

In a week I will be in Auckland, living at University Hall (home to over 400 students) and orientation week will be in full swing! I’ve been gradually sorting and packing my things up but the final packup will take place this Friday and Saturday! We’re taking two suitcases plus my keyboard and my guitar. Yikes.

Over the last wee while I’ve had a couple of great gigs – one in town for the Summer Street Beat series run by the council and just last week I played at the restaurant Hangar 58 on Valentines Day! I got a lil photo in the paper for the Street Beat gig which you may have seen. Now my PA system is all packed away in my wardrobe and it probably won’t come out until next summer as I’ll be busy studying up in Auckland! In case anyone’s interested I’ll list the papers I’ll be doing.

Semester 1:

Mus 119: Introduction to Music Technology

Mus 180: Creative Practice in Pop Music 1

Mus 182: Pop Music Performance Skills 1

Mus 184: Pop Music Theory and Aural 1

Semester 2:

Theology 101G: The Bible in Popular Culture (We have to choose two general education papers over the course of the degree, and this one fitted into my timetable and I was interested in it!)

Mus 181: Creative Practice in Pop Music 2

Mus 183: Pop Music Performance Skills 2

Mus 185: Pop Music Theory and Aural 2

So yeah exciting times ahead. :D Will probably do another post after classes have started in early March!

Jess x

 

 

Beehive concert!

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I was recently invited to perform 2 original songs at the annual Play it Strange concert at the Beehive, along with 5 other young songwriters, after being placed in the top for their songwriting and cover competitions this year. Mum and I flew over and, despite the turbulent flights, we had a great time! There were some technical difficulties leading up to the concert but it all ended up going smoothly and I was really happy with my performance. Hoping to get a copy of the audio recording that was done of the show. Everyone who performed was so talented and amazing! Met some really cool people. Such a privilege to be able to perform there.

Got two private functions left to play at, a piano recital on Sunday and then a bit of a holiday from gigs for a while. I’m getting my new guitar soon though and hoping to do lots of busking! Also I’m playing in the Street Beat series in town outside ANZ on 24th January from 12:30-1:30pm so that will be great.

Mum booked our tickets to fly up to Auckland on 24th February to move me into my hall of residence. So crazy. We’re taking 4 checked ‘bags’ which will probably be two huge suitcases and my keyboard and my guitar. That should definitely be enough stuff to last me 5 weeks until I come down for Easter break, then I can bring some more stuff up. SO looking forward to studying music full time!

Anyway, hope you all have a marvellous Christmas and New Years! I will post again next year :D

Jess xx

Christmas approaches!

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Hey all!

School is officially over :O  Cultural Prizegiving was great – there were heaps of great performances, I sang with the vocal company and recieved the Cultural Blues award for Outstanding Contribution to Perfomance Arts and the Meikle Cup for Excellence in Music. A successful end to a great 5 years at Nayland College. Also found out my results from my Grade 8 piano exam as well, passed with Merit! So very happy :)

I have a whole bunch of gigs coming up over this next season leading up to Christmas which is great! Really happy about that. Also going back to school to sing at Junior Prizegiving, so it’s not all over really! And of course I have 3 external exams to study for (history, french, journalism).

All in all, this year has been pretty amazing! So grateful to be blessed with so many awesome opportunities and experiences and I am looking forward to having a very productive summer!

Jess xx

Singing at the Beehive!

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Really exciting news – I’ve been invited to perform at the Beehive in December! Flying over to Wellington on the 5th to play two original songs in the Banquet Hall (fancy!) at the Play it Strange concert, hosted by The Hon Chris Tremain. Pretty crazy to be honest. I have to say a huge thanks to Play it Strange and Mike Chunn – the Who Loves Who cover comp and the Lion Foundation songwriting comp were awesome opportunities for me to be involved with this year and to have the year culminate in a performance at the Beehive is so awesome!

Got a whole bunch of gigs coming up in November too, check out the gigs page for details :) Pic to the right is from Bar Berlin last month.

Jess xx

 

 

Scholarships + piano exam!

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Hey everyone!

Good news – I’ve been awarded two scholarships!! One is a grant from the Adastra Foundation and the other is a University of Auckland scholarship which runs over 3 years. I applied for five different scholarships earlier in the year and it was a lot of work but evidently worth it. This support is going to put me in a far better financial position for this first year of university and the following two. So very exciting!

Finished up the final mix-down of Divine with Shane and sent that up to York Street where it’s currently being mastered. Took a lot of work but really happy with the final product! Got some excellent feedback on it from Mike Chunn, CEO of Play it Strange, so yay!

Also, I’m sitting my Grade 8 ABRSM piano exam on Tuesday 30th October. Not long to go so I have been working very very hard. I was sick over the long weekend which put me on the back foot a little bit but I’m feeling more confident that I can pull it off now so wish me luck! :) It’s been a long 10 months of pretty intense practice and preparation and it’s all come down to this single 30-minute exam, so praying it goes well!

Anyway, will post again after I’ve got through the next couple of busy weeks, with school finishing and numerous performances!

Jess xx