Early 2022 – The Best Bits!

Digital Ambassador RuiYing Wang tells us about her favourite moments of 2022 so far.

The time at College always goes by so fast, and every day is very fulfilling and busy!

Ruiying Wang at a rehearsalI played second bassoon in the RNCM Brand New Orchestra performance – it was a very interesting experience and I especially enjoyed the first piece in the programme, R.O.O.T, written by Daniel Lau. This piece is really cool – it’s dazzling and majestic! The woodwind part in particular is very interesting as well as the brass part, which is spectacular.

Then there was the RNCM Symphony Orchestra on Friday 4 February. The orchestra performed a total of four pieces, and I participated in the first: Augusta Holmès’ Allegro Feroce. The beginning of this piece is really special – all the instruments were playing fortissimo, very neat and orderly. The whole song gives me the feeling of a ship sailing through a storm, it’s very cool.

The second piece left a deep impression on me. This was Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G Major and the piano player Yiyi Su played this with intensity. The whole work is very pleasant to listen to, and there is this bassoon section in the middle – a very difficult solo, which the bassoon player presented perfectly! The orchestra’s performance was really amazing. After the concert, many friends told me they had seen me perform on stage and I was really happy that I had done a good job. The picture below was taken by a friend of mine during the show.

Ruiying Wang at a concertMy highlights from the past few weeks have been the masterclasses. For one of these classes, the College invited Nikolaj Henriques, a tutor at the University of Birmingham, to come in and teach us. I was really pleased to be given the opportunity to perform to him. I played the fourth movement of J S Bach Partita and Nikolaj taught me some new practice methods. He also suggested learning more dance music!

The short 20-minute class was so thought-provoking, and Nikolaj gave us a chance to ask questions at the end. I asked some questions on how to practice pronunciation! This was a really rewarding class.

Soon after, the School invited Roberto Giaccaglia, a Bassoon Tutor at the Royal College of Music. In his class I played the first movement of the Weber Bassoon Concerto in F major with an accompanist, which was a really great opportunity to play. Roberto told me that my reeds are limiting my performance – I hope to try more different reeds in the future. He gave me a lot of pointers on his ideas for the music, and even came to play alongside me. This was another Masterclass that benefited me a lot because it increased my performance experience and taught me a lot of new things.

Ruiying Wang at YogaThe College’s Wellbeing Week was very interesting. I’m thankful to the College for being so considerate in preparing such an interesting week for us during this busy term. I got involved with the dodgeball game which students played together in the Sugden Sports Centre. This was a really great opportunity to relax! I also participated in a yoga class, which made me feel very relaxed and stretched. This is a really good exercise for musicians and can help us stretch in a safe way.

As a bassoon student in the third year of RNCM, I feel very lucky to have the opportunity to participate in so many performances. Being a student at this College gives me the chance to increase my performance experience, and I always learn a lot from it. I’m grateful to the RNCM for always providing us with lots of fun. The activities in college allow us to relax and exercise. I will cherish every day studying at the RNCM.

RuiYing Wang
BMus, Bassoon

16 February 2022