Katy Hamilton

One year to this very day, 5^th July, I woke up to find myself unemployed, unaffiliated, and absolutely delighted about it. Last Independence Day (talk about appropriate), I celebrated my last day of working at the Royal College of Music, and stepped out into the unknown to try my hand at a freelance career.

It’s been an incredible twelve months, and a rather interesting thing to look back on my posts upon leaving the RCM, and at the six month mark, just after Christmas. What I’m most struck by is my rather extensive justificatory paragraph, at the end of ‘Independence Day’, about the very non-peripheral nature of what I was proposing to spend my time doing. At the time, it seemed to be a necessary defence. Now, it absolutely doesn’t.

But there is definitely a divide – or at least a number of elements lost in translation – between the world I used to inhabit as a member of a higher education institution, and the one I so adore working in now. I bumped into a lecturer friend at the British Library last week and was running him through the various jobs I have lined up this month. Upon the mention of a rather substantial number of programme notes, he smiled and said, ‘Ah, well, it’s good practice to write a little every week, I guess.’ Which is true – but I’m not actually practising, I’m publishing, on a small-scale and very frequent basis. Every programme note, blog post, score preface and CD liner is a publication. They might not be as long and detailed as journal articles or book chapters, but they do involve research and creativity, finding an appropriate angle or context, and an awareness of intended audience, format, and so on. However, academics working in music departments and conservatoires are more likely to consider writing projects such as these as peripheral, for two perfectly legitimate reasons: firstly, because they are focussed primarily on writing longer and more substantial texts, and secondly because, if they are asked to write notes of this kind themselves, it will be at best a paid side-project, and at worst a burden placed upon them by an administration which expects them to provide notes for free, for university or conservatoire concerts. For me, the medium is rich and exciting and I engage with it voluntarily and enthusiastically – which makes it a rather different animal.

But this is a minor gripe, and among my extremely varied weeks now, I work within a university context, lecturing at Middlesex University – as well as coming into contact with performers and academics on a regular basis via the Royal Musical Association and through attending conferences. I also teach on a music appreciation course, and will be starting as a tutor at City Lit in the autumn. I have a long list of venues and festivals for which I provide notes and/or give talks, and also write for Naxos. And I’ve been utterly delighted to be involved in several BBC broadcasts this year – as part of the Brahms Experience in the autumn, and more recently as part of CD Review. In fact (shameless plug alert), you can hear me on Building a Library, discussing the Brahms Cello Sonata in F major op.99, next Saturday morning. Tune in and let me know if you agree with my choices!

In short, it’s been a complete blast. With every passing day, I meet new and interesting people, from keen amateurs to distinguished performers, and am lucky enough to be able to talk to them about music. I won’t pretend it hasn’t been a bit crazy at times, in terms of deadlines-to-be-met versus amount-of-time-available – but I’ve even enjoyed the challenge of keeping all my juggling balls in the air to ensure that all jobs are completed on time. I am my own boss, and although I reckon I’m pretty firm with myself, I also have considerably more flexibility than I could ever have working for an organisation that required office hours of any kind. And yes, I have made enough to live on, comfortably, all year. (It’s a curious phenomenon – I’d be interested to know if others find it too – that telling people you’re a freelancer seems to give them instant permission to ask you if you’re earning enough. Weird…)

But most of all, best of all: I have learned so, so much. Hours, if not days, of new music in the cause of writing notes, liner booklets and score prefaces. All kinds of subtle details and historical information in preparing classes for university students and enthusiasts alike. Whole new vistas of research in the time I take to continue my own longer-term, more expansive publication projects. Tips and tricks of managing time, money, resources. And a great deal about myself, too. There have been just a few times in my life when I’ve ended up making a decision based on gut instinct as strongly as intellectual reasoning, and going freelance was one of them. And you know what? I was right. Here’s to year two and a heap of new adventures.