“This is it. This is Noa. I want to sing, I want to perform and I’m going to be depressed if I don’t do that anymore.” These were Noa’s thoughts after she was introduced to the Jazz & Pop studies through a minor. This is not Noa’s first music course; before she did the preparatory course in Music Theatre and completed the Bachelor Music in Education in Zwolle as well. During the latter course, she did a minor in Jazz & Pop to find out whether she wanted to start working or continue studying Jazz & Pop in a Bachelor course. That’s where everything fell into place: “After my minor, I decided to pursue the Bachelor, and I’m still very happy with that choice. Every day I walk into the conservatory with a smile.”
Enjoying performing live
During the Jazz & Pop studies, you perform live music a lot right from the start. That is how Noa discovered what she loved the most about her work: “The audience immediately gives you back the energy you give them, and if all things go well, you also make a connection with your audience. I get a lot from that.” That was one of the reasons Noa decided to go back and study: to enjoy herself and relax more onstage. “I wanted to stop being consumed by stage fright, to keep having the feeling that I just have to get through it. Luckily that feeling has gone away through lots of performing. Performing is not just something I have to do anymore; I’m present with the people I’m making music with. I’m able to have fun with them, and the audience too. I’m really there.”
Performing is not just something I have to do anymore; I’m present with the people I’m making music with. I’m able to have fun with them, and the audience too. I’m really there.
Performing with the ArtEZ Poporkest
The early days of her Jazz & Pop study fell in the middle of the corona crisis. Noa was in her first year of the study when the first lockdown happened, during which she wrote the song “Show Us The Light.” Noa: “It was such an unpleasant situation. It was nice that everyone stayed in touch to combat the loneliness a bit, but at the same time, it also reinforced the suffering that we had to do it in the first place. It made the situation extra tough. So the song asks: how do we get out of this? How can we see rays of hope again, and the nice things that are shining up ahead? In the middle of the corona time, the ArtEZ Poporkest was formed. I was asked to perform Show Us The Light for their first performance after the lockdown. It was such a nice moment with the whole orchestra, really magical.”
Music that offers support
Noa’s songs are often quite personal or centre on subjects that touch her emotionally: “I have discovered that if I myself am vulnerable, then I can make a connection with others more easily. If you are open, then others will be too. You can touch each other with your story. I write about events that have happened in my own life. Sometimes people can’t understand the specific situation, but they can recognise the feelings I’m singing about: the pain, or the sadness. But the central message in my music is always: “we will get through it.” Everyone has the strength inside to see the nice things in life again, even if you’re heartbroken. I like it when my music can offer some kind of support to others.”
Safe haven
And yet, at times the nice things in life feel far away, such as when Tilmar Junius, the head of the Jazz & Pop department, passed away suddenly during this last academic year. It was a sombre time for everyone in the conservatory. Noa: “In hard times like this one, I find beacons of hope in gratitude. I’m thankful for the person Tilmar was for all of us. He knew exactly what everyone needed and wanted, he was so personally involved here.” At her finals concert, Noa is reflecting the pleasant time she has had at the Conservatory. “The finals are the end of a chapter in your life. I have met so many nice people here and made many beautiful friendships and collaborations. The programme has always been a safe haven for me. That’s good, somewhere like that helps you grow as a musician and a person. I look back on it very fondly.”
On the fence about studying Jazz & Pop in Zwolle? Noa says: just do it! “Go after your dreams, and believe you can do it! The fact that you would make the decision to really go for it and show up at the audition already says a lot about you as a person. Also: you go to school so you can learn. You don’t have to be the best right away. And think as well about what the school can offer you. Do you like the university? It goes both ways.”
More about Jazz & Pop in Zwolle
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