How would you describe your education here, what is it about?
I would say it's a lot about freedom. I feel like in this school you get out what you put in. The resources are here, you just have to be proactive in finding them and using them.

Do you get more freedom here then you would in a conservatory in the US?
A lot more. There's not really a structured regime that you have to follow. You have a lot of choice in what lessons you're able to follow or with whom you're able to study.

Why did you choose this school, what appealed to you when you first came here?
The main subject teacher, Mark Scholten.

Beside your main subject, what other courses do you take that you find helpful and interesting?
You get really nice side subject lessons, like clarinet and flute. I had a lot of flute lessons from Ellen Helmus, which I enjoyed a lot. The studio is always available, and you can always call the teachers for help. Just the freedom to use the studio is great, because in other schools you can't just go into the studio and play around.

Do you work a lot with other students?
The new system how they divide the combo's in the jazz department is really good. In the fourth year you choose your own band mates and teachers, so you form your own band. You make a plan for that band for the course of the year, and then you're able to invite per 4th year student per ensemble 2 guest lessons. You can even invite teachers from outside of school. So we had 6 guest lessons, none of them with resident teachers. So that was great, actually, and that's the band with which I'll play a good part of my exam. That's the best part of this fourth year actually.

How is the time commitment to your studies?
It's not very busy in terms of actual classes, in terms of sitting at a desk in a lecture hall. But you're as busy as you need to be, so it's very busy in terms of studying. The small number of classes I have, require a lot of independent study time. So yes, it's quite busy.

What's the most important thing you learned this year?
Structure in studying. I always practiced a lot but in the end of last year and the beginning of this year I really figured out how to do that effectively.

What's the most important thing you learned in your entire time here?
How to function as a professional, I think. I don't know if that comes from the school or it comes from just living in a strange country. They help you a lot with that in this school. From Mark I got a lot of musical life lessons, and also from Toon, the other main subject teacher; how to function in the world, how to get gigs, how to promote yourself, how to spread your interests wide enough that you make yourself available for work, but without selling yourself off. They're very good about that here.

Have you had any performances this year that were important to you?
Yes, with my combo we played in the Utrecht Jazzfest, and the IJ-Jazz festival in Amsterdam. I also played in the Bimhuis with XLJazz Project, and I played 4 songs on Caro Emerald's album.

Can you describe what the students in your year are like?
There's quite a definitive line between the Dutch students and the foreign students. A lot of Dutch students come here after high school, or a year after high school. All the foreign guys seem to have worked or done another study, so the Greeks and Koreans are all in their thirties. I'm somewhere in the middle.

Do you notice that in the level?
No, not at all. Musical interests differ very much, but everyone within a range is at a reasonable level.

How does the level of the students here compare to players you hear at concerts and festivals?
People here play at a very high level, for sure. It also falls in that thing of freedom. Here you have a lot of freedom and that can also be very negative, because some people need structure in their study, they need to be pushed. For instance in Amsterdam and Den Haag, they really push you. Here it was never like that, in my experience. In the first and second year you can get by doing absolutely nothing. So it really depends on how far you want to get. There are people who think: I'm just going to play my John Mayer songs and hang out with my buds, and then there are people who are very serious.

How much time do you spend practicing by yourself?
4 hours a day.

How much time do you spend rehearsing with your combo or other bands?
Various bands In total a week, about 15-20 hours.

How often do you perform?
Average 4 performances in a month, from wedding gigs to nice concerts where people really come to listen to you.

What's living in Holland like? Was it easy to find a place to live and work?
Great. For me it's been extremely easy and nice, it's easy to find work. Not easy to find a place to live but I've always managed. The school helped me a lot, they're very helpful in the administration.

Why would you recommend prospective students to apply here?
There are a lot of resources available to you. The teachers that are here are really good. Utrecht is a vibrant city, maybe not so well-known, but it does have a bubbling cultural scene, there are a lot of opportunities to play and work and it's not far from the big city [Amsterdam].