- Hi, my name's Paradis and I'm studying music
here at the University of Oxford.
I'm in my first year and I go to Lady Margaret Hall College.
(upbeat techno music)
So, I'm a music student here
and the Oxford course is really special.
It covers everything from 14th century French music
all the way to global hip hop.
Oxford's really forward thinking in their study of music.
And, along with the history of music,
I also study the theory of music, I analyze music,
you compose and perform.
It's a whole range.
But, mostly, we're questioning why we are actually here
studying music and what's the point.
And, to me, the point is to get a deeper understanding
so that next time you listen to music
and you feel a certain way, you know why felt that way.
So, as a music student, everyone always asks me what I play
and I play mainly the recorder, which is quite interesting,
the oboe, and singer as well.
And, although it's not a huge part of my course,
performance, it's a big, big part of my life
outside of my course
and I started when I was really, really young
and I went to study at the Royal College of Music
in the junior department.
So it's take over my whole life.
(calm music)
So, after exams, people just like throw stuff
all over each other.
Just, like, kinda, well, trash them
and that's why it's called trashing.
So, yep, that's the remnants of a trashing. (laughs)
So, now we're in my room, this is where I sleep,
is where I live.
I live in the music room,
which means that it's bigger than most
and I have a beautiful piano in it,
I have a Steinway piano in it,
just 'cause I'm a music student,
which is a huge, huge blessing.
And yeah this is where I sometimes work as well
and get together and see my friends.
And this room is super, super special.
I live here.
College is just, like,
the biggest part of your university life.
College determines your friends a lot of the time.
Most of my friends are at college.
And also determines the kind of environment you're around.
LMH harbors a really, really accepting
and forward thinking environment,
which is actually quite unique at Oxford
'cause Oxford's full of tradition.
So, LMH is very unique in that sense.
So, I will live in LMH for all three years of my degree.
Some colleges don't have this,
you live out in your second year, other places.
It completely depends.
A lot of things depend on your college.
Your whole experience in uni
is probably gonna be very different.
I don't have extreme academic pressure here.
I feel like I do need to fulfill the expectations,
but I never feel super, super stressed or super anxious.
But I know people at other colleges feel like that.
Yeah, and it's just completely different wherever you are.
So, any advice I'd give to any prospective students
in general applying to Oxford, is that, I'd say,
if you're applying, you have to have a true, true passion
and love for your subject.
Here at Oxford, the most exciting part about it
is that everyone is so dedicated to their degree,
to their course, to their subjects.
I love music, I live and breathe music, and I always have.
And that's what pushes you forward.
Because when times are tough and you have loads of essays
to hand in, there's loads of work to do,
your love for your subject pushes you through.
And for any prospective music students,
I would say just really open your horizons,
open your musical horizons.
Question why you're looking at what you're looking at,
why you're studying what you're studying.
When you're analyzing, think about why you're doing that
rather than just doing it and saying, oh,
this is whatever, perfect cadence.
Think why that affects the way you feel about the music
and that's a really Oxford point of view
and something that I've learnt to do more at university.
So we have loads of weird and funky traditions at Oxford
and one of them is that we have to wear our gowns.
This is my gown and this is my mortarboard.
And we call it subfusc
and that just means those are the clothes that you wear.
And we wear this for every exam we take.
I wear my gown for even my mock exams.
And it's just a weird tradition.
And we wear special flowers as well in our pockets
that symbolize different things.
And, yeah, it's a really big part of Oxford.
So a weird tradition is that this hat, I can't wear it
until I actually get my degree and graduate.
And I get fined if I do.
But, I always have to have it
and in every exam it has to be sitting on my table.
(sings "La Vie en Rose")
♪ Quand il me prend dans ses bras ♪
♪ Il me parle tout bas ♪
♪ Je vois la vie en rose ♪
♪ Il me dit des mots d'amour ♪
♪ Ça me fait quelque chose ♪
♪ Il est entré dans mon coeur ♪
♪ Une part de bonheur ♪
♪ Dont je connais le cause ♪
♪ C'est lui pour moi, moi pour lui dans la vie ♪
♪ Il me l'a dit, l'a juré pour la vie ♪
♪ Et dès que je l'aperçois ♪
♪ Alors je sens en moi ♪
♪ Mon coeur qui bat ♪
("La Vie en Rose" by Édith Piaf)
♪ D'amour à plus finir ♪
♪ Un grand bonheur qui prend sa place ♪
♪ Des ennuis, des chagrins s'effacent ♪
♪ Heureux, heureux à en mourir ♪
So, I have exams at the end of my first year
and they're called Prelims
and they don't actually count,
they don't count towards the end of my degree.
But I do have to pass them
and obviously I want to do as well as I can.
But the real deal, the big exams,
are at the end of third year
and they're my finals
and that's all of the content
from the second and third year examined
and they're really intense and they're super hard
but hopefully I'll get through.
So, my exams in first year
consist of several different things.
I have written papers, which are analyzing music,
something called Foundations in the Study of Music.
So that's asking more profound questions surrounding music.
And also historical essays,
certain really specific historical topics.
And, as well as that, I had a performance exam last week
and I also had a keyboard skills exam,
which is like a harmony test, last week.
And I'm currently in the middle of course work,
which is techniques of composition.
So that's also a harmony test.
So we have practical stuff and we also have the standard,
like, written essay exams.
So, for many years, I've had the dream of being a lawyer.
Why study music, you might ask.
So, I knew that I had a passion in music
and a love for music
and that's what will drive me through my degree.
But afterwards, I was always thinking
of doing a law conversion.
So hopefully if I do well in my degree,
I can go on to do that.
And, I've always been considering going into media law
so I can mix the two together, mix music and law together.
But, my ultimate, ultimate, ultimate dream, my big dream
since I've been a child, is to be a singer.
I'd just love to dedicate my life to performing
and being on stage.
Obviously, that's super hard
and, arguably, a little bit unrealistic.
So, for now, I'll stick to the corporate world.
("Faded" by Alan Walker)
♪ I'm faded ♪
♪ So lost, I'm faded ♪
♪ I'm faded ♪
♪ So lost, I'm faded ♪
So, a big misconception about Oxford
is that it's all work and there's no fun.
But, I can promise that that's not the case.
I have a lot of fun and I came here wanting to have fun.
And I think a big part of it is your attitude
and having a balance in life.
So, I dedicate a certain amount of time to work,
a certain amount to music and my extracurricular stuff,
and a certain amount to my friends.
And, a lot of the time, the friendship stuff
does just take over 'cause it is the best bit
and it's also the most important bit.
So now we're in the bar in LMH
and I'm here a lot with my friends.
It's quite just like a social area,
somewhere to just have fun and just chill.
There's a clubbing scene in Oxford, there's a nightlife,
which I'm a big part of.
I love to dance, I'm a dancer in my free time.
So, I spend a lot of time there
and, otherwise, you can make loads of friends from just
getting involved and joining societies, doing plays,
doing shows, joining a sports team, so yeah.
So I hope you enjoyed getting an insight
into my life at Oxford.
If you enjoyed this video and if you want to get an insight
into other top colleges,
please like and subscribe to this channel.
(sings "Shallow" by Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper)
♪ Is there something else you're searching for? ♪
♪ I'm falling ♪
♪ In all the good times I've found myself ♪
♪ Longin' for change ♪
♪ And in the bad times I fear myself ♪
♪ Tell me something boy ♪
♪ Aren't you tired of trying to fill the void? ♪
♪ Or do you need more? ♪
♪ Ain't it hard keepin' it so hardcore? ♪
♪ I'm falling ♪
♪ In all the good times I find myself ♪
♪ Longin' for change ♪
♪ In the bad times I fear myself ♪
♪ I'm off the deep end, watch as I dive in ♪
♪ I'll never meet the ground ♪
♪ Crash through the surface, where they can't hurt us ♪
♪ We're far from the shallow now ♪
♪ In the shallow, the shallow ♪
♪ In the shallow, shallow ♪
♪ In the shallow, the shallow ♪
♪ We're far from the shallow now ♪