Berrak: A pianist

I started playing the piano when I was four years old. My mother thought it would be a good outlet for positive childish energy and I was really into it; it was exciting. It was something different and I had much more time to practise then. The first time I performed in front of an audience was when I was five years old and I loved it. I went on a summer camp run by my piano teachers at the time and at the end of the week we all got up and played a piece. At that age I was unaware of any of the pressure associated with performing live so it just felt nice to have people concentrating on my playing and I liked the applause and attention. Now I perform regularly, often in front of large audiences, and I still really enjoy it.

I always knew I wanted to be a pianist and never thought I would do anything else. In that respect I felt different from my friends when I went to school; they all thought they wanted to become teachers or doctors and things like that and I just knew I would be a pianist but it didn’t feel strange. Finding time to play and practise wasn’t a problem at school until my last few years when the pressure of exams and things was hard, but generally I would choose to practise instead of doing homework. It always felt like schoolwork got in the way of playing the piano rather than the other way around. Unfortunately I was never given any special allowances or extended deadlines though. After I finished school I went on to study a degree in music and now I’m studying a Masters degree in accompaniment.

A typical day now involves a couple of hours practice in the morning before going into college and attending classes. I spend a lot of time in the library listening to music, trying to learn and become familiar with new pieces of music. One downside to choosing to study and pursue a career in music is that you end up spending hours and hours by yourself. However, I also try to spend time at college meeting other   people and networking. The more musicians I know the more likely I am to be asked to play for others. The more I play the better known I become and in the music business it’s all about recognition and getting your name out there. It's important to get involved in as many performances as possible and take part in competitions so that as many people as possible see you perform and know who you are. It’s a very competitive industry. Ultimately, if I am asked to play and get given a job it means that someone else loses work and sometimes it feels like a constant battle. You can’t help being drawn into an artificial world where you are constantly comparing yourself to others and are always worried about what others think of your performances. In the real world outside of college your audience is much wider.

I chose to get involved in accompaniment because as much as I love playing the piano I also enjoy working with others. And working as an accompanist is a good way of doing that. There are also more job opportunities as although there is still a lot of competition other performers will always need good accompanists, so there is more demand. I really enjoy performing with other people because there’s an even greater sense of achievement when you are both on form and a piece comes out amazingly.

To follow a career in music you have to have a real passion for it as unfortunately it’s not a very secure path and it’s not usually very well paid. Having said that, the real positive side is that I am doing something I love; it’s not just a subject to study. I love everything associated with music and performing and it’s what I do every day.

Technical Theatre

When we go to the theatre we go to see the actors and their performance; the stage is the central focus point; it is where everything happens, or at least everything that we the audience are supposed to see. But there is so much more to putting on a performance than just the acting cast. There is a whole team of people who we never see but without whom no production would be possible. We spoke to Adam James who has worked in technical theatre since the age of 14 to find out what goeson behind the scenes and how he got involved.

I was 12 years old when I first saw a show in my local leisure centre. I was fascinated by the fact that everything came in about ten lorries and they basically built a theatre from scratch. 9 ______ I got to know some of the people working on the stage management team and they let me shadow them while they worked. I met the stage manager and after watching the team work and talking to him I decided that was what I wanted to do as a job. I didn’t know anything about work in the theatre industry so I started studying and learning about the job. 10 _____ However, what I really wanted was to get involved and start working as part of a stage management team. Once I was 14 I managed to get some work experience and I started to miss school sometimes and go to work at the theatre instead. I left school when I was 16 and because I had quite a lot of experience I was able to get a job as an assistant stage manger in a theatre in London. I worked there for about a year and then did some freelance work in Cornwall and went on tours around the country. 11_____ Working on tour was intense but really good fun. A typical Monday would see us arrive at about 8 o’clock inthe morning and open up the lorries. We would have some coffee and then when everyone had arrived we would spend the day building the show. In the afternoon the cast would arrive and I would show them around so they knew where they could make quick costume changes and things like that. 12 _____ Once the show had started it was just a case of watching and supervising and letting the show happen around us. As stage manager I was always the first and the last person on stage. Working on tour can be stressful as you have to keep track of where everyone is for health and safety reasons and monitor everything that goes on back stage and keep to time. Then once the show is over you have to check everything and make a note of everything that needs repairing or re-doing before the next performance. After a couple of years touring I decided to return to London and go to college to study technical theatre. I studied for a year but I realised that it wasn’t very useful to me. I had learnt a lot more from my years working. 13 ____ I felt like I was already established in the industry so I decided to leave college and got a job in a theatre. When finding work in technical theatre first hand experience is much more important than qualifications. 14 _____ I did some more freelance work in London for a while and now I work for a production company. You can have up to 20 people working on any one performance so there’s a real team spirit. There are people working in lighting, sound, wardrobe, wigs, props, carpentry and stage management. Apart from the technical side we also have to look after the actors. As stage manager it’s my job to meet and greet the cast on their first day and make sure they know where everything is and have everything they need. The hardest thing I’ve ever had to do was try to control 2,500 primary school children. I really like what I do. There are of course a number of disadvantages; I don’t like the hours and the disruption to my personal life that working evenings can cause. 15 _____ But I would highly recommend it to others; it’s very enjoyable and always different; you never have the same day twice and there’s something very exciting and beautiful about live theatre.

Desperate to go to school

Truancy has become a (16) ……….. problem in many schools in recent years. In an attempt to tackle this problem one school introduced a new scheme to (17 ) .......... students to attend as many classes as possible. Pupils who (18 ) ..........a 100% attendance record throughout the whole academic year were (19) .......... with an all inclusive weekend school (20) .......... to an activity centre where they would be able to have a go at (21) .......... activities such as climbing, abseiling and white water rafting.

One student was so (22) ......... to qualify for this free weekend away that he even went to school with a broken wrist. He hurt his wrist when he fell (23 ) .......... his bike on the way to school but he was so worried about (24 ) .......... his 100% attendance that he didn’t (25 )......... ... his teachers or parents until the school day had finished. He (26) ......... admitted to his mother what had happened when she (27) ...... ... that he was having difficulty eating his dinner and asked him what was wrong. She took him to hospital that night, where they put his arm in plaster and he was able to go back to school the next day.

Fortunately, he was fully (28) .......... from his accident in time to go on the trip.

Casablanca

Casablanca is most (29) ………. as the title of a classic film from 1942           KNOW

(30) ……… Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman. But what                   STAR

about the city where this (31)............. war film was set?                      ROMANCE

Casablanca (Spanish for white house), or Casa as it is known by those

who live there, is the largest city in Morocco with a (32) ............. of    POPULATE

approximately 5 million and is the country’s (33)............. capital.      ECONOMY

Rabat is the political capital. Casablanca is situated in the west of 

Morocco on the Atlantic coast and boasts one of the world’s largest 

artificial ports, aport which was very (34)............. during the Second    STRAGEGY

World War. At that time there was also a large American airbase 

(35) ............. inCasablanca and in 1943 it was in Casablanca that a              SITE

significantconference took place where world (36) ............. met to               LEAD

discuss the progress of the war.

Casablanca was (37)............. under the control of the French from 1910    FORMAL

until 1956 when Morocco gained (38)................ French influence on      DEPEND

thecity is (39)............. in the city layout and architecture. French is           EVIDENCE

also the   second language after Arabic. The city now has a growing 

(40)................. industry, although it is not as popular as other Moroccan       TOUR

cities like Marrakesh and Fez.