Spotlight: Dan Sheehan

Profile

Course: Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Music

Majors:  English and Jazz performance (piano)

Hear what Dan has to say about studying at Monash

Interview

---

Most memorable Monash experience so far

The three-week Prato course was so intense we found ourselves with enough material and ideas to occupy the next two or three years of study and practice, but the enormity of the experience itself will be a source of inspiration and self-motivation for many years to come.

Most challenging experience

Learning to balance the academic and practical elements of the music course in a way that still allows me to guide myself according to my own musical aspirations. Improvised music is a very abstract thing to institutionalize and teach in a structured environment, and in many ways you can only develop and understand your own sense of artistic direction in your own time, away from the course. No one can be 'taught' or 'shown' how to be an artist – this is a self-discovery that is separate from, but can run parallel to, theory and practice, if the right balance is struck. So, finding the right headspace in which to approach studying music has been the hardest but most positive achievement for me.

What you love about doing an Arts degree

Doing Arts/Music has given me a broader range of subjects and studies than a straight music degree. I have found that with effective time-management, the two courses are extremely compatible. Although music is my top priority, it has been complemented by studying various units of German language, history and English literature simultaneously and I feel the result to be a more 'complete' university experience. Music requires an enquiring mind and interests in many things non-musical, in order to develop a larger picture of the world and the place that artistic expression holds within it. This is what the double-degree has allowed me to realise.

Career aspirations

Music performance is undoubtedly my main career focus. I want to play with as many other musicians as I can and develop my own original repertoire. In my final semesters at Monash, I am trying to set myself up to continue to develop my craft for years to come and to establish my own place and direction as an improvising musician in Melbourne and beyond. I plan to support these aspirations with work as a music teacher, which is something I already do part-time, and gigging wherever possible.