Juul de Bruin | portfolio

Hi, my name is Juul de Bruin and I am an eighteen year old student at fontys ACI. In this little story I am going to explain more about myself, my passion and what brought me here.

Right now I am living in a small apartment in the north of Tilburg. Last summer I passed my final exams in secondary school and got my vwo-diploma. I knew for certain that I didn’t want to apply for a university because I was done with all the studying.

One thing I was (and still am) very busy with though, is making music. Creating my own music and performing it live is my greatest passion. I play the guitar and I sing a lot. The thing with making my own music is that I can just express my thoughts and feelings by writing my own songs. And for me there’s no such feeling in the world as the feeling I get when I finished a song I can be proud of.

So I thought, why not apply for a study where I can make music all the time? So I signed up for the Rock Academy in Tilburg. Contrary to my expectations I got through the first round and was allowed to come to the auditions. Unfortunately, I didn’t make it through this last round. I decided to sign up for fontys-IEMES (the one I am currently studying at) and got accepted.

So far I really like the study but somehow I still feel this urge to do more with my music. So that’s why I decided to sign up again for the Rock Academy next year. I have nothing to lose anyway and maybe I have more luck next time!

Now you know a little bit about me and what got me here I’m gonna tell you some more about my history. I was born in a city called Sittard located in the south of the Netherlands. I grew up with a little sister and an older brother and two lovely parents in a house outside of the city centre close to the German border. About two kilometres away from our hose there is a national park called the ‘Kollenberg’ where I used to go walking, biking and running a lot. You can easily walk to the top of the hill inside the park and view the whole city from there. What I love the most about the place where I grew up is that everything is so accessible. The city centre is only five minutes by bike and the national park is even closer.

The elementary school I went to is also nearby my home. It is called Lahrhof and I went there for eight years. During this period I certainly learned a lot but I also started playing guitar. I think my parents gave me my first guitar in group four just because I wanted to make rock music so bad and I never quit playing since then.

After elementary school I went to secondary school in Sittard. This was quite a big step for me since it was located on the other side of the city. Also the whole environment was new to me and it took some time to get used to, but I managed it just fine. I started to like the subjects we were taught and made some friends.

I think I was in second grade when I first started making music with other people. I met them during the subject music (obviously). After a short period of time we formed a band together called ‘New Life’ existing out of a drummer, a bassist and two guitar players. Since we had no one who wanted to sing in our band I was kind of forced to do it myself. At first it was awful but we practiced a lot so my singing got better and I sort of became the lead singer of the band and I have been singing in bands and for myself ever since. So I guess that is kind of a valuable lesson. Sometimes you don’t even know what you are capable of until you try it.

Besides making music I had to study for school of course, although I never had a hard time making my tests. I can safely say that I easily passed the first three years. In fourth grade I had to choose which direction I liked the most. Either society and culture, or physics. I have always gravitated more to society and culture so I chose that direction. I basically sucked in everything that had physics involved, especially chemistry so I think I made the right decision.

I like the last three years of secondary school the most. That is because you have more freedom in those years. It is more up to you if you’re going to pass the tests or not. And I like that freedom. You also start to feel more grown up and less like a child who has to just do what he’s told. In those last years you are the one who choses which subjects you like. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t have to work hard to pass the final exams. The last couple of months in secondary school were a bit of a struggle but I think that is usual. Because you need to work hard if you want to achieve something.

I already told you what I did after I got my vwo-diploma so that brings me back to now. I hope you know a little more about me and who I am. And on that note I would like to end my story.

See you!