It’s that time of year again: we’re here once again at the ‘Making Music’ stand for the University’s Open Day.

It’s just after 9.30, and we’ve had six visitors to the stand already, from Birmingham, Staffordshire, West Sussex and elsewhere. This time, we are handily located right next to the Gulbenkian stand and also the Accommodation Office which crucially has a couple of Chuba Chups lollipop carousels (pictured)…

We’ll be live on Twitter, keep up with all that’s happening at @UniKent_Music as well.

We’ll be reporting live from here throughout the day, follow it all on the blog here.

10.30 and we’re up to eighteen visitors to the stand, second cup of coffee of the morning and the obligatory stock of sweets which the Director of Music brings each time has just been broached; we’re now fuelled by caffeine and Maltesers. Ace…

11.30 and there seems to be a trend of visitors interested in music alongside degrees in History, Law and English. Although not all three at the same time, I should point out. Quite a few saxophonists, too; perhaps I should warn the conductor of the Big Band that, come September 2013, he may well have a Very Big Band on his hands.

12.30pm and the prize for the Visitor from the Farthest-Flung Corner goes to Gabrielle, who has travelled from Belgium: welcome! Still trending on Historians. A visitor from Bath, sadly just pipped to the post for the VF-FC award by Gabrielle: condolences!

2pm and we’re into the final hour, having taken advantage of an ever-so-slight lunchtime lull in visitors to grab sandwiches while we could.

3pm: and that’s it for the day. Over fifty visitors finding out about all the musical activities that happen as part of the student experience at Kent; lots of interest too in the new music building which will open its doors this autumn. A wide spectrum of musical tastes and interests, including lots of interest in jazz; I can see Jazz@5 becoming a regular feature from September 2013 onwards if all theses interested come to Kent! Thank you to all who attended throughout the day, safe travelling back home.

It seems but scant moments ago that we were here at the music stand at the University’s Open Day; checking back, I see it’s been about four weeks since last we were here; how time flies when you’re busy getting music together at the start of the academic year!

I walked across to the Sports Hall this morning at 8.30 to set up, accompanying a chap who was coming to the Open Day; he’d come straight from working a night-shift directly onto the campus to come and find out about courses of study in IT: now that’s dedication – hats off to you, sir!

It’s now 9.30am, and we’ve already had two visitors to the ‘Making Music’ stand asking about choral and piano-playing opportunities.

We’ll be reporting live from the stand throughout the day – and on Twitter – keep up via @Unikent_music.

New this time are live updates from the University on Twitter (or via text) from @UniKentLive; follow them for live updates and assistance throughout the day!

10.20am; our usual competition for ‘Visitor from the Farthest-Flung Corner of the World’ has had a strong contender with someone coming from Spain. Nine visitors so far….

12.30pm: we’re now up to thirty-five visitors: no further challenges to the ‘Farthest-Flung’ competition, although a tip of the hat to visitors from Bath and Torquay! A variety of singers and instrumentalists coming to the stand. When’s lunch ?

2pm: heading into the final hour of the day, I notice the Twitter-trending on #kentopenday is keeping the Twitterverse busy, lots of reaction to today’s events from visitors.  Visitors from Southampton, Yorkshire, Staffordshire, Hertfordshire and elsewhere having been keeping the music stand busy. Lots of awareness of, and interest in, the new Colyer-Fergusson music building and the opportunities to use it when it opens net summer. And we’ve not even finished the ‘Revels’ that we opened at 10 o’clock this morning: that shows you how busy we’ve been. I wonder if there’s a recognised system for measuring levels of industry by the amount of sweets that have been unconsumed ?

3pm: and that’s it! Good to see so many people interested in making music at the University from September next year, save travelling home, we look forward to seeing you in the new music building!