PoP goes LCM Leeds College of Music is beefing up its industry credentials with one-to-one tuition from chart-topping pop songwriters and specialist business mentors. Rhian Jones reports
It takes one hit pop song to catapult an unknown musician into the big time. Rudimental, Passenger and Kodaline have all
topped the UK charts in the last two years despite having had a relatively low profile in the public eye beforehand. And now students
Business Time After five years having its courses accredited by the University of Bradford – which doesn’t have a music department – LCM’s new partner (as of September 2013) is the University of Hull, known for its business school and offering a wealth of music courses. Leeds has now been able to develop a new BA Hons Music Business degree that starts in September. It’s the first foray that LCM has taken into teaching the business side of music for one specific pathway and it plans to use its conservatoire model to tempt students away from competitors. ‘There are a lot of music business courses in the UK but they are focused on big classes and broad examinations of what counts as the music industry. What makes a conservatoire a conservatoire is the degree of specialism that is allowed,’ director of curriculum Joe Wilson explains. ‘The idea is that we’ll be able to follow the one-to-one tuition model of a conservatoire that actually puts students with a specialist mentor. That certainly doesn’t exist elsewhere.’ musicteachermagazine.co.uk
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at Leeds College of Music could be among the next success stories if the names recruited to write with them are anything to go by. As of September this year, those on the MA Music pathway will get the chance to work with songwriting royalty. Those signed up as visiting tutors include the likes of Iain Archer (whose credits include songs for Snow Patrol and Jake Bugg), Simon Aldred (Cherry Ghost), Paul Statham (Kylie, Dido), David Toop (Flying Lizards, Brian Eno) and legendary session singer Kim Chandler (who has worked with Björk and The Bee Gees among others). The writers will be teamed up with some 20 students on a one-to-one basis to work together in concentrated sessions of writing throughout the year. ‘The aim is to help students become more and more adaptable. We want to bring great musicians on and help them become better » JUNE 2014 | MUSIC TEACHER
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