Music Courses & Schools
Undoubtedly if you are on this site, chances are that you play some sort of instrument, maybe you’re even in a band, maybe you’re in a band that you are hoping to a make a full time career out of, but aren’t sure how to do it. Or maybe you just like the idea of playing music for a living, but with music being such a closed industry, how do you find out what your options are?
BIMM, stands for the Brighton Institute of Modern Music, and from summer 2008, it will also stand for the Bristol Institute of Modern Music. It’s essentially a place where you can go to learn more about music, to further your musical ability, and to meet some of the current big names in the music industry and ask them about their experiences. It offers courses in a range of areas from specific instrumental courses (vocals, drums, bass, guitar) to courses that are more tailored to a specific practice (song writing, tour management), all of which are designed to help you learn about the industry, and how you as a performer can fit into it.
There are other institutes such as the ACM in Guildford, that offer a similar service, with similar courses - so it really comes down to which you prefer, and obviously which will be most suitable for you in terms of location.
Will BIMM make you famous?
In a word, no.
Will it give you a career in music? Again, probably not.
A lot of people attend BIMM with the pretence that they will be taught a little, and given a lot. It’s important to note that the opposite is true. While the tutors will teach you a great great deal, you will not be handed anything on a plate at all. If you want a career in music, then you need to make it happen. You don’t see medical students going to university just expecting to be given a job at the end of it do you? They know as well as anyone else that the workplace is saturated with overqualified young people with a lot of debt, and they know that they will have to work long and hard to even be considered for a medical position at the end of their studies.
BIMM has tutors from the likes of The Prodigy, Reef, Toploader, My Life Story, and many others, its worth baring in mind though, that while these people are tutors - their passion is music, not teaching. So if you’re expecting world class teaching methods and new practices, then again, you may be disappointed. What they do have however, is a wealth of experience in the industry second to none. You will learn most from them by listening to their stories and asking questions. Not a single one of them will offer you studio time, or offer you a gig, but build up a relationship with them and ask, and you may get the answer you were hoping for.
The thing you will benefit from most during the whole experience, is the music business module. Taught by the likes of Jake Shillingford, who has a true understanding of the ins and outs of the music industry, he will offer information that will truly benefit you in getting somewhere. Provided that you don’t just take on board the information, you actually put it into practice too.
It isn’t an easy ride, in the sense that you certainly can just sail through the course doing very little and still pass, but if you do that then you will gain very little. If you want to really make something of it, then you need to be completely focused on music, you need to be willing to invest your hard earned money on good equipment, and you need to treat music as a career rather than a hobby.
Most of all, enjoy yourself. A lot of people enjoy music because it isn’t a job, it’s not worth trying to make a career in music if it becomes like any other job, where you feel like you have to do it.
You have to want to do it, because there are thousands of other people out there who want to do it just as much.
