Week 2
On our first day, we joined with the bands who played at Lobby in the music building of Wakefield College to show off our creative challenges, while they played some songs.
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As well as this, we met with some professional musicians to learn about the industry at Create Cafe.
The people we met:
Rob
Musician
Rob is a community musician who does songwriting, drumming, guitar and much more. He works with Hoot Creative Arts and works at Leeds Conservatoire. He also teaches privately with people who have visual impairments. He is part of a three piece band - Knuckle and is classically trained, starting his music career by playing clarinet.
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His qualifications include:
- GCSE Music
- A Level Music
- Music Technology at university
- Placement at a community studio
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Rob taught me that musicians often have many different jobs at once - which can provide lots of variety.
(pictured left)
Rob
Runs Record Label
Rob runs Philophobia Music (a record label based in Wakefield since 2008). Previously, he worked at another record label, gaining experience, before leaving to start Philophobia. He has now done 170 releases, signed 5 artists (including Knuckle, Terror Cult, The Lodger, St Cyrus and Dead Slow Hoot.
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Rob taught me that experience is invaluable in the music world and can be important in musical careers.
Jamie
Musician
Jamie is a professional folk musician. His main act is a BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards Best Duo Nominee - Gilmore & Roberts, which consists of Jamie and his wife. He usually does a few tours a year, and plays festivals, also writing original songs.
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He is self-managed: books gigs, does marketing, graphic design and runs social media, etc.
He also plays at weddings and other events. Furthermore, he works at a special needs school - Live Music Now - also working with care homes, doing workshops.
As well as this he also does private tutoring (guitar/violin)
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Jamie taught me that being a musician is not simply playing music - it is like a business - where you need to 'sell' your act, and that there are many things you may not consider associated with being a musician.
(pictured left)
Lucy
part of the first #youngteam
Lucy was part of the original Long Division #YoungTeam and now works as a waitress. Her favourite part of Young Team was networking, as she now knows many people in Wakefield and has lots of connections. She is now paid for her photography and drama - which she never thought was possible.
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Lucy taught me the importance of connections and networking and how proper connections can be very helpful in careers.
Georgia
Musician
Georgia is a vocal specialist who teaches at Leeds Arts University, runs choirs (Singing Mums) and teaches people with Parkinson's. She is in a harmony trio called The Hummingbirds and a band called The State Of Georgia.
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Georgia taught me that there are many paths you can take in the music world - such as education - not just a touring musician.
(pictured centre)
Paul
Works at Long Division
Paul is best friends with the director of long division festival (Dean). He is an experienced drama teacher and theatre-maker - notably as the head of Taproom Theatre Company, and founder of Cuckoo's Egg. He is a large part of the festival, working part time for it year-round in order to keep things running. He went to Bretton Hall (drama school), acted for a bit, before doing a play at Edinburgh Festival (21 shows). After, he became a teacher for 10 years. 4-5 years ago, he left to work at Huddersfield University to teach drama teachers - starting working at Long Division with Dean as a hobby.
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Paul taught me that creative careers involve a lot of hard work, and things can take a while to start - as he worked for years at Long Division whilst being a teacher, but it paid off due to his hard work.
The Exhibition:
After the meet, we went back to the music building, where we showcased our creative challenges, and the bands played a few songs.
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This was a chance for each of us to gain important feedback to improve our challenges and get a clear picture of our strengths and weaknesses.
Photos by Andrew Benge
Feedback:
After the exhibition, we shared feedback to help us improve our work.
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These are some of the comments I recieved:
Overall, I was very happy with the feedback. I was especially happy with the comments on mixing - as it showed that I had done a good job, and I had never mixed before.
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Also, seeing as I like a band called 'Crumb', being told to listen to them by Lucy Q told me that I had achieved the sound I was aiming for.