Music and Performing Arts

Welcome to Music and Performing Arts at Blackburn College. We're looking forward to welcoming you in September and have prepared some activities that you can do in advance of starting working on your course.

Activity 1

Learn how to play Black Betty by Ram Jam on your instrument of choice, whether that's guitar, bass, drums, piano, keyboard etc. You will notice there are two guitar parts - choose either, but have a go at the solos!

Don’t worry if you don’t have a distortion pedal etc. In similar vain, drummers don’t panic if you don’t have a full set. The object of this is to stretch you a little and focus on your technical and ensemble skills.

Here's a how to Black Betty by Ram Jam on electric guitar tutorial video. Search YouTube for a tutorial video for whichever instrument you play.

Activity 2

An interesting article to read! The Impact of Listening to Music on Cognitive Performance – read by clicking here.

Also, some great websites to visit to help you prepare for the course:

How are important Maths and English skills linked to the subject?

Maths is essential when working in the audio industry. There are a variety instances when you will use Maths, for example, working out dB levels, compression ratios and distances.

English is really important in your studies, it helps you articulate ideas and thoughts and analyse research text. Album Review! Listen to one of your favourite albums and complete this form.

What careers can I progress into?

  • Video and sound engineer
  • Recording engineer
  • Music director or conductor
  • Music teacher
  • DJ
  • Musical therapist
  • Music journalist
  • Music agent
  • Performer
  • Composer or arranger
  • Technician
  • Retail
Try our mini 3-4 week project!
Week 1: Learn all # major scales – one octave. Practice and prepare a new song in a major key to performance standard. It can be an original or a cover and you can use a backing track if you wish. Keep a record of your practice sessions by a video, a blog or a diary.
 
Week 2: Learn all B major scales – one octave. Practice and prepare a new song as a contrast to the first, in a different genre, in a major key and to performance standard. It can be an original or a cover and you can use a backing track if you wish. Keep a record of your practice sessions by a video, a blog or a diary.
 
Week 3: Learn all # harmonic minor scales – one octave. Practice and prepare a new song as a contrast to the last, in a different genre, in a minor key and to performance standard. It can be an original or a cover and you can use a backing track if you wish. Keep a record of your practice sessions by a video, a blog or a diary.
 
Week 4: Learn all B harmonic minor scales – one octave. Practice and prepare a new song as a contrast to the last, in a different genre, in a major key and to performance standard. It can be an original or a cover and you can use a backing track if you wish. Perform all four songs back-to-back and record them on your phone.
 
Try to work out what the key signature of the various scales are i.e. how many sharps # or flats B are in each scale.
Try the Titanium Song Activity.

Contact the tutors if you need to

  • John Binns - John.Binns@blackburn.ac.uk
  • Callum Aspinall - Callum.Aspinall@blackburn.ac.uk

 

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