Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

North-east spotlight event brings music students and industry together

A panel of industry professionals provided NESCol students with valuable feedback on their music and will go on to receive further mentoring and coaching to help kickstart their careers in the music industry. Picture supplied by Lewis Taylor.
A panel of industry professionals provided NESCol students with valuable feedback on their music and will go on to receive further mentoring and coaching to help kickstart their careers in the music industry. Picture supplied by Lewis Taylor.

A recent music spotlight event has given north-east music students the chance to play their music to top industry figures and gain detailed feedback on their work to help their future careers.

Silvernote North East Spotlight was held at North-East Scotland College’s (NESCol) Aberdeen City campus last Thursday.

The event was brought together by NESCol music tutor Dan Stevenson, Cooked With Chef (aka Olaoluwa Akisanya or Aberdeen rapper Chef) and creative enterprise Silvernote.

Industry exposure

NESCol music and production students were invited to submit one piece of work prior to the event for a chance of it being played and receiving feedback in front of a panel of music industry professionals.

These included Stuart Fleming (PRS for Music), Audrey Tait (Franz Ferdinand), Charlotte Printer (Joesef Joesef), Phoebe Inglis-Holmes (BBC Introducing in Scotland) as well as Chef.

The submissions were narrowed down to four student pieces that were played on the night, with each receiving constructive feedback from the panel.

All four students will now receive further mentoring and coaching from NESCol to help further kickstart their careers in the music industry.

Bridging the gap

Aberdeen rapper Chef. Picture supplied by Lewis Taylor

Speaking of the inspiration behind the event, Chef said: “Seeing the amount of musical talent in Aberdeen and knowing that so many of them were in education, I realised there was a disconnect between formal education and the music industry itself.

“We came up with this initiative to try and bridge the gap between the two.

“The main thing was to get exposure for NESCol students who will be going into the industry and making careers in it.

“I think the event has been a real success.”

Achieving goals

NESCol lecturer, Dan Stevenson. Picture supplied by Lewis Taylor

NESCol music lecturer Dan Stevenson added: “The quality of the submissions far exceeded what we were expecting.

“I don’t like this idea of divide where you see a superstar artist and think, ‘I’ll never be able to reach that’.

“I wanted people to think about how they can actually do it and hopefully, how events like these could be a stepping stone towards achieving their goals.”

Top of the pops

Music student Natasha Vroegindewey’s song Sometimes I Wonder was selected as the panel’s favourite, and it will go on to be recorded and released as part of NESCol’s Silvernote project.

The Peterhead based artist said that she was delighted to have received such positive comments.

“I appreciated all of the panel’s feedback so much and I’ll definitely be taking it on board,” said Natasha.

“For industry figures to comment and listen to the emotions I put into my music really means a lot to me.

“Going forward, I want to keep making more songs that other people can feel that they relate to.”

For more information on music and production opportunities at North East Scotland College, visit their website here.

Conversation