The traditional attitude of the hip musician towards academia has basically been to avoid it at all costs. Many top musicians of the past admit that they actually took up music as a means of avoiding the discipline of the classroom. But today’s musician is a more practical animal, and ever more people, in Britain, Ireland and elsewhere, are now realising that the more you know, the more equipped you are to deal with the demands of an increasingly competitive business.

In England, the London Music School has become a leading contender in this growing field, with courses for guitar players, vocalists, songwriters, drums and electric bass guitar. Plans to introduce keyboards are already in the pipeline. The school continues to attract a growing number of contemporary musicians keen to improve their skills and to prepare themselves for the realities of life as a card-carrying muso.

Tralee-born Eric Roche heads their Guitar School section. His past musical adventures include a stint with David McAlmont and he is currently on stand-by for the Riverdance team. He told Hot Press: “While we occasionally accept a student who simply wants to improve his technique for his own personal satisfaction, most of our students already have some basic proficiency on their instrument but feel they need to focus their attention more closely on the skills they’ll require to make a real career of it.”

Accepted students generally tend to be in the late-teens-to-mid-20s age group, although not exclusively so. Of course, many arrive with false pre-conceptions as to what a career in music is actually like. Says Roche; “some definitely have stars in their eyes, but that gets sorted out on a very realistic level fairly quickly, and eyes and ears are quickly opened to what life’s really all about when you’re a professional musician. We instil a philosophy that there’s lots of work to do, and that ultimately your success will depend not only on your musical skills but also on your ability to build up positive relationships with those who will be your future source of earnings.

“Some who arrive here are definitely too big for their boots. They might have the technique and some skills but they don’t know how to apply them to actually getting work, and that’s where we have to inject a dose of reality.”

According to Roche, too many young musicians also think that getting work will be easy. “They’re drawn to London because of the range of opportunities, but they forget that this also brings increased competition for a finite number of jobs. Diversification helps, so the school also tries to encourage students to listen to a wide spectrum of musical genres – so that say, a keen Metallica fan might occasionally try other styles, like jazz, for example, and vice versa.

“We also encourage students to learn about the practicalities of the music industry, so while an average day will include some theoretical work, practical classes and workshops, during which they’ll often play with musicians on other instruments, we’ll sometimes have people from different sectors of the industry come in to talk to them.”

Courses are usually a calendar year long. Students work from 11 am to 5 pm every day, with occasional week-long breaks. As Roche claims, “The breaks are very important as they give the students time to reflect on what we’re teaching them, and maybe an opportunity to try out what we’ve taught them in a different environment outside the school.”

Despite the invaluable eye-opening approach of the tutors, the drop-out rate from the London Music School is very small. There is also a noticeable growth in the percentage of women enrolling, with about 15 on the current courses whereas four years ago there were none.

How do the students see it? New Zealander Jeremy Roberts is a guitarist, singer and songwriter with the alternative rock outfit Aurotonic. He’s been a musician for over seven years but was “at his wit’s end” before he enrolled with the London Music School in a determined effort to extend his capabilities. When it’s put to him that a lot of rock musicians have a dismissive attitude to music schools in general, he’s most emphatic in his response.

“That’s a totally old-fashioned attitude. It’s a very competitive business, and you have to treat seriously anything that can help you to be a better musician, give you a better understanding of the business and help you get your music heard.”

He believes that his spell at the London Music School not only increased the technical aspect of his playing but built up his confidence and gave him a heightened sense of motivation and perseverance.

“Of course it’s hard work. It’s quite intensive and you can’t just glide through without putting in a lot of time, effort and concentration, but that in itself is a good preparation for the life as a working musician, whether in a rock band or as session player. It was good to learn that the business isn’t quite as glamorous as it seemed to me back in New Zealand,” he admits.

He’s now out there hustling in the marketplace, better equipped and better prepared for the arduous task of finding enough work and scoring a deal for Aurotonic.

Apart from Roberts, other graduates of the London School Of Music include Jo Kemp, the vocalist and songwriter who has worked with Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics and with Pete Brown of Creamworks for Channel 4. The talents of a batch of graduates can be sampled on a forthcoming CD which includes 12 tracks recorded by graduates.

According to Jan Bell, Marketing manager with the London Music School, “We’re hoping to make this a regular feature, possibly issuing two a year. It’s useful for musicians to have something practical that they use, not only to assess their own performance but as a calling card if they go looking for contracts or any kind of work.”

In fact, the innovation of the CD releases constitutes a neat opportunity for the right sponsor to contribute a comparatively small amount of money to encourage young, committed and talented people along the path to a worthwhile career. Interested sponsors and potential students can contact the London Music School at 131 Wapping High Street, Wapping, London E1 9NQ or at http://www.tlms.co.uk or e-mail them at : [email protected]