#AccessThruMusic

Our Access Thru Music course has been running and it is now in it's second week with our August group, We are loving how wonderful and talented our group of young people are! So far it has been very interesting, expect great things  from these young people

 

Armstrong Learning Open Day Schedule

Just a heads-up on our forthcoming Open Day on Friday November 9th which is taking place as part of Belfast Music Week between 12pm and 2pm at our Belfast City Centre Training Facility. Feel free to pop in and check our facilities, speak to our tutors and learn some more about the upcoming courses we have on offer ....


 12.00 noon – 12.30pm – Welcome and live performance from Aaron Shanley, a celebrated musician and winner of 'Young Songwriter Of The Year' at the Belfast Nashville Songwriters Festival and 'Best Male' at the Access To Music Awards in Birmingham. Aaron has carved a career for himself in music after completing the VRQ course with Armstrong Learning in NI.



 12.30pm – 1.00pm – Music production class in full swing; see our budding new musicians learn their craft or ‘have-a-go’ on the Mac-suite yourself.

 1.00pm- 1.30pm – Have some lunch and enjoy networking opportunities as our success stories are told by those clients we have helped gain employment through the Steps to Work programme.

1.30pm – 2.00pm – See the podcast module being taught as our students film a live act as Allie Bradley performs her latest single.




 http://www.facebook.com/alliebrads
 http://www.reverbnation.com/aaronshanley

New Courses Starting Soon....

Heads Up!

Former VRQ client Samuel Dalton was this week presented with his Level 2 Certificate having recently completed our Music Business Practitioner programme. The up and coming electronic dj and producer from Belfast was awarded a Pass with Merit for his qualification. Samuel spent 26 weeks on placement with one of Ireland's leading music retailers, Head Records in Victoria Square Shopping Centre in Belfast, who subsequently went on to offer him a full-time position as a Retail Assistant.

Sam is pictured here receiving his Certificate from Ronan McGuigan who is the Assistant Manager of the Belfast store.

Access To Music Workshops

As part of Belfast Music Week, Armstrong Learning present two Access to Music industry panel workshops in conjunction with Atom Live, bundled together into an unmissable afternoon session on Tuesday 1st November from 2pm until 5pm at the Oh Yeah Music Centre in Belfast.
Places are limited so book fast!



PART ONE
Do It Right – The Ram’s Pocket Radio Machine

Tuesday 1st November
2pm – 3.30pm
Free Admission – 100 Limited Places
Register by email: atmbelfast@gmail.com

Starting at 2pm, the first session will take emerging Northern Irish artist Ram’s Pocket Radio, alongside some of the key members of his national team (including his management, press and promotion) and have an in-depth look into what makes a perfect set-up for a rock musician- if the artist is the centre forward in a team, who are the key playmakers around him shaping his career? How and when did they slot into place?

How did Peter secure management and how does management co-ordinate & manage an artist's expectations whilst wanting to also bring them to the marketplace & maximise their earning capabilities? At the end of the event there will also be an opportunity for Q&A.

Speakers include;
Peter McCauley (Ram's Pocket Radio)
Phil Nelson (Manager Rams Pocket Radio, Duke Special & Aqualung)
Julian Deane (Manager Ram's Pocket Radio, the X-Cerpts)
Rob Dix (Partisan PR, with clients Rumer, Damien Rice, Biffy Clyro & Bell X1)
Joe Dougan (Belsonic/Shine Productions)

PART TWO
A Positive Education - Dance Music Production

Speakers include;
• The Japanese Popstars • Phil Kieran • Psycatron • Space Dimension Controller • Screendeath

3.30pm - 5pm
Free Admission – 100 Limited Places
Register by email: atmbelfast@gmail.com

Hosted by Paul Hamill from the Across the Line Dance Show on BBC Radio Ulster, the second panel will explore the various production techniques deployed by some of Northern Ireland's most successful international names in electronic music and investigate the adage that it's not what you have, but it's what you do with what you have that counts. To plug-in or not plug-in? Hardware or Software? Is idea more important than execution or vice versa? This is the place to hear from a globally recognised panel of experts who have experience stretching back over the past two decades.

At the end of the event there will also be an opportunity for Q&A and the panel will also provide feedback on a selection of audience demos brought along on the day.

Armstrong Learning Teams Up With Sainsbury's

This month we began a new partnership with Sainsbury's main distribution centre in Northern Ireland who have take a number of our Steps To Work clients on for a 13 week work placement at their main Belfast-based depot. Sainsbury's are huge advocates of Corporate Social Responsibility and currently employ 150'000 people throughout the UK and source over £250million of local produce from Northern Ireland for sale in their stores on an annual basis.

Win A Music Video For A Fiver

As part of their Music Business Practitioner coursework, Armstrong Learning clients have come up with an innovative competition where one Artist can win the opportunity to have a music video made for a song of their choice by one of Belfast's leading media production companies. The competition is being run with the support of Red Cap Productions, Media Zoo and AU Magazine and has already featured on BBC Radio Ulster's Across the Line. It only costs a minimum of £5 to enter and all proceeds from the competition entries will be donated to the Cystic Fibrosis Trust.

For more information and to enter, you can click on the Just Giving page here