The Institute was lucky to have Nick Raymonde of Destiny Management come in to give an industry-style masterclass to our vocal students. The topic: looking at how songwriting works within the record industry. Having previously signed some of the most sucessful acts of the last two decades while working as Head of A&R at Sony BMG Music, Nick now represents the worlds biggest songwriters and producers along with his other interests in the record industry.

Starting off speaking about how writers work within the industry and the art of sucessfully writing for and with name artists, Nick provided an up to date list of songs which are currently being sought by A&R men around the globe. Then the students were split into groups, each given a brief to work to, in an attempt to put their original ideas and team writing skills into practice. The goal:to come up with a song to meet one of the briefs.

The resulting material was perfomed at the end of the evening and was a great sucess. With merely 30 minutes most groups came up with only a verse and a chorus but each met the brief well and presented some great commercial ideas. And filled with variety: the material ranged from country pop to punk!  They particularly enjoyed working to a pressured deadline, especially considering what they came up with what would normally take them at least a day!

At the end of the masterclass, Nick brought everyone together and answered any further questions.  He then invited all of the groups to record their work, however roughly, and submit it to him.  Let's hope some of our students follow Nick's advice!!