as someone who wants to be in a band in the future, and as someone who is focusing on band work as a college project for this year, bimm seems suited to needs and wants from a university programme.

The entry requirements for bimm university, on the bass course is only 64 ucas points, however there is also an audition process that requires you to go through a plethora of technical skills, to show your ability both as a musician for your specific instrument.

at bimm, they teach technical musicianship, alongside songwriting, composing, arrangement and much more. they also have industry connections with national festivals, which would help you to reach that next level as a solo artist or as a band. bimm also teaches optional units, which can also help to further you as an artist. these are in a range of subjects, from the psychology of music, to lyricism and aesthetics.

bimm also does not offer any student accomodation, however due to being in a city centre, getting cheap student accomodation would be quite easy. BIMM is also in manchester, which could be considered a sort of cultural hub in the sense that there will be a lot of local live music venues, and opportunities with local venues for student nights, or for student bands to play in the local area.

overall, BIMM currently is my 1st choice for a uni, as i think it suits my interests and my desires for the future quite well. it would make me a better musician, performer, and it would help to further me into being both a muscian in hopefully a full time sense, whilst giving me enough scope in the industry to be able to branch out into side careers, to help me survive as a modern day musician.

side notes-

the BIMM lecturers are versed in a variety of styles, and they will push you to find your niche. as a musician in a relatively niche genre, this is perfect for me, as it will help

major and minor scales

major and minor pentatonic scales

slap bass technique

starting with major scales as my first goal

my next goal will be learning about pentatonic scales

i am doing this in order to achieve the entry requirements for BIMM, as i feel like these are a good core set of skills to develop as a newer bassist. coming from a prestigious, performance uni like BIMM, it also helps to set a sort of standard to which new bassists should achieve in order to reach that next level of your musicianship career.

W-W-H-W-W-W-H with W meaning a whole step, or two frets, and H meaning half, or the next fret down. major scales typically will sound quite happy and energetic

A minor scale goes

W-H-W-W-H-W-W. minor scales typically sound much more melancholic, or sadder.

for an example, if we start on A as our root note, or the first and final notes in the sequence to complete the octave, the scale will go

MJ- A-B-C sharp-D-E-F sharp-G sharp -A

whereas in minor, this will go

MN- A-B-C-D-E-F-G-A

in the minor, we remove the sharp from the third, sixth and seventh notes. the scale will change depending on the root, however the formula will always remain the same

on a bass, a major scale starting on an E major scale will go (in standard tuning)

Open-2-4-5-7-8-11-12.

an e minor scale will be incredibly similar, however you just minus 1 from the third, sixth and seventh notes.

however, due to the length of the fretboard, it may be more beneficial to change to a higher string when playing a major or minor scale, as you wont be moving all the way down the freboard on one string.

in that scenario, the third note would move us up to the open A string, and then continue on from that string. this would change the sequence to

open-2-4-open A string- 2nd fret A-4th fret-first fret D string-second fret to finalise the octave.

another useful tip this video gives is showing you songs that actually use these scales, as it helps you to mentally paint a picture of how these scales could be used in your own compositional works.

weeks 3-4, learning the practical playing skills neccessary, and being able to apply that across the fretboard

as someone who would like to swap over to performance in the future, derby uni is not a bad choice. they teach many units, such as industry, spatial audio, and innovations in modern music. they also, as previously mentioned, have lots of specialised rooms and studios to practice and refine these skills.

the entry requirement for the popular music course at derby, is a CCC, or around 96 ucas points. this is signifigantly higher than BIMM, however there is no audition process, which is likely why they have higher standards in terms of grades.

in terms of accomodation, derby uni does have student halls that you can live in. and derby is somewhat of a musical centre also, so there will be a lot of night life and local acts on to enjoy off campus. one downside of derby however is its decently far from any major cities like birmingham, manchester or london.

overall, currently derby is my third choice of unis. whilst i think the facilities are great, the course doesnt have the specificity to cater to what i want to do and work on, so i feel like it might not be the best choice. although, if i do want to go onto production, it seems like a good choice, as the facilities are amazing.

things that went well-

completed the section

plenty of research

improving my technical skill and my knowledge of bass and sound design, as these are the two main skills i will need for my aspirations moving forwards

creating a university application, so if i do want to go onto a university course, i can do this, this year. however, i am thinking about possibly taking a gap year.

working on my own working skills, such as focus and trying not to procrastinate. with some self reflection, i have realised i do this quite regularly, so i am hoping to break these habits now, rather than later.

getting into university on a sound design degree, so i can go out and use top of the line foley studios and develop those industry connections neccessary for a sound design career

start developing my own home studio, with a good speaker system, DAW, mics and lots of foley equipment to use in projects

developing my band project to the point where we can confidently go public, and start gigging in the stoke local area, and perhaps beyond that

persuing a successful band project, and getting to a point where i can hopefully be making good money from that

having a career in the sound design industry working with big games design companies, as either a member of their main sound design team, or as a freelance composer.

developing my sound design skills to the point where i can confidently find work in the industry, and having my own home set up to do this

in terms of my strengths, i think i have a strong foundation in terms of actually playing the instrument, and my fret movement is good. i am also able to identify the notes based on tuning and the frets adjacent to them respectfully. although this comes easiest to me in E standard, as that is what i learnt the fretboard in.

in terms of improvements, i really need to improve my theory side of my playing. i do not know scales, or any theory really, as i never spent time learning theory whilst starting off, instead opting to a ''learning as i go'' approach to this. this has lead to me not carrying many quintissential skills you may need for a band project, such as being unable to really write progressions. i also am only really in the finger style technique at playing, meaning in some more fast paced genres, like metal, i do not have the neccessary speed. likewise, for genres like jazz, i cannot recreate the sound the slap bass technique would give you.

BASS-

doing a development plan on bass will help me refine these theory skills, so i can improve both technically and improve my theory work. doing bass as a part of my development plan will also give me chance to experiment with

SOUND DESIGN-