We are now looking for budding music journalists in Aberdeen to sign up for our fantastic free 57º North Music Journalism Course.
As 57º North is a not-for-profit venture, set up to serve the entire music community of Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire, we are offering training in order to encourage people of all ages to write about music in the region.
This will help build a stronger music scene, covering all genres and venues and making Aberdeen the envy of the rest of the country for its grassroots musical culture. The more people we can involve in this mission, the more the music scene will flourish. Having great gigs going on in a city is only part of the success - it needs good writers to cover all things musical through websites, blogs, newspapers and social media, so the word can get out about all the exciting bands and events going on.
The training programme consists of four sessions, taking place each week on a Wednesday night at Seventeen on Belmont Street (former site of One-Up Records).
Starting on Wednesday 23rd October, the course covers everything you need to set you on the way to becoming a music writer, including the following sessions:
- Introduction to music journalism and 57º North: Historical background, shift from print to online, changing role of the music journalist.
- Types of music journalism: Previews, reviews, interviews, features, blogs - with good and bad examples of each and tips on how to make a success of your writing.
- Interview technique and writing skills: Finding the right people and how to approach interviewees, method of interview, writing up your interviews, turning interviews into features, writing tips.
- Networking, contacts and promoting your work: Developing your contacts, image use, hyperlinking, press tickets, blogging, social media, finding your audience, getting work experience and promoting your writing.
- Optional additional session - Podcasting and audio work
Those completing the course will have the chance to be accredited 57º North writers, interviewing bands, covering events and promoting the region's music scene. For those writing for the site, we will offer continuing support and advice, as well as free tickets for events.
The course will be taught by the 57 º North team, led by Stevie Kearney (MA Journalism, New Music Correspondent @ Scotsman.com, 2008-12) and John Anderson (Founder of The Kiosque).
Our training course is free and open to anyone based in Aberdeen with an interest in writing about music.
To apply, please email Stevie@shmu.org.uk - the first 4-week block begins on October 23rd, but we will be running more courses this year and in 2014, subject to demand. Class sizes are limited to 6.
57º North Music Journalism Training is delivered in association with Station House Media Unit (shmu) and funded by Aberdeen City Council through the Cultural Grant programme. Space at Seventeen is kindly provided by Aberdeen City Council.