Postgraduate Taster Week

April 22th – 26th

Get a real taste of being a Masters student by joining our Postgraduate Taster Week, April 22-26. It's a unique opportunity to find out what it's like to study for our online Masters degrees in Film Scoring, Game Scoring or Music Production.

  • Pick and choose sessions from the timetable
  • Experience live webinars with industry professionals
  • Meet our tutors
  • Try assignments and attend review sessions
  • Access course materials in our online campus

We highly recommend joining Taster Week if you are interested in studying one of our Masters degrees.

SIGN-UP NOW – $30
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Taster Week Timetable

Below is the current schedule for Taster Week. All times quoted are in either UTC or UTC+1 depending on the time of year. Please make sure to convert to your own time-zone. We may make amendments to this as we get closer to the start date, so do keep an eye on this (and the Postgraduate Taster Week course on your profile) for changes.

Join live webinars from different degrees

Through the week you'll be able to join live webinars on a wide range of topics – from music production to video game sound design. These are taken from our different degree courses. You can attend any webinar, no matter what degrees you are most interested in. You might be surprised at what you'll develop a taste for!

get pro feedback on your music and audio, or learn from others

You can also join review sessions to get constructive feedback, practical advice, and encouragement on your music or sound design from industry pros. You'll need to submit work at least 24 hours in advance. If you don't want your work reviewed, you can just attend these sessions and learn from feedback on submissions from others.

Monday April 22nd

  • 10AM BST: Welcome to Taster Week (Early Session)

    Hosted by Guy Michelmore and Tim Johnson: Join a welcome session to learn more about Postgraduate Taster Week, how you can access our online campus, and how to make the most out of the week ahead.

  • 4PM BST: Hybrid Scoring:

    Hosted by Arhynn Descy and Emer Landers: A whirlwind look at writing for samples vs writing for live instruments and then a look at how to inject realism and energy into sampled scores with the use of live elements.

  • 5:30PM BST: Media Composition: Review Session

    Hosted by Arhynn Descy and Emer Landers: If you’re interested in scoring for the media, then submit a piece of your work for this session and we will review it live with our tutors and other Taster Week students.

  • 7PM BST: Welcome to Taster Week (Late Session)

    Hosted by Guy Michelmore and Tim Johnson: Join a welcome session to learn more about Postgraduate Taster Week, how you can access our online campus, and how to make the most out of the week ahead.

Tuesday April 23rd

  • 7PM BST: Shameless Appropriation: Learning From and Ripping Off Game Composers More Talented Than Us

    Hosted by Mike Worth and Joel Grant: Join Mike (Farkle) and Joel as they show how to compose and mix original music for a real-world project by extracting musical and production ideas from existing reference music and adapting it to their own individual voices.

  • 8:15PM BST: Game Music: Review Session

    Hosted by Mike Worth and Joel Grant: If you’re interested in writing music for games, then submit a piece of your work for this session and we will review it live with our tutors and other Taster Week students.

Wednesday April 24th

  • 6PM BST: Releasing Your Music with Ella Walker and Chris Rockall

    Hosted by Ella Walker and Chris Rockall: Chris and Ella show you the key elements of releasing your music independently, be it a single, EP or album. Industry secrets, tricks of the trade, and advice to musicians of all genres.

  • 7:15PM BST: Music Production and Songwriting: Review Session

    Hosted by Ella Walker and Chris Rockall: Are you a songwriter or producer of any kind? Then submit your track for this session and we will review it live with our tutors and other Taster Week students.

Thursday April 25th

  • 3PM BST: Taster Week Assignments: Review Session

    Hosted by Guy Michelmore and Tim Johnson: If you’ve had a chance to explore one of the dedicated Taster Week assignments, then we’d like to review those assignments here. This way we can compare work amongst ourselves and look at the different ways you can approach the same brief.

  • 5PM BST: Abstract Sound Design for Video Games

    Hosted by Giorgio Vezzini and Sergio Ronchetti: Let’s create some sound design live with synths and layering material. Ask, suggest, comment, and we’ll create something together!

  • 6PM BST: Sound Design for Video Games: Review Session

    Hosted by Giorgio Vezzini and Sergio Ronchetti: If you’re interested in creating sound design for games (foley, SFX etc), then submit a piece of your work for this session and we will review it live with our tutors and other Taster Week students.

Friday April 26th

  • 4PM BST: Danny Elfman’s Batman and Queen Nation’s ‘Show Must Go On’: Orchestral analysis

    Hosted by Norman Ludwin and Allison Piccioni: Let’s analyse Elfman’s Batman score, concentrating on the orchestration, harmony, and thematic development of his material. We’ll also look at Allison’s orchestration work with Queen Nation, the largest Queen cover band in the US.

  • 5:15PM BST: Orchestral Composition: Review Session

    Hosted by Norman Ludwin and Allison Piccioni: If you’re writing orchestral music and want to learn how to write more accurately for these instruments, then submit a piece of your work for this session and we will review it live with our tutors and other Taster Week students.

  • 7PM BST: Wrap-up Session

    Hosted by Guy Michelmore and Tim Johnson: Thanks for joining our Postgraduate Taster Week! If you want to debrief on the week, and join us for a casual social session to say hello to Guy and Tim, then come along.

Live webinars and feedback sessions

Below is the current schedule for Taster Week. All times quoted are in either UTC or UTC+1 depending on the time of year. Please make sure to convert to your own time-zone. We may make amendments to this as we get closer to the start date, so do keep an eye on this (and the Postgraduate Taster Week course on your profile) for changes.

What to expect – confirmed schedule coming shortly 

  • 10am (UTC): Welcome To Taster Week (Early Session)

    Hosted by Guy Michelmore and Tim Johnson: Welcome to Taster Week! This session will be a brief introduction to the week so we can get you up to speed on how the week will run. Both the 10am and 6pm (UTC) webinars titled 'Welcome to Taster Week' will be largely identical - this is so we can cater to your different timezones and schedules.

  • 2pm (UTC): Networking Focus!

    Hosted by Sergio Ronchetti: Struggling to network? Let’s message people together! An hour long live workshop to help reach out to people in the industry and where to focus your efforts.

  • 6pm (UTC): Welcome To Taster Week (Late Session)

    Hosted by Guy Michelmore and Tim Johnson: Welcome to Taster Week! This session will be a brief introduction to the week so we can get you up to speed on how the week will run. Both the 10am and 6pm (UTC) webinars titled 'Welcome to Taster Week' will be largely identical - this is so we can cater to your different timezones and schedules.

Tuesday November 21st

  • 7pm (UTC): Composing for Video Games: Composing a Town Theme

    Hosted by Michael Worth: Music for games is a different beast to film and television! Here we'll discuss the musical vocabulary and strategies required to compose a piece of music that supports both the gameplay and the narrative genre of the game project - and then we'll watch one of our tutors compose a game cue in real time!

  • 9pm (UTC): Composing and Sound Design for Video Games: Feedback Session

    Hosted by Michael Worth and Kevin Vail: Want some thoughts on your music or sound design from working game composers and sound designers? Submit your work here and join us and your peers for a group feedback session.

Wednesday November 22ND

  • 3pm (UTC): Spotting a Film Scene

    Hosted by Sam Watts: Films need music… but where does it go? This is where spotting comes in! Join composer Sam Watts and discover how to write music in a way that compliments the needs of the picture and when to take a back seat and let the picture do the talking! This will be a practical demonstration using clips from commercial media.

  • 4:15pm (UTC): Composition and Orchestration: Feedback Session

    Hosted by Sam Watts and Emer Landers: Want some thoughts on your music from working composers and orchestrators? Submit your work here and join us and your peers for a group feedback session.

    Thursday November 23RD

    • 4pm (UTC): Introduction to Game Audio

      Hosted by Giorgio Vezzini: Peeking through the curtains of the craft of video game sound design. Giorgio Vezzini will be showing practical examples, tools, and what the job looks like from a hands-on perspective.

    • 5pm (UTC): Orchestrating for Brass - A comparison of John Adams’ Short Ride in a Fast Machine and the work of Sergei Prokofiev

      Hosted by Norman Ludwin: Writing music for specific instruments will require a bit of inside knowledge about how those instruments work and how people typically write for them. A great way to improve your instrumental writing is analysing how people have used them before and comparing that to another composer’s approach.

    Friday November 24TH

    • 10am (UTC): Live Scoring Session with Guy Michelmore

      Hosted by Guy Michelmore: What better way to learn film scoring than watching a professional composer write in real-time? Join Guy Michelmore for a long-form scoring session showing you the ins and outs of what the job really looks like day to day and the common pitfalls you might encounter along the way!

    • 1:30pm (UTC): Contemporary Lyric Writing

      Hosted by Gwen Taylor: Writing your own lyrics requires a bit of creative flair, but there are tried and tested methods for creating successful lyrics. Here we’ll look at the key concepts behind writing your own lyrics and how to apply a critical approach that will help keep the creative part of the process alive and kicking!

    • 4pm (UTC): Creative Music Production: Feedback Session

      Hosted by Ella Walker (Wildes) and Tim Johnson:Want a professional songwriting and audio engineer to comment on your work? Submit your work here and join us and your peers for a group feedback session.

    • 5pm (UTC): Wrap-up and Final Feedback Session

      Hosted by Guy Michelmore and Tim Johnson: That’s a wrap everybody! If you have worked on anything during this week, whether it’s your own work or one of the Taster Week assignments, you can submit that here for a final round-table discussion with the group. This is also a chance to ask questions about proceeding with an application for our Postgraduate courses if you’re interested in taking this further!

    HOw to join taster week AFTER signING up

    If you have clicked the Taster Week 'sign-up' button, and completed the checkout process, you will have a course on your profile called 'Postgraduate Taster Week'. This includes a selection of materials and assignments from our various postgraduate programs, as well as a schedule for our next Taster Week, complete with webinar registration links. If you already have this course on your profile, you do not need to pay again.

    To sign-up to the webinars and access the course materials please:

    1. Log-in to your account
    2. Click on the 'Courses' tab in the left menu.
    3. Open the 'Postgraduate Taster Week' course
    4. Click on the 'Welcome to Taster Week' Module
    5. Click on the '[READ ME] Join us for Taster Week' chapter
    6. Scroll down to see the schedule and webinar registration links.

    If you have any questions about this, feel free to get in touch at postgraduate@thinkspace.ac.uk.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    For more FAQs and more information about degree courses, please visit the Applications & FAQs, Student Finance and Study With ThinkSpace pages.

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    have a question? contact us

    Need some advice? Or just want to talk music? We’re always here to lend a professional ear.

    postgraduate@thinkspace.ac.uk

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