ThinkSpace Education > Degree Courses

Taster Week

Throughout the year, we run Postgraduate Taster Weeks which give you a chance to try out some degree course materials, get some feedback on your work, and take part in some live events. This is a great opportunity to see if our way of teaching is right for you. You will have access to content selected from every degree course, so no matter which of our degrees you are interested in, we encourage you to come along.

When is Taster Week?

NOVEMBER 20th - 24th

Sign-Up Now: $30
Important Note: If you already have the 'Postgraduate Taster Week' course on your student profile, then you do not need to pay again. Look inside that course for information on how to sign-up to events!

We highly recommend coming along to a Taster Week if you are thinking about applying for one of our Postgraduate Degree courses, but you are not required to attend if you do not want to.

If you are simply looking to apply, you can do so on the Applications page!

What is Taster Week?

Taster Week is an opportunity those interested in our Postgraduate Degree courses to get an idea as to what life as a ThinkSpace Education student is like.

Taster Week consists of three main components - Feedback sessions, live webinars, and course materials. If you want to have a go at one of our Taster Week assignments, taken directly from our degrees courses, you are more than welcome. You can submit it for feedback during one of the feedback sessions, or submit something of your own.

You will have access to course materials taken from each program. There is plenty to dig into, so it's a great chance to see how we work and if it's right for you.

Throughout the week, we also host live webinars. This is where the real value of Taster Week comes in. Our tutors are all current working professionals, and the webinars they run are packed with relevant industry information. Whichever course you're interested in, we can guarantee there'll be some valuable content in Taster Week for you to take advantage of.

Below is the schedule for the upcoming Taster Week.

WANT TO APPLY FOR A DEGREE? Get Started Today

Start Your Application Now

The Schedule

Below is the current schedule for Taster Week. 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.

We try to represent all courses in our Taster Week, but if this week doesn't give you what you're looking for, reach out to us directly and we'll see what we can do to help.

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!

Monday November 20th

  • 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): Songwriting and 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 do I join Taster Week?

    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 there are no webinar links in there, it may be because we are still in the process of organising our next Taster Week.

    If you have any questions about this, feel free to get in touch at postgraduate@thinkspace.ac.uk. We understand taking a degree is a big decision so we're happy to discuss any concerns you might have.

    Frequently Asked Questions

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

    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

    +44 1243 256049
    Contact Us