Guide to Music Colleges in the UK

This blog post is written by Samson Lui, a jazz guitarist who graduated from Leeds Conservatoire (formerly Leeds College of Music). Prior to that, he had been studying jazz with me for two years.

P.S. To avoid confusion, please note that music college means a music conservatoire in the UK, rather than college meaning the equivalent of University. The main difference in the UK between studying a music degree at a conservatoire and one at a traditional University is that a conservatoire usually runs at a much smaller scale with a focus on practical performances while a uni course puts focus on academics.

Why do people go to music college?

Learn and master a craft 

To start off, one of the main reasons why musicians would consider attending music college is to study and improve on their desired instruments or fields. Compared to a University degree, music college offers far more practical activities and opportunities, and this allows students to improve their playing a lot more and quickly. 

Meet like-minded people

Another big reason is that music colleges are a hotspot of young, hungry and talented musicians who are also looking for the same kind of people to jam with, form bands, make music and have fun with! Moreover, you are very likely to find a lot of peers that share the same musical taste as you, and it is quite easy to form bonds with other musicians during your time in music college.

Get recognised for putting in the hard work

A music college degree works the same way as a University degree, where both of them require three years of study and a lot of hard work. However, if you are determined to be a working musician as your career, gaining a music college degree is the better way to get validated, and it will be a huge highlight on your resume.

What do you gain from going to music college?

World-class training and facilities

One of the main incentives of going to music college is the resources that the institutions have in their arsenal. First of all, most if not all of the professors and lecturers are also performing musicians with their own projects outside of teaching. This is beneficial for students as the teachers are actively involved in the music industry, and they will be able to give valuable and relevant advice to the students. 

Furthermore, music colleges have an abundance of world-class equipment, practice rooms and studios for students to shed, rehearse or to record their work. For instance, Leeds Conservatoire is the only English music college to hold the prestigious All-Steinway school status, which means that over 95% of the pianos in Leeds Conservatoire come from the Steinway family.

Build a network of musicians

As mentioned previously, one of the advantages of going to music college is that there are a lot of like-minded people who are also deeply passionate about music. You can capitalise on that by meeting as many other students as you can while you spend your time in the music college, playing with different students and hopefully, forming bands or ensembles. This is important as when you graduate from music college, those connections matter a lot and they can help you massively when you are trying to build up your career in music. 

Remember, It’s who you know, more than what you know. 

What music colleges can I choose in the UK?

Currently, there are eleven music colleges that are available in the UK. There are five in London (Royal College of Music, Royal Academy of Music, Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, London College of Creative Media). The other ones include Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, Leeds Conservatoire, and Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow. 

While all of the music colleges offer classical guitar degrees, not every institution provides other pathways such as pop, folk, and jazz, so it is recommended to look up on the website of your desired music college to check if they have what you are looking for.

Pros and Cons of going to music college

Pro: One to one teaching

While a University music degree might also have one to one lessons, chances are you don’t get them as often as you would in music college. This is one of the main incentives of going to a music college for your degree in music, as you would be guaranteed at least one hour every week with your designated tutor, and your training will be tailor-made by the tutor so that you can get the best out of it.

Pro: More practical activities, fewer academic essays

Compared to University, music colleges often have a lot more practical activities, such as ensembles, instrument sectionals, one to one lessons in contrast to University having mostly lectures and seminars. Also, the assignments in music colleges are more hands-on as well, with most of them being live performances, home recordings, compositions and only a few short essays. To give you specific numbers, an essay would typically be around 4000 words, a very low word count in comparison to a typical essay at Leeds University which would be around 10,000 words at minimum. 

Con: Very specific degree

One of the drawbacks of getting a music performance degree is that they are very specific. If you are certain that you would like to be a working musician when you graduate, then this is not a problem for you. However, if you are not sure about what you want to do after you graduate from music college, it might be harder to look for different career opportunities. 

That said, a lot of skills are transferable especially in creative industries, so a good portion of graduates often end up working in arts and events across the country, as well as corporate positions of business and marketing which often requires thinking outside of the box. 

Con: Serious investment

Another disadvantage to getting a music degree(or any other degree, including universities) is that it costs a lot of money to attend. Therefore, it is recommended that you consider this properly before you decide whether you want to pursue a music degree, or you would like to do something else. In the UK, it is likely that a local student can be eligible for a student loan which would cover tuition and living fees. That said, one should have a serious think about the time commitment as well as the effort that needs to be put in before signing up for a full-time course. Some places do offer part-time study, although that often adds up overall in years.

Alternative options to music colleges

Private lessons

Assuming that you have decided not to study at a music college, one obvious choice is to continue or start private lessons with a tutor. While getting a degree is a way of getting validated by institutions, it is certainly not a requirement to be a gigging musician. Having lessons and continuing practising is the best way to improve yourself as a musician, and some of the music college tutors also offer private lessons, so if you want to have the college experience, you can certainly go down that route. Feel free to get in touch with me for some private lessons on different styles such as blues and rock.

Online courses

Another way to improve your craft without going to music colleges is by enrolling in online courses. There are a wide range of selections of online guitar courses on the internet, such as True Fire and Jam Track Central. They provide all types of genres and those websites often have famous guitar players producing lessons on the websites, so you can check out what their magic really is! On the other hand, if you are looking for a similar experience to a music college degree and a way to validate yourself, there are also institutions which offer online courses, such as Berklee College of Music and Musicians’ Institute.

My views and personal experience

I have graduated from Leeds Conservatoire in 2021, studying jazz guitar. I got the most of my normal college experience in my first year, as that was before the world started to go crazy. Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed my first year, and I was satisfied with all the classes and activities. 

On the practical side, there was the one to one tutoring, a band ensemble and a guitar sectional every week. Moreover, there were also theory and history lectures that provided context to the style that I was studying, and although those classes might seem dry, they did help me out on understanding the music better and ultimately my playing would improve because of those classes as well. 

Also, the tutor also gave everyone a book that covered the entire year’s worth of content, so if you fell behind or wanted to revise any topics, you were able to do that. There is also a music business lecture every week, and the college brings in guest speakers that introduces topics such as copyright laws, unions, contracts and so on. 

However, after my first year and the first half and my second year, the rest of my college education moved to online, and I didnt find the experience as interactive as what I had before. I am sure this will not be the problem in the future, as most Universities are moving the classes back to the campuses, as well as blending the online and offline experiences together, known as hybrid learning. 

For example, one on one tutoring can happen in person face to face because of the physical elements involved with live, real-time playing. For group classes with less focus on technique and the technical side of things but more on theory and group interactivity, online works well for those occasions. Obviously, nothing can substitute the experience of being in a room together, bouncing creative ideas off each other and playing music in the here and now.

Please visit Bryan’s website for more information on his music and teachings.