If you want to become a pop star these days, the best way is probably to appear on a TV talent show like The X Factor. But if you want a more lasting career in the music industry, then it might be better if you study at the BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology in Croydon, near London.
BRIT is an acronym and it stands for the British Record Industry Trust. The school is for students between the ages of 14 and 19 and is highly selective. It first opened 20 years ago and has already produced some famous graduates. We asked the School’s director of music, Elizabeth Penny, about one of them:
Elizabeth Penny (Standard British accent): When I first auditioned Adele it was my first year at the school, so I wasn’t necessarily used to what the students were like, but I do remember it was an easy choice, giving her a place. She sang and, at the time, she also played the clarinet – which I don’t know if she still does, or wants anyone to know about! – and she was clearly someone who’d been brought up in a musical world. So she wasn’t someone who’d just learnt a song which she sang to us: she knew what music she liked and she knew why she liked it, and she had a broad listening experience, and had been encouraged by her mum to understand music of all different types. And she was very, very enthusiastic about all aspects of music, so, yes, it was quite an easy decision. And then, when she came here, she was an obvious talent in terms of her performing ability, but, other than that, she was a normal teenager: you know, she was sometimes a really good student and sometimes a bit late and a bit chatty! But the older she got, the more focused she became on her songwriting and she sort of relished all the performance experiences she was given, and made the most of the course on offer.
jesse j
Jesse J also studied at the BRIT School:
Elizabeth Penny: I did actually teach her, even though I don’t teach musical theatre, because I was musical director on the final show she did here. She was involved in a production of Sweet Charity and she played Charity in it. And she was also really focused. I remember her at the end of sessions coming up and asking about vocal warm-ups and saying, “Oh, could you teach me some more vocal warm-ups, and how can I make sure my voice is getting stronger?” So she was very open to advice, she never thought, “Oh, I know it all, and I don’t need to learn.” She was really, really receptive to any help she could get from anyone, big or small. And so, again, it doesn’t surprise me that she’s been successful because she was really driven.
MORE than a song
Talent show winner Leona Lewis also studied at the BRIT School, even though she left before completing her course. Boys study there, too, but most of the famous graduates appear to be female. Why is that?
Elizabeth Penny: I don’t know why that is, other than the fact that the students who come here can do more than just sing. So I think, you know, a lot of young girls want to be pop stars, and they’re singers, and they may be very good singers, but the students who’ve come here understand composition, they can normally play an instrument, so can support themselves, in terms of accompaniment, and they’ve had lessons in understanding the structure of music, in production techniques, so their skills base is so much wider than someone who just wins a singing competition. They already understand what it means to work in the music industry.
One of the units they study is the music industry, so they learn how record companies are organised and they learn how live performance events work etc. etc., so they go out into the world of work knowing a lot more than how to sing a song.
Para saber más: The Brit School: London Talent
