University of Hull

University of Hull

In 2003 Hull was ranked at number one in the pocket book Crap Towns: The 50 Worst Places to Live in the UK. A year later it came top of a Channel 4 poll on Britain's worst places to live according to statistics for crime, education, employment, environment and lifestyle. One former resident described the town as 'a sad story of unemployment, teenage pregnancy, heroin addiction, crime, violence, and rampant self-neglect'.

So who in their right mind would want to study in Hull? Well, for a start there's the 121 musicians currently enrolled at the University of Hull's music department, who all agree that the city doesn't deserve its unfortunate reputation. So maybe they know something Channel 4 doesn't.

'It's a great place to live,' says music lecturer Lee Tsang, who joined the department six years ago after working at Birmingham Conservatoire. 'There's lots of culture on offer, the standard of living is high and your money goes a lot further, the university has an award-winning nightclub and the social life is excellent for students. There are lots of museums, we have visiting orchestras from Europe, and there's a nice old town centre.'

Jennifer Shand, a 22-year-old clarinettist and pianist in her third year of the university's BA programme in music, agrees: 'It gets a bad rep but it's actually brilliant. I love it here. You never get bored and you never have to leave the city for anything.'

Hull's music department offers four basic undergraduate music degrees: the BMus, which consists of six separate modules a year all selected from within the music department; the BA in music, whereby students can take one of the modules in another subject; the BA Joint Hons with various other subjects including film, languages and drama; and the BA in jazz and popular music, introduced for the first time in the 2006/07 academic year.

'People are very eclectic in their range of interests.'

The department offers a wide range of modules in subjects including composition for stage and screen, a range of jazz modules, music editing and psychology of music performance. There are a lot of modules dedicated to jazz and popular music but there is also a strong focus on integration and group activities involving both classical and popular music students.

Although she is studying on the BA programme, which allows students to take modules form other subjects, Shand found everything she needed within the music department: 'There were all sorts of things I really wanted to do within music,' she says. 'I was never just interested in the theory side of things - I wanted a broad overview and the opportunity to study things like technology and education and learn transferable skills.'

According to Tsang, this attitude is typical of the Hull music student: 'They are open-minded and often willing to try new things. We don't tend to have people who just go down the straight musicology route and only focus on that idea. People are very eclectic in their range of interests.'

The department encourages students from all courses to take part in practical music making, offering a wide range of ensembles for them to join as well as providing two individual recital opportunities per year for each student for the first two years. There are also active links with professional ensembles nearby including the Hull Sinfonietta and Leeds-based Opera North, which hosts singing workshops at the university as well as offering a student training scheme for a select few orchestral players.

• Print
• Email to friend
• Discuss