Christmas songwriting project hits right notes for students

Sunderland College is using technology to provide its students with real-life industry experiences and showcase their skills.

This week Music Performance students participated in a virtual masterclass hosted by North East musician, Will Jennison, who recently released his Christmas single ‘This Year’ with the support of Sunderland based Producers, ISG Global Music.

Music has the ability to evoke powerful emotions, and Will dropped by to chat to students via Zoom about song writing, and how his song new song poignantly addresses the current global situation, capturing the uncertainty the pandemic has caused.

The topics of loneliness, loss and frustration strike a powerful chord with so many young people but are also accompanied by the uplifting and optimistic message of hope for the future through – especially through music.

Will then tasked the students to unleash their song writing skills with a song brief around taking on a more optimistic look at 2021 and how they can use the power of music to express their emotions. Students will perform their song via zoom to Will as part of the end of term project, which he will then judge.

Will Jennison, said: “It was great to have a zoom session with the creative group of music students over at Sunderland College. 2020 has been such a strange and uncertain year for many, especially their age group.

“We had a good chat about performing, song writing and coping with lockdown. Music is such a great catalyst to showcase emotions and feelings. They have a neat little project on the go this week and I look forward to checking out their music pitches about 2021 later in the week.”

Throughout this year, Sunderland College, as part of Education Partnership North East, has embraced digital technology and developed innovative ways of giving their current and prospective students everything they need to achieve an exciting future.

Music Lecturer, Janek Podhajecki, added: “It was great to connect with Will remotely and hear about his musical journey through education to working as a songwriter and performer. It was particularly pleasing for the students to hear first-hand from a local musician who is making a successful living from music, as ultimately this is our end goal for all of our students.

“Tasking them to work within a tight deadline to write a song about looking ahead to 2021 will also give a great insight into industry practice, and is already proving a great way to end the year.”

Students Louis Robinson, Nova Brown and Dominic Robson, said: “It was a really informative discussion we learned a lot about breaking into the music industry and self-promotion. Will gave us an insightful look into the song writing process and it was interesting to hear his approach.

“We’re excited to be working towards a creative brief and tight deadline which reflects music industry standards.”

‘This Year’ follows on from Will’s previous single release ‘Our Summer’ which was his most successful release to date with over 23k streams. His hotly anticipated first EP, Still Young, the first of three planned EP’s, was released in February 2020, produced by ISG Global Music alongside Peter Waite and Eliot Kennedy.

The EP featured four new singles, ‘Still Young’, ‘Are We Dreaming’, ‘Something About You’ and ‘Spotlight’.