What our students think

As a drummer I really wanted a music degree that offered equal opportunities to access jazz and pop studies as well as classical. Southampton offers such a broad range of modules; the course would suit any musician.

My highlights are definitely the performances I have done. I have been lucky enough to have performed Ben Oliver’s “Loop Concerto” with a professional jazz trio, played alongside the Daniel Herskedal Trio and played in Andrew Fisher’s new musical, Gabriel. All of these projects have aided my growth and confidence as a musician.

Not only did my experiences at Southampton help me to improve my performance skills but they also really helped me focus on the aspects of the work that I really enjoyed,

I have found that companies in the creative industry really value degrees like music, and I always felt that it was a major talking point in my interviews

I am confident to say that the strong musicological grounding and the teaching opportunities I had at the University of Southampton have enhanced my skills and made me more intuitive to understanding the needs of the 21st-century student.

It’s inspiring to be in an environment where the whole body is striving for and achieving great things.

The flexibility of the music course was extremely satisfying - I had the freedom to choose exactly what I wanted to study, meaning I really enjoyed the work and performing I was doing.

I only started researching film and film music late into my second year, but discovering this realm was SO exciting, and began paving the way for everything that came after my degree. Staying true to that passion (as cheesy as it sounds) has been paramount to my career opportunities so far, and I will always put that drive first.

I majored in performance and I found this course’s unique balance of academic and practical approaches to study quite refreshing.

My degree has been fundamental to my teaching skills. Every module I took at university has had some impact upon my teaching

I had brilliant lecturers who introduced me to other fields of thought in relation to music. Bringing in sociology, gender studies and anthropology to my arguments gave me the tools to work on a wide range of projects in my current job, or at least to research them and have a go.

The best part of the degree is the supervisions, as well as the interaction and idea-sharing with other students and staff.

Now, three years after graduating, I have just secured my first job as a music therapist having completed a Masters in Music Therapy training course.

By the time I left, I was financially self-supporting, making a living through gigging, session work, string quartet function music, instrumental teaching, pit bands, and choral conducting – I cultivated all of these skills during my degree.

From leading James Corden’s vocal warm ups, to maintaining an open sound when performing eight shows a week in the West End, I use the skills I developed in my degree every day.