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Choosing to study at ACM, The Academy of contemporary Music is a huge opportunity to not only kickstart your career in the music industry, but also a chance to experience life away from home.
ACM is situated in Guildford, Surrey and is perfectly placed for music industry professionals and artists due to its enviable proximity to London, excellent travel links, fantastic shopping and vibrant nightlife.
But don’t just take our word for it. Hear what ACM students have to say about living, studying and socialising at ACM in Guildford.
Kamil Bartnik – ACM Performance School Drum Degree Student
Moving away from home and starting a Music Degree course was a very exciting and quite a scary thing, but ACM does a really good job of making you feel at home. The bits that stand out for me are the incredible facilities available to students, what with all the practice rooms and studios, as well as the tutors who will be guiding you through the course, sharing their real-world experiences, giving you priceless career advice, and drastically developing your playing.
Being a drummer, I was always in ACM getting practice rooms and made the most of the one-to-one tutorials available here, which are really beneficial as the lesson is tailored specifically to you.
What’s really cool about the people at ACM is that they all come from different musical backgrounds so getting in as many bands as possible really helped improve my drumming stylistically. Doing recording sessions for production students builds your knowledge of what goes into making your part sound great as well as the differences between playing on stage and in the studio.
Guildford is such a great town to live in and has a lot of opportunities for students to showcase themselves as individuals and within ensembles.
Venues such as The Boileroom have a great history with top class bands performing there, allowing your constant stream of exposure to music to continue. Students very often perform at jam nights, put on their own acoustic sets and partake in busking on the high street for fun, where you don’t need a permit (hooray!).
London is only a half hour train journey away so I encourage people to go and get involved in the jam scene there, as you really need to be networking a lot. It is really awesome to know that you’re so close to one of the most vibrant music cities in the world, featuring lots of great music venues and historic studios.
To all new students: make the most of what ACM offers you. The courses being taught are so valuable in developing yourself as a musician while opening your mind to all the wonderful styles of music that you may not have ever thought you would enjoy. And above all.. get involved and have fun!
Find out more about Guildford Life and studying at ACM, The Academy of Contemporary Music.
