We kicked off our Freshers’ Week at ACM London in style with a masterclass from the vocalist for Robbie Williams, Faithless and many others – Rhianna Kenny.
Hosted by Ace, our Head of Creative Industry Development (and also known as the guitarist in Skunk Anansie), the masterclass started with Rhianna easing the packed-out room of students in with a practical exercise.
Splitting the group into four sections, she got the students to create a huge sound using only their voices. During this, Rhianna urged the students to really listen to each other, as it’s ‘the key to making music successfully’.
Once the students had settled in, Rhianna went on to talk about the different elements of being a self-employed musician that need to be kept in perfect harmony. Keeping the session fast-moving and interactive, she got everyone shouting out words in relation to her four key areas: art, ego, health, and money. Students’ answers included creativity, inspiration, mindfulness, wellbeing and self-control. After writing all the answers on a board, Rhianna explained to them the idea that their art is the most important part of their craft. She then went on to explain that in order to be successful they need to keep their ego in check; “it’s really good that you’re all very aware of the importance of mindfulness.”
Ace then took to the stage to lead the Q&A section of the class. One student immediately asked about how to prevent feelings of self-doubt, to which Rhianna replied that “you can’t simply get rid of them” but that you can “put them to the bottom of your bag mentally”, adding that “confidence comes with experience”. Another asked about how to go about developing crowd interaction when performing live; Rhianna explained that “you need to get confident and really believe in yourself. You can’t do it by halves, you really have to go for it.”
The session drew to a close with some final questions from Ace before a massive round of applause from the students. It was clear that Rhianna enjoyed her ACM London experience just as much as the students loved her class, staying back late to answer all of their questions.
Thank you Rhianna for another fantastic masterclass!
If you’d like to study at ACM and learn from incredible musicians like Rhianna Kenny, please call our Admissions Team on 01483 500 841 or visit www.acm.ac.uk/open-days/ to book a place on an ACM Open Day today.
