For the second year running, Rolling Stone Australia partners with Southern Cross University to bring forth the Rolling Stone Scholarship.
It’s hard to figure out how to enter the music industry – especially in the current climate of the world – but this is where Southern Cross University steps in with their Bachelor of Contemporary Music, making sure students are equipped with the know-how to succeed as creatives. Step in Rolling Stone Australia with their Rolling Stone Scholarship and the two together are an unstoppable force – helping one lucky applicant receive $15,000 across three years towards their degree.
Last year’s scholarship competition saw Leon Holstegge, a multi-talented musician and composer, win the inaugural scholarship, and he’s been on the move since learning the ropes of the music industry. With one year of three down, he’s keen to become a session touring and recording artist, and Southern Cross University will surely see him through.
“I’m planning to use the scholarship to help boost my career,” Leon stated. I have long-term thinking about where I want to end up in becoming a session musician. I’ve already done a bit of work with a few artists and local gigs for bands who need a fill-in musician.”
Whether you’re keen to become an artist, selling out show after show across Australia once gigs are back good and solid, or are searching for the knowledge of how to be the behind-the-scenes guru, going at it on your own, it may seem a bit daunting knowing how to simply enter the music industry, let alone succeed in it.
Luckily, Southern Cross University has a degree program that sets creative students up with the precise knowledge needed for dominating the world of music, and creating a long-lasting career. The Bachelor of Contemporary Music explores the multi-faceted pathway that helps students prepare a portfolio for a future career in music, no matter their age or background with support for budding musicians branching far and wide.
“For anyone who wants to pursue a career in music, the contemporary music course here is excellent,” Leon continued. “It sets you up for the modern industry and is taught by current industry people.”
Considering they’ve put forth the likes of award-winning producer Matt Fell, singer-songwriter BUOY, composer and musician Yantra de Vilder, Matt Smith of Thirsty Merc, US country music number-one hit songwriter Phil Barton, as well as Matt Collins, Michael Watson, Scott Finch and Fraser Rojo Perrott of WHARVES, students are clearly put on the path of success.
“We’ve got graduates working all over Australia and the world, doing everything from getting Grammy Awards to teaching in remote communities, to being session musicians,” Bachelor of Contemporary Music course coordinator Dr. Matt Hill states.
“We’ve got songwriters in Nashville, performers in Germany, grads running major music organisations, putting on festivals – it really can take you in all kinds of directions all over the world, and gives you a lot of skills you can even take into other professions.”
Diving into the degree, all students studying a Bachelor of Contemporary Music at Southern Cross University participate in many collaborative activities where they practice with an “extensive ensemble program which includes small and large repertoire-focused groups and student-led project bands.”
Second year student of the Bachelor of Contemporary Music, Amy Roberts, reckons that the practical classes that Souther Cross University offers are the best part: “It’s so fun. […] We have a class called ‘creative music practice’ where you get put into bands and you get to just make music with other people. Also, the teachers are so friendly and I’ve received plenty of opportunities from them.”
By utilising all that is offered in their on-campus recording studios, production labs, performance spaces, and rehearsal studios, students will learn to “write, arrange, rehearse, record and perform a wide range of music, and are encouraged to develop their own creative projects.”
On top of the on-campus facilities, students are taught by lecturers who breathe life to the degree by being practising musicians with strong industry links, meaning that just by learning at Southern Cross University, students are already entering the music industry, and have all the resources available at their fingertips.
So, from being taught by top-notch music professionals, and having access to state-of-the-art equipment, Southern Cross University prepares their students for a slew of careers within the music industry such as becoming a “performer, songwriter, producer, sound engineer, music educator, session musician, musical director, music event promoter, band and venue manager,” or even diving into the world of teaching, in combination with a Master of Teaching also offered by the university.
On top of all the great opportunities at Southern Cross University, there’s even more opportunity than ever to dive into the music world, as Dr. Matt Hill continues: “This scholarship is a great opportunity as it really frees you up to focus on your studies, and gives you the opportunity to really be able to focus all your time on making the most of the music course.
“The student could use it to buy equipment that is crucial to their development as a musician, like an instrument, or to start creating a home studio or purchasing certain software.”
A student and industry mentor writing and recording music at Southern Cross University’s Coomera campus.
With Rolling Stone Australia and Southern Cross University at the helm, together they’re offering young musos a chance to have a scholarship worth a total value of $15,000 across three years, meaning that you’ll not only get off on the right foot with the right studies, but that your financials will be backed, too.
Applications open on October 15 and close on December 13, where applicants need to include a short statement about their dedication to their music career. The auditions for the first round of successful applicants will then take place across January and early February, 2022, with the successful scholarship recipient chosen and announced in late February, 2022.
