We have commissioned a series of very special masterclasses from renowned instrumentalists at our London studios. To kick things off, we hosted the highly-accomplished musician Sirishkumar Manji in a unique session on the Tabla, the fantastic-sounding South-Asian hand drums that you’ve heard on various D&B classics, Missy Elliot and loads more. Next up was Basement Jaxx percussionist Oli Savill with Japanese instrument specialist Clive Bell joining us soon. This series of high level masterclasses, open to all pointblank students, are happening as part of pointblank’s BA (Hons) Music Production & Sound Engineering Degree and equivalent online degree. It’s a great time to be a student at pointblank!
Oli Savill is a world renowned percussionist and composer, having been at the heart of the UK jazz, broken beat and dance scene for the last 25 years and playing with bands such as Delata and Mala for his ‘Mala in Cuba’ project, as well as currently touring with dance superstars Basement Jaxx. He gave a masterclass to the BA (Hons) Advanced Composition class as part of their study of South American music, discussing the origins of Cuban and Brazilian music and the importance of the Clave rhythm. He demonstrated how to apply traditional conga, bongo and timbale percussion parts to contemporary music such as House and Pop, and got the students to play designated parts over pop hits such as the current smash ‘Despacito’ by Luis Fonsi. Oli also discussed how he applies his rhythmical knowledge to help write vocal melodies, and how improvisation can be an essential compositional technique. After the class students used recordings from the session to compose their own tracks.
At pointblank, we have a wide range of industry professionals join us at our studios to present masterclasses for our students’ benefit. We’ve had electronic producers, DJs, live performance artists, sound engineers, film score composers and many more come and share their knowledge at our studios in London, LA and Ibiza. To gain access to these events and more, head over to our website and check out our courses. Our BA (Hons) Music Production & Sound Engineering Degree covers everything from production and sound design to mixing and mastering and is now also available online. We are also currently offering 25% off selected online courses until July 31st, so there has never been a better time to enrol!
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** Editors note: Things have moved on significantly since this article was published 🙂 Please head to our blog homepage for the very latest events & masterclasses at pointblank.