Hey everyone! I hope you're looking forward to studying BA Music at Middlesex. Before you join, I wanted to share some of my top tips to help you prepare for studying your course.
There are many different books you can read before your first year and it all depends on the instrument you play, your experience and the musical direction you’re interested in.
I'd recommend reading The AB Guide to Music Theory (Part 1 and Part 2) by Eric Taylor.
It covers basic music theory, from everything related to reading music, rhythm and harmony and I think provides the knowledge that most music students would benefit from.
I’m a guitarist so I watch Move Forward Guitar on YouTube, particularly their video series covering basic music theory from a guitarist’s perspective.
In my first year, I watched a lot of song guitar analysis videos such as a breakdown of Bohemian Rhapsody by David Bennet Piano which is definitely worth watching.
There are YouTubers like Rick Beato, Adam Neely, and Produce Like a Pro who are well known and keep coming up with great content relating to almost everything in music.
My biggest top tip would be to choose an instrument you really like, practice every day and have a good understanding of that instrument before you start first year.
The better you are at your instrument the more you will gain from the course (not to say beginners should be put off however).
In the time you have from now until you walk into university, try and learn as much of your instrument as possible and make sure to be able to sight read at least simple one-line melodies, and you can get better as you progress at university.
I hope this helps, message me on Unibuddy if you have any other questions.
