Alumni Masterclass – Working as a Session Musician

Three former BIMM students hosted the first Masterclass of the new year, giving specialist advice on working as session musicians in the music industry.

At BIMM we pride ourselves on the huge success of our alumni, so we were pleased to welcome back Kai Smith, Chloe du Pre and Rob Shaw to talk to our BIMM Brighton students.

Kai has travelled the world as the guitarist in Example’s band, playing huge arenas and at some of the biggest festivals on the planet. Chloe is a talented musician and solo singer who has worked as a session vocalist for the likes of Nicole Scherzinger, Status Quo and CeeLo Green, appeared as a backing singer on The Graham Norton Show and The X-Factor and played cello on Plan B’s single ‘Love Goes Down’. From playing with Nelly Furtado and Jennifer Hudson to session work on Britain’s Got Talent, Rob has had huge success as a session drummer since graduating from BIMM and he is currently appearing in the hit West End musical Stomp.

Kai, Chloe and Rob all answered some great questions from our students about how to get yourself known as a session musicians in a competitive environment, including the key skills you need, whether agents are helpful and how to land that all-important first job. They also offered advice on getting gigging experience, staying positive during the audition process and tips on networking.

After sharing their experiences of the music industry, the session was wrapped up with Chloe giving an amazing performance, while there was also another BIMM alumnus involved, with Dave Neale, director of Wild Stag Productions, filming the entire session.