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Hey LUUMS, I’m Leah Welsh, this year’s Chorus manager and third year BA Music student and next year, I would love to be your Departmental Rep. Having spent my whole time at university as a School of Music student, I know that I could continue the good relationship that LUUMS has with the SoM by building on the relationships that we already have and forming new ones for the years to come.

In LUUMS (and the SoM) we can fall into the trap of focusing solely on our musical and academic pursuits and we lose sight of our wider marketability. In this role, I would create a new focus on professional practices so that everybody who wants to create their career in music will have more opportunities to learn about how to succeed. To do this, I aim to create workshops run by industry professionals/ people in the SoM and LUUMS about professional practices. I would focus on workshops about songwriting/ composition, music industry/business, music psychology in practice, musicians rights/ unions and more! I would make sure that I could meet the needs of all LUUMS members so that you can learn everything that you want to learn about music outside of your degrees and our usual LUUMS events. Some of the companies I would aim to talk to you all would be record labels (especially the new EMI North based in Leeds), PRS and PPL, Ditto music and other distribution services and more. Also, I would look at the expert knowledge that we have right here in this building with our amazing lecturers and fellows.

I myself will be an MA Music Management student and I could contribute with my own personal knowledge on the industry. I am well-versed in a lot of aspects of the music business such as making money as a musician, how to protect your rights and creating and releasing your own music. To put all of what you would learn into practice, I would love to run open mic nights, socials and gigs to showcase all of the amazing talent we don’t get to see on an everyday basis from you all (and planning LUUMS week of fun to be the best yet… egg chicken dinosaur anybody?). I would also plan to have a new role of shadow conductors and shadow managers so that everybody who is interested in wider exec roles can have the opportunity to learn from those already in the role, to ensure that ensemble teams only become stronger and better every year.

Finally, I would be perfect for this role because I am approachable, engaged and reliable. I am very passionate about this area of music and I aim to make my career in it so you can count on me to put all that I have into being your Departmental Rep. Also, I am organised so I will be able to stay well ahead of the responsibilities in my role (Chorus girlies can confirm with our favourite spreadsheet) and will be looking to hear from you all to see what I could implement… After all, this role is about what YOU want from this society! I would love to be able to be your Departmental Rep and make LUUMS and the SoM an even bigger destination for higher education in music.