"No two days are the same at The Music Works"
In the studio!
Manon Molyneux is working as Junior Studio Engineer and Music Leader at The Music Works in Gloucester and joined through the Kickstart Scheme. Read on to find out more about her journey.
My name is Manon Molyneux and I am working as a Junior Studio Engineer/Music Leader at The Music Works in Gloucester. I joined The Music Works on the kickstart scheme and have since become a full-time employee at the Gloucester Hub!
The Music Works is a charity that helps young people in challenging circumstances to access music, and to remove the barriers that might prevent people from getting involved in music.
Manon with some of the team at The Music Works
Before I started my kickstart placement I had completed my Audio and Music Technology degree at UWE in Bristol and had been looking for jobs within Music Technology with little luck. Often with careers in music, it is hard to find opportunities in the conventional ways. So, I was lucky that I found out about the kickstart scheme through another participant who had completed the scheme and found the perfect position as an entry level job into the music industry.
What my placement included
During the kickstart scheme I had the opportunity to learn all sorts of skills including studio engineering in the amazing studios, Live sound and lighting for events and being a music leader in sessions with young people. I help them to engage with music in whatever way possible whether that’s singing, making beats or recording their own songs.
From tech support to leading a choir
No two days are the same at The Music Works, so the variety of things I have the opportunity to get involved in is amazing. I engineer in the studio, provide tech support during sessions, co-lead a choir, work with SEN/D participants, as well as working with young people at sessions such as ‘The Drop’ where they can produce, record, learn an instrument and more.
There are Industry Professionals who come in to the Hub, giving workshops or working with the artists on our talent development programme called ‘Upsurge’. I’m really passionate about the work that The Music Works does, making music accessible to everyone and allowing people to experience music in a way that is not the stereotypical traditional route that you might find in schools or with conventional exams for instruments. Being at The Music Works has given me a better idea of what happens within the Gloucestershire music scene, whether that’s events or knowing about up and coming artists from the area which is great being able to experience the local music scene and enjoy the talent that Gloucestershire has to offer.
Kickstart and The Music Works gave me the opportunity to start my music career
I have always had my heart set on a job within Music Technology and kickstart gave me the opportunity to find an amazing position at The Music Works, that I hope to be working at for a long time. Kickstart was definitely the answer in my search for a career, it gave me such useful skills and experience and then even a full-time job by the end of the six-month long kickstart! I am loving working at the most amazing music studios in the centre of Gloucester and hope to be here for the foreseeable future and hopefully beyond, as it’s given me a clearer sense of direction for my career in Music Technology.
Kickstart has enabled me to begin my career and I am extremely glad that I found the role and applied!
To read more about how The Music Works helps transform young lives, take a look at their website . And to find out more about the kickstart scheme and what the other kickstarters have been involved in read our Kickstart round up here.