Hi all,

I thought I’d tell you what it was like to do the work placement module that City offers. The module was a chance to prepare yourself for getting a job after Uni. It was full of lots of tips as well as the chance to prepare your c.v. and most interesting of all, the chance to do a work placement. I did this module in my second year at City. At the time I’d been thinking I might like to become a music therapist or maybe do something with musical theatre.

In our work placement module we were responsible for contacting organizations about placements and our lecturer would give us advice on doing this. I started looking into lots of different music therapy associations. I ended up getting a placement at the Richmond Music Trust. This is a nonprofit organization that offers a range of musical activities including: arranging music lessons through schools, a youth concert band and a youth symphony orchestra – and of course their music therapy center. I had been involved with many of these activities throughout primary and secondary school and thought they might be able to help with finding a music therapy work experience. They were great and put me in touch with their music therapists. I did a 56 hour placement over the course of a month and got to observe and be involved in a range of music therapy sessions. It was a great learning experience for me and a real eye opener; but I actually discovered that maybe this wasn’t for me after all. Music therapists are very strong and dedicated people and I completely take my hat off too them. I found my placement fairly emotional and whilst there were some really uplifting moments I found some of it quite tough as it was upsetting to see how disadvantaged so many of the people were. Even though the therapy was an enjoyable time for many, it was often only an hour of their week and I found it hard wondering how life was for them outside of music therapy. It was great to have this experience though and discover this early on rather than train for it and discover it much later.

Now to musical theatre! I have always loved musical theatre since I went to my first West End show, The Lion King – what a show! When I heard that a girl in the year above me had done work experience at Les Miserables I knew I was going to do everything I could to get some work experience at a show myself, I got talking to our work placement lecturer who helped line up some contacts for me. I ended up having a meeting to discuss what I could try and get involved in. Well I was lucky enough to end up with an evening back stage at the new West End show ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ which I have to say was incredible and one of the highlights of my time at Uni.

The stage manager showed me what goes on behind the stage during a live performance (and on a Friday night at that – so there was a full house!) I sat up in the box where all the monitors and action is being coordinated with the stage manager so saw loads!

The person who arranged this for me also arranged a visit back stage at ‘The Pajama Game’ too. There I got to go around shadowing two different stage managers so got to see a range of things that were going on. Both experiences were fantastic and I loved every minute of it! I’m still not sure what I’ll do after I graduate in July but I found this a really useful and interesting module to take and I would really recommend it to others. Even if you aren’t able to take part in this particular module I would recommend getting involved in any potential work placements or internships, they are such a valuable insight into the world of work and a fantastic opportunity, and as I found out they can also be such great fun!!