"it's helped me think, yes, I am an ok person and that people value my opinion; it's good for your self esteem" Susan Rowlands
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Ready for a Change?

Full time, 1 year, Foundation Certificate courses. No prior qualifications needed, bursaries and accommodation available for eligible applicants. Next intake September 2010.

Week and weekend courses in Coleg Harlech

Student Profile - Nik

Music Technology Course

When I was at school I didn’t do as well as I should have done, I messed around with my friends, and didn’t get good grades, I regret it now.

I did music at school but didn’t think I could make money doing it and just played to my friends.

When I left I went to work in retail and was at Woolworths until it closed down, after then I was unemployed until I started here.
It was a vicious spiral as I would end up going out at the weekends then sleep in late and hang around the house, I’d get down because there wasn’t anything to do and I couldn’t get a job because of the recession.

I went to see the careers adviser and luckily they had a cancellation and were able to see me, we looked at a few courses which didn’t appeal, then at the end of the interview she remembered Coleg Harlech, we looked on the website and the course appeared to be just what I was looking for.

I wasn’t sure if it would be as good as it sounded but in fact its been far better, I’ve loved every minute of it.
In the first term I really enjoyed doing the music video, it was great fun and the end result looked really professional, it’s on youtube now and had a lot of views.

I also enjoyed working in the radio studio and our music has been played, we’ve been able to join the PRS so could get money through this.

The best thing is working in the studio, I’ve met up with other musicians here and formed a group called Far From Home we are in there all the time making music.

I’m really looking forward to creating an album cover this term, I’ve always done my own covers and was exited when I found out this was one of the modules.

I’ve had great feed back from all my tutors at the end of each term they have written brilliant comments about my work, I want to frame them! They have given me confidence in my abilities both academically and with my music. They say that if I ever lose confidence again I only need to look at their feedback.

So far I’ve had distinctions in most of my modules which is amazing, I am so chuffed as I never did that well at school. I want to make sure I carry that on into the 3rd term now.

This course has given me the skills in production and in creating music and the confidence to go ahead. We’ve had the chance to work on Apple Macs and different software and I now believe that I really could work in the music industry which is something I never thought I would be able to do.

I hadn’t ever considered going to university, when I was at school and friends were applying I stayed out of it and thought it wasn’t for me.
The tutors have shown me that I do have the ability to take this further and I’ve been accepted at Kingston University to do music technology along with the other band members.
I was so excited when I heard I had got in, when I first started this course I never imagined that this was possible for me. I am nervous of going to Uni but I was worried about coming here and it’s worked out so well, I know that when I get there I will be ok.

I’ve had a lot of help for student support especially in applying for university, I was unsure how to go about it but they have been able to help explain all the forms and it wasn’t as difficult as I had thought.

To anyone thinking about coming I’d say go for it, it’s a life changing opportunity.

To listen to Niks music search for Nik Lloyd or visit www.myspace.com/niklloyd.