Year 12s: what will be the first way you research your future options? >>

St. Andrews and Durham- Any Good for Musicians?

Hey everyone,

I'm a developing singer-songwriter and am hoping to do some gigging when I'm in university at the same time as getting a really good education. My other choices are all in cities, but I wanted somewhere Traditional and am attracted to St. Andrews and Durham.

However, they're realllly small compared to the other places I've applied, so what's the scene like there for students? I don't mind settling in to playing the same places whilst at Uni, as during holidays I'll come back home and gig too.

Education-wise, I'm applying for History and Genre-wise I'm Damien Rice-y.

I'm also really interested in Theatre, particularly producing my own material and being quite experimental so what's it like for that as well?

Thanks much :]
xxx

Reply 1

River85

Durham is a city you know. A lot older than most that will be on your list. Just a small one...

Anyway, music, I think it's fair to say that Durham doesn't have a fantastic music scene. There are a couple of really great bands that are from Durham but, for obvious reasons, they generally base themselves around Newcastle or sometimes Sunderland. Durham just doesn't have the venues although there are a few pubs that host small bands and there's also Walkabout but they have nothing major at all.

I don't mean to give the impression that Newcastle is "just up the road". As I've said elsewhere they are still two different cities in two different counties. During the day you can travel to Newcastle in 12 minutes by train but, at night, with the last train being 23:30 (I think) it's a bit more difficult. So, if you are gigging, it may mean relying on alternative forms of transport which could prove to be expensive.

But, if you were making the trip up then Newcastle has a fairly good local music scene. Maybe Myrtle Tyrtle being one of my latest favourites

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=45988372

I've actually seen them busk in Durham before (there are always buskers in Durham, especially on the bridges, usually folk acts or Serbian accordian players!) and I'm sure they would have played in few pubs at one point. But, to go back to busking, you'll certainly be able to do plenty of that in Durham. The buskers really add to the fine atmosphere that the city has anyway. I've never seen any of them getting trouble from the police (actually, you rarely see police on the streets).

Anyway, in Newcastle there's a good range of venues. The Cluny is one of the more popular venues and it, along with the wider Ouseburn area of the city, is a bit of a haunt for local artists and musicians. Have a look on Maybe Myrtle Tyrtles myspace page to get an idea of just some of the venues.

Durham, the university itself, has a decent range of music societies (folk, rock, jazz, alternative, I think). Going back to gigging then colleges could also act as important venues or centres. Van Mildert is fairly decent. Also some colleges will have celebratory days. If you were at Cuth's, for example, then there may be the opportunity to perform there on the beer garden on Cuth's day (not really gigging as such, I know). But, in summary, you'd be restricted to your college and a small range of venues and pubs around the city as well as busking. If you were able to travel to Newcastle then you'd find a greater range of venues which would probably satisfy your needs.

Fortunately Durham can be more proud of its theatre scene. Student theatre is big in Durham (almost as big as college and uni sport) with a number of theatre companies. There's college theatre as well as independent organisations. Some colleges, such as John's, are particularly well known for theatre. You can get involved in theatre at all levels, including production.

DST have a website although it's quite new so lacking in information. There's a link to the old site though which is maintained for archive purposes. Until they improve the new site then you can possibly try emailing the president (details are on the site). Although you aren't a student he should hopefully be willing to let you know about what goes on. It's probably worth a try anyway.

http://www.dur.ac.uk/DST/