Opening of Synergy, an end of year celebration of creativity
A wonderful evening was had by students, staff and visitors on Thursday night at the opening of Synergy
It was a lovely celebration of a great year and we were delighted to have Áine Whelan deliver a speech launching the occasion.
Áine is a singer-songwriter and the Coordinator of MTU BA Popular Musicand is a proud graduate of The Music Management and Sound course at CSN, Tramore Road Campus. She has recorded and performed all over the world with many different artists including Van Morrison, Neil Hannon (Divine Comedy), and Brian Kennedy.
You can watch her speech here https://youtu.be/VwxCFIXnn2Y
There were few better placed than Áine Whelan Coordinator of Popular Music at the School of Music MTU to open the fantastic exhibition of creativity at Cork College of FET, Tramore Campus this week. Áine remarked that the students who graduate from the courses are primed to continue their studies in higher education. ‘We have a great connection with the music students here and it's always an absolute joy to see them bouncing in the door for their auditions and we just know that they are going to do really well and they you know they have the skills because a lot of us who are actually teaching on that course learned our craft and honed our skills here at CSN, Tramore Road Campus’ she remarked.
Áine recalled the welcome and positivity of the first steps she took in her music career: ‘I can still remember coming into the building I can still remember walking into the music room, I can remember where I sat, I can remember who I sat with, I can even remember the clothes I was wearing, I think I was resplendent head to toe in purple due to my obsession with Prince at the time it was one of the most seminal moments of my life beginning my course and my path in education at the wonderful music management and sound course here. I owe a great debt of gratitude for everything that they taught me. There is a culture of inclusion, there is a culture of passion and energy. Everything that you would associate with an artistic approach to life is cultivated here.’
Many of the graduates of the Music, Management and Sound Course, which has now been running for over 30 years, are very much integrated into the music scene and industry in Cork and nationally. ‘I cannot say enough how much I appreciate what I learned here and who I learned from and who I learned with. This college is a community and when you are a student here you are creating the future of the industry that you hope to be part of.’
The Tramore Road Campus boasts a host of full-time courses of study and prides itself on motivating and nurturing its students. In addition to providing the skills, knowledge, and qualifications, the college allows for the development of life-long friendships, something alluded to by Áine in her opening remarks: ‘I can say with hand on heart that I am in contact with most of the people who started off in the same year as me. We've stayed connected over the years and you know some of us meet regularly to make music together. We're still the best of friends it's amazing to actually walk through the corridors now and see all the pictures of all the people who've passed through and it's really like a Hall of Fame and it gives me great joy to actually see how much the music industry has been shaped by this course here.