Help with your application for Postgraduate support

This page is designed to help you with your postgraduate application, breaking down and explaining a few key parts of the application form.

Follow the links below for guidance to help you with this application.

Your biography is your moment to shout about your music, studies, and career so far. In order to assess what you’ve achieved; we’ll want to know about your background. This is not just a straight copy and paste of your press release; write it in first person, be as clear as possible and remember, the more examples you can give us the better.

Areas to consider telling us about are:

• Career highlights — What are you most proud of?
• Where have you studied and who with?
• Have you taken part in any competitions?
• Have you attended any masterclasses?
• What repertoire have you performed or worked on?
• Where have you performed? 
• Have you performed with any ensembles/​chamber groups/​bands/​orchestras?
• Who have you collaborated with?
• What opportunities have you embraced so far throughout your studies?
• What opportunities have you embraced outside of education?

You should detail your key achievements and let us know whether you are already earning an income through music related activity such as teaching, performing or community music work.

You should provide two links to video recordings of you performing contrasting pieces to support your application. For most instrumentalists and singers please submit solo performances with piano accompaniment or recorded backing track. For Jazz and Pop disciplines, videos can be of a solo performance, or they can be with an ensemble or band providing it is obvious who you are amongst the other musicians.

The recordings should be:

• Uploaded to YouTube or an alternative video platform (please ensure to mark them as ​“unlisted”)

Or

• Provided by secure file transfer service, ensuring your links do not have an expiration date

Or

• Upload your videos to the attachment section of the application form.

This part of the application is asking why you wish to embark on another year of study.

In this section we want to know why you plan to study for another year and the goals you hope to achieve by the end of your year of study.

You should include the following:

• Why you have chosen this particular institution and course. If you have studied at a particular institution for 4 years already, tell us why you have decided to stay. If you are changing institutions, why have you decided to move?

• Who will you be working with? Are there any teachers you’d like to work with?

• What opportunities at college would you like to take part in? This could be auditioning for certain ensembles or the modules you’d like to take up.
• Are there any external opportunities you’d like to embrace? This could be teaching in local schools or joining a music group outside of your institution.
• What will you be working on? Will you focus on any particular repertoire?
• What would you like to achieve by the end of the course? Do you have any goals such as performing a certain concerto or at a particular venue?
• What technical aspects would you like to work on?
• What other skills do you want to learn? Think about business skills such as understanding tax or how to build a fanbase

In this section, we would like to know what your short-term plans are after graduation and what your longer-term ambitions are. Remember to be realistic with your goals and offer back-up plans just in case you experience any obstacles that get in your way.

You should think about the following:

• Detail how you hope to reach these ambitions and the steps you need to take in order for you to achieve these. For example, if your career plan is to join an orchestra or opera company, what knowledge, repertoire, skills, or experience do you need to have in order to gain a place/​seat, and will you also take up some teaching work on the side?
• Are you planning a portfolio career? By this we mean having several streams of income at the same time. For example you may be planning to combine your performance work with teaching music workshop. If you are planning a portfolio career how do you hope to split your time? 
• Are your plans innovative or different? If so, what makes your career plans stand out?

In these sections we will ask for specific financial information.

Your planned expenditure and any confirmed or unconfirmed funding you hope to receive over the course of your next year of study. Please name trusts/​charities that you have applied to but only include amounts if the support has been confirmed.

Your expenditure costs should be converted to yearly costs. You can include rough estimates if you are unsure how much something will cost, however please indicate how you have worked this figure out in the notes section. Make sure your costs are realistic. 

The more information you can provide on each income and expenditure line, the better, so remember to make use of the notes section.

How to list out income and expenditure

Provide a figure for each form of income. If an item is not applicable to you, or the amount is not confirmed, then put 0 next to this line. You will need to indicate figures for the following income lines:

• Student Loan
• Family Support
• Scholarship from your institution
• Bursary from your institution
• Other bursaries/​awards/​grants
• Personal savings
• Non-music related income
• Music related income
• Other income

Example:

You will also need to indicate figures for the following expenditure lines:

• Course fees
• Rent
• Maintenance (ie. Bills, phone, internet, TV)
• Instrument maintenance
• Travel
• Study materials (text books/​sheet music)
• Accessibility costs
• Other expenditure

Example:

• Course fees
  • Ensure this is for one year of study

• Rent
  - Calculate this for one year

• Maintenance (ie. Bills, phone, internet, TV)
  - Consider regular costs calculated for the whole year

• Instrument maintenance
  - Eg. Reeds for a woodwind instrument or strings for a guitar

• Travel
  - Consider regular costs of travelling to/​from your college

• Study materials (text books/​sheet music)
  - This includes any resources you may need to purchase in order to complete your course

• Accessibility costs
  - Do you have additional requirements that involve regular expenditure, such as an ADHD coach, regular medication or other materials/​software

• Other expenditure
  - Anything not covered by the above descriptions

Why this is important

Once you have completed all of your expenditure items and income, you should see a shortfall figure which is automatically calculated for you. This is your total income minus your total planned expenditure for the year.

This figure will give us an idea of how much financial support you still require. You should address this shortfall in your written or video response with how you hope to fund your studies. 

Financial Need

After you have completed your budget you will need to provide a statement detailing your plans to fund your studies and why our support is vital. In your written or video response you should detail any hardships you might face in financing your course and how receiving support from Help Musicians will make a difference to your financial situation. Don’t be afraid to mention any potential or agreed financial support you might be receiving from other sources or organisations. For example:

• Perhaps you are having to work 20 hours a week alongside your studies. Receiving financial support from Help Musicians would alleviate the pressure of having to work so many hours so that you can focus on your studies and professional opportunities.

Or

• You may be ineligible for some grants/​bursaries. The support from Help Musicians would be crucial as it is one of the few opportunities that provides financial support for postgraduate study regardless of age or nationality

Please do not include your Income and Expenditure figures in this section. 

Further support with your application

If you’re considering applying with video submissions, here is some further guidance:

• Prepare your answers in advance of recording. You may want to use notes or cue cards to help you while recording.

• Don’t feel the need to be too formal. Be yourself in your application and show your passion for your work.

• Use the time limit to your advantage. Some applicants feel they can verbally communicate more information in two minutes that they can in 500 words of text.

• Focus on the question and don’t digress too much from what’s being asked of you.

• Before submitting, ensure both the audio and video quality is clear. Tech can be your best friend and your worst enemy – make sure whatever video editing software you’re using hasn’t mysteriously scrambled the audio when exporting.

• You’re not obliged to commit to one format or the other across the application form. You may what to write your biography but prefer talking about your career aspirations on camera. You have the option of both when completing the form – just be sure to pick one format or the other per question.

Please note: If you submit both a written and video response for a question, only the written response will be assessed. 

If you’re considering applying with video submissions, please read our guidance blog here.

For any support with your application or if you have any questions, please contact support@​helpmusicians.​org.​uk or call 020 7239 9101.