Welcome Pack - Musical Theatre 2019

Welcome Pack
BA (Hons) Musical Theatre
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I would like to extend a very warm welcome to the Arden School of Theatre.
Here at the Arden we pride ourselves on being a family of courses that serve the
artistic community. I hope that you quickly settle in to Arden life and take advantage
of the amazing things Manchester has to offer both culturally and, of course,
socially. It is very important to us that you feel at home here and there are plenty
of people to contact in order to make life a bit easier for you. If you are from a
different city or living away from home for the first time it can take some getting
used to, so do not be afraid to speak up and tell your year tutor if there is something
that we can support you with.
Taking on this course will be life changing for you. As a student performer, you
are standing on the shoulders of tradition but at the same time forging new and
contemporary positions to the work. You are part of the next generation of performers
that will translate the cultural and social time. Now is the time to invest,
experiment, and test your knowledge, skills, and experience as you collaborate
with others and find your own voice. Your commitment is everything, whether
that is arriving on time or being fully prepared for every class. The bar is only as
high as you set it.
It is with some pride that I look at the school and its excellent lecturers and curriculum,
please cherish and respect them, each other, and yourselves. The spirit
of Arden embraces the notion of family, mutual respect, positivity, and etiquette
both in the rehearsal room and out of it. Make sure you play your role in that and
ensure that the Arden is a place you can feel free to experiment and develop your
professionalism.
I hope you have wonderful time with us over the next three years.
Best Wishes,
Robert Owen
YOUR HEAD OF SCHOOL
YOUR COURSE LEADER
I am delighted to welcome you to The Arden School of Theatre on the BA
(Hons) Musical Theatre course. I am looking forward to getting to know you
more through our induction week. The induction week is where you will meet
your peers and the staff here at The Arden. I would like you to feel part of our
Arden family and if you have any questions or concerns my door is always
open to you.
The Musical Theatre course is full time and will need your full commitment,
energy and passion. Over the next three years you will develop your techniques
and work on challenges all aimed to prepare you for the industry. There
will be some fantastic opportunities to work with industry professionals and
graduates of The Arden to help inspire you to achieve your best.
Aside from your studies, Manchester is a vibrant, exciting city full of culture
and history that you can experience. Manchester boasts some of the best theatres
in the country with an abundance of shows that you can see to enhance
your knowledge and make your time in Manchester truly inspirational.
The standard of audition this year was extremely high and I would like to congratulate
you on achieving a place on our course. You have shown us that you
have the skills and the potential needed to succeed on our course.
At The Arden we are immensely proud of our history and alumni, by accepting
a place at The Arden you are not just joining a course but you are making
history. Are you ready?
I hope you get some well deserved rest over the summer, and you are looking
forward to starting the next chapter on your journey to becoming Amazing!
See you in September
Andrew Stephenson
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YOUR OFFER
Please note that if your offer is conditional you must meet all of the set criteria
before you can consider your place confirmed. Should you have any concerns or
questions about this please do not hesitate to contact us.
START DATE
We hope you are enjoying a summer break, however, the start of your new programme
will arrive quicker than you think! Years of experience tell us that if we
send out lots of information over the summer, you will have forgotten it by the
time you arrive at The Arden. Therefore, we have decided to send just basic information
to help you prepare for your first day of term, which is:
Induction and Enrolment Week - Your enrolment details will be communicated
to you by UCEN Manchester but will be no earlier than 9th September.
During the summer we will also send out a timetable for induction week.
One question we are asked every year is whether you can start at a later date, and
unfortunately the answer is no. This is because students who miss the induction
week invariably find it much more difficult to settle; they have missed a lot of key
information, social activity, and the chance to acclimatize before study begins.
TERM DATES
It is important that you adhere to the term dates below, as assessments can take
place throughout the year and particularly towards the end of each term. These
are provisional term dates and will be confirmed during induction week.
Term 1: Monday 16th September 2019 - Friday 20th December 2019
Term 2: Monday 6th January 2020 - Friday 6th April 2020
Term 3: Tuesday 20th April 2020 - Friday 29th May 2020
YOUR MENTOR
At some point towards the end of the summer you will be contacted by one of
our second year students who will act as your mentor. This way, you will already
have support from someone who, only last year, was in your position. They will
answer any questions you may have, make sure that you are prepared for study,
and arrange to meet with you on your first day. Here, they will introduce you to
the rest of the Theatre and Performance, and Arden, students and also provide
you with your induction week timetable. Induction week is designed to explain
all the things you will need to know in order to settle in and get the most out of
your course, so do not worry if we have not covered everything here.
ENROLMENT
OUR ADDRESS
Your enrolment will take place during induction week. For this, we require several
pieces of information and documentation, which you must bring with you on
your first day.
The Arden School of Theatre
Nicholls Campus
Exam certificates for your GCSEs, and for your A Levels and/or BTEC diplomas
Hyde Road
Your National Insurance number
Manchester
Your Student Loan confirmation letter
M12 6BA
Your permanent home address and emergency contact details
Your term time address
Your bank details
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Your email address
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INSURANCE
We strongly advise you to have insurance cover for your personal belongings at
your student accommodation. The major student insurance company is Endsleigh
Insurance, but they are by no means the only insurance firm available. We
suggest that you visit a site like www.moneysupermarket.com and search for the
best deal.
Whether we like it or not, Manchester is a big city, and like any city it attracts
a high level of crime. While we do not want to frighten anybody, we do advise
you to acquire good cover for your belongings, not just in your accommodation,
but also for when you carry them about with you. It is also cheaper with mobile
phones to have them covered by your insurance, rather than pay separately to
your mobile phone company. Finally, your parents can usually extend their own
home contents insurance to cover yours while you are at The Arden, this is often
more cost effective.
STUDENT FINANCE
If you haven’t already done so you should visit the Student Finance Direct website
in order to begin your application: www.studentfinance.direct.gov.uk.
Should you require any further information you can contact your Local Authority
for a student support pack (PN1 Form). You will need to use the Student Finance
Direct website to apply for loans for tuition fees and living costs; grants; and other
specific help such as childcare costs.
Before you can enroll at The Arden, you must have, at the very least, a letter from
the Student Loan Company confirming that they are providing you with a loan.
Without such a letter we cannot enroll you and you may need to pay 33% of the
fees upfront in order to join the sessions.
TUITION FEES
The tuition fee for your course this year is £8900
Please note that this is correct at the time of writing.
ACCOMMODATION
TV LICENSE
You will no doubt be aware that as a student your parents’ television license does
not cover your television whilst you are at The Arden. We must remind you that
it is your duty to buy a license if you have a television in your student accommodation.
MONEY MANAGEMENT
You need to consider how you will manage your finances. You will need money
for accommodation, bills, clothes, food, travel, theatre visits, books, equipment,
and for socialising. Your mentor will be a good person to ask for advice about
managing your money and avoiding some of the pitfalls of student life.
Many of you will find that the money you have does not meet your needs, you
may need to supplement your income with paid work, but be aware that you will
need to keep enough time, space and energy for your studies. Any activity that
prevents you from giving your full commitment to your work will affect your
performance on the programme. Some students supplement their income with
casual work in the local theatres and we encourage this as a way of gaining experience,
preparing you for the world of work, and getting a bit of extra cash. However,
all the above statements still apply. There are several theatres that we would
recommend you looking at for employment:
If you are relocating to Manchester, and will be requiring accommodation, you
can find all the relevant information at www.manchesterstudenthomes.com
Once on the site, please follow the link marked ‘private halls’ and this will give you
information relating to all of the student accommodation available in Manchester.
The Arden recommends students to gravitate towards the following accommodation:
Sanctuary: from £112 per week.
Q3 Apartments: from £109 per week.
Six Victoria Point (Hello Student) from £123 per week.
Piccadilly Point: from £174 per week.
Contact, Oxford Road, HOME, First Street, The Palace Theatre, The Opera House
Casual work is a valuable experience but it should not interfere with your studies.
It is a condition of the programme that you must not undertake any other work
between the hours of 9am and 6pm Monday to Friday without making a written
application to your year tutor. It is quite common for applications to be refused,
although never without good reason; there are a number of weeks throughout the
year where you are required to be available full time for rehearsals.
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PREPARING FOR STUDY
Every student prepares for their new programme in different ways. The information here
cannot cover everything you need to know about your course at The Arden, but it does
cover things you may not have thought of and things you need to know, along with advice
and recommendations we think you will find useful. The main thing that we ask is that
you begin your students with excitement, eagerness, and an open mind. You are going to
be exploring some areas of theatre you never even knew existed, but also hone those skills
you have been developing throughout all of your previous studies so far.
READING
ADVICE AND GUIDANCE
If you need additional advice or support, to do with finance, student fees, accommodation,
or personal matters, as you prepare for study in Higher Education,
the Guidance and Welfare team will be able to help. The team will also be able to
offer specific advice relating to financial help, such as Parent Learning Allowance,
Disabled Student Allowance, Childcare Grant, Adult Dependent Grant, Higher
Education Access to Learning Fund (HEALF).
HEALTH CARE
You should register yourself with both a dentist and GP in Manchester for your
time at The Arden; you should do this within your first two weeks of arriving in
Manchester. We cannot stress how vital it is that you have access to the health
service during your time at The Arden, going back home is not practical. You
will need to have your medical card to do this. NHS Direct can provide you with
details of doctors and dentists in your area.
We will ask you to give details of any previous medical or physical conditions that
your participation in certain sessions might adversely affect. If you are undergoing
treatment, or require particular medication, you should tell your personal
tutor. This is for your own protection; The Arden will not accept responsibility if
you fail to do this. It is our policy that any such information will be confidential
and will in no way affect your place on the programme.
If you are not already an avid reader, now would be a good time to get into the habit!
Reading not only widens your perspectives, but also helps to develop your writing skills,
which will be vital to you throughout your studies and in you future career. In addition,
your ability to demonstrate independent learning is critical for Higher Education study;
so start reading over the summer. Here are a couple of books that it would be extremely
beneficial for you to have looked at before you start.
Deer, J., & Dal, V. R. (2008). Acting in musical theatre: A comprehensive course. London:
Routledge.
Stanislavski K. (1980) An Actor Prepares. London: Methuen
Kayes, G. (1996) Singing and The Actor: A & C Black
Also, try to keep well informed on current events and ideas by reading newspapers and
magazines of every kind. The theatre industry has its own newspaper, The Stage, and national
newspapers such as The Guardian also have theatre sections.
DIARY
Dates and deadlines will frame your life; a diary is therefore invaluable, so try to get into
the habit of keeping one as soon as possible. Your lecturers will provide you with a list of
key dates and deadlines at the beginning of the year, but these may well need to be adjusted.
You will also need to make personal appointments with staff and your fellow students;
it is professional practice to do this efficiently and effectively.
SOCIAL MEDIA
To find us on social media you should ‘like’ our Arden School of Theatre Facebook
page where you will be able to find other new starters as well as current
students. You should also join the Facebook group:
Arden School of Theatre Freshers 2019-2020 - Current students and staff are
availible to answer your questions!
We have a Twitter account for you to follow @ArdenSchool, as well as Instagram
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@the_arden.
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DRESS CODE
Our aim is to create a blank canvas for each session, to put everyone on a level playing
field, and to create a professional working environment. Therefore it is a requirement
that students wear rehearsal blacks for all classes/rehearsals/warm-ups.
This should consist of:
Basic crew neck t-shirt/sweater
Black jogging bottoms or leggins
Black jazz shoes or black trainers.
There should be no slogans, stripes or decoration of any kind on clothing. Small logos
are allowed (see above as an example).
For dance-wear, this must also be black with the exception of ballet tights and ballet
shoes. For subject specific class-wear, please see the next page.
In addition, make-up should be kept to a minimum (preferably none), along with no
fake tan, false nails, and false eyelashes. Nail polish is allowed but should be discreet
and you may be asked to remove it for performance work.
Piercings are allowed, however for practical or health and safety reasons, you may be
advised to remove or change your piercing jewellery. The final decision on piercings
will be at the discretion of the Head of Course for your subject.
Hair colour and style is not prescribed however in all practical classes it should be
tied up away from the face. For certain classes you may be required to change this in
accordance with industry practices. (e.g Ballet – hair in buns, Period/Casting decisions).
BASIC CLASS WEAR
Musical Theatre students must wear the appropriate dancewear. Women need to
wear a good sports bra, and men will need to wear athletic supports. We advise
students to have several changes of clothes, and preferably to carry a spare change
with them at all times. For dancewear, we recommend going to www.dancedirect.
com as it is much cheaper than dance shops.
WOMEN
Ballet shoes. (1 pair) split sole, canvas or leather, elastic not ribbon;
Jazz Shoes (1 pair) Black shoe or boot, split sole;
Tap shoes. (1 pair), Capezio or equivalent taps – screw not rivet;
Leotard (at least 2);
Ballet Tights (at least 2);
Comfortable stretchy black trousers: i.e. Jazz pants - track-suit bottoms – leggings
(At least 2);
Sweat shirts and T-shirts (a few);
Smart Black Dress for Performances
MEN
Ballet shoes (1 pair) split sole – canvas or leather, elastic;
Jazz Shoes (1 pair) black, shoe or boot or split sole trainer;
Tap shoes (1 pair) black, proper dance shoe, Capezio or equivalent taps – screw
not rivet;
Tight legging stretchy trousers for Ballet (at least 2);
Comfortable stretchy trousers: i.e. Jazz pants - track-suit bottoms – leggings (At
least 2);
Sweat shirts and T-shirts (a few);
Smart Black Trousers / Shirt for Performances
All students need to have a good pair of character shoes.
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USEFUL CONTACT DETAILS
Musical Theatre Office 0161 674 4810
Andrew Stephenson (Head of Course) 0161 674 1757
Robert Owen (Head of School) 0161 674 2565
Nicholls Campus Reception 0161 674 2743
UCEN Manchester Switchboard 03333 222 444
Manchester Student Homes 0161 275 7680
Manchester Royal Infirmary 0161 276 1234
Greater Manchester Police 0161 872 5050
FRESHER’S CHECKLIST
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Before you arrive in Manchester, make sure you have completed the following:
The Arden has a library to provide for all the courses on site. There is an excellent
collection of books, DVDs, journals, and other resources. You will receive
an initial induction to the library at the beginning of your course and you should
make use of the facilities throughout your studies. Make friends with the librarians,
they will offer you invaluable help and advice as you research, especially in
preparation for your third year dissertation.
All written work submitted for assessment must be word-processed. PCs are
available throughout The Arden, and whilst your own computer will be convenient,
it is not necessary as the library even loan out laptops and iPads.
EQUIPMENT
Most of the books that you will need are in our library, although you are encouraged
to buy key texts and begin your own collection. A dictionary and thesaurus
are very useful to have. Some modules will require note-taking, so you should
invest in a range of stationary and folders. A creative journal to note down performance
and artistic ideas would also be beneficial. Other equipment that you
should consider includes ring binders, memory sticks, and a Dictaphone.
For each and every session, even the most practical, you will be required to actively
take notes and record your learning. You should be appropriately dressed
and arrive on time (which means early in order to be ready to start). Please note
that students without the proper equipment or clothing, or that arrive late may be
excluded from the session.
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Email address, permanent address, emergency contact details
Student accommodation address
Details of National Insurance number
Certificates of previous examinations and qualifications
Student Loan confirmation letter
Arranged contents insurance and TV license
Bought the necessary stationary, equipment, and clothing
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Prepared yourself through initial research and reading
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