Kim Gee, a BTEC HND Music Production student, at Grimsby College's East Coast Music Academy, is now through to the final ten contestants in this year's Pop Idol competition on ITV.
| Kim, 23, performed a fantastic rendition of "Son of a Preacher Man" to get into the elite final group. Now into the second year of her HND course, Kim has no doubts that it has been a contributing factor to her success. |
Although Kim is no stranger to singing live to an audience, she has been learning the more technical side of live performance with specific emphasis on how to set up her own equipment and perform sound checks.
"I was a total novice as far as the technical side went, such as how to use PA equipment, but that's why I enrolled on the course," said Kim. "The tutors are great; they'll stay behind to work with you if you need it as well as coming in 'out of hours' to open the studio up."
As a mother of three small children, returning to education was not an easy decision for Kim to make.
She said: "I had to give it a lot of thought. When I looked into the course, the Course Co-ordinator, Steve Orient, was really helpful and sat down with me and talked me through everything that was involved. I realised that I would learn a lot of things that would be of help to me immediately, such as for my live performances, and other things like songwriting which I can develop and will be of tremendous value to me in the future.
I discussed it with my husband, who was really supportive, but we had to look seriously at the financial issues as well. Fortunately, my course fees were covered for me and I was eligible for a childcare grant, which paid nursery fees for three days a week. I've also had to use a student loan, but a lot of that has been spent on travel expenses, getting to and from London for the Pop Idol auditions!"
Grimsby College's HND Music Production Course Co-ordinator, Steve Orient, said: "When I first met Kim, it was very obvious she was passionate about music and wanted to expand on the little technical knowledge she had. I reassured her she would be studying with like-minded people who would all have different experiences and musical styles. The content of the course, being mainly of a production emphasis, would complement her passions and wants, and the main areas she would benefit in would be recording techniques, song writing and understanding of the music business."
