Now in its seventh year in Dublin the British and Irish Institute of Modern Music or BIMM for short has grown into a hotbed of music creation in Ireland with members of acts such as Overhead, The Albatross, The Eskies and The Academic (their debut album is currently No.1 in Irish charts) count themselves as alumni.

We caught up with tutor James Byrne (Villagers), former students Day_S and Rebecca from Sub Motion to discover what BIMM has to offer students ahead of the upcoming CAO deadline.

The college located in Dublin’s Liberties currently offer a four-year degree in Commercial Modern Music and a one-year part time course both ratified by D.I.T. in fact BIMM has been such a successful addition to Dublin that the college is examining the possibility of expanding its academic reach to four courses.

BIMM’s degree in Commercial Modern Music which is delivered through five streams with students choosing to specialise in bass, drums, guitar, vocals or song-writing.

“Students can improve their skills and receive a really well regarded bachelor’s degree at the end of the course. It's something really solid to fall back on” explains drummer turned music management professional James Byrne.

“I think that was something really missing in Ireland. If you were a young musician in Ireland previously and you wanted to become an industry professional, your parents would want you to get something solid because it's hard to make it in the music industry. This bridges both sides, you have a DIT ratified degree and you get 4-years to improve your talents. This is a hot house of talent, I can't think of anywhere better to be.”

Byrne is quick to point out that anybody who expects to get an academic free pass at BIMM will be sadly disappointed.

“The balance between creativity and academics is essential; the degree has to be worth something. If you just skate by on talent alone, you're not gonna get through the course. The academic component is essential, you have to keep your grades up, like any other college student. You learn essay writing skills, study skills, referencing skills as you would as you would with any BA course.”

The Academic focus in BIMM includes music theory, learning how to read and write musical notation. Music business and law including royalty payments, copyright and contracts.

“People graduating from BIMM are not naive, they know how the industry works, they're much more setup and prepared. We are trying to make them as ready as possible to peruse whatever they want to do if it's music, if it's management or setting up their own label whatever project they want to take on.”

“Obviously there's the creative component too” says Byrne. “But if you go to BIMM you'll get a degree and be surrounded by the industry so it's a good launching pad. Having spoken to the students I know that's why they think it ticks a lot of boxes. They are in a class with 160-170 really talented musicians and songwriters and that fuels them through healthy competition, networking and collaboration.”

“We pride ourselves on the levels we're teaching at” says Byrne emphatically. “Everyone teaching in BIMM works in music on a day to day basis, we're professional musicians, or we work in the industry. Students are getting relevant information by practitioners that are actually working in today's industry.

We pride ourselves that a degree from BIMM is worth as much as any degree from DIT; it's academically minded and it's relevant and gives students the skills to go on and do further education.”

Underneath that the student support setup is fantastic. The pastoral side of the college is amazing. It's the perfect mix of academic and creative balance. I think we've achieved that and I think our students feel that.”

“I think everything that you learn here is so relevant to everything that you're gonna do in the industry. I think in first year I came into BIMM so naive, unsure and not knowing my place in music or what I wanted to do. But over the four years you develop, grow and learn everything that you need to know” says Rebecca, lead singer of Sub Motion a five-piece rock act who have recently signed a publishing deal.

“All of the knowledge I gained especially on the business side helped a lot. It shows you all the roads you can take and how to turn it into a proper career.”

“I remember in first year Joe Wall said: The best thing you'll come out of here with is a book of contacts and it's so true” says Day_S (one of our recent Plec Picks for 2018) a newly graduated student with over 1.5 million streams on Spotify from his debut single. “If you need a musician for anything it's just a click away. “

"It's been extremely beneficial for me having tutors teaching you how to use your voice in the right way, but then also the music business aspect of thing. Getting an understanding of those things, rather than getting blindsided. Having the understanding of how to approach realising music and publicising it.”

The CAO deadline to apply to study at BIMM is February 1st.