Explore #WeAreOCA
Skip Navigation
Funding for studies is changing. Radically. And yet just over 1 in 10 people are aware of what is happening. In January 2027 the new Lifelong Learning Entitlement (LLE) system will come into effect. This is an initiative designed by successive governments to allow learners to study flexibly through a modular approach to learning. This will replace the student loans system in England.
Read More
There are moments in the life of a creative practitioner when you glimpse yourself, as if from the outside, and are confronted by the question: Is this a productive, or even sane, use of my time? I experienced one such moment during the creation of my latest album.
Read More
Creativity rarely exists in isolation—ideas flow between disciplines, shaping and reshaping artistic practice. This blog explores how Chamfer emerged as a response to the limitations of the contemporary art world, finding a more immediate and flexible outlet in music.
Read More
Composer Neil Tòmas Smith discusses the dialogue with the Scottish Renaissance in his new work for Orchestra, Baroque Orchestra and Soprano.
Read More
Composer Neil Tòmas Smith reflects on being selected to write a piece for the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Dunedin Consort, and soprano Anna Dennis.
Read More
Welcome to our online Degree Show Showcase 23/24 where we are celebrating a number of our graduates from across seven of our degree programmes.
Read More
In 2023, I ran a Listening Group session with OCA students, focused on electronic music. There was quite a lot of enthusiasm for the ideas we discussed and, consequently, I have decided to write a series of blog posts exploring the history, techniques, and aesthetics of this beautiful and bewildering type of music.
Read More
In Open Ears we investigate and celebrate the massive diversity of music making which exists in our world today by talking with musicians from a wide range of artistic traditions and practices about their musical lives, and how they’ve navigated through their careers.
Read More
I want people to post about their musical lives, about composition, there works, about the nuts and bolts. I encourage people to think of themselves as part of music history. To take documentation seriously.
Read More
The creative process and the editorial process are completely different things. When you are creating things, encourage the editorial part of your brain to take a nap, so you can work fearlessly, with no inhibitions. Then, when it is time to edit what you have done, make amendments, and focus on the detail, wake the editorial part of your brain back up.
Read More