A look inside the ArtsTrain Academy

ArtsTrain deliver two songwriting programmes for young musicians based in South East London - our Bromley and Bexley Academies. These currently run in Spring and Summer term at The Churchill Theatre and The Exchange Erith. Our Academies are for talented young musicians and songwriters aged 13-17 and are a chance to collaborate with other musicians, write original music, learn new skills and perform at venues across London!

Credit: Tom Knibbs

Between Autumn 2023 and Summer 2024, our Academies took part in a whole host of performances. Highlights include their performances (as a collective) at the Southbank Centre as part of the EFG London Jazz Festival, the Royal Society of Arts’ Fellows Festival and Lewisham Music’s Jazz Hang. To finish the year, back in Summer, our groups recorded their original tracks in professional recording studios.

Theo, 16, joined our Bexley Academy in 2022 for our annual ArtsTrain London Jazz Festival project. Soon after joining us, Theo joined our Bromley Academy too.

We sat down to chat with Theo about his time at ArtsTrain and his experiences as a songwriter and bassist.

AT: How have you found the Academy as a bass player?

Theo: I find you have to be very creative and constantly playing in your own spare time yourself to make ideas for the band. Most of the songs usually start with a bassline or chord progression. It’s a fun process but also a bit tiring.

AT: I see. Some people associate songwriting with being a singer, but it’s great that instrumentalists have a key part in the songwriting process.

Theo: Yes - I do find that I’m the first or second person to get something down. As a bassist, you’re either in a position to start the song or get the song moving really!

AT: Do you have any advice for someone wanting to write songs as an instrumentalist?

Theo: I’d say, you have to spend a lot of time practising and having fun with your instrument before you can get good song ideas going. It’s about throwing stuff at the wall until something sticks!

AT: And how about lyrics - I know the music leaders often encourage everyone to contribute lyrics to the songs you write?

Theo: I do feel comfortable writing lyrics. I’ve done a few lyric writing exercises in sessions, but I don’t think it’s my strong point. I hope to get better, but at the moment, I’m focusing on my playing skills.

At Bromley Academy, we have some multi-instrumentalists, and everyone does everything (including the lyric writing)!

At Bexley Academy, everyone is much more focused on their one instrument, but a few of the group take part in the lyric writing.

If you’re a multi-instrumentalist, you might thrive when it comes to writing lyrics too.

I prefer writing the instrumental parts myself, that’s always the fun part. Sitting at a keyboard and finding weird chords to add to songs.

AT: So what would you say your favourite track is that you’ve written at the Academy?

Theo: There’s no official name for it but it’s called ‘The Jam Song’. We wrote it in 2023, and played it at the EFG London Jazz Festival last year. Funnily enough, it hasn’t been recorded and probably won’t be – sadly as most of the people who wrote the song have left the group.

Recording songs in a collective can be a bit of a struggle, people leave, are late or have personal issues and all this seeps its way into the songwriting process. I find if you’re good at dealing with your own emotions, you can also tackle the songwriting process well. But if you aren’t good at dealing with your emotions, you’ll find it incredibly hard to open up and translate those emotions into a song.

AT: That makes sense. What would you say you have found most challenging in Academy sessions?

Theo: Often, I find it really difficult when the music leaders put us into smaller groups. As the only bassist, I’ve previously been split into four groups across the two Academies! There were lots of last minute changes at our most recent gig back in June. I have got to a point where I can adapt to these changes but that’s probably the most difficult thing.

AT: Do you think you like being pushed outside of your comfort zone by the music leaders?

Theo: Personally, I don’t like it but I get why we are doing it. For example, we’ve done a lot of vocal exercises in sessions. I personally feel like I know my own limitations already, because I’ve been at ArtsTrain long enough now to know how I best fit into the songwriting process. However, I think it’s good for newer members of the group, and that it’s beneficial for me to participate so the others feel more confident in trying it.

AT: So if it’s not vocal exercises, is there anything you’d want to see more of at ArtsTrain? 

Theo: I personally loved the sessions at Bromley Youth Music Trust where we came together as an Academy collective - in the run up to our performance at the London Jazz Festival last year. It inspired ideas that you’d never usually find being in a different venue. I think when you’re only in one venue throughout the term, that creates a bit of a ‘feedback loop’ of just being ‘good’. But it’s nice to have the variation every now and then, Bromley and Bexley Academy coming together before major performances or recording sessions. 

I would also love to be challenged to write more in newer, more experimental genres. Both Academies been writing quite similar tracks lately - well, both groups have their own styles, but they’re also quite similar as some Academy members are inspired by others. 

AT: That’s cool that you’d like to write in more experimental genres. And do you have a favourite topic or theme to write about?

Theo: There’s a few. In sessions, we’ve written a lot about young people dealing with adult problems - about how you sometimes have to deal with a lot of heavy stuff at a young age - and I really like that one.

Thanks for chatting to us, Theo! For more info on our Academies and how to apply, head to our Academies page here. We hold auditions every January.

Take a listen to our Academies’ latest EP below.