Most students have taken up an instrument or joined a band at some point. But how do you progress from playing in a friend’s garage to a professional music career?

Some students have no idea what they want to do after university, but Michael Hyman has been on a set career path since he was little. As a talented pianist, cellist, guitarist and singer, he hopes to make it big in the music industry. But he is more than the average X-Factor contestant, and has spent his life studying both classical and modern music.

Now he has been offered a deal with Atlantis records, and will write dance songs for radio stations Kiss 100 and Radio 1. He has also produced music scores to accompany animated films at the National Gallery, London, and has two upcoming gigs at venues in London.

Michael, from Redbridge, North East London, started learning the piano at six and took up the cello at eight. He joined the Redbridge Music School, spending most evenings and weekends playing in the orchestra. He progressed quickly from the junior orchestra to the intermediates, joining the full symphony orchestra at fifteen. At sixteen, Michael broke away from his classical roots, to form a rock band with his friends.

“It was called Peroxide Dyed,” he said. “We entered a regional song writing competition and won, then we got the chance to record a song demo. It wasn’t the days when you could make a demo in your room, it was a big deal at the time.”

Two years later, following a string of gigs at popular music venues including the Hope and Anchor, Islington, Peroxide Dyed split up. “I’m not going to talk about the break-up,” he said, with the practised melodramatics of a pop star. “It was my first experience of pop music, and an important experience as it shapes what I do now. “Unfortunately we broke up too soon, we broke up just as we were starting to do quite well – we had a core of people in the local area, we were starting to play more regularly.”

Still chasing his dream of becoming a musician, Michael spent three years studying Music at Nottingham, where he formed another rock band, Electric Candlelight. He took the role as lead singer and keyboardist, and the band played songs inspired by Franz Ferdinand, the Killers and Maroon 5.

In his free time, he wrote more songs, and created a MySpace site for other users to sample his work. He made CDs of his music and distributed them to fellow music fans, hoping to build up a steady network of useful contacts. “It’s all kind of a community, I met people who are going to be useful to know along the line,” he said. “Eventually you know enough people that you strike it big.”

Now Michael is a second year Masters student at the Royal College of Music, studying music composition for screen. Through his contacts he has been invited to write music scores for films, television programmes and animations. Last summer he wrote the musical accompaniment to a film called After London, shown at the Cornwall Film Festival, as well as music for a London Film School production, The Piano Player.

Now, in a joint project with Goldsmiths, University of London, he is writing the music for a film, Love Noir, which will be screened at the Curzon cinema in Soho. “It’s not about the amount of money you get for the film, you need stuff for your CV,” he said. To write a film score, Michael watches the film and notes down any initial feelings he gets, as well as listing buzz words and the personalities of any characters. He then composes an initial music score on the piano, before experimenting with different instrumental sounds on a keyboard.

If the budget will allow, he likes to include some live music. “They can call me up and say they need something in three days, then I’ll be working until 1am every morning to get it done,” he said. “But sometimes there are a few months to make the music.” Now he is getting more work Michael feels he has started to crack the tough shell of the music industry. “I have certainly started to move more quickly now that I am back in London,” he said. “I might have to move to L.A. to do film scoring at the highest level. Ideally I’d like to film score in Hollywood.”

From his experience, Michael has gained some useful advice about breaking into the music world. “You have got to be out there,” he said. “Have loads of tracks and a good demo. It shouldn’t just be your mum buying it – people should want it because it’s good. “Print cards with a website address on them and hit the streets, you want to meet as many people as possible. You could have the best music but no-one gets anything from sitting in their room all day. You need to build up a community of people you know, and be your own manager.”

Michael will be performing at Monkey Chews, Camden Town, on Tuesday Jan 29 (tickets are free) and the Blag Club, Notting Hill, on Wednesday Feb 20 (tickets £4). To preview his songs visit www.myspace.com/michaelhyman

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