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Thinking of auditioning for The X-Factor? Better study up first…
Other | Wednesday 16th January 2013 | David
A UK College has launched a course that prepares students for the show and similar competitions.
It was probably only a matter of time until this happened. We’ve seen some crazy degrees and courses introduced in recent times, and now there’s one for The X-Factor.
Bishop Auckland College in County Durham is offering a 17-week course designed to get people through the auditions round of the TV show. Students will receive tuition in singing – which I suppose will make a nice change from some of the dubious performances on the show – as well as coaching for how to be confident and look successful for the judges, from just £95. I wonder if they also have seminars on how to effectively tell a sob story to garner more votes.
The maverick/lunatic/evil mastermind behind this plan, Mike Jinks, said "I wanted to run a course which prepared people for X-Factor auditions and similar competitions across the country.” At this point, a very important question comes to mind: why? Presumably they’ll only teach guys in groups of four or more, and girls who idolise Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston, since these are basically the only people on the show in whom any interest is shown. He added, “People auditioning also need to know that the ones who succeed on X-Factor don't just walk in there blind. It's not about just wandering in, singing a song and you're famous. Most applicants have been doing the rounds for years working really hard - it's very rare that you get a Susan Boyle character." That’s always been something I thought we should be truly thankful for, personally.
"There are plenty of colleges running this qualification but as far as I'm aware none of them have designed the course around The X-Factor," Jinks summarised. We call that a music course, aimed more towards people who actually want to succeed in music, as opposed to going on an increasingly faded TV “talent” show – I use the term loosely – and then often disappearing into obscurity. (Anybody remember Steve Brookstein?) The sad thing is, it costs a lot more money and takes a lot more ability to get a university music degree, and this kind of gimmicky course will promote talentless morons like Frankie Cocozza over those who might actually be musically gifted.
So yes, Mike Jinks, this could well be the first college course based around The X-Factor. For the sake of real music, let’s hope it’s the last.
By Dave Rees
@DavidWRees
