Sing when you’re winning: how Jess Clayton developed her passion for music at school

Musician Jess Clayton, nominated in four categories at this year’s Download Music Awards, is currently locally based, having attended Bath Spa University where she studied commercial music. She grew up in Guildford, Surrey, where she went to primary and secondary school, later going on to Godalming College.

We asked Jess where she believes her passion for music began and how this interest developed during her education, propelling her to the status of professional musician that she holds today. “I come from a very musical family and so music was encouraged in my house from a very young age. At primary school I picked up the saxophone because nobody else played it and it was just so cool!”

By the time Jess reached the next stage of her education, she was given the chance to take her music to the next level. “In secondary school (George Abbott), my music was taken much more seriously and encouraged by a fantastic head of music, Mrs Caple (my parents used to call her Mrs Capable). It was at this school that I really started songwriting.

“I started at Godalming College in 2007 and studied media, drama and music technology. They had only just finished building a fantastic new building for performing arts subjects. Here we
had classrooms full of Macs, sound-proofed practice rooms, well-equipped recording studios, and a very helpful studio engineer who was a great person to make friends with!”

In harmony

Ultimately, it was the excellent staff and facilities at her college and schools that encouraged and enabled Jess to excel in her chosen subject. Jess may not have moved to Bath until she started university, but there are a great number of schools in the area that provide a comprehensive and confidence-building introduction to music.

For example, Prior Park College has a broad array of opportunities on offer. From the hundreds of weekly individual lessons to orchestras and chamber music, weekly informal concerts and musicals performed in front of the school, musicians of every kind find opportunities to develop here. At the Royal High School, the music department is also full of energy and well equipped. Recitals here are seen as an exciting opportunity to perform in front of your peers and develop your skills.

Music at Stonar, run by large team of teachers, is taught in a modern music school where pupils can make use of a suite of teaching rooms, many practice rooms and a fully-equipped studio. While Kingswood’s music department is housed in a beautiful Edwardian building. It has plenty of classrooms – filled with state-of-the-art equipment and technology – recordings studios and practice rooms.

Fostering talent

We asked Jess what helped her decide to go into music. “My schools were always asking me to perform in school concerts and competitions which was great. Secondary school gave me the theory and performance basis and college gave me the technical start – how to use the studio and the music software, then how to be creative with it all.

“I was never pushed into a musical career but was given all the tools to find what suited me best. I’m very grateful for this as now I am considering recording an entirely homemade album, written, performed, mixed, produced and distributed all myself. Before college and uni I would never have known how this was possible or even if I would enjoy it.”

Jess’s education has helped her prepare for a career in a challenging but rewarding industry. “Music is incredibly subjective and once you realise you’re not going to be everybody’s cup of tea you can relax and concentrate on being yourself and moving forward.”

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