Institute of Popular Music in Prague

Write. Produce. Perform.

Institute of Popular Music in Prague

Write. Produce. Perform.

Institute of Popular Music in Prague

Write. Produce. Perform.

Entry requirements for the Popular Music Summer Course 2024

All applicants must be over the age of 16 to be able to take part in the course. While we will provide some equipment on site, it is up to students to bring their own laptops with a Pro Tools license, a pair of headphones and a small MIDI keyboard. If you are not able to provide these yourself, you can choose our Silver or Gold tuition package, and we will provide the additional equipment for an added cost. In the case of headphones and a MIDI keyboard, you will be able to keep these after the course has finished. Please ensure you are familiar with all the entry and technical requirements before applying.

English skills:

The course is open to applicants of all nationalities. However, the course will be taught fully in English, therefore a good standard of speaking and listening is required. We recommend having level B2 or higher.


Music theory:

Students are required to have a basic understanding of music theory before attending the course. This is to ensure that you can follow along with the material taught. Please make sure you have a strong understanding of the following concepts before attending the course:

– Notation: bass cleff, treble cleff
– Rhythm: semibreves, minims, crotchets, quavers, semiquavers
– Different metres (4/4, 3/4, 6/8)
– Scales (major, minor, pentatonic)
– Intervals
– Scale degrees (tonic, subdominant, dominant)
– Chords (triads, sus, 7ths, 9ths)
– Basic notation skills

Music Production:

Students are not required to have any previous experience or knowledge in music production, as we will teach the basics of recording and navigating Pro Tools on the first day. However, students with basic knowledge of music technology will benefit, as the course will cover intricate production techniques in a short amount of time.

Instrumental skills:

We recommend that you are comfortable playing an instrument of your choice and have a good standard of technical skills. In most cases, 2-3 years of playing an instrument will be sufficient to partake in our summer course. We also recommend that you have a couple of songs (of any difficulty) that you are comfortable playing/singing.

Technical requirements

Laptop

In order to be able to follow our production workshops, you will need a laptop that can run Pro Tools. Please refer to the technical requirements below. We also advise you check the official Pro Tools requirements for more information. Remember that the computing power will affect how many tracks (instruments) you can have running in a project at the same time. The more powerful the computer, the smoother and faster it will run. If you do not have a laptop that you could bring, we can provide you with a Mac on-site when you select our Golden tuition package.

Avid Pro Tools license

A core aspect of production is using a digital audio workstation (DAW). Although there are many great options out there, we will be using Pro Tools, as this is the prevalent software used in the Czech Republic. If you don’t already have one, you will need to purchase a license. You can choose from a perpetual license (you only pay once and the license is yours forever) or a subscription license. For the purposes of our course, you will need Pro Tools Artist. However, if you are serious about producing, we would recommend getting Pro Tools Studio.

Headphones

While you are free to bring any pair of headphones, we recommend you go for closed-back over-ear headphones with a jack cable (Bluetooth headphones aren’t recommended for our course). If you do not have headphones or a laptop that you can bring, you may select our Golden tuition package. We will then provide you with a pair of Audio-Technica ATH-M30X headphones on the first day. These headphones will be yours to keep.

A MIDI keyboard

You will need to bring your own compact MIDI keyboard in order to take part in our course. Please ensure that you can connect your MIDI keyboard to your laptop easily, and that it is small enough for you to bring it with you every day. If you do not have a MIDI keyboard that you can bring, you may select our Silver tuition package. We will then provide you with MIDITECH i2 mini 32 (a compact MIDI keyboard) on the first day. This keyboard will be yours to keep.

Applications for our 2024 course are now closed. Use the button bellow to register your interest for next year!

Register interest for summer 2025