Information for New Students

In order for staff to be able to give detailed feedback on alignment during your training and to adhere to our safe practice principles and professional approach to training and performance needs, we request that you have the following items for practical sessions:

Practical Dance Classes

• Dance practice clothes (e.g. leotard, tights, leggings, close-fitting tops); any colour
• Tracksuit (or similar) to wear over practice clothes
• Thin-soled ballet shoes with elastic rather than ribbons (ballet classes only)
• Trainers for Hip Hop and conditioning classes (only to be worn indoors)
• Appropriate support underwear
• Multiple pairs of socks
• A yoga mat
• Therabands (both light and medium)

Health and Safety

• Long hair must be tied back
• No jewellery may be worn
• No nail extensions may be worn
• Own supply of plasters and adhesive tape is advised
• Carry required medication, including inhalers, at all times
• Use refillable water bottles

Performance Events

Detailed guidance on underwear, make-up and hair styling products will be provided by our costume department.

Please ensure you have the following items:

Stationery

• 1 x A4 hard-backed sketch book with good quality paper and pens
• A5/A4 notebooks (suggested minimum of 4, one for each module or component)

Laptop and Headphones

Bring your own laptop and headphones. These are essential for your studies, including blended learning, independent study, saving documents, and accessing emails, Moodle, and the Trinity Laban intranet.

Equal Opportunities

We are committed to equal opportunities for all our students. If you are unable to fund some or all of the required items in this list, you can apply for a student hardship fund through TL Student Services once enrolled. For more information, contact Student Services.

Musical Theatre Kit and Equipment List

Please find below the equipment list required for your training in Musical Theatre. You will need these essential items for classes, rehearsals, performances and assessments throughout the course. We recognise this is an investment. Details of support for funding (if applicable, following enrolment) are at the end of this section.

If you have any questions about the kit requirements, please don’t hesitate to contact the Departmental Coordinator Greg Williamson, who will be happy to assist you.

To ensure that staff can provide detailed feedback on your alignment and technique, and to maintain safe and professional standards in all practical sessions, we ask that you have the following items ready. Your tutors will guide you on the most suitable attire for each specific technique class.

We understand that many of you may be new to dance and might not yet be familiar with the types of clothing and equipment necessary to maintain a professional appearance while meeting health and safety standards.

Dance classes:

• Close-fitting dance practice clothes (e.g. leotard, leggings, unitard, sports/yoga tops and bottoms, vest tops, T-shirts, dance shorts) any colour
• Split sole ballet shoes with elastics attached
• Split sole jazz shoes
• Tap shoes
• Supportive aerobic trainers for indoor use only
• Appropriate supportive underwear such as dance belt, sports bra etc

Acting/Singing

• We guide you to wear appropriate black, grey or navy clothing with limited logos that facilitates adequate movement
• Only indoor footwear to be worn in the studios

For Health and Safety:

• Long hair must be tied back and secured appropriately
• No jewellery may be worn
• We advise you to have your own supply of plasters and adhesive tape to cover any piercing outside of clothing
• Please make sure you have all required medication, e.g including inhalers, with you at all times
• Please use sustainable water bottles that can be refilled at the water fountains around the building

Please avoid:

Jeans, jeggings, etc.
Excessively long acrylic nails

Class Essentials

• Audio recording device – you may already have this function on your phone
• Exercise mat
• Exercise bands in three different strengths, not circular (example only: Resistance Exercise Band Kit)
• Stationery, folders, notebooks/electronic note-taking device, etc. for sheet music, class and rehearsal note taking
• Computer/laptop/tablet and headphones are essential for your studies, including blended learning activities in your programme and independent study activities.

Female/Woman Casting

• Black or flesh colour New Yorkers, to purchase these once you are on the course (Not required for CertHE)
• Long black dance stage skirt
• Black shirt
• Flesh coloured dance tights appropriate to your skin tone

Male/Man Casting

• Black suit trousers
• Black shirt
• Plain black formal shoes

Equal Opportunities

We are committed to equal opportunities for all our students. If you are unable to fund some or all of the required items in this list, you can apply for a student hardship fund through TL Student Services once enrolled. For more information, contact Student Services.

Music Performance & Industry Equipment List

Please find below the equipment list required for your training in popular music. We recognise this is an investment. Details of support for funding (if applicable, following enrolment) are at the end of this section.

Core equipment

• Laptop

• Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) software

DAWs are used for recording, editing and producing music. There are many different types of DAWs, at Trinity Laban we teach using Logic Pro which is the industry standard. Logic Pro is only available on Mac, so if you have a PC we recommend Cubase or Ableton.

Recommended: Logic Pro X (Mac) £199 with student discount.
Other options: Ableton Live Intro, or Reaper (budget-friendly) Buy bundled with Mac or PC Cost >£200

We have Ableton and Logic installed on computers onsite. We also have Native Instruments, Kontakt Player, FabFilter and other essential plugins.

• Audio interface

An audio interface is a piece of hardware that acts as a bridge between your computer and external audio equipment like microphones, instruments, and speakers.

Recommended: Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 (3rd Gen) £99 or Universal Audio Volt 2 £151
Professional equivalent: Universal Audio Apollo Twin (£779 / £400 second-hand)

You will have access to audio interfaces on campus, but if you wish to record in your accommodation, you will need an interface.

• Studio headphones

Studio headphones are used for critical listening, mixing and tracking. Which ones you buy is up to you. You can get a lot done with earbuds or everyday headphones. Using headphones with a flat frequency response is a good idea as commercial headphones tend to warm everything up.

Recommended: Audio-Technica ATH-M50x or Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro

• Songwriting journal & pen

Lots of songwriters use notes on their phone to capture ideas. It’s also good practice to get away from digital devices, so writing in a journal is a great non-digital activity.

• Your primary instrument

E.g. Electric Guitar, Bass, Keyboard, or your main performance instrument. We have lots of amplifiers, keyboards and pianos on-site. There are also two high quality guitars for long term loan and Fender Precision basses.

Please also bring your favourite pedals and your amp for personal practice. Drummers, please remember to bring breakables.

• Cables

At least 2 x XLR cables (mic/interface) and 1/4″ instrument cables.

Optional but helpful

• Midi Keyboard Controller

These are used for MIDI input, composing and controlling virtual synths.

Recommended: Akai MPK Mini or Arturia KeyLab Essential

• Microphone

A microphone is essential for recording vocals, instruments, podcasting, or projects. We have lots of mics onsite however, the SM58 is affordable, and many singers like to have their own.

Recommended: Shure SM58 (live/vocals) or Audio-Technica AT2020 (studio condenser)

• Headphone splitter or monitor speakers

Recommended: KRK Rokit 5 or Yamaha HS5 speakers

• Portable recorder

Used for interviews, field recordings and rehearsals.

E.g. Zoom H1n. You could use your phone for this.

• Tuner & metronome

Recommended: Clip-on tuner or apps like Soundbrenner and Pro Metronome

• External hard drive or cloud backup

Used for backing up sessions, audio files and class projects.

Recommended: minimum 1TB SSD

• Music streaming/analysis tools

You can use Spotify, Apple Music, Soundcloud, YouTube and more to listen to music, all of which have free options.

Transcribe!! This is a great tool for slowing music down – though you can use your DAW or free online options.

• Collaboration/Storage Tools

Google Drive, Dropbox, Soundtrap, BandLab (great for beginners) USB key drive – useful if you are transferring files from a production class.

• Microphone stand
• Pop filter (for condenser mics)
• Music stand (for use at home)
• Instrument case/gig bag

Equal Opportunities

We are committed to equal opportunities for all our students. If you are unable to fund some or all of the required items in this list, you can apply for a student hardship fund through TL Student Services once enrolled. For more information, contact Student Services.