
Five years ago, Owen Gurry had a career as a data analyst, and the guitar was nothing more than a weekend hobby. He enrolled in Berkleemusic’s online courses to reconnect with his passion for music—and ended up studying at Berklee’s physical school in Boston as well as launching a new career as a professional musician.
Owen enrolled in Berkleemusic’s online Music Theory 101 course, where he began to learn the formal vocabulary of the music he played. With that experience under his belt, he jumped into music education with both feet attending the Berklee Guitar Sessions held in Boston in the summer of 2006, and then spent a full semester at Berklee in person. After his time at the physical school, Owen returned to London and took further courses online with Berkleemusic—in particular, Music Theory 201 and Harmonic Ear Training.
As for what he ultimately did with all this education, he explains that “I always wanted to be a session player,” he says. “To me, session players represent the musical SAS, the guys you call in when you need the job done. And also, session work really challenges my ability. I never know what’s going to happen.” To date, Owen has worked as a session guitarist on project by South Africa’s Arno Carstens, spent five months supporting UK recording artist Natalia on tour, and currently has a regular assignment recording BBC Radio 1 “1ntros” each week for Music 4.
“It’s hard to explain how much Berklee and Berkleemusic have helped me, because they made me into a completely different player,” says Owen.
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