The head of University Campus Barnsley has played a key role in creating new guidelines to ensure high standards in the composition and arrangement of music in the UK.

 

Pete Birkby might be head of the Church Street university but before his move into higher education teaching he enjoyed a successful 20-year career as a musician.

 

He worked as a percussionist with big names such as Dame Shirley Bassey, Frankie Laine, Gene Pitney, Michael Crawford and Andrea Boccelli, and is still in demand as a composer and arranger for radio, television, film and the recording studio.

 

It is Pete's vast experience in the industry, and long-term membership of the British Association of Songwriters, Authors and Composers (BASCA), that led to him being asked to take part in a project with other experts to draw up a series of standards for the music industry.

 

Full story in this week's Chronicle.