Muse donate £15k to music undergrads

Rock group Muse have donated £15,000 to support music undergraduates at Plymouth University.
The money will help students on music courses learn about music recording and develop new standards in recording skills.
Plymouth’s School of Humanities and Performing Arts will use the money to buy industry-standard equipment, including a modular analogue synthesiser and two liquid channel pre-amps. Students will also be able to gain experience using specialist orchestral and instrumental microphones.
Some of the money will also be set aside for student prizes that reward innovation on the course over the next three years, as stipulated by the band.
The university is close to where the three Muse members grew up, in Teignmouth, Devon, and they were all awarded honorary doctorates from the university in 2008.
A spokesman for the band said: “We’re delighted to provide this equipment and hope it will inspire students to go on and create great music for years to come.”
Professor David Coslett, dean of the Faculty of Arts, said on receiving the donation: “We are proud to be associated with the band, given their significant contribution to contemporary popular music and their links to the South West and the university.”
Muse, which consists of singer and guitarist Matt Bellamy, bass player Chris Wolstenholme and drummer Dominic Howard, headlined the Reading and Leeds festivals in August. The gigs were used to mark the tenth anniversary of their best-selling album Origin of Symmetry, in which they performed all 11 tracks from start to finish.
Other recent acts of philanthropy came this week by way of Coldplay, who treated fans who were queuing overnight for tickets by ordering pizzas to keep them warm from the freezing temperatures. The band are set to play at the University of East Anglia next week to just 1,200 people.