SCRATCHING, beat matching, jungle and electro are not words one expects to trip off the tongue of a university lecturer.

But to music tutor Dr Matthew Sansom they form an important part of the art of disc jockeying.

At Newcastle University he is now teaching students the finest of disc jockeying techniques on £500,000 worth of equipment bought by the music department.

Students can learn from some of the clubbing world's big names, including Kool Here, Grandmaster Flash, Pete Tong and Sasha.

In a workshop, Dr Sansom, who also works as a disc jockey, revealed some of the secrets of dance floor hits as part of the department's performance workshop series.

Dr Sansom, whose alter-ego is disc jockey Cartel, said: "The workshop is really to provide an introduction to the musical instruments used by the DJ, turntables and a mixer.

"It demonstrates and explains core DJ techniques, like beat matching and scratching.

"The workshop is for interested students and for those who want to take it further and to DJ themselves and to perhaps incorporate it into performance work here at university.

"It's such a fundamental part of so much music we hear today, it is vital that music students have at least a rudimentary knowledge of what's going one.