An education in Music at St George’s prepares our pupils for a cultural understanding of, and appreciation for the place of Music within our modern world; all pupils in the lower years of the College enjoy a creative and practically based curriculum whilst a high level of practical and academic demand is placed upon our specialist musicians. With three full time staff (Tansy Castledine - Director of Music 2006, David Strange - Head of Strings 2007, Andrew Barton 2010), a part time music administrator and team of 26 visiting instrumental staff, the department is able to support and challenge our pupils at all levels. Pupils in the fourth year upwards can elect to take public exams in Music (Edexcel at GCSE and AS / A2 Level). Over a quarter of College pupils undertake private instrumental study and several are placed at the Junior Departments of London Conservatoires.

Current pupils have places in the National Youth Jazz Orchestra, National Youth Choir, National Schools Symphony Orchestra, London School's Symphony Orchestra and Surrey Youth Orchestra, with past players having been in the National Youth and National Children’s Orchestras. In the past years pupils have gained instrumental scholarships and places to the Royal College of Music, Royal Academy of Music and Royal Northern College of Music, and two have been awarded Organ Scholarships to Cambridge. The majority of sixth form music pupils go onto to study music in higher education institutions.

Performance opportunities for pupils are numerous and varied, with a large number of ensembles rehearsing on a weekly basis many of which are coached by specialist tutors. Pupils are encouraged to participate in an ensemble as soon as they are able to, and many run their own groups and rehearsals. To support this, the College has an extensive concert schedule over the course of the year, ranging from Assemblies, music making in Chapel (such as Carol Services and Masses), community projects, the Informal and Rush-hour Concert Series, Inter House Music Competitions and major choral and orchestral concerts. In addition to this, the choirs regularly sing in cathedrals throughout England, and tour most years with the recent destinations being New York, Holland, Paris, and Belgium. In February 2011 the choir will undertake a 10 day tour of California.

Culture Club trips to London enable musicians to hear world-class orchestras, chamber musicians and opera companies, and the College regularly invites guest artists to the College to work with our pupils in masterclasses and workshops, most recently enjoying sessions with Ken Burton, the Harpham String Quartet, and the Zephyr Ensemble.

The school offers music scholarships at 11+, 13+, and 16+ each year, and further details of these can be found here: Scholarships

Further details on the music department, including the term calendar can be downloaded here.
Music photos can be found here.

Find out more

If you wish to contact the music department; 01932 839365 | tcastledine@st-georges-college.co.uk