Music
There are lots of reasons why Churchill is a great College at which to read Music. Located just a fifteen minute walk from the Music Faculty, Churchill has some of the best musical resources in the University. In addition to an excellent College library, you’d have a piano/keyboard in your room, as well as access to Churchill’s fantastic Music Centre. This Centre includes: a purpose-built recital room equipped with a Steinway grand piano and a Rubio harpsichord; a practice room; a spacious recording studio, which houses a piano, keyboard, bass guitar and amplifiers, the College drum kit (great for band rehearsals); and a fully-equipped control room. Churchill also has a Chapel, which contains a Yamaha grand piano and a pipe organ.
Check out our Music at Churchill page for more information.
“Studying Music at Churchill was a fantastic experience for me. The small number of students not only allowed for more personal attention, but also encouraged us to engage and form friendships with students of other disciplines too, thus broadening our horizons. The excellent facilities at Churchill are some of the best in the University and the largely student-run music ensembles and societies provided a wonderful opportunity to conduct, manage and generally shape the musical life of the College – a highlight of my time at Cambridge.”
– Tom, Music Student
Entry Requirements
Churchill College’s standard A Level offer in Music is A*A*A. For IB, our standard offer is 43 points overall with 777 at Higher Level.
To apply to this course, you need either:
- A Level/IB Higher Level (or an equivalent qualification) in Music; or
- ABRSM Grade 8 Theory at Merit or above
For more information on this course, see the University course page: Music, BA (Hons) | Undergraduate Study
If you are taking other qualifications, please see the following University webpage for equivalent entry requirements: Check which qualifications we accept | Undergraduate Study
Admissions Assessment
Churchill does not use an admissions assessment in Music
Written Work
You will need to submit representative written work and musical material. This will include both:
- Two essays from any subjects, but preferably including one on a musical subject. Ideally, each piece should be 1500 to 2000 words in length.
- Two harmony and counterpoint exercises. If you do not study harmony and counterpoint, two examples of any technical musical work or compositions you have written.
For more information on written work, see the University webpage: Written work and portfolios | Undergraduate Study
Music bursaries and scholarships
Churchill provides supports in many ways, not least through instrumental, vocal, accompanist, and choral director bursaries. In addition, Churchill offers an Organ Scholarship through the inter-collegiate competition and Choral Awards through the inter-collegiate choral awards scheme. Churchill also takes part in the University’s instrumental awards for chamber music.
Churchill Music Society
Churchill’s musical community extends beyond its undergraduates. We host numerous ensembles and events, including Jazz in the Bar, Churchill Jazz Band, Hill Chorus Choir, Inter Alios Choir, and Orchestra on the Hill. Indeed, Churchill Music Society (ChuMS) is one of the most active and innovative in the University.
Director of Studies
Dr Peter Harrison
Careers
Music is a great subject to study at University, not least because of the many doors it opens for possible future careers. As a graduate from Cambridge, you’d not only be equipped with the skills required to pursue a job in the musical world, but also with an invaluable array of transferable skills that are highly prized by employers in numerous sectors.
After graduation, many Music students decide to stay on in Cambridge or to go to another university or conservatoire for further study — academic or performance-based. A large number of graduates each year go on to work as professional musicians, or go into music education or arts administration. Recent Music graduates from Churchill, for example, have gone on to work for the Associate Board of the Royal Schools of Music, Teach First, and the Britten Sinfonia. But others have also gone on to work in such diverse fields as law, politics, business, retail, management, banking, accountancy, and publishing.
Alumni
Churchill graduates who are active in music include:
- Cellist Adrian Bradbury started reading Veterinary Medicine at Churchill, but changed (permanently) to Music. After Churchill Adrian won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music, and then went on to continue his studies in Berlin with Berlin Philharmonic solo-cellist Goetz Teutsch. Adrian now has a very active life as a professional musician, making regular chamber music broadcasts on BBC radio, and appearing frequently at prestigious venues.
- Rachel Stott works in the world of Early Music as a viola player and in Contemporary Music as a composer. She performs with chamber ensembles such as the Bach Players and the Revolutionary Drawing Room and has written music for string quartet, solo voice, massed saxophones, viola d’amore ensemble and youth orchestra, which have been performed in festivals and concert series across the UK, Europe and North America.
- James Brady is a freelance jazz trumpeter, teacher, composer and arranger.
- After graduating from Churchill College, Morwenna Del Mar went on to study cello at the Royal Academy of Music in London, and the Eastman School of Music, earning many awards along the way. She is now much in demand as a freelance soloist, chamber and orchestral player.
- Danyal Dhondy has gone on to enjoy great success as a composer and arranger.
- Lynsey Marsh was Principal clarinetist with the Hallé Orchestra. She also does solo and chamber work, and has performed with many orchestras, including the renowned Chamber Orchestra of Europe.
- After first touring the world as a cruise-ship jazz pianist, Peter Nickalls , is now a composer for media; he has scored TV programmes for channels including the BBC, Channel 4 and PBS.
- Alison Rowley is a folk violinist, composer, and teacher.
- Graham Waterhouse has lived in Munich (Germany) since 1992, and has had a busy and successful career as a composer and instrumentalist.
- John Butterworth, professional orchestral french horn player, who has played with the LSO and BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.
Studying Music at Churchill College
Cambridge is a brilliant place to study Music. The undergraduate degree (referred to as the Music Tripos), is designed in its first year to give you a solid foundation in a broad range of musical skills and techniques (harmony and counterpoint, aural and keyboard skills), as well as approaches to studying music (historical, analytical, critical). In the second and third years of the course, you’ll have the opportunity to pursue particular specialities, and to tailor the course to your personal interests, such as composition, history, performance, ethnomusicology, music and science, and popular music.
As a Cambridge Music student, you’d attend lectures and seminars organised by, and held at, the Faculty of Music. Every lecture course is complemented by individual and small-group teaching sessions (supervisions), led by supervisors who are specialists in the subject areas, and arranged by your Director of Studies. Supervisors set and assess work on a regular basis, often in the form of essays and class presentations.
Cambridge Music students have the advantage of being surrounded by some of the best facilities in the country. The Faculty of Music houses a professional concert hall, the Centre for Music and Science (which includes a studio and excellent computing facilities), period instruments, a Javanese gamelan, and a very well stocked library. And if you can’t find a book in the Faculty Library, you can turn to the Churchill Library, or the University Library – one of the finest libraries in the world, with a collection comprising millions of books.
Although the Cambridge Music degree is largely geared to the study of music as an academic discipline, performance is an option for each year of the degree. In addition, the opportunities for you to perform outside the curriculum – be it as a soloist, chamber musician, choral singer, orchestral player, pit-band or jazz musician – are second to none. In addition to the hundreds of established ensembles that you can join, Cambridge would also offer you incredible opportunities to form new ensembles, and to stage concerts of works that you particularly want to perform (including your own compositions).
Full course details are provided on the Faculty’s Prospective Undergraduates webpage and the University’s Undergraduate Study webpage.
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