Music at Ampleforth
Music is at the heart of Ampleforth, above all in the Abbey Church, but also all around the campus and beyond. Over the years an ever-widening diversity of instrumental and choral music has developed, and more recently that experience has been shared with children and adults beyond the valley.
Music features strongly in the academic programme of the College and the department has excellent facilities, including a dedicated computer suite.
One 65 minute period a week is allocation to class music for all students in Year 9. The programme of study is structured in such a way as to introduce courses for GCSE, or to help those not intending to take music further to extend their knowledge and enjoyment of the subject. For academically outstanding musicians, special individual or group arrangements are made to enable them to pursue advanced study in areas such as composition.
From Year 10 on, Music is available as an option for GCSE, and in the sixth form it is available at AS and A2 level.
Ampleforth’s commitment to choral music is strong and the liturgy is supported by three separate choirs: the boys of the Schola Cantorum, the girls’ Schola Puellarum and the junior girls of St Martin’s in the Schola Sancti Martini. These groups share the singing of Mass and other offices in the Abbey. In addition, the choirs sing meditations at key moments in the Liturgical Year and join together with professional soloists and orchestras for the big oratorios. In recent years there have been annual performances of Handel’s Messiah, as well as Haydn’s The Creation, Bach’s St John Passion, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater and Britten’s Ceremony of Carols. A long-standing tradition is the performance of Fauré’s Requiem every year around the Feast of All Souls. Student singers have also taken part in concerts given by The Ampleforth and Ryedale Choir, most recently in Mozart’s Requiem and Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610, with early music players and singers from York University. There is usually an annual tour abroad undertaken by one of the choirs, the most recent ones being to Prague and Malta.
There is a similarly important programme of instrumental music, of which the St Cecilia Concert in November and the Exhibition Concert in May are the main showcases. This is when the large ensembles play: the College Symphony Orchestra, the Pro Musica string ensemble, the Big Band, the Brass Group, the Ceilidh Band and the Pipe Band. Chamber groups, the student-directed Ampleforth Singers, the Barber Shop Quartet and instrumental soloists perform at informal concerts on Sunday mornings and on other occasions in the Main Hall, as well as in various local venues. The Ampleforth Highlanders’ Pipe Band which wears the tartan Murray of Atholl performs regularly at school events and has had considerable success in national Piping and Drumming competitions.
Musical outreach has developed significantly in the last five years and we have established links with over 30 primary schools. From this has grown the Ampleforth Community Children’s Choir, now in its fifth year, which offers singing experience to children from ages 4 -11. These initiatives have culminated in two exciting productions, of Britten’s Noye’s Fludde in 2008 and Krasa’s Brundibar in 2010; each involved over 300 primary school children alongside Ampleforth students and professional musicians. The Ceilidh Band, members of the Pipe Band, brass players and other soloists have visited schools to play to the children and spread the message that making music is fun!
There are bi-annual music competitions which are run on a House basis: one of these is an instrumental and singing competition whilst the other is a House music competition consisting of House song and ensembles.
Music Scholarships are offered for entry at ages 13+ and 16+ and honorary awards are conferred upon those students in the school who show exceptional diligence combined with support for extra musical activity.
Details of formal music activities along with dates and times of this term’s performances can be found by following this link music activities.