St Mary's Music School
| St Mary's Music School | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Location | |
| Edinburgh, Scotland |
|
| Information | |
| Type | Independent; Coeducational |
| Established | 1880 |
| Headteacher | Jennifer Rimer |
| Number of students | Senior - 50, Junior - 20 |
| Website | www.st-marys-music-school.co.uk |
St Mary's Music School is a music school in Scotland located in Edinburgh, for boys and girls aged 9 to 19 and is also the Choir School of St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral, Edinburgh. The school provides education for children with a special talent in music, and is Scotland's only full-time specialist music school.[1][2]
Contents |
[edit] Entrance
Entry to the school is selective by audition and assessment, based on musical ability and potential and regardless of personal circumstances. Scottish Government funding, up to 100%, is available through the statutory Aided Places scheme to assist with the cost of tuition and boarding fees. The School draws pupils from many different backgrounds, from all parts of Scotland and abroad. Boarding Facilities are available.
[edit] Performance
The school operates a large chamber orchestra, a Junior String Sinfonia and a noted string ensemble which develops the best string players. Jazz and Traditional Scottish Music feature in both specialist ensembles and in Jazz and Scottish Music Days. Students perform regularly throughout Edinburgh and beyond.[3] In addition to internal lunchtime concerts, students perform at the Queen’s Hall[4], Jazz House, Kirks, Cathedral and the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow. Students also are requested to play at many civic occasions including Royalty, the Scottish Parliament and other public events such as NATO visit to Edinburgh
In addition, students regularly play in external youth orchestras such as the Edinburgh Youth Orchestra, National Children’s Orchestra of Scotland, National Youth Orchestra of Scotland, National Children’s Orchestra of Great Britain and the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain.
Students also have the opportunity to form their own bands such as the contemporary folk-fusion band Kilairum.
[edit] History
St Mary’s Music School was founded as the Song School of St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral in 1880 to educate choristors for the newly built St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral. At that time the school was located at Old Coates House and the adjacent Song School Building both within the Cathedral precincts.
In 1970 Dennis Townhill and the Provost, Philip Crosfield, became the driving force of a plan not only to safeguard the future of the Choir School of St Mary’s Cathedral, Edinburgh but to transform it into a new and vibrant entity.[5] In 1972 the school was expanded into a specialist music school on the lines of the Yehudi Menuhin School, with Lord Menuhin becoming patron and referring to it as "my younger sister-school in Scotland".[6] [7] The school educates young instrumentalists, composers and singers. In 1976 the choir was opened to girls. In 1995, the music school moved out of the Cathedral Grounds and into its current location at Coates Hall.
St Mary's is a member of the UK Music and Dance Excellence (MADE) Schools[8] and is similar to other specialist music schools throughout Europe such as the Dresden Music Gymnasium; Sächsisches Landesgymnasium für Musik "Carl Maria von Weber". The current President is Professor John Wallace, a trumpet player and principle of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. Patron is the composer James McMillan.
[edit] Location
Coates Hall was originally designed by David Bryce for Sheriff Napier in 1850 as a small Baronial house. In 1891 the building was bought by the Scottish Episcopal Church for use as the Edinburgh Theological College and enlarged by Sydney Mitchell adding a late gothic chapel. In 1913 Robert Lorimer added a storey to the main block much improving the whole group.
In 1995 Coates Hall was sold to St Mary’s Music School and houses the (de-consecrated) chapel which is used for concerts. The Chapel contains three beautifully drawn stained glass windows [9]. by J. Ninian Cooper which includes Scotland's first saints;. St Columba and St Ninian. The School also has two libraries, staff offices, bedrooms for boarding pupils, and around 30 music practice rooms. Academic subjects are mainly taught in two modern buildings withinin the school grounds.
The school is surrounded by gardens in the heart of Edinburgh's West End and has good transport connections due to its proximity to Haymarket railway station in Edinburgh
The Song School within the nearby Cathedral precinct is still used by the Choristers for daily practice, where they are surrounded by beautiful murals by Phoebe Anna Traquair. It was these murals (1888–92), which won Traquair national recognition.[10]. Within a tunnelled ceiling interior the East Wall depicts the cathedral clergy and choir. The South depicts Traquair’s admired contemporaries such as Dante Gabriel Rosetti, William Holman Hunt, and George Frederic Watts. , the North, birds and choristers sing together. The West shows the four beasts singing the Sanctus [11].
[edit] Academic achievements
St Mary's Music School was named as Scottish Independent Secondary School of the Year in 2007[12] and its academic results are consistently excellent.[13] A former Music Director, Nigel Murray, wrote in 1994 that the self-discipline acquired in the devotion to the mastery of an art as self-fulfilling as Music was bound to have a beneficial effect on the rest of the pupil's work and play. Murray continued that if he had a motto for St Mary's Music School it would be the words of the great Italian pianist Ferruccio Busoni,;
"He who is only a musician is no musician".[14]
Whilst pupils at St Mary's generally go on to conservatiores or university, this is usually but not always to study music.
[edit] Saturday school
Over 100 local children attend Saturday morning classes during term time and cater for children from pre-school upwards. Classes include; Pre-school Kodály; Early Years Kodály (Primary 1 and 2); Singing Classes; Theory; Beginner Instrumental lessons(Violin, Cello, Guitar, Recorder, Clarinet, Clarsach, Accordion, Mini Bass); Recorder Ensembles; and Beginner Chamber Music. Informal "ice cream concerts" take place at the end of the year in Palmerston Place Church where every performer is given an ice cream after their performance.
[edit] Notable former pupils
- Alan Benzie – pianist; winner, BBC Scotland Young Jazz Musician of the Year 2007[15]
- Monica Brett-Crowther – mezzo-soprano [16]
- Jerome Broun – Oboist; Finalist of Isle of Wight International Oboe Competition
- Daisy Chute singer – member of All Angels
- Paul Galbraith – guitarist
- Helen Grime - Oboeist and Composer [17]
- Susan Hamilton – soprano
- Philip Higham – cellist
- David Horne – composer
- Mike Peden- Record Producer
- Steven Osborne – pianist
- Andrew Robb – Double Bass; winner, BBC Scotland Young Jazz Musician of the Year 2009[18]
- Garry Walker – conductor[19]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Overview of the musical pre-college phase in the United Kingdom, retrieved 2009-10-20
- ^ History of the Music and Dance Scheme, retrieved 2009-10-20
- ^ St Mary's Music School Prospectus retrieved 2009-11-19[dead link]
- ^ Concert at the Queens Hall retrieved 2009-11-19
- ^ Obituary (Times) of Dr Denis Townhill retrieved 2009-11-02
- ^ Obituary of Dr Denis Townhill retrieved 2009-11-02
- ^ Carol Main, Musical Heirs show such a perfect tribute to Menuhin, Evening News, June 29, 1999
- ^ Music and Dance Excellence Schools, retrieved 2009-10-20
- ^ Gifford et al. The Public Buildings of Scotland: Edinburgh(1984) p368
- ^ Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Retrieved 2009-11-04
- ^ Gifford et al. The Public Buildings of Scotland: Edinburgh(1984) p366
- ^ Scottish Independent Secondary School of the Year 2007 retrieved 2009-11-03
- ^ Glasgow Herald, School League Tables 2009 Retrieved 2010-01-20
- ^ Nigel Murray & Neil Cox; The Musical Times Vol 135 No 1814, April 1994 pp247-248
- ^ Craig Brown (2010-11-03). "Young Scots pianist joins jazz greats with US college honour". The Scotsman. http://news.scotsman.com/scotland/Young-Scots-pianist-joins-jazz.6610657.jp. Retrieved 2010-11-03.
- ^ Susan Swarbrick (2003-11-29). "Portrait Name: Monica Brett-Crowther CV: Opera singer". The Herald. http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/spl/aberdeen/portrait-name-monica-brett-crowther-cv-opera-singer-1.101377. Retrieved 2010-11-05.
- ^ Cornwell, Tim (2010-03-31). "How this 28-year-old Scot wrote some of best classical music of 21st century". The Scotsman. http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/arts/How-this-28yearold--.6192395.jp. Retrieved 2010-03-31.
- ^ BBC Radio Scotland. Young Jazz Musician of the Year 2009, retrieved 2010-11-4
- ^ Wilson, Conrad (2007-06-27). "Music". The Herald. http://www.heraldscotland.com/music-1.860409. Retrieved 2009-11-03.
