Extra-Curricular Activities: Music
Haileybury enjoyed a cultural renaissance a few years ago and its musical reputation is in the frontline of the School's artistic endeavours as it evolves and develops from strength to strength. The Music Department presently offers a wealth of concerts every year, over 450 music instrumental lessons each week and a dedicated team of four full-time staff, a Musician-in-Residence and 23 visiting staff.
Our underlying ethos is to provide musical opportunities for all whilst attaining the highest and most fulfilling standards possible. This means nurturing and providing facilities for the most talented pupils who come to Haileybury from specialist music schools or choir schools, as well as providing challenging and enjoyable experiences for anyone and everyone with an enthusiasm for, or talent in, music.
The Department is housed in a purpose-built, three-storey building alongside Bradby Hall, an very attractive, medium-sized concert hall of considerable architectural and acoustic merit that is centrally located within the school site.
The music premises also boast an Apple Mac music technology/recording suite, two large classrooms that offer some 25 additional PC workstations, a band room/percussion studio, five rooms for the resident staff and music assistant, and 16 teaching/practice studios of varying sizes.
The school possesses an excellent range of specialist instruments, ranging from bass and E flat clarinets to concert grand pianos and the much-admired Chapel organ installed in 1997 by Klais Orgelbau. In addition to Bradby Hall, we have the incredible acoustics and architecture of the Chapel and Big School to enjoy for the frequent concerts that call for the larger forces of music-making.
The Department frequently hosts workshops and concerts, and regularly invites professional musicians to play and share experiences. We have enjoyed exciting annual residencies that have included the Pavao String Quartet, Onyx Brass and, this year, the Eclipse Saxophone Quartet that enable the coaching of chamber ensembles, the performance of stimulating concerts, and the best possible advice to our GCSE and A Level composers - all of whom have had compositions performed and recorded in the annual Composition Prize.
Academic music and the extra-curricular programme work in parallel to provide a rounded musical education for each new generation of Haileybury musicians. Curricular music courses are proving to be increasingly popular, with outstanding results at GCSE, AS, A2 and IB levels making the Department one of the strongest within the school. All Lower School and Removes pupils have General Music classes, and Music is an Options subject from the Removes year.
These factors have all helped to lead students on to such achievements as the finals of the BBC Young Musician of the Year composition competition, success in the AMusTCL diploma, and the award of places to study music at universities and colleges such as Cambridge, Edinburgh, Exeter, King's College London, the Royal College of Music, Trinity College London and Royal Holloway.
Collaboration between the Music and Drama Departments is an important feature of the School's Arts programme and we offer an annual show, alternating between Lower School and Main School collaborations. Recent productions have included two Sondheim musicals (Into The Woods and A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum), Little Shop of Horrors, The Boyfriend, Joseph and His Technicolour Dreamcoat, large-scale productions of Oliver! and South Pacific, and numerous productions of plays employing live or specially composed music. Last year alone has already offered productions of Ghetto and Bugsy Malone.
Haileybury has a vibrant musical programme which supports around 400 individual music lessons, numerous ensemble and choir rehearsals, and weekly concerts in addition to the Department's academic commitments.
Individual music tuition operates throughout the week. Sixth Form tuition takes place during study periods or free time, and lessons for all other pupils operate on a rotation system, which can vary from week to week in the school's fortnightly timetable. Lessons usually last 30 minutes.
About 30 concerts take place annually, and aim to cater for a wide range of performing needs, from the most informal evening recitals to the more challenging flagship concerts.
This information is no substitute for a visit to Haileybury to meet the Director of Music or to attend a major concert (for further information, see the term's Arts & Events calendar which is available for download). Please feel free to contact the school on one of the numbers below for further information. We hope to see you soon!
Haileybury Music Department, Haileybury, Hertford. SG13 7NU
Tel: 01992 706264 (Music School)
Tel: 01992 706205 (Box Office)
