Music

We believe in promoting independent musicians capable of performing with poise, passion, connection and skill. Renowned for both its breadth of opportunity as well as its ambition to extend the most able musicians, co-curricular Music at King Edward’s has something for all musicians. In light of this, King Edward’s Music and Drama Departments won the 2018 School of the Year for Performing Arts by the Independent Schools Parent Magazine.

With exciting partnerships well-established with Bath Abbey’s highly-regarded vocal heritage, compositional skill developed by New Music South West, as well as the dynamic instrumental expertise of the Bath Philharmonia Orchestra, our pupils are extended not only by music making with peers of similar ability in exciting performances, but also by learning from and being inspired by professional artists at the top of their profession in workshops, joint rehearsals and concerts.

With opportunities over the past few years for our KES pupils to attend many Bath Philharmonia concerts free of charge, meet and learn from young world-class soloists such as Nicola Benedetti, Laura van de Heijden, Jess Gillam and Sheku Kanneh-Mason in workshops at KES and sit in on their dress rehearsals with the orchestra, our musicians have outstanding opportunities to witness and be motivated by musicians with world-leading technical and communicative skills.

KES is the city’s primary provider of choristers for the Bath Abbey boys’ choir and around 14-16 singers are part of this, the girls’ choir, and as members of the supporting adult singers. The opportunities presented by these important musical roles within our partnership with the Abbey is fully supported by the school and auditions are held by the Assistant Director of Music in the Junior School each year. Very much a part of the city of Bath, KES musicians undertake regular concert opportunities in impressive venues such as the Ball Room in the Assembly Rooms, the Banqueting Room in the Guildhall, the Forum concert hall in Bath, the glorious Bath Abbey around three or four times a year and even the intimate surroundings of the Holburne Museum, to name but a few.

The auditioned KES Sixteen has undertaken UK Choir Tours performing choral evensong in Gloucester and Southwark Cathedrals as well as on home territory in Bath Abbey. We are aiming to launch our first International Music Tour within the next couple of years.

Performing to and for the Bath Community is important to us. Several of our choirs sing regularly at, for example, care homes. There are also performances each year for the Rotary Fund outside Bath Abbey to raise money by KES Brass and KES Wind, KES Soul raise money each year for the school’s chosen charities in a special Unite concert in the Spring, and we have just started a partnership with the Royal United Hospital in Bath to regularly take our musicians and chamber ensembles on to wards and into the gardens to entertain patients.

We believe in providing ensembles to enable musicians of every level develop. All ensembles are inclusive in outlook and only three are joined through auditions. Through the school, there are:

Instrumental & Vocal Tuition

Learning an instrument and solo singing is not only fun and enjoyable, it provides opportunities to take part in collaborative music making within ensembles, gives children a sense of purpose and self-worth, and develops the ability to work in an independent, organised and disciplined way, all of which are things that universities and future employers look at very favourably. KES is proud to have an outstanding team of 17 specialist music staff who deliver instrumental and vocal tuition to between 400 and 500 hundred KES Pupils every week. They are all accomplished musicians and performers in their respective fields and many also run musical KES ensembles too. All pupils at King Edward’s School are encouraged to consider learning an instrument and the wide range of instrumental tuition available, from classical orchestral instruments (flutes to bassoons, trumpets to tubas, orchestral percussion, violins to double basses) to popular music instruments such as guitars (acoustic, electric & bass) keyboard and drums, ensures that there really is something for everyone to enjoy. We offer a package of six, 1/2 hour, taster lessons that are less expensive than normal individual tuition so that KES pupils can find the sound that reflects and suits them best.

Music Department Team

Within our department of 23 Music Staff our team of four, highly-motivated, enthusiastic and professional academic music teachers deliver a curriculum that progresses through to A Level. Pupils benefit hugely from their individual music specialisms which range from the artistry of composition, the sensitivity of accompaniment, the deep understanding of musicology to the passion of solo performance. We are very proud to have not only have a dedicated KES Accompanist and Performance Coach (Rupert Hutchings) to support all our pupils in their performances and exams, but we also have our very own resident composer, Mark Boden, who not only also lectures in composition at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, but also writes three major new works a year for KES in a thrilling variety of styles. All our music staff reflect the KES pupils’ all-rounder ethos, with active roles within the school outside the department, be it in sports such as tennis, netball and football, or the CCF, say. The Music Department works very closely with other departments such as drama and sport to ensure excellent coordination with other co-curricular activities

Music Calendar

With around 50 performance opportunities a year, we have a very exciting and busy calendar of musical events throughout the year, both in school and in the wider community. So that our young musicians can experience a wider variety of performance events without overloading the already busy and balanced school calendar, we run a triennial Music performance programme.