Music
Cambridge is a great place to study music. The undergraduate degree (referred to as the Music Tripos), is carefully designed to give first year students a solid foundation in a broad range of musical skills and techniques (harmony and counterpoint, and aural and keyboard skills), as well as approaches to studying music (historical, analytical, and critical). Then, in the second and third years of the degree, students increasingly have the opportunity to pursue particular specialities, and to tailor the course to their personal interests such as composition, history, performance, ethnomusicology, music and science, and popular music.
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 and a Javanese gamelan (which can be used by students), and a very well stocked library. It is important to note that, although there are performance options in each year of the course, in general performance only plays a small part in the degree, which is largely geared to the study of music as an academic discipline. That said, nearly all Music undergraduates are enthusiastic performers, and there are wonderful opportunities for performance outside of the curriculum, be it as a soloist, chamber musician, choral singer, orchestral player, jazz, folk, or rock musician.
Overview
Students admitted per year: 2-3
Typical offer:
A Level: A*AA
IB Diploma: 41 points, with 776 at Higher Level
Subject requirements: A Level Music, or ABRSM Grade 8 Theory
Useful subjects: some keyboard proficiency is useful, but not essential
Admissions Assessment: a 1hr written assessment which will consist of short answers to a large choice of specific and general musicology questions; and an essay on a general musical topic. More information will be provided to applicants after they have applied.
Written work: two essays, of a maximum of 3,000 words total and one or two compositions or exercises in Harmony and Counterpoint
Why choose Newnham for Music?
The College is also very conveniently located near the Faculty of Music and the University Library, which are both just a few minutes’ walk away. Newnham has an excellent library of its own, which not only has a very good, and ever expanding, collection of books on music, but also provides a great study space.
Newnham has a long tradition of valuing teaching as an integral part of College life. Its current Fellows continue to uphold the ideals of their forebears in taking teaching seriously and seeking the most effective teaching methods for an individual’s style of learning. Newnham was one of the pioneers of the supervision mode of teaching, still the mainstay of any arts degree, and an important element of the Director of Studies’ job is securing the best supervisors for students.
All Music students are allocated a College room with a piano for all three years of the degree, and they can also make use of the excellent instrumental resources: the College has four grand pianos (a Boston 7-foot, a Bosendorfer concert grand, a Steinway and a Yamaha), and a Beckerleg harpsichord. Newnham also has two excellent performing spaces: the ‘Old Labs’, which is perfect for chamber music (this building housed the science laboratories, built in the nineteenth century for Newnham students who were not permitted to attend the University laboratories with men); and the College Hall, which is used for larger concerts.
There are many opportunities for music-making at Newnham (in addition to the huge number of musical activities across the University). The College has a thriving music society, ‘The Raleigh Music Society,’ which puts on weekly Wednesday lunchtime recitals, as well as a gala College concert each term. Newnham also has its own non-auditioning orchestra, a non-auditioning choir, and an auditioning a capella group, Voices of Newnham. You can find more about our Music societies and facilities here. In addition to the existing musical groups at Newnham, there are many opportunities for setting up your own musical ensembles once you arrive at the College.
Academic financial support
Newnham is one of the most generous Colleges when it comes to student support. As well as being able to access support for maintenance, opportunity and sports funding, all Newnham undergraduate students can apply for our book grants and research expenses funds each term for essential purchases and expenditure relating to their studies. A proportion of expenditure on books can be reimbursed against receipts (up to a limit of £200 each year), with research expenses assessed on a case-by-case basis. Funds for essential equipment purchases are also available, for example for stethoscopes for medics. We are also fortunate to have very generous funding available for summer research and/or travel. None of these grants are means-tested, so all students can benefit. Students achieving first-class results for their end of year exams will in addition receive at least £400 as a prize or scholarship.
