Bedford School Music Department aims to create an outstanding, vibrant and diverse musical experience for all boys at every level in the school.
We see music education as an academically demanding discipline that is an incredibly important element of all boys’ experience here at Bedford School. Engaging with and understanding music is part of the richness of being human. Music involves a synthesis of the practical, rational and emotional and has been at the heart of education in the Western world for centuries.
As a department, we aim to broaden all boys’ experience and understanding of as wide a range of music as possible. At all ages, we aim to develop their performing, composing, listening and analytical skills. We aim to foster and encourage a love of music and to spark within boys an eagerness to take the initiative to find out more about the subject themselves.
PERFORMANCE
There is a vibrant programme of performance opportunities throughout the year. Please see our co-curricular music page for more details.
FACILITIES
The Music Department is housed in a stunning £3 million music school, designed by Eric Parry, R.A. and completed in November 2005. This state-of-the-art building includes a fine recital hall, a 100-seat auditorium with sweeping views across the school playing fields to the sports pavilion.
There are three dedicated academic teaching rooms, one of which houses a suite of Apple iMacs with Logic X and Sibelius 8. There is a multi-track recording studio running Logic X on an Apple Mac Pro computer with the option of recording both from a live room and the recital hall. We also have a separate radio station running an ENCO DAD broadcast system.
Instrumental teaching takes place in a suite of 15 specialist teaching rooms, including two dedicated percussion rooms. There are six additional practice rooms that are available for boys to use throughout the week.
The Great Hall is a perfect venue for our larger concerts due to its fantastic atmosphere. It houses a four manual Copeman Hart organ. Our Chapel is an iconic building, the last building of the great late-Victorian architect, George Frederick Bodley, and it is within this beautifully decorated space, with its fine acoustic, that the choir performs on a regular basis. The organ in the chapel is a two-manual Hill, Norman and Beard.
MUSIC FELLOWSHIP PROGRAMME
The Bedford School Music Fellowship Programme is designed to give pupils the opportunity to work with some of the UK’s finest musicians on multiple occasions throughout the school year. Each faculty of the music department (Brass, Keyboard, Strings, Vocal, Woodwind) has appointed one specialist, each of whom will visit the school on at least two separate occasions. They will be offering a wide range of musical activities, such as giving recitals, directing ensembles, leading workshops, performing with school groups and generally being inspirational guides to our young musicians.
Meet our PERFORMANCE MUSIC Staff