Music

Music plays an integral part of life at Gresham’s Prep School and provides opportunities for every child, whatever their musical interests. We strive to nurture talent in our pupils from an early age, encouraging the development of musical skills and knowledge through our well-structured programme of extra-curricular music provision in addition to class lessons. Curriculum Music lessons are structured to develop performance skills alongside creative work and an appreciation of different musical genres through regular listening and appraising. Singing is paramount and is a wonderful tool to help develop a child’s confidence.

The Prep School’s purpose-built Music School hosts over 130 individual music lessons in a typical week. These are taught by our team of visiting music teachers – many of whom are professional musicians. We were the first All-Steinway Prep School in the UK and there are currently twelve Steinway pianos at Gresham’s, demonstrating our commitment to excellence by providing our pupils with the best equipment possible for the study of music.

Every term there are many opportunities for pupils to perform, from the termly informal concerts to larger scale performances in local venues, the recital hall of the Britten building or in our Auden Theatre. We also encourage talented individuals to join the Saturday morning conservatoires (for example, the Royal Academy’s Junior Academy), as well as regional and national music ensembles including the National Youth Choir of Great Britain.

In collaboration with our Drama department, we regularly stage musical productions. Our most recent musical was Annie and we are currently rehearsing for Joseph.

Gresham’s has an enviable reputation for producing fine musicians, perhaps the most famous is Benjamin Britten who attended Gresham’s from 1928-1930 before being accepted into the Royal College of Music. The main music room in the Music School is named after another notable musical OG, Sir Lennox Berkeley.