Music

The music course in Oxford is a broadly based course designed to develop a systematic insight into the history of Western music, and to sharpen your critical observations of music both as art form and cultural expression. The course trains future professional musicians as well as those who want a rigorous grounding in a humanistic discipline, and reflects a variety of talents and interests displayed by students: both practical music and composition may, for example, play a significant role in your studies. In the first year, you study topics from the history of music along with harmony and counterpoint, and may choose to research a topic in music history, submit a portfolio of compositions, or give a solo performance. In the second and third years, you study core historical subjects, and choose from a varied offering of courses, including options in music history, analysis, techniques, performance and composition.

Magdalen admits up to six music undergraduates each year, including the academical clerks and organ scholars who study music. In our teaching we follow the traditional pattern of tutorials (individual or small-group discussions) complemented by University lectures and classes. Our Tutors offer a wide spectrum of expert knowledge in historical subjects, performance and orchestration, and in order to meet the demand created by your preferences, we also engage specialist tutors from outside Magdalen. Classes in interpretation are offered to those choosing performance, and financial help is provided for instrumental tuition outside the College. The section of the College Library containing books on music and collected editions used in the study of music history is among the best in Oxford.

Students coming to read Music exhibit many different strengths, but everyone is encouraged to become a ‘thinking musician’, someone dedicated to seeking knowledge about music in all its forms, and for whom music-making harmonises with the demands of academic study. Academic and Performance scholarships are awarded each year to undergraduates at the end of their first year. Academic awards are restricted to those reading Music; Music Scholarships are open to all undergraduates.

Teaching staff

Laurence Dreyfus, PhD (Columbia), Dip. sup. (Brussels), HonRAM, FBA

Professor Dreyfus is Fellow and Tutor of Music at Magdalen and Professor of Music in the University. He is a noted Bach scholar and Fellow of the British Academy, and teaches topics in music history and analysis from c. 1600 to c. 2000. His current research focuses on Richard Wagner’s musical eroticism. As a musician, he leads the viol quartet Phantasm who are ‘consort-in-residence’ in Oxford where they give concerts and classes. He coaches Magdalen students in a variety of repertoire from the 16th to the 20th centuries and is especially interested in chamber music and Lieder. He is the author of Bach and the Patterns of Invention (Harvard, 1996) and Wagner and the Erotic Impulse (Harvard, 2010), and has issued numerous sound recordings, including two Gramophone Award winners, Henry Purcell’s Viol Fantasies and Orlando Gibbons’ Consorts for Viols.

Daniel Hyde, MA (Cantab.), FRCO

Mr Hyde is Organist, Informator Choristarum and Tutor in Music. He directs Magdalen College Choir in the daily round of choral services in the College Chapel during term time, alongside a busy schedule of concerts, tours and recordings. He was an Organ Scholar at King's College, Cambridge, where he read for a degree in Music. Before moving to Magdalen in 2009, he was Director of Chapel Music at Jesus College, Cambridge. His research and teaching interests are centred around aspects of writing music, in particular the skills required for the Techniques papers: harmony, counterpoint and fugue. As a performing musician he is active as both a conductor and an organist. Recent conducting work has involved performances with the Britten Sinfonia, the City of London Sinfonia and the BBC Singers; as an organist he has toured the US, and recent recitals have taken him to Westminster Abbey, King's College, Cambridge, and the BBC Proms.

Benedict Taylor, MA (Cantab.), MMus (Lond.), PhD (Cantab.)

Dr Taylor is Stipendiary Lecturer in Music at Magdalen, a Senior Research Fellow of New College and Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in Music Theory at the Faculty of Music. He completed his PhD in 2006 (to be published by Cambridge this autumn as Mendelssohn, Time and Memory) and subsequently held fellowships at Princeton and Berlin before coming to Oxford in 2011. His research interests include Music Theory and Analysis, Aesthetics, and Music History c. 1770–1945. He teaches Music Analysis and History II topics at Magdalen. He is interested subjectivity in nineteenth-century music from Beethoven to Elgar and in Grieg's late piano music.

Application procedures

The process of admission to read Music at Oxford is carried out in two stages:

1. Work to be sent in advance of the interview

Candidates should submit two marked essays on any areas or aspects of music and, where possible, a marked sample of harmony and/or counterpoint. If the A-level Music syllabus that you are studying does not stress essay-work, you are encouraged to submit only one essay in Music, and a further essay relating to another arts-based A-level subject. Candidates wishing to pursue composition at University may also submit a portfolio of compositions (but it is not possible to return copies). Candidates are requested to send three copies of each piece of work, secured with paperclips only and with completed cover sheets, to Magdalen College, c/o The Tutor for Admissions, to reach the College no later than 10th November.

2. The interview

After your work has been received and marked, you may be invited to attend interview. In your Magdalen interview, we give you an opportunity to (1) demonstrate your ability to think analytically about a musical score, and (2) comment on a passage from an historical text. We are also interested to learn of your musical interests, especially those which extend beyond your school syllabus. The Tutors try to judge your potential to engage positively with the demands of the course. They welcome a willingness to engage in debate, and to think critically about music in ways which lie beyond your experience or current knowledge.

Apart from one or two interviews with the subject tutors, you will be asked to take the following tests:

i) Performance of a prepared piece on the candidate’s principal instrument or voice (organists, percussionists and candidates requiring an accompanist should inform the Faculty in advance of the interview period).

ii) Candidates not possessing keyboard fluency to ABRSM Grade V will take a standardised keyboard sight-reading test at interview. Please indicate your level of keyboard proficiency on your UCAS form.

Further details of the admission requirements are to be found in the University of Oxford Undergraduate Prospectus, and on the Faculty of Music web-site: http://www.music.ox.ac.uk.

Some points to bear in mind when considering applying to Magdalen College

The interviews in Oxford are a vital part of the entrance procedure and it is important that candidates, once invited to attend the interviews, make a point to be present in Oxford throughout the interview period. This especially affects those who may wish to apply to one of the London music colleges, where entrance examinations overlap or coincide with Oxford interviews.

Musical life of the College

The glory of Magdalen is its Chapel and renowned Chapel Choir (see The Choir). However, musical activities in the College encompass much more. Music-making is an important and developing feature of College life and the programme of concerts organized and given by the members of the College is among the liveliest in Oxford. There is a College Auditorium, a number of College pianos, a double-manual French harpsichord, a programme of frequent concerts organised by the Music Society, and the daily singing of the Chapel Choir (there are special entrance awards for organists and male singers). The College also has a mixed-voice choir, an orchestra, jazz ensemble, and a number of other established or informal groups.

Magdalen College Auditorium.

The College Auditorium is one of the best concert venues in Oxford. Instruments include a Steinway grand piano. The fully air-conditioned Auditorium seats 161 and offers a number of amenities, including full facilities for cinema projection, a lobby gallery for receptions, a bar, kitchenette, cloakroom and green room. There is also a spacious courtyard in the adjacent Grove Buildings for intervals and post-concert gatherings.

Daubeny Laboratory.

Opened in 2007, this 19th-century laboratory of a noted Magdalen scientist has been transformed into a lecture and performance space ideal for rehearsing and performing solo and chamber music. It is also the home of the College's two-manual French-style harpsichord, which students are welcome to use in their studies.

External links