MUSIC IS WILSON'S
Music is a vitally important part of life at Wilson’s School. Wherever you are, the sound of music will be nearby, be it a peripatetic music lesson, a timetabled music class, a choir, a brass ensemble or a big orchestra rehearsal - music is everywhere at Wilson's!
During a normal school year, we host well over thirty-five concerts, recitals, productions and other musical events. Music plays a prominent role in whole-school celebrations like Founder's Day and the Carol Service. There is an annual Junior Production in July for students in Years 7 and 8 and a Senior Production in February for older performers, one of these productions is usually a musical. Many of our students go on to study Music at the country’s leading conservatoires and universities (recent destinations include Oxford, Cambridge, and the Royal College of Music).
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Every term, we hold at least one large-scale concert for our ensembles, including our senior orchestra, junior and senior wind bands, multiple choirs, brass ensembles, junior and senior string ensembles, various chamber groups, and guitar ensemble. Concerts can include over two hundred students. We have performed a wide range or choral and orchestral pieces, featuring our senior choir, chamber orchestra, and some of our most dedicated and talented sixth form students as vocal soloists. You can hear highlights of past performances on this site.
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Each week, over 250 students receive specialist tuition from a dedicated team of experienced peripatetic instrumental teachers. Some of our most promising students study in the junior departments of London’s leading conservatoires; many more enjoy success each term in music examinations, or in the department’s annual search to find Wilson’s Young Musician of the Year.
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Four full-time teachers work with students in the classroom. Lessons are practical and creative; students are taught in small classes (usually no more than twenty-two). We help students quickly acquire the technical skills they need to make sophisticated music in a range of traditions from Western classical music to pop music, blues, West African drumming, and Javanese Gamelan. Increasingly large cohorts of boys enjoy success at GCSE and A level commensurate with the outstanding academic standards expected at one the country’s leading grammar schools.
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Ten years ago, the department began to offer free specialist tuition in voice or a musical instrument to every student in Year 7. Instruments and equipment are provided free of charge to students. We believe it is one of the first programmes of its kind in the UK. The programme has proved a tremendous success and it has become a permanent feature of musical life at Wilson’s. Many students continue to play their instruments beyond Year 7 and they prove to be enthusiastic and accomplished members of our various ensembles.
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I hope you’ll have the chance to explore our site: read a little more about what we do, with contributions from students, past and present, parents and staff; find out about recent past events and upcoming concerts; and, most importantly, watch and listen to our students performing all kinds of music in all sorts of settings. Enjoy!
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