Music is food for the soul, builds confidence and enhances memory.
Music at Queen Mary’s
Music is at the heart of daily life at our school, with abundant opportunities for pupils of all ages and abilities. We make it easy to pick up an instrument and many of our girls achieve ABRSM Grade 8 Distinction and beyond. Pupils regularly showcase their talents through formal concerts, impromptu recitals, and school assemblies, with highlights including our choral performances at Ripon Cathedral. Queen Mary’s rich tradition in instrumental and choral music ensures students can participate at any level. From opera to the Battle of the Bands, our diverse musical repertoire offers something for everyone.
Individual Music Lessons
Over half our pupils learn at least one instrument, with many taking on two or more. Our dedicated team of 19 professional music staff offers expert tuition across a wide range of instruments including piano, harp, double bass, drums, and vocals. These one-on-one lessons foster skill development and passion, with each girl matched to the right teacher to help her progress, whether she is a beginner or an advanced pupil.
Our music staff bring with them a wealth of experience from participation in the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra to singing opera at Covent Garden.
Pupils are inspired to make time to practise within the dedicated Music Practice Rooms.
Whatever level you reach, there are many studies that correlate learning an instrument with increased patience, enhanced memory and abstract reasoning skills required within many academic subjects.
"Many girls have achieved ABRSM Grade 8 Distinction before their sixteenth birthday"
Playing Music Together
Throughout Queen Mary’s there are opportunities to make music. Pupils in Reception are introduced to the Kodaly method using folk songs, signs, pictures, rhythm symbols and syllables. Year 3 pupils enjoy a recorder group and every girl in Year 4 learns the basics of playing an instrument during class Music lessons. The resulting Year 4 Class Orchestra encourages girls to continue learning an instrument as they go through the school.
All Key Stage 2 pupils enjoy learning the violin and sing in Junior Choir.
Junior ensembles include String, Brass and Woodwind ensembles and the school’s flagship instrumental group is the Queen Mary’s Chamber Orchestra. Alongside these, jazz ensemble and several rock bands are extremely popular. The school has a separate ‘Band’ room complete with a PA system, drum kit and a variety of keyboard instruments. A Music Technology Room is also available for composition using the latest Sibelius software.
Choral Singing
The Chapel Choir, celebrating its 40th year, enjoys a reputation as an outstanding chamber choir in Yorkshire and beyond. Several girls have sung as choristers at York Minster and Ripon Cathedral.
Recent performances include the staging of the opera ‘Dido and Aeneas’, recordings on BBC Radio 2, Evensong in many cathedrals, ‘A Ceremony of Carols’ by Benjamin Britten and a performance of Vivaldi’s ‘Gloria’. Senior Choir also performs across the year and all Prep School pupils sing in a choir which is a timetabled lesson every week.
Former Queen Mary’s pupil, Emilia Jaques was the female BBC Radio 2 Young Chorister of the Year and is now studying at the University of Oxford with a Choral Scholarship.
Our Prep School Harp Ensemble is off to a fantastic start! 🎶✨ A beautiful beginning to the term! 💙 #QMarysMusic #HarpEnsemble
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