Music has always been an important part of school culture at St Peter’s, Cambridge. Our founder, Arthur Broadhurst, shared his love of music with his students and saw music as playing a key role in holistic education and personal well-being. Today we are building on his legacy with a fantastic array of music opportunities for students of all abilities, outstanding facilities and equipment, and talented teachers.
Our music curriculum fosters creativity, skills and understanding across musical styles. It interweaves musical appreciation, composition, aural, and performance so that our students develop the full skill set needed to excel as career musicians. We have two music classrooms with a range of top quality software and technology for writing, recording and producing music. Our music curriculum is complemented by a strong itinerant music programme that gives our students a wide range of instrument choices and one-on-one tuition with specialist teachers.
Our student musicians have outstanding facilities for rehearsal and performance. Our performance studio features a Steinway piano, extensive orchestral percussion and a range of instruments. We have ten studios, each with a piano, for students to rehearse and refine their skills. Our drum attic and JamHub rehearsal space allows our contemporary musicians to craft their music together.
St Peter’s has a large number of co-curricular music groups that are led by dynamic and experienced music industry professionals. These groups provide options for different kinds of students — from those looking to try something new to those who aspire to be elite performers. All our co-curricular groups help our students to develop in confidence, commitment and teamwork.
We also encourage students to create their own music groups. Our facilities and equipment are available for student-led groups to use. These groups are a great form of recreation and students develop significant self-management and leaderships skills while enjoying the opportunity to express themselves creatively with music. There are in-school opportunities for these groups to perform at the STARS concert and the House Music Rock band evening. We often have student-led groups enter the local Rockquest and do well.
At St Peter’s we have an exciting calendar of musical events throughout the year. These concerts and performance opportunities showcase what our talented students are able to achieve through dedication and diligence. They include: contemporary music concerts, chamber and orchestral music performances, choir performances and culminate in our annual Gala Showcase Concert which celebrates the outstanding performing arts acts of the year.
St Peter’s has three long-standing annual music competitions. The Bevan Cup (for Years 7–8) and the Walton Cup (Years 9–13) are both solo performance competitions, while our Kammermusik competition is for classical ensembles.
We also have two traditions in music that involve our four competitive houses. Our House Music competition gives all our students experience at working together to rehearse and perform the year’s song challenge. With each competitive house having about 250 students, everyone can build confidence and enjoy participating. Our House Rock competition is a battle of the bands between our competitive houses. These two competitions play a significant role in St Peter’s culture.
At St Peter’s we encourage all our students to explore opportunities in music so that they can discover their passion and fulfill their talents.
