I desperately need some advice. Background - 17 year old guy, going into Year 13.
for a few years now, I have been set on studying music at Cambridge, more specifically Girton College, mostly because the Director of Music is fantastic and it would be an incredible experience to learn from him through the College and not just the Tripos. I simply can't think about not going there, the course is exactly what I am looking for and the Professors who I have met are phenomenal.
I have the following qualifications in music:
Piano (Main Instrument) - Grade 8 distinction, ALCM, LTCL. Won classes in festivals, etc. Soloist at informal do at Bologna Conservatoire, Italy. Looking to do LRSM within year and a half but haven't decided when.
Percussion - Grade 8 distinction, Principal of School Orchestra, perc in ESO.
Theory - Grade 5 Distinction although am now teaching myself Grade 8 Syllabus.
Organ - will take Grade 8 Organ within next two terms, probably next.
I also enjoy composing and am studying conducting.
However, academically I have some issues.
GCSE - 6 A* 4An (including 100% in Italian)
AS - French A 282
Music A 259
Maths B 232. Have applied for remark.
Geography - low B... (C in two modules, A in the other)
I also have a complete A Level in German Grade A
I would hate for the Geog and Maths marks to stop me getting into Cambridge.
Any advice for the UCAS process, the SAQ or Cam in general?
the thing is that oxbridge will always be strict on their very high entry requirements...
Unless your an organ player, inwhich case theyll be whores. great big, fatty, whoreish whores.
But dont get your heart set on cambridge... your skills really do seem to lie in music. why not try an open day at the music colleges??
i forgot to add that I am currently at Guildhall School of M & D (Junior Dept.)
Have been to open days etc. but a music college isn't my kind of place.
i forgot to add that I am currently at Guildhall School of M & D (Junior Dept.)
Have been to open days etc. but a music college isn't my kind of place.
I don't think my focus in life is instrumental-based although I love playing etc.
The Cam course is extremely focused on exploring music in all different ways, the history, influences, impacts, things like schenkerian analysis interest me.
Saying that, I will never stop playing or practising! It is just the Cam Tripos that I love.
I desperately need some advice. Background - 17 year old guy, going into Year 13.
for a few years now, I have been set on studying music at Cambridge, more specifically Girton College, mostly because the Director of Music is fantastic and it would be an incredible experience to learn from him through the College and not just the Tripos. I simply can't think about not going there, the course is exactly what I am looking for and the Professors who I have met are phenomenal.
I have the following qualifications in music:
Piano (Main Instrument) - Grade 8 distinction, ALCM, LTCL. Won classes in festivals, etc. Soloist at informal do at Bologna Conservatoire, Italy. Looking to do LRSM within year and a half but haven't decided when.
Percussion - Grade 8 distinction, Principal of School Orchestra, perc in ESO.
Theory - Grade 5 Distinction although am now teaching myself Grade 8 Syllabus.
Organ - will take Grade 8 Organ within next two terms, probably next.
I also enjoy composing and am studying conducting.
However, academically I have some issues.
GCSE - 6 A* 4An (including 100% in Italian)
AS - French A 282
Music A 259
Maths B 232. Have applied for remark.
Geography - low B... (C in two modules, A in the other)
I also have a complete A Level in German Grade A
I would hate for the Geog and Maths marks to stop me getting into Cambridge.
Any advice for the UCAS process, the SAQ or Cam in general?
Many thanks!
Raph
Right, where to start.
First thing's first, don't get your heart set on anything. Even if you're very much up to the course, there's still an element of luck in Cambridge admissions. There always will be, and deciding that there's only one place that you want to go is a very big mistake, and can lead to you being very pissed off about things you have no control of. Yes, it's probably the best place in the country to study the course, and yes, the teaching is awesome, but don't become too attached before you've even applied. This is for your own good.
Also, fawning over the department and the staff isn't going to do you any good either. Yes, Martin is rather excellent, and a very good teacher, but you have to remember that your DoS doesn't actually supervise you that much, and of course there's the pool so even if you go elsewhere you may end up having a perfectly good DoS who isn't Martin. Just out of interest, do you share research interests with him or something?
Right, now we've got the nasty bit out of the way, your grades are fine (unless German happens to be your mothertongue, or you're bilingual, in which case I'd be a bit concerned). Some of your performance stuff is a little irrelevant, as is distinction grade 5 theory (no-one cares about this when you can do a bach chorale in half an hour). In terms of applying, your best bet is to start drafting a personal statement, and try to keep it as musicological as you can, as this is what Cambridge like. Once you have a draft, post it in the PS Help forums, and I'll have a look at it for you.
I desperately need some advice. Background - 17 year old guy, going into Year 13.
for a few years now, I have been set on studying music at Cambridge, more specifically Girton College, mostly because the Director of Music is fantastic and it would be an incredible experience to learn from him through the College and not just the Tripos. I simply can't think about not going there, the course is exactly what I am looking for and the Professors who I have met are phenomenal.
I have the following qualifications in music:
Piano (Main Instrument) - Grade 8 distinction, ALCM, LTCL. Won classes in festivals, etc. Soloist at informal do at Bologna Conservatoire, Italy. Looking to do LRSM within year and a half but haven't decided when.
Percussion - Grade 8 distinction, Principal of School Orchestra, perc in ESO.
Theory - Grade 5 Distinction although am now teaching myself Grade 8 Syllabus.
Organ - will take Grade 8 Organ within next two terms, probably next.
I also enjoy composing and am studying conducting.
However, academically I have some issues.
GCSE - 6 A* 4An (including 100% in Italian)
AS - French A 282
Music A 259
Maths B 232. Have applied for remark.
Geography - low B... (C in two modules, A in the other)
I also have a complete A Level in German Grade A
I would hate for the Geog and Maths marks to stop me getting into Cambridge.
Any advice for the UCAS process, the SAQ or Cam in general?
Many thanks!
Raph
What attracts you to Cambridge - arguably the most academic, theory-based course in the country - rather than a Conservatoire? From the sounds of it you'd have no trouble whatsoever getting into any of the music colleges.
I'll be honest with you: I disagree with MB, because I think your grades are likely to present a problem, as they stand. Not a catastrophic one by any means, but AABB is at the lower end of what Cambridge will consider, and ideally you'd want your A in Music to be exceptionally high to compensate for that.
Having said that, there's no harm in trying, and your formidable practical ability might well swing things for you. I don't pretend to understand the admissions process perfectly.
For example, there was an absolutely brilliant pianist at Girton in my year who was (relatively) unacademic, and as far as I can tell he just bummed around never going to lectures and barely passing his courses because he was doing so much playing, and I think he's now doing a postgrad at a music college. So it certainly can work out fine; I'm just not sure why you think Cambridge is the best route. I never understood why that pianist chose academia over music college, either...
As an afterthought, have you tried the Organ Scholar angle? Opinions differ as to whether it helps you get an offer, but it might be worth exploring.
Cheers! and yes i'm german... however I've lived here for pretty much all of my life.
Chorales made up 40% of the ALCM (it was joint theory and piano) and I have been "doing" them frequently, not the best but not near the worst either. As for Martin, Music in Social Context is what I'm quite keen on, Schubert is my main focus at the moment. Additionally, he's a really great guy! However, I will also do some research into sensory deprivation through tone fairly shortly.
My PS is almost finished, will stick it up asap.
Thanks for the help, based on what I have said, what chance do you reckon I have of getting a place? (Difficult and potentially stupid question to ask, I know)
Cheers! and yes i'm german... however I've lived here for pretty much all of my life.
Chorales made up 40% of the ALCM (it was joint theory and piano) and I have been "doing" them frequently, not the best but not near the worst either. As for Martin, Music in Social Context is what I'm quite keen on, Schubert is my main focus at the moment. Additionally, he's a really great guy! However, I will also do some research into sensory deprivation through tone fairly shortly.
My PS is almost finished, will stick it up asap.
Thanks for the help, based on what I have said, what chance do you reckon I have of getting a place? (Difficult and potentially stupid question to ask, I know)
Raph
Difficult question indeed. I would say - being brutally honest - that you have a reasonable chance, but that there are other candidates who will be stronger academically, so don't be too surprised if someone who got straight As at AS level beats you to it.
thanks Agent Smith, a string of straight As would have been very useful! I am predicted three As at A2, and the AS Maths should go up to an A with the remark and if not, definitely with the retake so I'll have 4 As and 1 B at AS but of course that's too late for the SAQ.
I should have worked harder at my ASs but they were all within 5 days and my LTCL was two weeks after and I was devoting more time to that than my ASs to be honest which has now turned around and bitten me in the balls.
additionally, conservatoire isn't right for me, not the character of place I'm looking for. I love Guildhall and I will never stop playing, and may well change my mind later about conservatoire but at the moment the academic side of music interests me more. Saying that, I'm not too keen on the A level Music Course and at the Cam Open Day, a speaker said that he prefers theory grade 8 to A level Music. The ALCM covers that, however I will take the Grade 8 this year either way. Thank you for the comments and compliments!
Cheers! and yes i'm german... however I've lived here for pretty much all of my life.
Then I agree with Agent Smith that your grades are a major cause for concern. Your A in German is very likely to be completely ignored because studying a language you speak as a foreign language is of course really easy (I wonder who suggested that doing the A level was a good idea ). So yes, ABB at AS is not really that great when the standard offer is AAA. Anyway, stick your PS up, I'll have a look, and together we can make it as good as possible to give you the best chance of getting an offer. Getting the grades, then, will be your part of the bargain .
Hey,
A question -- I'd really like to go to Oxbridge for a PhD in music. I go to undergrad right now in the US, and I'm doing my BA in music here. I'm doing quite well in my music history courses (i.e. all A's), but my music theory courses are a bit lower (i.e. B+ overall). I also hold a BM from Juilliard in double-bass and had all A's there, but I don't know that they'd care much about music performance, would they? I've been given several summer orchestra fellowships in Europe & in the US and scholarships at my university for performance...
Also I've had 6 yrs of Latin and fluent in Italian. I also have a research assistantship in the Italian opera center at my university and am taking graduate music courses as an undergraduate.
Mostly I'm just concerned about my theory grades. My academic interests lie primarily in music history - opera, specifically.
Probably a really stupid question, but I was just wondering what the actual degree you get after completing an undergraduate music degree course at Cambridge? eg. BMus, BA, BA (Hons) etc...different places seem to have different ideas.
Except for the undergrad degrees that are masters courses, eg 4 year natsci, engineering.
In case anyone reading that is upset that they won't get a BA: you get a BA as well as the Mwhatever but the Mwhatever counts as being better (even within Cambridge).
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