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Music Interviews @ Oxford

I'm thinking of applying to oxford this year, in particular thinking of Christ Church and New College - but what is the general format of the interview? Is it incredibly challenging, will my mind utterly explode??!

Reply 1

fatboy06

Yes

.

I may get a warning point for this, which is ridiculous as it's relevant to the question, but look at www.oxbridge-admissions.info for examples of past questions etc. I had 5 interviews, so I'm fairly qualified to tell you what most were like. All of them bar none had a kinda "analysis on the spot" section - they gave you a score or a pair of scores and asked you questions about them. Some gave them a couple of minutes before, some in the interview. Then they varied. Some had a high language element, analyising essays etc. Some were very relaxed, some questions about very specific aspects of personal statement etc. None really seriously talked about my pre-submitted work except one which asked "do you think it's important to study Bach Harmony?" Then there's an audition - 6 minutes I think it was. Looking at your exam results, you won't have a problem with that. No sight-reading or anything like that.

Edit: Oh yeah, feel free to PM me if you have any specific qs.

Reply 2

J'en ai marre

Are there generally any practical tests above the actual performance, such as harmonising at sight or improvisation? Are questions more philosophical or knowledge-based? Are you just given the freedom to rant about why you love music? ( I think I could maybe just about do that).

Reply 3

fatboy06

Practical tests - I only had an audition, although there are tales on oxbridge admissions of all sorts. You have to enter one or both of a piece of marked harmony or marked counterpoint, two essays, and optional portfolio of compositions. Questions - I didn't get any "how many symphonies did Haydn write" type questions, although again oxbridge admissions has some people who got those kind of ones. Much more theories behind music etc. Some interviewers asked me "why music" kinda thing, but generally as a basis for further questioning. I ended up saying the same answer to each one...it was quite interesting kinda watching my interview technique improve. You just have to think on your feet - I mean whatever they say they will push you to your limits - it's not a matter of avoiding being trapped into a corner but how well you can fight out of it. Don't really know how you can improve that skill - just have lots of intellectual debates before interview :biggrin:

. Don't be scared of having a stab - they're not looking for "right" answers but for your ability to reason logically to find a plausible/likely answer.

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