Our music and music technology departments are some of the most renowned and versatile in the country, providing outstanding musical tuition and enrichment to students. The departments offer extensive performance opportunities to all musicians covering a wide range of musical styles. From grand choral projects, pop, rock and jazz concerts to intimate recitals and small ensemble performances, all students are able to fully develop their passion for music.
The College recognises the huge benefit that music has within the community. Students perform in local venues such as schools and churches with other venues including Guildford Cathedral and the Wind Tunnels Project, Farnborough. We have enjoyed and continue to enjoy collaborative events such as a Wind Tunnels choral collaboration with Royal Holloway and Weydon School as well as our first Prospect Trust collaboration concert in November 2023 to celebrate 100 years of Disney!
All of the music is arranged to suit the performers and the ensembles each year to include as many students across the College as possible.
Please click on the links below to expand the boxes and find out more information about all of the amazing music enrichment opportunities on offer. Additional ensembles are formed to suit the instrumentalists at College. Students are also encouraged to form their own ensembles; previous groups have included a guitar ensemble, string quartet and a brass quintet.
Big Band is the College’s premier large-scale jazz ensemble, performing traditional jazz standards and contemporary works, including film scores. Repertoire includes Tank!, Whiplash, Absoludicrous and arrangements by Gordon Goodwin.
Consisting of around 50 musicians, some involved in external county bands/orchestras and working towards Conservatoire/University/Oxbridge applications, it has a recommended standard of Grade 6 and is open to all college students who play wind and brass instruments, piano, kit and guitar.
For Big Band and Orchestra you should be performing at grade 5 standard or above. If you do not have a grade 5 qualification (or higher) we may need you to audition before joining the enrichment. This will take place after enrolment.
Chamber Choir is the College’s classical vocal ensemble, established to give more experienced vocalists the opportunity to perform challenging, smaller-scale vocal repertoire. It is open to all college students.
Chamber Choir has sung evensong performances at sacred venues across the country, including the cathedrals of Salisbury, Christ Church Oxford, Southwark, Salisbury and Winchester. In January 2024, we held a joint-Evensong with Guildford Cathedral choir at the Cathedral itself, which is currently a yearly collaboration. It was also the first state-education vocal ensemble to give choral evensong at St Paul’s Cathedral. The Chamber Choir and has previously performed in some of Europe's finest venues, including singing Mass at the Basilico St Marco, Venice and a programme of Bach Cantatas at Leipzig's Thomaskirche and Nikolaikirche.
More recent performances have included singing more ambient compositions by composers such as Ola Gjeilo and Billy Joel at the Wind Tunnels Project, Farnborough in a collaboration with Weydon School. The Chamber Choir has also collaborated with Royal Holloway University Chapel Choir at the Farnborough Wind Tunnels and at their chapel for a joint-Evensong.
Chamber Orchestra is the College’s premier orchestral ensemble, performing an eclectic and dynamic range of classical and popular repertoire from the Baroque through to the 21st century. Recent repertoire includes soundtracks of Forrest Gump, Crimson Tide and Deep Impact as well as Waltz of the Flowers by Tchaikovsky, and The Typewriter by Leroy Anderson.
Comprising around 25 musicians, some involved in external county bands/orchestras and working towards Conservatoire/University/Oxbridge applications, it has a recommended standard of Grade 6 and is open to all college students who play string, wind, brass and percussion instruments and piano.
For Big Band and Orchestra you should be performing at grade 5 standard or above. If you do not have a grade 5 qualification (or higher) we may need you to audition before joining the enrichment. This will take place after enrolment.
The College’s Contemporary Voices is an enrichment group for all students and staff across the College. Repertoire includes pop, rock and musical theatre such as “Isn’t She Lovely” by Stevie Wonder, an arrangement of Bill Withers’s “Lovely Day” and an arrangement of “A Thousand Miles” by Vanessa Carlton. No audition is required.
A newly-formed choir for September 2021, the group’s first performance was at the Christmas Carol Service at the Cathedral Church of St. Michael and St. George, Aldershot.
The Music Department offers tuition on musical instruments for all students of the College. Instruments offered are subject to demand, but we currently provide tuition from expert, professional musicians in: Trumpet, Trombone, Horn, Tuba, Voice, Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Saxophone, Guitar, Bass Guitar, Violin, Viola, ‘Cello, Piano, Drums, Bassoon and Percussion.
Lessons are provided free of charge with a member of College staff for all students studying A-level or BTEC Music on their principal instrument/voice. Lessons on a further instrument can be studied at a cost of approximately £200 a term.
Instrumental lessons for non-music students can be taken for approximately £200 a term. This includes a maximum of 10 lessons per term, but lessons may not be equally distributed between the three terms.
If you have any enquiries about instrumental lessons, please write to music@farnborough.ac.uk.
Here at Farnborough, we offer a Music programme designed to develop students' abilities in performance and composition. The programme is especially designed for students who are strongly considering a career in music or the music industry. Events are available for students to register interest for and/or to audition.
Further information is available from music@farnborough.ac.uk .