Music
The Cambridge Music Tripos allows you to explore music from multiple perspectives: performance, composition, analysis, sociology, history, and many more.
At a glance
A Level requirements: A*AA (A* in Music is desirable but not essential)
IB requirements: 41-42 points overall with 7, 7, 6 at Higher Level
Subject requirements: Music (where this is not available, a Merit-level pass in ABRSM Grade 8 Theory may be acceptable as an alternative)
Average students per year: 5-6
Admissions assessment: None
Written work: 2 pieces
Admissions
Course overview
The Music Tripos lasts three years and leads to the BA degree. Students offer six papers each year, with increasing opportunity to specialise in chosen options rather than being confined to compulsory subjects. There is a good balance between coursework and written examinations. History, tonal skills, and analysis run through the first two years; composition and musical performance are optional subjects in all three years. Music in contemporary societies, music and science, ethnomusicology, and popular music are all prominent areas of study, and the extended essay/dissertation option each year allows you to explore subjects entirely of your own choosing.
For more information about the course and its modules, visit the University website.
Written work
We would like you to submit (a) either a harmony/counterpoint exercise or an original composition and (b) an essay on a musical topic. If you are not yet at the stage of writing essays as part of your music studies, you may submit an essay from another subject, or simply write something completely original. In other words, we want to see how experienced you are in manipulating notes on staves, and words on paper – how you construct musical ‘arguments’ in both media. Your written work also allows us to assess the level you have reached so far, and the kind of studies you are pursuing.
Interviews
Music interviews at King's are essentially a conversation that is structured a bit like a First-Year supervision. Typically, you will be provided with a short excerpt of music or text which will form the basis of a discussion. We explore the excerpt together by thinking through what it can tell us, and why. There is also always time to discuss your own musical interests, and for you to ask the interviewers any questions you may have.
Understandably, most people get at least a little nervous before interviews, but try to be as relaxed as possible: it is important to remember that we really want to see the best of you. We are not ever trying to catch people out and there are no trick questions. What is more important than what you know is how you think; we want to see a genuine passion for music - not only playing and singing it, but also curiosity about how it works and why.
What we look for in an applicant
Applicants will typically already be accomplished performers on one or more instruments, but such accomplishment is not essential to a good application. What is of more value is an enquiring mind willing to regard music as a subject of intellectual enquiry from various perspectives (historical, analytical, and technical). We are interested in exploring what music means to you and how you understand its place in the world. Our interviews (30 minutes) are essentially treated as mini-supervisions; interviewers will want to discuss with you the material (a short piece of music or a short scholarly text about music) that you will have been studying prior to the interview, as well as picking up on matters arising from your application. It is not a matter of coming up with the ‘right’ answers – there probably won’t be any ‘right’ answers! – but rather of demonstrating an openness of mind and a willingness to entertain and debate approaches to and thoughts about music that might be quite new to you.
A top tip for applicants
Immerse yourself in as wide an historical and stylistic range of music as you can, through listening, reading and thinking.
Find out more
You can find our more about Music by visiting the University website and the Faculty of Music website.
King’s also runs Open Days where you can visit the College and get a taste of the subject.
Life as a King's Music student
King’s usually takes five or six students each year, making it one of the largest and liveliest Colleges for Music in the University. Each paper is taught through a series of lectures in the Faculty and supported by supervisions in College. Lectures generally last one hour (sometimes 90 minutes) and are attended by all students in the year who are taking a given paper. Supervisions are typically one hour long (or 30 minutes in some subjects). For supervisions you will usually be in a group of two or three students, although in some cases (e.g. Tonal Skills) you will be supervised individually. You can expect to have one or two timetabled lectures on most mornings Monday to Friday and two or three supervisions each week, depending on your choices. The purpose of a supervision is generally to discuss a topic for which you will have been set either reading or written work; it is also an opportunity for you to ask questions and to deepen and clarify your knowledge in the relevant subject. The remaining time in the week is for your own private study and recreation. Students at King’s are able to benefit from the Rowe Music Library, which is part of the College Library; the Rowe is the largest and richest College music collection in Cambridge and is virtually all borrowable.
Music sits at the heart of King's life, and studying it places you right at the centre of an incredibly vibrant musical community. I cannot imagine having had a richer range of opportunities to get involved in whether performing or producing concerts and projects, and couldn’t wish for a more supportive or talented group of people with whom to study, socialise, and make music.
- Kenzie, 3rd year
Studying Music at King's is an incredibly rewarding experience as music is so firmly embedded within the very fibres of the College. The cohort of students and staff are all incredibly friendly with diverse interests and talents, and all share an insatiable passion for music; it is clear that each student is individually valued, and their specific niches are nurtured and developed, or possibly even discovered.
- Alexander, 1st year
Careers and graduate opportunities
King’s is rightly famous for the number of internationally acclaimed composers and performers who have studied here: Judith Weir, Sir George Benjamin, Thomas Adès, Edward Gardner, Susan Tomes, Erollyn Wallen, and many others have left King’s to go forward and shape musical life at the highest levels. Many of our students follow their undergraduate study with a postgraduate conservatoire degree; others pursue careers in teaching. The range of transferable skills – in particular, the abstract conceptual thought fostered by the study of music – allows for many other successful career paths as well, for example in law and finance.
