St Mary's Music School is a music school in Scotland in the West End of

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, for children aged 9 to 19 and is also the Choir School of St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral. The school, which is non-denominational, provides education for children with a special talent in music, and is Scotland's only full-time independent specialist music school. In 2023, the school had 64 pupils from many different backgrounds coming from all parts of Scotland, the rest of the UK and abroad.Post of Headteacher
, retrieved 2012-08-20 St marys music school

Entrance

Entry to the school is by

audition An audition is a sample performance by an actor, singer, musician, dancer or other performer. It typically involves the performer displaying their talent through a previously memorized and rehearsed solo piece or by performing a work or piece gi ...

and assessment, based on musical ability and potential and regardless of personal circumstances.

Scottish Government The Scottish Government (, ) is the executive arm of the devolved government of Scotland. It was formed in 1999 as the Scottish Executive following the 1997 referendum on Scottish devolution, and is headquartered at St Andrew's House in ...

funding, up to 100%, is available through the

statutory A statute is a law or formal written enactment of a legislature. Statutes typically declare, command or prohibit something. Statutes are distinguished from court law and unwritten law (also known as common law) in that they are the expressed wil ...

Aided Places scheme to assist with the cost of tuition and boarding fees. The school and St Mary's Cathedral also award bursaries.

Performance

The school operates a large chamber orchestra, a junior string sinfonia and a senior string ensemble. Jazz and traditional Scottish music (including instruments like the

clàrsach The Celtic harp is a triangular frame harp traditional to the Celtic nations of northwest Europe. It is known as in Irish, in Scottish Gaelic, in Breton and in Welsh. In Ireland and Scotland, it was a wire-strung instrument requiring gr ...

and

bagpipes Bagpipes are a woodwind instrument using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. The Great Highland bagpipes are well known, but people have played bagpipes for centuries throughout large parts of Europe, N ...

) feature in specialist ensembles and in Jazz and Scottish Music Days. Students perform regularly throughout Edinburgh and beyond. In addition to internal lunchtime concerts, students have also performed at the

Queen's Hall, Edinburgh The Queen's Hall is a performance venue in the Southside, Edinburgh, Scotland. The building opened in 1824 as Hope Park Chapel and reopened as the Queen's Hall in 1979. Hope Park Chapel opened as a chapel of ease within the St Cuthbert's Church, ...

, Jam House, Kirks, Cathedral and the

Royal Conservatoire of Scotland The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (), formerly the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama () is a conservatoire of dance, drama, music, production, and film in Glasgow, Scotland. It is a member of the Federation of Drama Schools. Founde ...

in Glasgow. Students have also been requested to play at many civic occasions including Royalty, the

Scottish Parliament The Scottish Parliament ( ; ) is the Devolution in the United Kingdom, devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. It is located in the Holyrood, Edinburgh, Holyrood area of Edinburgh, and is frequently referred to by the metonym 'Holyrood'. ...

and other public events such as a

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

visit to Edinburgh.

Academics

The school day is from 8:30 am until 5:00 pm (3:30 on Wednesdays and 4:30 on Fridays). In 2017 the school ranked 25th out of 28 independent school's listed for highest pass rate. St Mary's Music School was named as Scottish Independent Secondary School of the Year in 2007 The 2016 pass rate was 100% for National 4, Higher and A level exams, 94% for National 5 and 95% for Advanced Highers. A former music director, Nigel Murray, wrote in 1994 that the self-discipline acquired in the devotion to the mastery of an art as self-fulfilling as music was bound to have a beneficial effect on the rest of the pupil's work and play. Murray continued that if he had a motto for St Mary's Music School it would be the words of the Italian pianist

Ferruccio Busoni Ferruccio Busoni (1 April 1866 – 27 July 1924) was an Italian composer, pianist, conductor, editor, writer, and teacher. His international career and reputation led him to work closely with many of the leading musicians, artists and literary ...

, "He who is only a musician is no musician".

History

St Mary's Music School was founded as the Song School of St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral in 1880 to educate choristers for the newly built St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral. At that time the school was located at Old Coates House and the adjacent Song School Building, both within the Cathedral precincts. In 1970 Dennis Townhill and the Provost, Philip Crosfield, became the driving force of a plan not only to safeguard the future of the Choir School of St Mary's Cathedral, Edinburgh but to transform it into a new and vibrant entity. In 1972 the school was expanded into a specialist music school on the lines of the

Yehudi Menuhin School The Yehudi Menuhin School is a specialist music school in Stoke d'Abernon, Surrey, England, founded in 1963 by violinist and conductor Yehudi Menuhin. The current director of music is the British classical pianist Ashley Wass. The school is one ...

, with Lord Menuhin becoming patron and referring to it as "my younger sister-school in Scotland". The school educates young instrumentalists, composers and singers. In 1976 the Cathedral choir was opened to girls. In 1995, the music school moved out of the Cathedral grounds and into its current location at Coates Hall, Grosvenor Crescent, Edinburgh. St Mary's Music School is the only Scottish member of the UK Music and Dance Schools (MDS) and is similar to other specialist music schools throughout Europe such as the Dresden Music Gymnasium; Sächsisches Landesgymnasium für Musik "Carl Maria von Weber". The current president is John Wallace, a trumpet player and former principal of the

Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (), formerly the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama () is a conservatoire of dance, drama, music, production, and film in Glasgow, Scotland. It is a member of the Federation of Drama Schools. Founde ...

. Vice presidents are Evelyn Glennie, Steven Isserlis, James MacMillan, Jerzy Maksymiuk and Steven Osborne. In 2019, the school received a new

Steinway Steinway & Sons, also known as Steinway (), is a German-American piano company, founded in 1853 in New York City by German piano builder Henry E. Steinway, Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg (later known as Henry E. Steinway). The company's growth le ...

piano, gifted from fundraising by the charitable trust of the

Witherby Publishing Group Witherby Publishing Group, formerly known as Witherby Seamanship, is a technical publisher of maritime, nautical and navigation training, reference and regulatory materials. The company is the resulting merger of Witherby Books and Seaman ...

Location

Coates Hall was originally designed by

David Bryce David Bryce Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, FRSE FRIBA Royal Scottish Academy, RSA (3 April 1803 – 7 May 1876) was a Scotland, Scottish architect. Life Bryce was born at 5 South College Street in Edinburgh, the son of David B ...

for Sheriff Napier in 1850 as a small Baronial house. In 1891 the building was bought by the

Scottish Episcopal Church The Scottish Episcopal Church (; ) is a Christian denomination in Scotland. Scotland's third largest church, the Scottish Episcopal Church has 303 local congregations. It is also an Ecclesiastical province#Anglican Communion, ecclesiastical provi ...

for use as the Edinburgh Theological College and enlarged by Sydney Mitchell adding a late gothic chapel. In 1913

Robert Lorimer Sir Robert Stodart Lorimer, Order of the British Empire, KBE (4 November 1864 – 13 September 1929) was a prolific Scotland, Scottish architect and furniture designer noted for his sensitive restorations of historic houses and castles, f ...

added a storey to the main block much improving the whole group. In 1995 Coates Hall was sold to St Mary's Music School and houses the (de-consecrated) chapel which is used for concerts. The chapel contains three stained glass windows. by

Ninian Comper Sir John Ninian Comper (10 June 1864 – 22 December 1960) was a Scottish architect, one of the last of the great Gothic Revival architecture, Gothic Revival architects. His work almost entirely focused on the design, restoration and embellishm ...

which includes Scotland's first saints,

St Columba Columba () or Colmcille (7 December 521 – 9 June 597 AD) was an Irish abbot and missionary evangelist credited with spreading Christianity in what is today Scotland at the start of the Hiberno-Scottish mission. He founded the important abbey ...

and

St Ninian Ninian is a Christian saint, first mentioned in the 8th century as being an early missionary among the Pictish peoples of what is now Scotland. For this reason, he is known as the Apostle to the Southern Picts, and there are numerous dedicatio ...

. The school also has two libraries, staff offices, bedrooms for boarding pupils, and 25 music practice rooms. Academic subjects are mainly taught in two 20th century buildings within the school grounds. The school is surrounded by gardens in the heart of Edinburgh's West End and has excellent transport connections due to its proximity to

Haymarket railway station Haymarket railway station is the second largest railway station in Edinburgh, Scotland, after Waverley railway station. The station serves as a major commuter and long-distance destination, located near the city centre, in the West End. Trai ...

and connecting bus and tram links. The Song School within the nearby Cathedral precinct is still used by the choristers for daily practice, where they are surrounded by beautiful murals by

Phoebe Anna Traquair Phoebe Anna Traquair (; 24 May 1852 – 4 August 1936) was an Irish-born artist, who achieved international recognition for her role in the Arts and Crafts movement in Scotland, as an illustrator, painter and embroiderer. Her works included larg ...

. It was these murals (1888–1892) which won Traquair national recognition. Within a tunnelled ceiling interior the east wall depicts the cathedral clergy and choir. The south depicts Traquair's admired contemporaries such as

Dante Gabriel Rossetti Gabriel Charles Dante Rossetti (12 May 1828 – 9 April 1882), generally known as Dante Gabriel Rossetti ( ; ), was an English poet, illustrator, painter, translator, and member of the Rossetti family. He founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brother ...

William Holman Hunt William Holman Hunt (2 April 1827 – 7 September 1910) was an English painter and one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. His paintings were notable for their great attention to detail, vivid colour, and elaborate symbolism ...

, and

George Frederic Watts George Frederic Watts (23 February 1817 – 1 July 1904) was a British painter and sculptor associated with the Symbolism (arts), Symbolist movement. Watts became famous in his lifetime for his allegorical works, such as ''Hope (Watts), Hop ...

; the north, birds and choristers sing together. The west shows the four beasts singing the

Sanctus The ''Sanctus'' (, "Holy") is a hymn in Christian liturgy. It may also be called the ''epinikios hymnos'' (, "Hymn of Victory") when referring to the Greek rendition and parts of it are sometimes called "Benedictus". ''Tersanctus'' (Latin: "Thr ...

Royal High School

In 2016 the school put forward a fully funded £25 million proposal to move its location to the old Royal High School in Edinburgh in competition with another proposal to convert the site to a hotel. The school's plans were accepted by the Edinburgh Council planning committee in 2016 and would have allowed the school to increase the number of its students. However, the council had previously signed a contract with Duddingston House Properties in 2012 to convert the Royal High into a hotel. Two hotel plans were rejected by the Edinburgh Council planning committee in 2015 and 2017. The St Mary's Music School obtained a 125-year lease from Edinburgh Council for £1.5 million so that plans could go ahead after the Council cancelled their agreement with Duddingston House Properties in January 2021.

Notable alumni

Alexander Armstrong Alexander Henry Fenwick Armstrong (born 2 March 1970) is an English actor, comedian, radio personality, television presenter, singer and farmer. He is the host of the BBC One game show ''Pointless'', and is a weekday morning-show presenter on C ...

– comedian, actor and presenter best known for ''

The Armstrong and Miller Show ''The Armstrong & Miller Show'' is a British sketch comedy television show produced by Hat Trick Productions for BBC One. It features the double act Armstrong and Miller and a number of notable scriptwriters including Andy Hamilton, co-creator ...

'' *Alan Benzie – pianist; winner, BBC Scotland Young Jazz Musician of the Year 2007, Billboard Award winner, Berklee College, Boston *Monica Brett-Crowther – mezzo-soprano * Brìghde Chaimbeul – bagpiper * Daisy Chute – singer and member of

All Angels All Angels were a British classical crossover group formed in 2006, consisting of Daisy Chute, Laura Wright, Rachel Fabri, Melanie Nakhla and actress Charlotte Ritchie. The group's style was classical crossover music and close harmony ar ...

Paul Galbraith Paul Galbraith (born 18 March 1964) is a Scottish classical guitarist known for his unique style of playing. Biography Paul Galbraith had his first guitar lessons with Graham Wade, continuing his studies with Gordon Crosskey at the Chethams Sc ...

– guitarist *

Helen Grime Helen Grime (born 1981) is a Scottish composer of contemporary classical music. Her work, ''Virga'', was selected as one of the best ten new classical works of the 2000s by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. Early life Grime's grandparents ...

– oboist and composer * Susan Hamilton – soprano * David Horne – composer * Ethan Loch – pianist and composer; the first blind person to attend the school. * Helen MacLeod – harpist * Steven Osborne – pianist *

Mike Peden Michael Peden is a British record producer, remixer and composer, best known for his work with the British musical duo Lighthouse Family. With his former band the Chimes, Peden had a hit single with their version of "I Still Haven't Found What ...

– record producer *Andrew Robb – Double Bass; winner, BBC Scotland Young Jazz Musician of the Year 2009 *

Garry Walker Garry Walker (born 1974, Edinburgh) is a Scottish conductor. Biography Walker received his secondary school education at St Mary's Music School. His initial musical training was as a cellist, and he subsequently played cello in the Edinburg ...

– conductor

References

External links

Official siteSt Mary's Music School page on Scottish Schools Online
*

HMIE Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education (HMIe) was an executive agency of the Scottish Government, responsible for the inspection of public and private, primary and secondary schools, as well as further education colleges, community learning, L ...

Inspectio
Reports
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Mary's Music School Educational institutions established in 1880 Private schools in Edinburgh Music schools in Scotland Boarding schools in Edinburgh Category B listed buildings in Edinburgh Listed schools in Scotland 1880 establishments in Scotland St Mary's Cathedral, Edinburgh (Episcopal)