The Music course at Oxford is designed to cover a broad range of musical history, analysis, performance and to enable all students to acquire a certain skill in traditional techniques of composition as well as to explore the most recent approaches in creativity.
An undergraduate may choose to specialise in a particular period of musical history, or a traditional style of composition at a more advanced level. In addition, there are such options available as – for example – orchestration, analysis, composition, the writing of a research paper, and solo performance, and a whole range of special subjects including Eastern or Western chant, musical literature, instruments, jazz, electronic music and acoustics.
The course is taught through the traditional medium of tutorials and lectures. Instrumental tuition can be provided as part of the course, and the College is able to encourage and advise in this respect.
For further information about Music at Oxford, see the Faculty of Music websites and the Music page on the Oxford University website.
Yearly Intake
At Keble: 2
At the Faculty: 72
Past Admissions Feedback
Every year tutors prepare detailed feedback about the admissions process.
Links to the text from the last round can be found below.
Feedback 2023 (College) (pdf)
Feedback 2023 (University) (pdf)
Feedback 2021 (pdf)
Feedback 2021 (University) (pdf)
Feedback 2020 (pdf)
The Course at Keble
The Music course at Keble, as with all colleges, is governed in terms of broad outline by the Faculty of Music. What makes music special at Keble is the presence of a particularly strong community across year-groups who share a passion for all kinds of music-making. The tutors strive to be caring in the organisation of tuition, so that no-one feels over-pressured, and are carefully involved in the musical development of every student. There is a real sense that every musician is different and we aim to create bespoke teaching around students’ areas of interest and specialism.
The large Chapel is a focus for much of the College’s musical life, in which the Chapel Choir plays a primary role. The Music Society regularly arranges recitals and chamber and orchestral concerts, most of them given by undergraduates. The annual Keble Early Music Festival is also a fixture; in 2019 it featured a performance of Monteverdi’s Vespers (1610) with the College Choir, the English Cornett & Sackbut Ensemble and a distinguished lineup of soloists, and for 2020’s closing concert the Choir and soloists were joined by the Academy of Ancient Music for Bach’s St John Passion. The College has a Music Room and two additional spaces with pianos that can be booked for private practice or rehearsals. Keble has much to offer as a framework for musical activity of all kinds; much of it organised by the undergraduates themselves.
Keble Music Department
The ‘academic’ side of the course is run by the Director of Studies Dr Benjamin Skipp who teaches modules in the first year across the course and oversees specialist papers in second and third year. The Senior College Lecturer is Dr Oliver Chandler who has world-class expertise in all kinds of musical analysis. Both are committed to performance and creativity in their own musical lives.
The Director of Music (with oversight of the choir and practical music-making in college) is Christian Wilson. The Music Administrator is Pippa Thynne.