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The Choir > Organ Scholarships at New College

Organ Scholarships
Organ Scholar 2008-11, Lawrence Thain
The organ scholar is a key figure in the College music scene, contributing not only in chapel but also across the full range of musical enterprises in the College – of which there are many! He or she works alongside the Assistant Organist, doing a significant amount of organ playing for the chapel services, and a good deal of keyboard accompanying in the College in general. There are also rehearsals to take, and lots of odd jobs to do in and around the life and work of the Choir. Free organ and vocal tuition is provided. At audition, we are looking for someone playing at least to Grade 8 (ABRSM) standard, with the potential to secure an ARCO diploma either before coming up or in their first year. We have no objection to candidates who are more advanced than this! The organ scholar's bursary is worth annually £750, plus professional fees from concerts and tours. A designated College set of rooms (with piano) is provided for all three years. Ordinarily the organ scholar reads Music, benefiting from the significant overlaps between the development of musical skills in the chapel and the requirements of the Music course. Former organ scholars of New College have embarked on highly successful careers in the music industry, as conductors, composers, professional pianists and teachers. Within in the University as a whole, organ scholars have also pursued careers in fields such as the Civil Service, law and teaching. The Oxford organ award scheme is described at www.music.ox.ac.uk. Students wishing to discuss a future at New College are warmly encouraged to be in touch with Edward Higginbottom.

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Organ Scholarship Vacancy 2014

 This September we intend to elect an organ scholar for October 2014, to succeed Ben Bloor, our prize-winning undergraduate virtuoso, one of many organ scholars from New College who are setting the musical world alight! 


Ryan Wigglesworth, winner of the vocal prize in the 2010 British Composers Awards, and international conductor, writes of his time at New College as organ scholar:
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It’s difficult to generalise about New College organ scholars, their predilections, and their post-University career routes. I’d hazard a guess that of all the ‘big’ Oxbridge choral foundations, New College has produced the fewest cathedral organists. In recent years, the tendency has been to gravitate towards piano accompaniment, continuo playing, conducting, or in my case, composing and conducting. There’s no particular reason for this, and it’s certainly not to say that New College organ scholars don’t emerge with the equipment necessary for a job in the cathedral loft or choir stalls. Patently not! To simply state the skills that can become second nature after three years at NC might suffice: accompanying the peerless choir in a huge range of repertoire; directing the choir itself; continuo playing (both harpsichord and organ); dealing with demanding concert and recording schedules; period-instrument performance practice; voice training; singing (if you’ve a usable voice yourself); sight-reading; score-reading; transposing; playing from antiquated clefs – the latter four sometimes simultaneously, and all whilst grappling with a barely legible facsimile score…

But somehow a wider perspective is always in view. Doubtless these skills are useful in themselves (and doubtless some you’ll never need to use again), but – and here’s the crucial point – they are all serving the main task of becoming a rounded musician, of learning and understanding the craft.
This is what makes the New College training and experience priceless; and it’s so obviously credit to Prof. Higginbottom – the best in the business – that the conditions for entrepreneurial organ scholars, whatever their individual aspirations and preferred tastes, have remained ideally ripe for some three and a half decades.
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