Cambridge Choral Scholarships

[Liz3]

Does anyone have experience of Cambridge choirs please? Many thanks.

[KB]

Friend of one of my DC was choral scholar & another was organ scholar but my limited info is 2nd hand so hopefully someone more informed will be along to help shortly!

[Warks mum]

I'm in a similar position to KB, with no personal experience but I believe one of DD's friends decided not to take up a coral scholarship at Oxford. My understanding was that the value of the scholarship (around £200?) was outweighed by the committment to a particular choir, which had to be made before the young person arrived at Oxford.

[hermanmunster]

I know that the Oxford scholarship auditions and offers are made before the entrance exams - so can be offered a choral scholarship but can't take it up as no academic offer made

[Daogroupie]

The Scholarships have nothing to do with money or prestige and everything to do with students who actually love choral music and want to spend hours in rehearsals and evensong every single Sunday. Don't even think about it unless you have a dc who is happy to send hours on their feet every week in a chapel and is well versed in the works of John Rutter. Scholarships are auditioned and offered around Oct/Nov time and then the recipient needs to apply for a course, get an interview and then an offer and then get the grades. So it is a skill and an interest you need to have in addition to the ability to get offered an academic place not instead of. DG

[KenR]

As with all Cambridge Scholarships you need to think carefully about the course - some are actively discouraged.

Many years ago a friend's nephew (who just happened to be a a brilliant Rugby player) graduated from Loughborough and was offered a post grad scholarship - they asked his what course he wanted to study and when he said Natural Sciences he was told to "think again".

[KB]

Was the original question about choral scholarships generally or about which choirs are best / character of the choirs?

[Liz3]

Thanks for your thoughts, really the question was how difficult is it to get a choral scholarship (not to one of the seriously well known choirs, but to a smaller less known one) and whether the commitment could be too much and have an adverse effect on studies. C 3 or 4 hours/week could seem a lot, but compared with the time spent on social media....
The invitation to apply came with the academic offer, with a closing date next month and auditions in April.

[Daogroupie]

Thanks for the extra information. That is fantastic if your dc has actually been invited to apply as the first round of auditions and allocations were back in October so you really should give it serious consideration. Is your dc currently in a church choir and doing choral evensong weekly? The issue is not how much time it takes up but if your dc actually enjoys choral music. There is more I could say but not on a public forum. Pm if you would like to hear more. DG

[KB]

Yes, I think it's something to do if you enjoy choral singing and would appreciate more training and experience. However the commitment might exclude taking up new activities that also require time commitment.
It should certainly be viewed as an activity to be enjoyed rather than endured for any other gain.
Again it might depend on the academic course - gir example NatScis have a heavy timetable of contact hours that can push supervisions into evenings.