St Mary’s Music School
St Mary’s Music School, Edinburgh
Interview with Headteacher, Dr Kenneth Taylor, and Head of Vocal Studies, Kate Aitken
When we heard that the planned move of St Mary’s Music School to the old Royal High School building on Calton Hill had been abandoned, there was much consternation about both the future of the site and the school itself. A fortuitous meeting at the Usher Hall with Kate Aitken, the recently appointed Head of Vocal Studies, led to my visit recently to the school, to have a look round, and to have a chat with both Kate and the Headteacher, Dr Kenneth Taylor.
The Episcopal Bishop of Edinburgh decided, once the magnificent St Mary’s Cathedral had been consecrated in 1879, that a choir school was needed, and in 1880, St Mary’s Choir School came into being. Like the choir schools attached to the English cathedrals, St Mary’s Music School was built to educate, house and train the choristers, and that has been its function for over a hundred years. It is the only such establishment in Scotland, since the English choral tradition was not part of the Church of Scotland’s remit. In 1972, it was decided to extend the range of the school, to become a specialist music school in its own right, and that is what it has become. It still functions as the cathedral choir school, training and educating the choristers (now boys and girls), but is also a highly prestigious specialist independent school, taking pupils from all over Scotland, the UK and abroad, providing the best possible musical education for instrumentalists and singers. Many of its former pupils have become important professional musicians, highly renowned both in Britain and internationally. Entrance is solely on musical potential, and is extremely competitive. The Covid Pandemic was an unwelcome interruption but, after a fall in numbers, the school is nearly back to its maximum of 70-75 pupils. Clearly, this is a very small number, and the question now, after the collapse of the proposed move to Calton Hill, is what will happen next?
Dr Taylor and Ms Aitken were very positive about the future, and I was particularly interested to hear about the vocal programmes that she is setting up. I left George Watson’s College myself in 1973, and was blissfully unaware of St Mary’s Music School at that time, in the first year of its existence, but might well have been interested in such a course. Truth be told, and my conversation in the school bore this out, any vocal course for teenagers can only be an introductory one. I don’t mean that the course is anything other than a full and excellent one, but since their voices are inevitably in an embryonic stage of development, as girls and boys both go through the process of puberty, any course must be tailored to that early period in their journey. The pupils cannot in any way mirror the practice routines of instrumentalists and must be extremely careful that they do not damage their precious vocal chords, which are hidden away in the depths of their throats. However, pupils at the school learn how to sight read anything, and they become used to the idea of singing as a natural thing to do from an early age. The new vocal programmes will introduce the pupils to the concept of singing in foreign languages, as well as teaching them how to sing clearly in English, a real skill in itself which I would like to see the music colleges promote far more diligently than they do at the moment. The pupils will also learn about deportment and acting, and crucially will become used to singing on their own and in front of their peers. It can be one of the most terrifying experiences for young singers new to music college, to find themselves singing in front of and being criticised by their colleagues. If they can learn this at an earlier age, it will benefit the young singers enormously as their career journey begins.
There are two particular sections to Kate Aitken’s vocal programmes: Changing Voices, up to S4, where younger pupils learn how to adapt themselves and their voices to the changes of Puberty, and the Senior Vocal Programme, up to 19, where the pupils are basically being prepared for their onward journey, either to Music College or University.
During my spell as Honorary Professor of Singing at St Andrews University, I was impressed by the mature way my students worked, both in concerts and in opera. If the new vocal course at St Mary’s Music School can help more Scottish pupils to prepare for life as musicians, I would be delighted.
Of course, most of the success to date of St Mary’s Music School has been through the instrumentalists who have passed through its doors, and that is naturally the core of the school’s work. Instrumentalists mature much earlier than singers, and the results can be astonishing.
Places at the school are assigned through a vigorous audition process, involving an initial recording being sent in, followed by feedback, followed by, if successful, an invitation to a live audition before a panel, and then a two day live-in trial to see if everyone is happy.
It’s a very individual process, and needs to be, as the school is small, and has high standards. Academic standards are also very high, with almost personalised teaching at all levels, but it is musical ability which gets you in. Thanks to generous support from the Scottish Government, roughly 70% of fees and accommodation charges are met by the state. The fees are not small but, if you don’t have the money, you will be subsidised. A means test is applied, but Dr Taylor was quite clear that lack of ability to pay would not stop anyone with the right talent and application from becoming a pupil.
The chance to receive world class teaching in your chosen instrument, with practice only limited by availability of space, and an environment designed to encourage excellence in all things, means that St Mary’s Music School is a jewel in the Scottish education crown, and must be preserved.
The demise of the Royal High School project has concentrated the mind, and Dr Taylor was clear about the future. Either expansion of the Haymarket site, or the building of a new school on green or brown field land are the major options. A new school would cost £30-45m, which is a lot at any time, but there is only limited room at Haymarket, and the school desperately needs a recording studio and larger rooms for orchestral and larger scale works. They use the cathedral and some facilities at Palmerston Place Church at the moment with some success, and the end of term concert took place in the Queen’s Hall, but more space is definitely required. The concert is reviewed separately in the EMR.
I have to say that I was very impressed by my visit to the school, and was enormously encouraged by the intelligent and frank responses to my questions. Dr Taylor comes over as extremely competent and it is very clear that he has a vision for the school, which he has led for eleven years. A Chemistry PHD and a lifetime of work as an educationalist, combined with a clear love for music, and experience as a pianist and viola player, make him a worthy advocate for the school at a difficult time for small schools. He was fairly hopeful that the assisted places scheme would negate the planned changes to the VAT regime envisioned by the Labour Party were they to gain power, and one must hope that Scotland’s generous philanthropists come forward to help the school develop further. The school has recently launched the St Mary’s Music School Circle of Patrons as a new way for music enthusiasts and philanthropists to support the school and empower the next generation of professional musicians. Kate Aitken’s plans for vocal studies seem extremely sensible to me and I wish her and the pupils well.
St Mary’s Music School is a great success story for Scotland. Long may it continue!
