St Mary's School Calne

Music Introduction

Music has always held an important place at St Mary's with a number of Old Girls following distinguished careers in music and the arts. Each girl is given the opportunity to discover and develop her full musical creative and performing potential.

The academic music programme is balanced by strong practical music making at all levels of the school with over 70% of all pupils currently taking instrumental or singing lessons.

The Chamber Choir, Schola Cantorum of Calne, has an international profile with recent national successes which include winning the BBC 'Minstrels in the Gallery' and HTV's 'Sing Out 2000' competitions, and reaching the semi-finals of the Sainsbury's 'Choir of the Year 2000'. The choir tours in the UK and abroad - recent highlights being Austria, Italy, Sweden and Iceland - and has sung for the Queen in Malmesbury Abbey.

The work of the Chamber Choir as ambassadors for the school is supported by other choral work including Junior, Middle School and Sixth Form choirs. For instrumentalists there is also much ensemble music including a large orchestra, Big Band, a junior string group, wind band and brass quartet.