From 14 to 17 August the Faculty of Music welcomed ten year 12 students from across England, Scotland, and Wales, for the 2018 Sutton Trust Summer School. Over the course of the week, the students, who were staying at St John's College, experienced a taste of what it is like to study music at University. The wide range of activities and sessions included introductory classes and workshops on Musicology, Early Music, Performance Studies, Music and Science, Tonal Skills, Music Analysis, Composition, and apologising through song. The students also worked on presentation projects, developing library and research skills through the exploration of an eclectic selection of composers and their works, from the sequences of Hildegard of Bingen to Miles Davis' Kind of Blue, via Barbara Strozzi's arias, Robert Schumann's Dichterliebe, and Olivier Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time.
Other activities during the week included sessions on the Cambridge admissions process, and writing personal statements, as well as the chance to visit different Colleges, and go on a punting trip.
Many thanks are due to our team of session leaders, without whom the Summer School would not be possible; to the fantastic student and teacher helpers; and to the Sutton Trust students themselves, who were a great group to work with.
Sutton Trust events are open to pupils studying in Year 12 in England or Wales, Year 13 in Northern Ireland, or S5 in Scotland, who attend, and have always attended, a non fee-paying school in the UK. For more information, and if you are interested in registering for the 2019 Sutton Trust Summer School, visit the Sutton Trust Summer School website.