Music Centre
The Music Centre is a popular facility for the many members of the College that are musically inclined and rooms can be booked online for use.
This Centre includes: a purpose-built recital room equipped with a Steinway grand piano and a Rubio harpsichord; a practice room; a spacious recording studio, which houses a piano, keyboard, bass guitar and amplifiers, the College drum kit (great for band rehearsals); and a fully-equipped control room.
Harpischord
The harpsichord in the Recital room of the Music Centre is available for use by any member of the College. Given the delicate nature of the instrument, great care must be taken when playing.
Please read the guide below and contact the Director of Music if you have any questions.
Chapel Organ
The Chapel has an extension organ now with a mobile console and a Dulciana 8 (44 pipes) added to Manual 1.
Any member of College who plays the organ is welcome to play the Chapel organ. If you are interested please contact the Director of Music, Ewan Campbell.
Chapel Grand Piano
The Chapel also houses a Yamaha grand piano. Anyone is welcome to use this piano for practice but you are asked, when you have finished playing, to close the lid over the keyboard, replace the cover and take your music away with you. Please also note that organists practising for Chapel services and any event which might be taking place in the Chapel take precedence over private piano practice. Please do not move the piano close to the radiators.
Access to the Chapel
The Chapel door is kept locked but can be opened by your room key. Please remember to switch off all lights and make sure the door locks behind you when you leave.
Clavinovas
The College owns eight Yamaha Clavinovas (electric pianos). We aim to provide each of our full-time students of Music and the Music Sizar, with a Clavinova free of charge. Other students can hire any remaining pianos at a cost of £40 per term.
These have several advantages over conventional upright pianos for individual student use:
- They are relatively easy to move.
- They can be played using head-phones, thereby avoiding disturbance to neighbours.
- They do not need regular tuning.
- Some have electronic input/output connections which may have their uses.
We still have a few upright pianos available to students, but as they wear out, they are being replaced by electronic pianos.
If you are interested in hiring a Clavinova (at a cost of £40 per term), you should contact the Tutorial Office.
If there are more applicants than instruments, your name will be placed on a waiting list, and the instruments will be allocated on a first-request first-served basis.
Each Clavinova is clearly labelled (CL01, CL02, CL03 etc.) so that we can keep track of each instrument; obviously we need to know where each instrument is and who is responsible for it.
So far as possible, we will try to ensure that members of the Housekeeping Department will transport each Clavinova that has been properly reserved for a named student to that students room at the start of the appropriate term.
It should not normally be necessary for the instrument to be moved out of a student room during the academic year.
Damage and Maintenance
Any student who is the temporary custodian of one of these instruments is responsible for treating it responsibly. If an instrument develops faults through fair wear-and-tear, then the student should inform the Tutorial Officer who will arrange for the instrument to be repaired.
Students are expected to be honest in owning up to irresponsible damage, for the cost of which they may be held responsible (though the College insures itself against the most expensive kind of damage).
Clavinovas are intended for use only in College-owned property only.
