The Music School facilities include two recital halls, a suite of teaching and practice rooms, a music library, a percussion room, and a well-equipped double recording studio. The School’s “All Steinway” status guarantees top quality pianos in every room. Larger scale events are held in the Chapel, with its internationally famous, four-manual Marcussen organ.
The School has a long-standing tradition of musical excellence, both choral and instrumental. Over forty percent of the boys in the School learn at least one musical instrument, and there are sixty music award holders. Over 80 boys have Grade VII or above and up to 70 boys take exams in a wide variety of instruments each year.
Music permeates Tonbridge life. Each term, the School has an extensive performance programme; there are several orchestras, bands, and chamber groups covering all musical styles. The Chapel Choir sing for weekly services, performing different canticles and anthems each week and the Symphony Orchestra plays a full symphonic programme each term. Recent repertoire has included Brahms Symphony No.4, Sibelius Symphony No.2 and Rimsky Korsakov’s Scheherezade. The Music Department curates its own “Themed Festival” each Michaelmas Term, featuring performances from staff, students and visiting artists. Houses hold their own musical evenings and there is an annual House music competition which involves up to a third of the school. Jazz and popular music are actively encouraged and flourish. The Music Department also joins forces with the Drama Department every few years to present a musical, involving students on stage and as instrumentalists. Previous productions have included Guys and Dolls, Into the Woods, Cabaret and Chess.
Music at Tonbridge is not confined to the School campus. The Chapel Choir has sung Evensongs in St Paul’s Cathedral, St Alban’s Cathedral, Southwark Cathedral and Salisbury Cathedral as well as touring in France, Holland and Belgium, and the Symphony Orchestra has performed in Hong Kong.
The boys regularly combine with musicians from outside the School, in student based and professional settings. Recent highlights include Fauré’s Requiem with Benenden School and performances with Canticum at Tonbridge and in London.
Musicians also perform for members for the local community, organising visits to schools and churches as well as inviting groups to concerts on site.
Every five years the School performs a “Whole School Concert” with a specially commissioned piece from composers such as Howard Goodall and Jonathan Dove. In March 2023 the whole school performed The Argo, a new oratorio based on Jason and the Argonauts by Hywel Davies, scored for symphony orchestra, whole school chorus, soloists and youth choir.
