Cardiff University

Cardiff University

In a country that specialises in vocal talent - Katherine Jenkins, Bryn Terfel, male voice choirs et al - Cardiff University bucks the trend. 'We like to think that we provide an education that will deal with all aspects of music,' says professor Robin Stowell, head of music at the university's School of Music.

His students would tend to agree: some perform, while many go on to teach, move into arts management or find media jobs. Others continue at the department, as part of an expanding postgraduate community.

Whereas the neighbouring Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama (RWCMD) is performance-based, Cardiff University's music programmes are more academic in nature. 'The first year has to be a stabilising year because the students come from so many different backgrounds,' says Stowell. 'Then they really do branch out and we encourage them to take a variety of modules.'

The city-centre music department is relatively small, with 240 undergraduates and 40 postgraduates. 'We're taking in over 70 every year and I think we're pretty much up to our limit now,' says Stowell. He estimates that 25-30 per cent of the intake is Welsh, with others arriving from along the M4 corridor, the north and the south west of England.

The school caters for Welsh speakers, with one part-time and two full-time faculty members fluent in the language. Some tutorials and seminars can be taken in Welsh and students have the option to submit assessments and exam scripts in Welsh. 'A lot of people, if Welsh is their first language, take more time to write in English,' Stowell explains.

'Some people are attracted through the Erasmus Socrates scheme and students have stayed on to do an MA because they've enjoyed themselves here.'

Links with other European cities allow students to study in Warsaw, Helsinki, Venice and Milan, for example. 'We get more in than go out,' admits Stowell. 'Some people are attracted through the Erasmus Socrates scheme and students have stayed on to do an MA because they've enjoyed themselves here.'

The department occupies one main redbrick building - for lectures, music-making, practice, a library and the 220-seat University Concert Hall - and has recently moved its offices into three adjacent houses. The hall hosts mainly chamber music concerts, including a Tuesday evening series. 'We contribute most of the chamber fare in Cardiff,' Stowell says.

The department runs a 240-strong orchestra and choir, which perform together as the University Choir & Orchestra, Cardiff, and a chamber orchestra and choir. Another ensemble, the Contemporary Music Group, is rehearsed by the school's composer-in-residence Anthony Powers. Stowell believes that the ratio of music students to non-music students in the five school-run ensembles is roughly 70:30. 'Quite a few staff sing in the choir,' he adds.

Third-year BMus student Emma Rogers, 22, from Cornwall, says, 'There are always opportunities to play at the Millennium Centre, the City Hall and St David's Hall as well.' But the pianist and violinist chose her programme for other reasons: 'I didn't go down the practical route so much. I wanted to explore and develop all of my skills rather than just performing.'

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