Assistant Director of Music

Exeter School seeks a music graduate with proven ability as an enthusiastic and energetic, practical and academic musician to be our Assistant Director of Music from September 2021. This vacancy arises due to the promotion of Tom Brimelow, to be Director of Music at a large independent school in the region. Candidates should be committed to continuing the all-round excellence of music at Exeter School: as an academic subject at GCSE, A Level and in preparation for university and conservatoire entrance; the participation in major and minor concerts and musicals; and with the running of choirs, orchestras and other ensembles. In addition to a passion for teaching and rehearsing music, the successful candidate will be conversant with current educational issues in music and will also have the necessary administrative, ICT and management skills.

The department is led by Peter Tamblyn who joined Exeter School as Director of Music in September 2009.

The Assistant Director of Music works for and closely with the Director of Music. A part-time member of staff completes the team delivering the teaching of music in the junior school and senior school. In addition, there is a part-time music department administrator and a team of 27 instrumental teachers. In school, pupils take nearly 500 individual music lessons each week in all orchestral and jazz instruments as well as improvisation, song-writing and voice, in addition to a further 100 lessons outside school. Many pupils have second and even third study instruments, and the department is a vibrant hub for their social and musical lives in the school.

From a pupil body of just over 900 there are, in normal times, eight choirs, five jazz bands, five orchestras, two drumming troupes, various string quartets, saxophone ensembles, brass ensembles, a ‘cello quartet and a number of rock bands. The Choral Society performs annually in Exeter Cathedral. It has over 200 members, around 100 of whom are parents, staff and friends. Recently performed works have included Verdi and Mozart’s Requiem, Rutter’s Magnificat and Goodall’s Eternal Light, Poulenc’s Gloria and part 2 of Messiah, with a professional orchestra and soloists, as well as pupil soloists.

The school employs twelve instrumental teachers to direct the two big bands and a senior jazz sextet, the brass ensembles, and a variety of smaller chamber groups. There is an outstanding accompanist who is one of the school’s piano and singing teachers. Recently the Saxophone Quartet and Chamber Choir have performed with distinction for Music for Youth. The senior orchestras have recently performed repertoire such as movements from Bizet’s Carmen Suite, Vivaldi’s Winter, Ives’ Unanswered Question, Corelli’s Christmas Concerto, movements from Bruch, Mendelssohn and Vaughan Williams’ concertos, and from various Haydn and Mozart symphonies.

Assistant Director of Music

The Appointment

The Music Department

The annual music calendar details the events of the following academic year, which includes around 30 concerts ranging from informal solo workshop-concerts to full scale concerts in Exeter Cathedral, the school hall, and in local churches. There is a whole school founders’ day service in the cathedral early in the summer term. The department has organised tours to Liguria in 2019, New York in 2017 and across Europe to Salzburg, Budapest and Slovenia in 2015. We are currently planning a return visit to Barcelona in 2022. The department cooperates with the drama department to stage musicals, including, in recent years, Pirates of Penzance, Guys and Dolls and, most recently in 2019, Sondheim’s Company.

Currently, the Assistant Director of Music directs the acclaimed 40+ strong chamber choir, one of the department’s flagship ensembles. Recent works performed have included movements from Rachmaninov’s Vespers, Britten’s Hymn to St Cecilia, Rejoice in the Lamb and Ceremony of Carols, Howells’ Like as the Hart…, Esenvalds’ Stars and Durufle’s Ubi Caritas. He also directs a smaller more elite vocal ensemble, who take on contemporary carol and light music arrangements.

The department has a high reputation for its academic work. GCSE is an option growing in popularity and is taught to two sets of about 10 pupils each. Over the last three years we have gained 85% 9/8 grades. A number of pupils join our sixth form each year, attracted by the music on offer. Typically, five pupils will opt to take the AQA A Level music, with over 70% A*-B in recent years and both an Oxbridge and a Russell Group success rate that punches above its weight.

The teaching of these academic courses is shared with the Director of Music. Previous experience of teaching the three units of performance, appraisal and composition at GCSE and A Level standard is required.

Exeter School has very good music facilities. The purpose-designed building was significantly extended and refurbished in 2013. It now houses a 230-seater rehearsal hall with tuneable acoustic and two grand pianos, including a lovely new Yamaha C6, on a low-level stage. This space is also used for informal concerts and coaching for soloists and ensembles. One classroom has a class-set of keyboards as well as 15 PCs running Cubase and Sibelius and a teacher smart-board and hi-fi. The second has 15 digital pianos, smart-board, hi-fi and a seminar-style teaching layout that can be swiftly converted into a medium sized rehearsal space. There are eighteen smaller instrumental teaching/practice rooms and a large store room/library. The department also has access to the fine Butterfield chapel for services and chamber concerts. The school hall, Exeter Cathedral and local churches are used for larger concerts.

The Musical Year

Academic Work

Facilities

The Assistant Director of Music reports to the Director of Music. The specific responsibilities of the role will be agreed on an annual basis and will depend on the particular strengths of the Assistant Director of Music and on the particular needs of the department based on the annual music programme.

In this appointment we will select a candidate who is excited about working with young musicians of all abilities and capable of leading the most able towards performing music at the very highest national standards. We seek an excellent classroom practitioner who is pleased to contribute to the many events that make up the musical year at Exeter School.

The candidate will be an expert in choral or orchestral music, with a broad interest in classical, pop or jazz music, and a wide knowledge of music derived from personal study and performance. We are looking for the best candidate who can offer the very most to our pupils and work alongside our experienced and flexible staff to produce a coherent team that takes the music making of these exciting young musicians forwards.

It is certain that the new Assistant Director of Music will be given specific positions of responsibility within the department as part of the team structure. In the absence of the Director of Music, the Assistant will deputise in the overall leadership position. This will, therefore, be an ideal position for a candidate who is seeking to develop their career as a Director of Music or another management role.

The Role of the Assistant Director of Music