Music plays a very important part within the life of the school. All boys from Nursery to Year 8 have music time-tabled on a weekly basis, and every boy is encouraged to learn an instrument or sing in a choir.  We have a strong history of boys going on to take up music scholarships at 13+.

Tuition is offered on many instruments at the school (see Music Tuition under Related Links, right) with seventeen visiting music teachers offering approximately two hundred and ten individual lessons on a weekly basis.  Special visits from the Associated Board of Music are arranged twice annually for examinations.

There are many instrumental groups that meet on a weekly basis, including Orchestra, String Orchestra, Wind Band, Sax Group, Senior and Junior Brass Bands, and Guitar Group. These groups provide over one hundred boys with the opportunity to make music together on a weekly basis.

Choral singing is very strong at The Beacon and again over one hundred boys sing in one of the four school choirs. Beacon Voices, the senior choir, is regularly invited to perform at many local events and concerts and has performed nationally and internationally. They have also sung for H.M. Queen Elizabeth at the Royal Albert Hall, London (their performance being broadcast worldwide by the BBC.)

The school produces numerous Concerts, Musical Productions, Festivals and events on a yearly basis and below are just a few of the notable achievements over the past several years: 

• Choir Tour to Canada - April 2000
• Hosted visiting S. African Orchestra - Summer 2000
• 'Brilliant the Dinosaur' Junior School Production - June 2000
• Beacon Voices sing for H.M. The Queen at Festival of Remembrance - Albert Hall - Remembrance Anthem Commissioned - November 2000
• Informal music recital from music scholarship candidates
• 'The Pirates of Penzance' - Production 2001 · Concert with Exmoor singers
• Open-air concert at Shardeloes
• 'The Pied Piper' - Production 2002
• 'Smike' - Production 2003
• Festival Choir participates annually in Amersham & Chesham Schools' Music Festival
• Host school for annual Strings Day
• Beacon Voices perform at Rotary Club Jubilee Concert 2003
• Beacon Voices perform at Amersham Band Christmas Concert 2003, 2004
• Beacon Voices perform at 'Scannappeal' charity event 2004
• 'Bugsy Malone' - Production 2004
• Beacon Voices perform at Chess Valley Male Voice Choir concert at The Elgiva Theatre, Chesham, 2004, 2005
• 'Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat' - Production 2005
• 'The Boy King' - Middle School Production 2005
• 'Christopher Columbus' - Middle School production 2006
• 'Blast Off!' - Middle School production 2007
• 'Oliver!' - production 2007
• Festival Choir annual visit to local residential home for the elderly
• Festival Choir perform at Royal Masonic School Prep Schools' Festival 2005
• Upper School instrumentalists participate annually in Merchant Taylors' and Harrow Prep Schools' Music days
• Add to the above list five informal concerts, a choral concert, an instrumental concert, a summer concert, carol services and lower school productions annually, and you see that the opportunities for boys are endless.

The department comprises one large teaching room and five practice rooms. There is a dedicated IT suite equipped with 16 computers and keyboards for composition and a recently installed recording studio (see Music IT under Related Links, right).

Gay DeMarco
Director of Music