Guitar

Department of Guitar Studies

Student in guitar tutorial

In one-to-one lessons, you will concentrate on developing a broad range of skills, both technical and interpretive. Your studies on the guitar will cover a wide solo repertoire as well as other important works, including concertos and chamber music, enabling you to build a secure foundation upon which to establish a rewarding career in this increasingly competitive musical field.

We place a strong emphasis on the development of your professional skills and musical confidence, offering you opportunities to be involved in a range of departmental performance classes, including ensemble skills, chamber music, lunchtime concerts, masterclasses and workshops to help you achieve this. A Teaching Skills component is also included in years two and three plus the college provide lectures and seminars on extremely vital topics such as promotion, career planning and business skills.

In collaboration with the department of historical performance, you will have further opportunities to explore performance styles from the 16th century onwards, including figured bass and ornamentation. You may also apply for tuition on the lute and vihuela. The department has a number of ‘period’ instruments which are available on loan, these include copies of a Baroque guitar and an early 19th century guitar.

Our regular concert programme provides opportunities for public performance, both in-house and at external venues, and the John Mills Guitar Prize is an annual feature in the department taking place during the summer term.  Additionally we are very pleased to have the Stuart Cohen Award for Classical Guitar which is presented as recognition of a particular student's contribution to the department during the academic year.

The College is proud to recognise the strong connection with Julian Bream, who has contributed a large number of guitar scores and his valuable collection of lute scores and treatises. Julian Bream has also donated a large part of his art collection, also a concert guitar for use by the department.