Music Conservatoires in the United Kingdom

Where you apply

• UCAS Conservatoires members for music:
  • Royal Academy of Music
  • Royal College of Music
  • Royal Northern College of Music
  • Royal Conservatoire of Scotland
  • Royal Birmingham Conservatoire
  • Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama
  • Trinity Laban
  • Leeds Conservatoire
• Guildhall School of Music & Drama is not on the UCAS Conservatoires list. Its own site explains how to apply.
• A single application can list several courses. Auditions usually carry a fee. UCAS explains the fees and when an applicant may not have to pay.

What the audition involves

UCAS describes the usual pattern. Performers play contrasting pieces in a live audition, and some schools accept a recording. A panel may add scales, sight-reading, an aural (ear) test or an interview.

The schools vary within that pattern:

• Royal College of Music. The audition is mostly prepared repertoire. Instrumentalists sight-read a short passage, and the audition ends with a short talk with the panel. Applicants who choose an overseas venue first send a prescreening video. The school watches it and then chooses who auditions there.
• Royal Academy of Music. You perform your program for a panel. Candidates who do well enough in the audition also have an academic interview with an aural skills assessment. Jazz candidates take a short jazz theory paper.
• Trinity Laban. Applicants usually play two or three contrasting works and finish with a short interview. Applicants overseas may send a video audition.

Contemporary and popular music

BIMM, LIPA and ICMP train performers, songwriters and producers. BIMM and ICMP ask for original songs or your own production work, and an interview follows. LIPA asks about the music you have written and assesses your music theory at the audition.

Composition

Composers send a portfolio and then meet the panel. The Royal College of Music, the Royal Academy of Music, Guildhall and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland all follow this order. The Royal College of Music interview includes simple aural tests. Guildhall applicants for the BMus (Bachelor of Music) also write a paper in harmony and counterpoint at home.

Graded exams and UCAS points

UCAS points are scores that some UK universities and colleges use to compare entry qualifications. ABRSM and Trinity Grades 6 to 8 carry UCAS points. See the ABRSM and Trinity pages.

What to prepare

1. Choose your courses first. Each conservatoire's own page gives the requirements for each course.
2. Build a program of contrasting pieces that you can play well on any day.
3. Practice sight-reading, scales and aural skills each day.
4. Prepare to talk about your teachers, the music you listen to and your plans.

Practice on The Music Stem

Royal Academy of Music auditionIt includes the aural tasks of the academic interview.Open →Royal College of Music auditionIt follows the repertoire, sight-reading and panel talk.Open →UK conservatoire auditionIt covers the pattern the schools share.Open →

• ABRSM Aural Tests train singing back, cadences and modulation.
• Opus Atelier is our composition course. It runs from a first melody to a finished recording.

Visa information

The UK government's Student visa page sets out the rules for study in the UK. The conservatoire's international office answers questions about your own case.