Jonathan Milton, the Headmaster, writes about one of the smallest and most remarkable prep schools in the country

I have long held a theory that you can tell a great deal about a school by going to lunch one day. Leaving aside the obvious business of appraising the quality of the food and facilities, one can gain a real insight into the school’s culture simply by watching and listening. The way in which the staff and pupils interact, the topics of conversation among pupils, the very tone and volume of the whole affair tells a great deal. Often children are at their most relaxed and there are few artificial barriers.

 

At lunch the other day I wondered what visitors would make of my school. Topics of conversation on my left covered: the difference between the polyphonic style of Bryd and Victoria, subtleties of word underlay in Tudor music, the religious significance of Elizabeth I’s accession to the throne which led to a discussion of monarchy in general, and then, in apparently seamless transition, Chelsea’s premiership hopes.

 

All this between a couple of 13-year-olds. On my right was a conversation about man’s place in the world and his arrogance in believing that he is in some way more important than the flora and fauna around him. And opposite me, two were looking forward to going go-karting and hoping that the visiting preacher would not detain them too long.

 

As you might have gleaned from this latter observation, my school is a choir school – though a very unusual one. Westminster Abbey Choir School has just 36 pupils, all of them boarding boy choristers. Although my lunchtime companions may have given the impression of being rather precious, highly academic, cosseted children, that is far from the case. The boys who audition at the age of eight are much like any others. It is just that they show musical talent, or rather, musical potential, and they have the spark to throw themselves into a close-knit team. With this comes an incredible education, and one far wider than the musical one, which many might expect.

 

A chorister’s education can only be described as unique. Not only does he, and increasing she, learn to sing music spanning a period of six hundred years, but they do so at an utterly professional level. Perhaps that is why my choristers were able quite naturally to discuss the finer points of polyphonic style – and it is indeed quite natural for there is nothing forced here. A chorister simply understands the music because he has been surrounded by it, saturated by it. Since his peers are in the same boat it seems the most natural thing in the world to do and it is therefore as obvious a thing to discuss at the lunch table as football or the forthcoming Latin test.

 

Something similar is true of a chorister’s appreciation of literature; he knows by heart some of the finest verse in the English language, not because he has been made to learn it parrot fashion, but simply because he has sung the music of Finzi, Britten, Walton, Parry or Vaughan Williams. It has become a part of him along with the psalms and all those other texts, which have shaped the English language. He does not yet know what riches he has absorbed, because he has done so quite naturally, but those who mark his Common Entrance or scholarship papers will, because it will have enriched his whole understanding of the way in which language works.

 

And what about those extended conversations in the dining room? Where does that sort of confidence come from? Choristers are well used to talking to adults. They work with them all the time after all – and with some of the most distinguished people too. Be they poets, composers, theologians, artists or even politicians, choristers are used to talking to adults on equal terms as like-minded individuals. They do not distinguish between adults or children. That is not to say that they have lost sight of childhood – far from it – but that in an age when so many children are entirely removed from adult influences and the culture is exclusively one of the peer group, our choristers have the best of both worlds. And so Chelsea’s premiership chance, which of course came to nothing this year just like their Champion’s League dream, is as important to our 13- year-olds as any musical matters.

 

And this gets to the heart of what is so special about a chorister’s education. Children at this age tend to throw themselves into whatever is offered to them. They are prepared to have a go and to take on the culture around them. That is why it is important that as educators we give them experiences of real quality, and that we make the highest expectations of them. A chorister thinks nothing of sustaining concentration over a three-hour rehearsal or recording session, adjusting to others around him in teamwork, which comes as naturally as singing itself. Such an ability to sustain concentration, to think through problems, to see the bigger picture is all too rare in youngsters today. Against a culture of the quick fix, of instant gratification, choristers score hands down.

 

Choristership is not the narrow life that some may anticipate. Choristers are very busy children packing an enormous amount into their day doing all the extracurricular activities of their peers. In doing so, they also learn quite naturally to be disciplined and organised. Ask any senior school housemaster and I bet that he will tell you that he can usually spot a boy who has been a chorister.

 

Some ask how a chorister can possibly compete academically with children who do not spend three hours each day on music. True, at my school we probably have fewer lessons than most, but with year groups of just seven or eight, up-to-date facilities and the luxuries of specialist teaching, it is not hard to have the best of both worlds.

 

There are some 44 choir schools in the country ranging from maintained schools of more than a thousand pupils to my tiny specialist school. What they have in common is something very special. Why not contact the Choir Schools’ Association to find out more.

 

Oh yes, and you will no doubt be relieved to hear that the sermon that afternoon lasted no more than seven minutes after which my companions went out and enjoyed an afternoon’s go-karting in style.

 

Jonathan Milton is Headmaster of Westminster Abbey Choir School For further information about choir schools contact The Choir Schools’ Association: Email: info@choirschools.org.uk Telephone: 01359 221333