Music: Through the Archives

Music at Chigwell School has taken a variety of forms throughout its history. Shortly after the School’s official foundation in 1629, its founder (Archbishop Samuel Harsnett) commissioned a gallery for his ‘scholars’ in St Mary’s Church next door. This suggests that pupils’ participation in choir music was established early on, and (apart from during the Puritan ban) presumably continued there until the gallery was removed in 1886. 

In 1876, though, the School had transformed one of its own buildings onsite into a ('Tin') Chapel, complete with a small reed organ. One of the most well-known music teachers at Chigwell was Henry Riding, an Organist, who taught between 1892 and 1912. He may well have been the one to accompany services at the organ. Riding's grave may be found in the churchyard of St Mary’s Church, Chigwell, where a memorial window was built in his honour.

Christmas Concert Programme (1900)

The first School Song had been written around 1870, but the present ‘Which is the way to be happy?’ was composed at the turn of the century. Around this time, pupils' musical prowess began to be formally congratulated, too: in the 1910s, the first Music Prizes awarded to pupils are found recorded in The Chigwellian.

The School Song (1907)

In 1924, the School had built a larger Chapel of its own onsite, with room for choir stalls, demonstrating the importance of music to pupils' religious instruction. Alongside this, though, secular music flourished, and almost every event the School hosted featured musical accompaniment from pupils or staff.

The School Band (1924)

The School also has strong links to music through its alumni, as its traditions show. In 1926, one of the School sports teams was called Caswalls', which later became Senior School house that we know today. It is named after five brothers who attended Chigwell in the 1820s, one of whom became a famous hymn-writer: Edward Caswall was an Anglican clergyman who later became an Oratorian priest. Some of his work appears in Hymns Ancient and Modern, a text still used widely for congregational singing. 

Edward Caswall (c1860) & Hymns Ancient and Modern (1924)

So, it was in the 20th Century that music as a discipline, and as an extra-curricular, developed most fully at Chigwell. The role of Director of Music became an important one, and extended to concerts trips and running new music groups like the Glee Club. A new School Orchestra gave its first concert in 1949, and the Chigwellian Choral Society was founded around the same time, which the School remains strongly connected with. In 1962, the Music School was built, forming the first space in the School dedicated to music teaching.

Plans for the Music School (1961)

Jasper Thorogood became Director of Music in 1975, and oversaw both the Choir and the Chamber Orchestra, as well as tours in Europe, Bermuda, and the United States. In this period, music scholarships were extended, and a new curriculum was introduced.

Rehearsals for the School's 350th Anniversary Celebrations (1979)

The years following saw four new members of staff take on the role of Director of Music: Edward Kay (1984-86), Nicholas Sherwood (1987-97), Ben Charles (1998-2003, in which time the Musician of the Year competition started), and Amanda Lapwood (2004-2010). Music teaching and performance at School came to include an even greater variety of genres and instruments.

Music at School (1990s)

Howard Ebden is the current Director of Music at Chigwell, where more than thirty different musical groups now flourish at School – from Chapel Choir to Big Band, and from the Modern Music Ensemble to the Violin Quintet.