The Composition School (previously the Summer School, held at the Purcell School in Bushey) is a residential course that gives you the opportunity to explore your musical creativity.

Whether you create in a DAW, with a band, use notation, improvise or are curious about experimenting with creating music, we will support you to bring your creative ideas to life with the guidance of expert tutors from a range of musical genres and the support of a community of young music-makers like you.

On this page, you can learn more about young people's experience on the course and what making music in each group is like, in these quickfire interviews with our Composition School alumni.

Maryam, Billie and Daniel

Meet Maryam, Billie and Daniel, three alumni of the Sound and Music Summer School for young music-makers aged 14-18. Hear them talk about their music-making experience before the Summer School, their time working with the professional musicians during the course and the community of young music-makers fostered at the Summer School.

Nathen and Yulin

Meet Nathen and Yulin, two alumni of the Sound and Music Summer School for young music-makers aged 14-18. Hear them talk about the tools they use for music-making, learning new techniques for composition and more!

Ariana and Maddy

Meet Ariana and Maddy, two alumni of the Sound and Music Summer School for young music-makers aged 14-18. Hear them talk about their music-making background before coming to Summer School, the working process with the professional musicians and what they will take from the Summer School into their futures.

Sound and Music Summer School

Our Composition School is a residential course that gives you the opportunity to explore your musical creativity. Whether you create in a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW), with a band, use notation, improvise or are curious about experimenting with creating music and sound, we will support you to bring your ideas to life with the guidance of expert tutors from a range of musical genres. 

Be inspired by professional composers in group and 1:1 tuition, meet like-minded young music-makers from across the country and experience music-making without bounds, with access to resources including recording studios, industry standard equipment and computers. The week culminates in the performance of an original piece of music you have composed and a high-quality, professionally mixed and mastered recording of your piece.

Learn more about our Composition School