University News Last updated 25 April
Fourth-year BMus students Anna Thirkettle and Felicity Lennard have been appointed as Graduate Music Assistants at the specialist music school Wells Cathedral School. The roles will commence in September 2025.
Wells Cathedral School is one of four specialist music schools in the UK. It has an enriching music programme, which aims to enhance each musician鈥檚 potential as they go through their education.
The main responsibilities of the music assistant role are to supervise practice sessions and assist with the running of the Music Department鈥檚 concert programme. This includes ensemble management, concert series administration, events coordination, academic music projects and social media posts and monitoring.
Other responsibilities include supporting chamber music coaching and sectional rehearsals.
Anna and Felicity, who are clarinet and recorder students respectively, were selected in a highly competitive process for two of the six Graduate Music Assistant posts. The recruitment process involved helping Wells students during timetabled practice and being interviewed by panellists including the Deputy Director of Music at Wells Harvey Brink.
Anna commented: 鈥淚 am looking forward to expanding my skills for my future teaching and performing career, and I think I will learn a lot from the students and fellow assistants. The panel was impressed by the skills I have gained at RBC. For my Final Project, I decided to put on a public concert, Winds of The West End, and this has provided me with lots of skills that are useful for the job. I also gained useful experiences through the Further Pedagogy module at RBC. The wide variety of ensembles I have played in as a woodwind doubler, from first clarinet in RBC Symphony Orchestra to alto saxophone in RBC Jazz Orchestra, has enabled me to develop a wide range of styles useful for ensemble coaching.鈥�
Felicity reflected: 鈥淚 am thrilled to have been offered a Graduate Music Assistant place at Wells and am looking forward to starting in September. What drew me to Wells, given its large Specialist Music programme, was that there would be a team of six assistants, and not just one or two like most schools. I鈥檓 looking forward to being part of a close-knit team.
鈥淚 hope to use the experience and guidance I have been given from RBC to support the students at Wells while also picking up new skills in the job. Although the job will be a slight departure to life as I know it, I am excited to enter the world of work and push myself out of my comfort zone by challenging myself with a new role and responsibilities.鈥�
Pictured: (l-r) Anna Thirkettle and Felicity Lennard.