Hi, my name is Helen, and I am a first-year music student at St Catz.
In terms of work, an average week usually consists of around 4-6 hours of lectures, but this will depend on which modules you opt for. Tutorials, which are basically small classes of two to three people, also take place around 3 times a week. Tutorials are particularly useful as they give you an opportunity to discuss your ideas and clear up anything that you may not have understood. This term, for example, I am having tutorials on analysis, techniques of composition, women and music in the 19th century, Lasso, global hip hop and keyboard skills. The tutors are extremely accommodating and understand that not everyone had access to the same resources or received the same level of teaching prior to coming to Oxford. Therefore, if you feel like you may not have had adequate teaching to prepare you for Oxford, or perhaps your school did not offer A-level music or an equivalent, I would strongly encourage you to apply still as this will be taken into consideration. The workload for an average week includes around 2-3 essays, techniques of composition reading and exercises, and keyboard skills exercises. The rest of it depends on the modules you decide to take, for example, performance is personal practice. In your first year you will also have around 2 seminars for the critical listening. Outside of tutorials, seminars and lectures, the university also offers workshops for a variety of things like improvisation and performance.
For your personal statement, I think it is important to be honest about your interests because the chances are, they will be picked up in one of your interviews, so you want to make sure you play to your strengths and that you feel comfortable discussing it. My interview experience was very mixed. Although I enjoyed the experience of being in Oxford and meeting everyone, I found the interviews extremely nerve-racking. But the tutors were lovely and there was honestly nothing to be worried about. Before all my interviews I received some form of pre-reading, either a score or an extract, which we then discussed. There will definitely be questions that you haven’t covered, and they will try and push you but just try and build of what you already know and show that you can think critically. Remember that they are not trying to trip you up and that they are probably more interested in you reasoning than in you giving the correct answer.
I wanted to finish by saying that if you enjoy music and want to pursue it at university but feel that you do not fit the stereotypical ‘Oxford type’, you should not let this deter you from applying because they are looking for people from all backgrounds with a passion for the subject and a work ethic that will support the academic requirements.