Congratulations to Angus who has passed his Associate of the Royal College of Organists (ARCO) exams which recognise “professional competency” on the instrument.
“I’m really proud of the fact I’ve managed to do it so young,” Angus said, as he gained the qualification while in Year 10. His achievement was made even more notable after he was awarded three prizes for scoring so highly.
“Honestly, when I got the result that I passed I was over the moon,” he said, describing the news as “exhilarating”. “About half an hour later when I was on a bus, I got the results that I’d got those prizes, and it was hard not to jump out of my seat.
“[The exam] was quite a big leap, but the Music Department here really, really helped. Mr. Allsop, Head of Organ, Mr O’Donovan, Head of Academic Music, and my organ teacher Mr Scriven supported me throughout the whole process.”
Angus began playing the organ aged nine after being introduced to the instrument while singing in a choir: “It was all around in my day-to-day environment and always something I wanted to do.
“The amount of sounds you can get out of it, all of the different colours and characters you can play and make with just one instrument,” he said, reflecting on what originally drew him to the organ. “The variety of different repertoires is just so amazing.”
Before the exam, Angus felt “very nervous”, but he said: “Once I got settled down into it, I knew what I was doing and I felt comfortable, I got into a rhythm.”
The exam consists of two parts: written and practical, which is made up of keyboard skills and performance. For the former, Angus studied harmony and counterpoint, and wrote essays on a set period of music history which he found “rewarding”.
For his performance, he thought carefully before choosing his music: “I had a piece of Bach and then I complimented it with a piece of Buxtehude, sandwiching a piece of Stanford to kind of change the mood.”
Next March, Angus will be presented with his diploma in a ceremony at Southwark Cathedral. He will receive the Lord St Audries Prize: U19 candidate with highest marks in the Practical Examination, the Sawyer/Durrant Prize: overall second highest marks in the Practical Examination, and the jointly awarded Doris Wookey Prize for scoring the second highest marks in the Written Papers.
After returning to the School this September, Angus said his Boarding House, which he describes as having “lots of camaraderie”, were very pleased for him: “They were quite proud. I was very proud, and my parents were also very happy for me.”
Out of all of Eton’s eight pipe organs, he has a favourite: “I really love the historic 1902 Hill organ in College Chapel. It’s not only a great instrument, but it’s also a great piece of history in the organ world. It’s just lovely to play.
“The Music Department offer a lot of great opportunities to play the organ. There’s a wide range of incredible organ teachers and you can play services in Lower Chapel and College Chapel.” Many boys have lessons at the School and a number of Old Etonians are currently organ scholars at Oxford, Cambridge, and even in the US.
After his success, Angus is already preparing for the ARSM for violin, having already completed the same exam for piano. But with all his musical ambitions, he hasn’t forgotten about his upcoming academic exams, though he feels confident he can balance them both: “Eton prepare you so well for GCSEs so I think it’ll be fine.”
