Visiting Teacher of Piano and Accompanist

Music at Lancing

Music is at the heart of life at Lancing and the renowned Choir sings at services in Chapel as well at major cathedrals across the country and regularly broadcasts choral evensong on BBC Radio 3 most recently in October 2025 and December 2023. Music at Lancing is extremely well resourced, and the College Chapel is an inspiring setting in which to make music in services and concerts and is fortunate to possess magnificent organs by Frobenius and Walker. Large-scale symphonic and chamber music concerts are frequently given in Great School which houses a Steinway model D and extremely good acoustics for instrumental and choral music.

Choral and instrumental music flourish in the Choir, Choral Scholars (Chamber Choir), A Cappella Club, College Singers (Choral Society), Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonia, Concert Band, Big Band, Rock Society, a host of chamber music groups and a Music tech club.

There is a full and varied programme of events, ranging from lunchtime concerts, rock concerts and masterclasses to large-scale evening concerts and musical theatre. In the Lent Term the House Music Competition receives over 200 entries from pupils in solo, duet and ensemble categories, and the House Singing Competition in October involves every pupil in the school.

Concert highlights have included Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite, Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, Sibelius’ Finlandia, Vaughan Williams’s The Lark Ascending as well as numerous concerto movements. Chamber ensembles have performed Dvorak’s Dumky Trio, Borodin’s String Quartet no.1 first movement and Clara Schumann’s Piano Trio second movement.

The College Singers together with the College Choir give an annual performance of major choral works including Mozart’s Requiem and Solemn Vespers Rossini’s Petit Messe Solennelle, Handel’s Messiah and Vivaldi’s Gloria in recent years.

To celebrate the completion of the Chapel in 2022, the College commissioned a new anthem The Earth is the Lord’s composed by Matthew Martin and now published by Novello. In 2024 the school celebrated its 175^th Anniversary with the musicians performing in a Gala Concert in London at Southwark Cathedral and also giving the first performance of Lancing Beatitudes composed by Roxanna Panufnik and published by Peters.

There are regular musical productions in the theatre and recent shows include Guys and Dolls, Sweeney Todd, The Addams Family, Anything Goes, Chicago and My Fair Lady.

There are twenty-seven Music Scholars and Exhibitioners in the College with over half coming to Lancing from cathedral choir schools such as Westminster Abbey, St Paul’s, Chichester, Salisbury, Ely and Exeter. Lancing’s Music Scholars regularly go on to study Music at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, winning Choral and Organ scholarships and to many of the top music colleges including the Royal Academy of Music, the Royal Northern College of Music, the Guildhall School of Music and the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire.

Enrichment activities for Lancing’s musicians include visits from professional musicians to give concerts, masterclasses, and lectures with recent visits from Nigel Short (conductor), Sally Beamish (composer), Meurig Bowen (arts administration) and the Kokoshka Trio.

The Department holds annual music events for Prep School pupils; orchestral and choral which have proved very popular amongst local preparatory schools.

Music Department Staff

The Department comprises three members of teaching staff; the Director of Music, Assistant Director of Music & Head of Academic Music, a Graduate Teacher of Music, supported by a Graduate Music Assistant and an administrator. There are twenty-four visiting music teachers offering tuition in the full range of orchestral and rock instruments and voice, many of whom also lead and direct school ensembles.

The Music School

The Music School has 14 practice rooms, a drum room, a chamber music room, a recital room and a computer suite. The recital room, where much of the academic teaching takes place, is also used for rehearsals and lunchtime concerts. The computer suite has recently been upgraded with 14 Macs fitted with a range of software such as Sibelius, GarageBand, and Logic. Further rehearsal space is located below the Chapel in the Bedford Studio for the Symphony Orchestra and the Crypt for the Choir.

The Appointment

The post of Visiting Music Teacher involves working in occupied premises, both in classrooms and other locations in the school used for concerts. Therefore, an awareness of the working environment and the people in it are essential. This is particularly important concerning appropriate behaviour towards children, and health and safety awareness for the individual worker, and other third parties, including fellow workers.

Applications are invited from suitably qualified and experienced teachers to join a strong and successful Visiting Music Team, within a thriving Music Department.

Job Title:        Visiting Teacher of Piano and Accompanist

Reporting to:  Director of Music

Key Tasks and Responsibilities:

• To teach from beginner level to Grade 8 and beyond.
• To accompany pupils in concerts and exams as required.
• To write biannual reports on individual pupils and on pupils plating in ensembles under their direction.
• To maintain lesson record sheets and report absences from lessons and rehearsals.
• To assist in the wider supervision of pupils in the music school during the evenings.
• To prepare pupils for internal and external exams, performances, competitions, and auditions.
• To attend staff inset day at the end and beginning of the term as reasonably required either in person or remotely.

The post-holder will be expected to manage their own timetables (with the support of the Music Administrator) and deliver a minimum of thirty individual piano lessons per pupil in each academic year and may be invited to take on other duties, as outlined above, on occasional or regular basis, depending on the needs of the College.

This job description sets out the main duties at the time it was drawn up.  Such duties may vary occasionally but without changing the general character of the duties or the level of responsibility entailed.

Skills and Qualifications

Essential

• Experience teaching individual music lessons.
• Experience performing and accompanying professionally and hold appropriate qualifications.
• Excellent organisational and interpersonal skills.

Desirable

• Previous experience teaching and accompanying both beginner and advanced pupils.
• Previous experience leading rehearsals and workshops.

This job description sets out the main duties at the time it was drawn up.  Such duties may vary occasionally but without changing the general character of the duties or the level of responsibility entailed, and the candidate will be required to carry out any reasonable requests required by their Line Manager.

Application Procedure:

Applications should be made using the application form. Candidates are asked to add a covering letter setting out, as succinctly as possible, their reasons for applying for the position at Lancing.

Application forms are available from the College website www.lancingcollege.org.uk.

Please send any emails to recruitment@lancing.org.uk

A full curriculum vitae and the names, addresses and telephone numbers of a minimum of three referees, one of whom should be the candidate’s current or most recent employer should be included with the application.

Closing date: Friday 29 May 2026

Interviews: w/c 8 June 2026

The College reserves the right to call individuals to interview prior to the closing date for applications.