Singing is the main medium for composing, performing, listening and appraising. Year 9 pupils attend music lessons in classes that are set according to general academic ability. This form of organisation does not work successfully in the country as a whole, but is made to work very successfully at Duchess's. There are three streams. The time that the school makes available for music, a weekly lesson of 55 minutes, is below the national average.
Music is taught in a very resonant space that served formerly as a canteen.
The extracts of Year 9 singing available on this page were recorded in this space less than seven months after the pupils joined the school. The curriculum at Duchess's continues to emphasise singing when pupils move into Key Stage 4 and the sixth form. Compositions submitted for GCSE are often vocal. Sixth formers provide good role models of singers through the standard of their own performance, and by joining some Year 9 lessons to help lead the singing. The arrangements of Take me up the Tyne , Stome Ome and Rock and Roll Around are published by Sing for Pleasure .