A Level student Guy secures place at world-famous Guildhall School of Music and Drama

Guy, 19, will begin a four-year Bachelor of Music Honours degree in Electronic and Produced Music next month at the London institution, whose illustrious alumni includes the likes of Daniel Craig, Ewan McGregor, Myleene Klass, Sir Noel Coward and The Beatles’ former Record Producer Sir George Martin.

The Guildhall only accepts fewer than 160 undergraduate students a year and, located within the Barbican Centre on the River Thames, its prestige is further exemplified by placing third for Music in the 2025 QS World University Rankings and also first for a third consecutive year in the Complete University Guide's Arts, Drama and Music League Table for the UK.

Guy, who plays drums and guitar, will also be joining students from 70 countries across the world at the school, having impressed throughout a rigorous interview process that saw him compose musical pieces that were evaluated by a highly distinguished and discerning judging panel.   

Having secured A* grades in Music and Music Technology and a B in Drama and Theatre Studies at College last summer, Guy spent a year out to focus on his Guildhall application, while working part-time and volunteering at a music studio called Young Thugs in York’s South Bank Social Club.   

He also went inter-railing for a month, travelling around Hungary, Slovenia, Italy, the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium but is now thrilled to be resuming an educational journey that will see him, in all certainty, rub shoulders with some of the next generation’s leading lights in the arts industry.

“It was around eight or nine months ago that I decided to apply for the Guildhall,” Guy explained. “I went there for the Open Day, which was amazing.

“They had (composer) David Buckley there doing a talk. He did the music for Flushed Away, Shrek and lots more amazing stuff. 

“He said that he would definitely pick the Guildhall at this moment in time, with the masterclasses they put on and the connections you can make. It was very eye-opening and I got a very good feeling that made me very excited about the possibility of going there.

“So, after I had applied and gone through the interview process, when I opened the email and it said ‘Congratulations’ straight away, I felt really relieved. I think London is the place to be for music and, instead of dipping my toes in the water, I think I’ll be diving right in, which is what I really want to do now.”

The Guildhall’s highly competitive admissions procedure sees auditions for their music courses held every year in London, New York, Hong Kong, Seoul, Taipei and Tokyo as they scour the world for talent. 

Only 30 students are accepted onto the Electronic and Produced Music course every year with Guy having to impress at every stage of the application cycle.  

First, he was required to deliver 10 minutes of content and opted for one of his “strongest areas” – providing a musical soundtrack to video images.

He used three of his own songs with a pop music flavour, adding: “There was a lot of electronic synthesis in there and I tried to put in a really big range of things.”

Guy also had to provide a cover letter explaining the meaning behind the songs and a document detailing his experience in electronic music. 

After his submission had then been condensed into a piece between two and three minutes in length and sent to staff from the Popular Music Production and Produced Music and Songwriting departments, Guy was then chosen for a 40-minute interview by the former with that course unit having been identified as his strongest principal study option.

Next, he was given a brief and one week to produce a song that only used music from an object that was not recognised as an instrument.

“I found that really good fun,” Guy declared. “I used a coil from a microphone stand and made quite a fun, funky dance, electronic-sounding track.

“They played it back to me and asked me questions on what inspired me and my other inspirations. That was the last stage before I got an email telling me I had got in!”

Along with the expert academic tuition he will receive at the Guildhall, Guy will also be given opportunities to showcase his talents on live projects within the industry and, on that prospect, he enthused: “I’m very excited that I will be given more real-life external work and commissions.

“From what I know and have read about, you are judged a lot on that. You are given a list of things that you can do and you choose the jobs you like.

“You have to do a minimum number and, at the end of the year, you are marked on your portfolio. So, you can leave the college with a massive portfolio of work.

“The college is also working on the Illuminated River Project, where student composers will be working on individual soundtracks for each of the nine bridges across the Thames, which is very exciting. I’m also looking forward to the people I will meet and there are some really cool music scenes in London.

“There’s a place called the Windmill (in Brixton) where a lot of really cool bands, including a lot of the Guildhall alumni, start out.”

While the Guildhall’s alumni roll of honour is like an arts industry Who’s Who list through the ages, Guy has more contemporary role models that he admires and hopes to emulate, too.

“The Guildhall has a lot of international students and a lot of people from bands that I really love who have done the course, like the singer from Black Country, New Road, who did the Electronic Music course,” he pointed out. “There’s the guy from a really, really cool electronic band called Jockstrap that I like who did my course, too.

“It feels good to know that I could be considered the same calibre as them and I want to work my way up to that.”

Guy is grateful, meanwhile, for the support he received from his former College tutor Andrew Cleaton throughout the Guildhall application process, which sees candidates deal directly with the school rather than through the UCAS system.

He also believes the quality of Music tuition at Sim Balk Lane makes it possible for future A Level students to progress onto Higher Education with the Guildhall if desired.

“Andrew was such a big help to me and gave me good references,” Guy declared. “I asked him so many questions on Teams and, if you do come to College, you have everything here that you need to take the steps to get in at the Guildhall in terms of the facilities and teachers, who do know everything you need to know.

“You have all the resources here, with the access to the music studio you get, the really top-quality mics and the tuition you get to learn how to use them properly and put those skills into practice. Nothing is handed to you and we were given quite a bit of independence in terms of our studies, which I really liked, so it’s just about putting the effort in and the level of drive you have.”

With York College providing the largest number of A Level options of any education provider in the city, Guy added that he was delighted with the choices he made, having identified subjects that he both enjoyed and could perform well in.

“Music was a bit more essay based but, with Music Technology, it was like doing my hobby,” he said. “It wasn’t easy, but it felt very natural for me to go in and it was fun to learn new things, whilst also getting marked on what I already knew.

“Drama was also really good fun, and I made some really good friends on the course. I always looked forward to seeing those lessons on my timetable.”

Another key factor in Guy choosing York College as his post-16 education destination was making new friends, even from other curriculum areas, which led to him forming a band with a singer and guitarist, who studied Media and Politics respectively.

Called Needlework and influenced by 1980s' post-punk group The Fall, the band enjoy a cult following in the city and have played gigs at The Crescent, as well as in Manchester and Leeds.

“At College you meet so many people and the highlight for me was that social aspect,” Guy pointed out. “There are so many people who come here from everywhere.

“In secondary school, you only meet people from York and, usually, just your little corner of York. In College, I made lots of friends from Oslo in the first year and that was really fun, as well as others from Scarborough and Leeds, so I could go there and watch gigs with them.

“I feel you can be your self here and mix with like-minded people."

Guy encourages anybody considering York College as their next steps after Year 11, meanwhile, to come and have a look at the building first.

One-to-one tours can be organised by contacting us directly and our next Open Event will also be staged on Tuesday 7th October.

“My sister came here and really enjoyed doing Art,” Guy explained. “I came to her Showcase and, when I saw the facilities and the Music Technology department, it became a no-brainer for me.

“I learnt a lot about what microphones to use and there was just a really good vibe here. It feels more like a university, rather than a school, which is what I was looking for.”

Having been able to apply the skills he learned at College during his voluntary work at Young Thugs, Guy also broadened his mind by sampling the music scenes in the Netherlands and Germany during his travels this summer.

“I went to see a really cool band Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs in Germany,” he said. “I haven’t got a stutter – that’s their real name.

“They’re from Newcastle and we saw them at the coolest venue in the middle of nowhere among some abandoned buildings in Cologne. We had to walk for 40 minutes to get there!”

Guy will take all of those experiences forward with him to the Guildhall, along with the skills he has developed playing the drums for “half his life” and the electric guitar “since Year 7”.

He also experiments regularly with synthesisers and pianos and, whilst he has a strong idea of what area of the industry he would like to work in one day, he is keen to expose himself to different potential vocational pathways at the Guildhall.

“My dream career, which has been cemented during my gap year with Young Thugs, would be to work in a music studio,” he shared. “It’s so fun, but I just want to see where everything takes me.

“I’d love to do sound for adverts, which a lot of people do, and also just be in bands and stuff, maybe with a bit of promotion thrown in as well. I want to open my eyes to as much as possible and keep my options wide.”

To learn more about our Music Technology A Level, click here

For further details on our full A Level offering, visit here

If you would like to learn more about the college and our complete course provision, while meeting and talking to our expert team of tutors, then please consider attending our next Open Event on Tuesday 7th October (5.30pm-8pm). You can register a place here