Your referees should know you well enough to write about you and to comment on your suitability for the course(s) you have chosen

Step 2: Applying

You must provide details of two referees:

  • one to comment on your academic ability
  • the other to comment on your musical ability.

You should ask your referees if they are prepared to provide a reference before you enter their details.

Both referees should know you well enough to write about you and whether you are suitable for the course(s) that you have chosen. We cannot process your application without full details of the referees.

If you are applying before 1 October you should aim to have your references with conservatoires by the end of October. If applying after the October deadline you should aim to have references with conservatoires as soon as possible.

Your referees will be required to send a copy of your references by post to each of the conservatoires you have chosen. Any references sent to CUKAS will be returned to the referee, which may result in a delay in your application being considered.

Academic referee

Who should write your academic reference?string quartet

  • Your referee should know you well enough, in an official capacity, to write about you and your suitability for higher education.
  • If you are at school or college, or have recently left, you should ask your principal, head teacher, teacher or tutor.
  • If you left school or college several years ago you should ask your current or previous employer or, in the case of voluntary work, your supervisor.
  • If you have recently attended any training courses you should ask your training provider.

Music referee

Who should write your music reference?

Your music referee should be someone, such as your music teacher, or Head of Music, who can comment on your:

  • performing or compositional ability, experience and potential
  • general academic ability in music
  • practical music skills
  • attitude to work and reliability
  • commitment to music as a profession
  • ability to communicate.

Who should NOT write a reference?

  • It is not permitted for family, friends, partners or ex-partners to write your academic or music reference. If subsequently we find this to be the case, your application may be cancelled.
  • It is not permitted for you to write your own academic or music reference. If subsequently we find this to be the case, your application may be cancelled.

When you have completed the rest of your application, you should send the reference form to your referees. There are two ways to do this:

  1. Save it as a Word document to email to your referee (but you will still need to send the stamped addressed envelopes by post).
  2. Print it as a webpage and post or give it to your referee.

Academic reference form
Music reference form

Preparing your Word documents

  1. Click on 'save academic reference form' and 'save music reference form' and save each as a Word document.
  2. Save a separate copy of each reference form for each of your choices.
  3. Enter your name and Personal ID on each reference form.
  4. Enter the following details for each type of referee and each choice:
    • your main instrument study or study area
    • the title of the course applied for
    • the abbreviation of the conservatoire
    • the referee's details.
  5. Email the forms to the appropriate referee.
  6. Give, or post, to each referee a stamped addressed envelope for every conservatoire you have applied to. The conservatoires' addresses are shown at the end of the reference form.

Remember

Each referee must have:

  • a Word document for each of your choices
  • a stamped addressed envelope for each of your choices.

For example, if you have six choices, you must send six Word documents, individually completed with your details and the course and conservatoire details, to each referee.

As the music and academic reference forms contain different information, for six choices you will need to email 12 reference forms in total.

Print as a webpage to send by post

  1. Click on 'print academic reference form' and 'print music reference form'. (You need to print one copy of both for every choice you have made). You need to enter your name and Personal ID, and your referees' details.
  2. Using a separate form for each choice:
    • enter your main instrument study or study area
    • enter the course applied for
    • tick your choice of conservatoire.
  3. Give, or post, to each referee a form and stamped addressed envelope for every conservatoire you have applied to. The conservatoires' addresses are shown at the end of the reference form.

Remember

Each referee must have:

  • a reference form for each of your choices
  • a stamped addressed envelope for each of your choices.

For example, if you have made six choices, you must send six forms, individually completed with your details and the course and conservatoire details, to each referee.

As the music and academic reference forms contain different information, for six choices you will need to print 12 reference forms in total.

Both the reference forms contain guidance notes for the referee about the type of information they should include. This guidance is different for the academic referee and the music referee.

You must make sure each referee knows what they need to do

Using the emailed Word documents, the referee should:

  1. save the blank documents to their computer
  2. type their reference in the space provided on one of the documents
  3. copy the reference onto each of the Word documents you supplied. They can tailor it to the specific course
  4. print each completed reference
  5. sign each reference form
  6. post each reference form to the conservatoires indicated by you, using the envelopes supplied by you.

Remember
You must tell both your referees to sign each reference form (if you have six choices then they will need to sign all six forms). They cannot email the forms to the conservatoires. The conservatoires' email addresses are provided only to allow referees to contact the conservatoires about any queries they may have.

On pre-printed web pages, the referee should:

  1. type or write the reference in the space provided
  2. physically copy the reference onto each of the forms that you gave them. To do this they can either rewrite or retype the reference onto each form, or photocopy the original reference and staple, glue or tape a copy into the space provided on each of the other reference forms. They must take care not to obscure any other information on the form
  3. sign each reference form.
  4. post each reference form to the conservatoires indicated by you, using the envelopes supplied by you.

Remember
You must tell both your referees to sign each reference form (if you have six choices then they will need to sign all six forms). The conservatoires' email addresses are provided so that the referees can contact the conservatoires about any queries they may have.