Northern School of Music

The Northern School of Music (NSM) started life (1920) as Manchester's branch of the Matthay School of Music. In 1943 it was properly incorporated as the Northern School of Music. In its later years it was accommodated in a building on Oxford Road (near Sidney Street), which later became the site of the students' union of Manchester Polytechnic.

For most of the early years of its existence it focused on training music teachers but gradually performance came to play an increasing role. This was thanks to Ida Carroll.

In 1955 Hilda Collens, the School's founder and principal met the principal of the Royal Manchester College of Music, Frederic Cox, and talks about merging the schools were held. These talks were to last many years and finally in 1972 led to the establishment of the Royal Northern College of Music.

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