While music is at the heart of Chetham\u2019s, our students go on to excel in many different fields \u2013 from medicine and law to architecture, science, politics and the arts. The benefits of a musical education reach far beyond the practice room: it builds discipline, communication skills, confidence and creativity. These qualities give Chetham\u2019s students a strong foundation for their future lives and careers, wherever their paths may lead.<\/p>\n
Maria Rivas studied cello at Chetham\u2019s from 2014 to 2019 and is now pursuing a PhD in Philosophy of Science at the University of Salamanca. Her research explores patient participation and risk management in mental health. Last month she returned to Manchester to deliver a paper at a bioethics and philosophy of medicine conference, and she couldn\u2019t resist stopping by her old school. We asked Maria about her passion for philosophy and how her musical training continues to shape her journey.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor a long time, I was convinced I would go to a conservatoire in London, but in my last two years at Chetham\u2019s I decided on Philosophy,\u201d she says. Law was also an option, until her English teacher, Mrs Harrison, explained that philosophy could be a strong foundation for legal studies. \u201cShe told me about how Marx and Engels had researched here in Chetham\u2019s Library<\/a>. There\u2019s so much history here, and it\u2019s an inspiring place to think about philosophy.\u201d<\/p>\n Maria believes much of her academic success stems from what she learned through music. \u201cStudying music is ideal for the academic world. It gives you discipline and a good routine, which you need every day with your instrument. Many PhD students don\u2019t have that. As a musician, you learn how to focus your attention on what matters. And through performing, you learn how to communicate your ideas to an audience.\u201d<\/p>\n For Maria, music and philosophy are deeply connected. \u201cThere are aspects of music theory and performance practice that are closely related to my thesis, and to philosophy as a whole. Western philosophy emerged in Greece, with thinkers like Pythagoras exploring the links between geometry and harmony. Music is really at the root of my studies.\u201d<\/p>\n Although she chose not to pursue cello professionally, music remains essential to her life. \u201cAt university I had to face the reality that I wasn\u2019t going to dedicate myself to music full time. At first, I didn\u2019t understand what life would look like without eight hours of practice a day, or without presenting myself as a cellist. But if you\u2019re passionate about what you do \u2013 philosophy in my case \u2013 you gradually realise you\u2019ve made the right choice. Still, I need music to live!\u201d<\/p>\n Maria continues to play with her twin sister, who also studied at Chetham\u2019s. \u201cYour instrument never disappears from your life,\u201d she says. \u201cIt will always be a very big part of you.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s amazing where a musical education can take you!<\/strong><\/p>\n Are you a young musician inspired by the success of our alumni? Join us for our next <\/strong>Open Day<\/strong><\/a> or book an <\/strong>Advice Audition<\/strong><\/a> today.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" While music is at the heart of Chetham\u2019s, our students go on to excel in many different fields \u2013 from medicine and law to architecture, science, politics and the arts. The benefits of a musical education reach far beyond the practice room: it builds discipline, communication skills, confidence and creativity. These qualities give Chetham\u2019s students […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6052,"featured_media":96114,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-96112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chethamsschoolofmusic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96112","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chethamsschoolofmusic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chethamsschoolofmusic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chethamsschoolofmusic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6052"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chethamsschoolofmusic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96112"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/chethamsschoolofmusic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96112\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":97082,"href":"https:\/\/chethamsschoolofmusic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96112\/revisions\/97082"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chethamsschoolofmusic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chethamsschoolofmusic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chethamsschoolofmusic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chethamsschoolofmusic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Music and philosophy<\/h3>\n
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