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The Song School of St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral was established in 1880 to educate the choristers of the newly constructed St Mary's Cathedral.It was originally housed at Old Coates House and the appropriately named 'Song School' building (which is still used by the choristers for daily practice).Early in the 1970s, two individuals became adamant about not only preserving the Choir School's existence, but also expanding it into something new and exciting.Dennis Townhill, the organist at St Mary's Cathedral, and Philip Crosfield, the Provost, became the founding fathers of the new specialist music school, which is still going strong today.When the first young instrumentalists arrived in 1972, their vision of a school for gifted musical children, modeled after the Yehudi Menuhin School in England, became a reality.Lord Menuhin was a big fan, and he even called St Mary's Music School "my younger sister-school in Scotland."