Christopher Sparkhall

Christopher Sparkhall is a Senior Music Examiner and former Director of Music with 25 years’ experience.

Chris is currently an examiner for ABRSM with nearly 20 years of experience, and a Senior Examiner for both A Level and GCSE Music. In addition to his music examining work, he is much in demand as an organist and accompanist and he is co-host of the literary and musical podcast Lines and Dots, which is available through Spotify, Amazon and iTunes.

Chris began learning the piano at the age of 6 and the organ at 10. He attended the King’s School in Gloucester as an academic and music scholar and was organ scholar at Gloucester Cathedral from 1995-96, also winning the prize for the highest national mark in A Level Music in 1995.

Chris then took up the organ scholarship at Worcester College, Oxford, reading for an MA in Music. During his years as senior organ scholar he was solely responsible for the men and boys’ choir, re-introducing choir tours and making the first choir CD, ‘Christmas Carols from Oxford’ in 1997. The CD is still available! In his final year he gained his ARCO, and then went on to study for a PGCE at Cambridge University.

Chris was appointed Assistant Director of Music at Canford School in 1999. He took on the role of Director of Music at Canford School in September 2005 and remained there until the summer of 2024 when he took the plunge into a freelance musical and examining career. Chris is a keen ‘polymath’; musician, with interests in conducting ranging from choral music to jazz, and academic expertise ranging from analysis and history to harmony and counterpoint.

In his spare time, Chris sings with the semi-professional choir, Sarum Voices as well as volunteering at Salisbury Cathedral as a Steward.