Ida Carroll’s lifelong dedication to the RNCM

If one person truly went on a journey with the modern day Royal Northern College of Music, it was Ida Carroll.

Ida Carroll playing double bass.

The woman who went on to become the principal of the Northern School of Music and play a key part in the founding of the RNCM had a decades-long relationship with the institution, covering most of the 20th century.

After growing up in a musical family, as the daughter of composer and music teacher, Walter Carroll, Ida Carroll decided also to dedicate her life and career to music and music education in Manchester. After studying at the Northern School of Music, Carroll went on to serve as Secretary to the Board, her first role within the school to which she would devote her career.

Carroll soon began to move through the ranks at the Northern School of Music, being appointed as Acting and later Deputy Principal. In 1958, she was made Principal, a role, which she held until 1971.

However, her work did not end along with the Northern School of Music. She was a key member of staff, as Dean of Management in the new Royal Northern College of Music.

The Northern School of Music and later the Royal Northern College of Music clearly profoundly shaped Carroll’s life and she doubtless went on a remarkable journey with the school, seeing it through decades and generations.