Heather Professor of Music

The Heather Professor of Music is the title of an endowed chair at the University of Oxford. The post and the funding for it come from a bequest by William Heather (c. 1563 – 1627). Following the example of his friend William Camden who had left property to fund the establishment of a chair of history at Oxford in 1622, Heather founded a music lecture at Oxford and proposed to present the university "with some instruments and music books to promote a weekly music practice". He included specific instructions for music practice on Thursday afternoons during term times (except during Lent) and that there should be a Master of the Musicke. This master was to look after the musical instruments and the music books and to undertake rehearsals and provide both a theoretical and practical training in music.