in oxted there was a small choir. tippett had sung with them while he was a student. now he became their conductor and he learned a lot about music by getting the choir to sing english madrigals and other music including operatic music. he took some more lessons in composition from r.o.morris at the rcm. he went to music camps where he learned more ideas about politics than about music. he agreed with a lot of the ideas of trotsky. he became a pacifist and in 1940 he registered as a conscientious objector. in 1943 he spent three months in prison because he refused to help with the war effort.