Does it worth?

[shanqs1]

Hello everyone, I am new to this forum. Have been reading this all the time, but first post though.

My DS is 10 yrs, very musical, plays violin. Last year he was accepted as a member of National Childrens' Orchestra, which was great news for us. I didn't expect him going this far when he first started, but what a nice surprise as it turns out.

Now got some puzzle: given his natural talent in music, does it worth sending him to some summer camp/masterclass/residential courses that are around? those things are quite often seen on the corridor at Royal College/Academy of Music, as most of them command thousands of £s, I am just wondering if anyone here has got any experience with those programs?

As for now, one particular program attracts my attention , looks interesting and also has quite a number of extras, any suggestion/thoughts though?

thank you in advance

[Musicmom1]

Hi presumably he is doing the NCO residential this summer? Dd (9) is also in the NCO and we have adjusted her summer music commitments to make sure she is not away/at music courses for the majority of the holiday. So she is doing one additional summer course (plus the nco) but I will go with her (it is one a lot of parents go to rather than a child-only one) as I think she will get more downtime if I am there too. There are a lot of courses around, so I would recommend that you choose carefully - if you look at the suzuki site the tend to have a good list plus some of the boarding schools such as Wells have really good programmes. The one you linked to seems to be aimed at people who want to see a bit of the uk too as tourists, and is quite expensive for the fairy limited amount of teaching and playing time from my (limited) experience. Hope that helps.

[shanqs1]

Hi Musicmom1, thank you very much. I appreciate your thoughts. Can you let me know what is the other program that you booked your DD in? May open up my thoughts as well.

on my above post, the linked program has a kind of advantage however, is that it is a residential program for 13 days and 12 nights full board, full pastoral cared--I can have nearly 2 weeks' peaceful time with my wife alone , only this thought makes me happy! The program is alternated with music and outdoor time, also what is attractive is the prospective of having the head of string from RAM as guest speaker (so potentially lots of interaction and insight for a musical career?) + J&A Beare's sponsored string instrument opportunity. Maybe too fluffy? But sounds really cool and the thoughts of my DS holding a premium quality instrument or visit to the string workshop, uhhhh, I am imagining how all these pictures would add up like?