AIBU to not let DD drop out of music tour because her violin has to go under the coach?

Here's hoping the staff manage all dc the same not have tiers of care like their instruments.
Sounds shoddy telling the dc some violins matter and some don't.

Perhaps you'd prefer no-one ever excelled at anything and it's all a race to the bottom. Those of us who play for enjoyment and life enrichment are quite capable of managing the reality that others are truly stellar! It's neither elitist nor shitty, it's life, and as others have explained there may be good reasons for this decision and Good ways for the Ops daughter to navigate this.

100% this

I identify with this, having been in a few youth orchestras as a child and travelled with my violin. I still have that same violin since I was 14, and still play now. It’s not worth 10k of an heirloom, but it’s MY violin. A cheap violin that is inferior to your daughters instrument won’t help her enjoy the tour. It won’t do justice to her skills. The kids with the expensive instruments - why give them even more reason to feel superior. Young musicians can be super-snooty!
Your daughter is old enough to make a choice here. Surely missing the trip is not a real choice. Like others have said, sounds like a sham reason. I’d suggest you invest in a good case, with proper padding and a good lock, an electronic tuner for when it comes out the case for a play (get it tuned and acclimatised in advance of a performance) and pack also a good set of spare strings. And that she practice the f**k out of the music, play her best, and show those ‘upscale instrument’ kids that she’s every bit as good a player as they are.
But not the cheap violin especially for the tour…please no. A bad instrument would ruin it for her. And think carefully about the bow- it’s a good investment. A decent bow. Recommend carbon fibre for youth orchestra travel!

Hire another bus 😮Who has £££ to pay for an extra coach for a week on top of the cost of a trip Tuscany with no notice.

Her violin will be absolutely fine. When I was at music school and uni we had so many trips. Italy, Norway, Holland and around Uk. All of our cellos (which were all worth between £15,000-40,000+ and not including our £1K cases) had to go under the coach. They are just as fragile as violins. It was fine. This wasn’t even long ago. I think the last time it went under coach was only 7 years ago.
She can put extra scarves inside or wrap the case in a single layer of bubble wrap.

I was going to say get one of the cheap mass produced Chinese ones and get it restrung with quality strings - our local violin repairer used to do this to good effect.

He used to part exchange them when you needed a bigger one so there were always 2nd hand versions available.

Rather than hire a cheap violin I think I'd look at getting a bombproof (not literally) new case. Does she have a really good case already? I recently replaced mine and upgraded and the violin cannot move a fraction of a millimeter in this amazing new case.

It will be probably because of the insurance on the other violins, especially if they are not owned by the girls. Have you checked your insurance to see if there is a similar requirement?

I hope she has an absolutely magical time, it sounds wonderful!

Can you just hire a cheap violin for the trip? School must have spares

I'm with your daughter here. The school has basically accepted that her violin has a chance of getting damaged in the hold, otherwise they wouldn't be making exceptions for other people. You daughter feels that this violin is worth more to her than the experience of the trip, and that's fair enough.

I do think a previous posters idea of using a rented violin is a good solution.

@ToInfiniteaAndBeyond Rent please. Cheap instruments can make you sound awful.

@ToInfiniteaAndBeyond I have a cheap one she could borrow for the trip. I’ll PM you

Make sure the violin case is super strong and secure (maybe even buy a better one) and Airtag it, or similar, so she can check its location on her phone.

Yes, i was thinking this.

Look at your violin's insurance and see if the same clause applies.

The other point is the weather in Italy at the moment. It's not exactly cold. Having seen stringed instruments in Australian summers end up with sticky varnish getting stuck to the inside of the case, I'd be worried about the temperature in the luggage hold of the bus damaging all the instruments - not just the violins - I'd be worried about the cellos coming unglued in really high temperatures with sun reflecting off the road. Can the school guarantee that in the current heatwave temperatures, the instruments are going to be OK?

Team daughter and I’d remove her from that shitty school and it’s elitist horrible values

Violinist mum with two kids with a 10K+ violin. We rent it from a scheme that lends high quality instruments to kids who are talented but can’t afford expensive violins or bow. I pay 300 a year to rent it. And the insurance that comes with it is invalidated if we place it in the hold of a bus or a plane or even leave it unattended in a car.

Is your violin insured? Have a chat with the school again to talk them through this?

Silly. People who want to make orchestral music their careers these days need to be taking it extremely seriously as children.

If the risk of loss or damage to the violins in the hold is such that they can’t be left there, then that risk must surely apply to all violins no matter their worth.
The school could easily insist that the students with expensive (or otherwise precious) violins should leave them at home if such a risk exists, and bring a less expensive instrument instead which can go in the hold. I would go back to the school and calmly help your daughter put that point across again. Support her in doing it to let her know you agree that their rule is discriminatory. They may not have time to get a larger coach for this year but at least they may think more fully about their ‘rules’ for next time.
The school may then relent or at least have more understanding of your daughter’s feelings and very valid point of view, which may in turn soften her stance and allow her to feel less victimised and able to happily go on the trip.

My guess is that the expensive violins will all be in the hold by the end of the trip anyway as the girls get fed up of hauling them around on and off the coach so many times a day.

Having shown that you fully support your daughter in her feelings and in the event that your second appeal to the school isn’t successful, I would then talk through the pros and cons of going once more with her, and leave her to make the decision. I would be on her side whichever way she chooses.
Good for her for making a stand.

Or buy her a cheap touring violin

surley you just email and explain that DD is very worried about the violin what with it being grandmas who passed away and can she transport it in the coach.

In a way I see her point but how will she cope when she gets older and realises life cant always go the way she wants, a lot of the time what she thinks she may be technically right but coming with maturity is life isn't one way or the other all the time

On this occasion all that will happen is she misses out

Yes, of coure you are unreasonable. Stick up for your daughter. Her violine IS worth as much as the more expensive ones to her. Fix it so she can keep it with her and stop letting them treat her like money matters more than her perfectly fair expectation that she be treated equally.

Or, yep, just rent a violin.

Not really boggling, if you’re at this kind of high level it demands an expensive instrument. £10k isn’t expensive in the realm of violins, unfortunately. They can run into the hundreds of thousands, and more than a million! I’ve even known colleagues who have bought an expensive instrument, instead of a house (violins are great investments, often outdoing stocks etc).

I’m a professional violinist and had a £350k violin on loan to me at the latter years of my schooling and uni, so OP’s situation isn’t implausible.

However, the school should definitely be treating everyone equally, and ensure all the violinists can have their instruments on them. It can actually be quite dangerous having an instrument in the luggage compartment, as items move about etc. I’ve see instruments crushed/broken, I’d definitely ask the school to reconsider and say you’ve had experience with instruments being broken this way. It really shouldn’t matter if your daughters violin is worth less, they should be treating everyone equally.

10k is not that much for a decent violin. I don't really like this attitude that mere schoolchildren shouldn't have good equipment for an activity they take seriously.

Renting one is not a great option. I guess she'll want to play her violin rather than a mediocre one she's had no time to get used to.

Your best bet is probably to simultaneously convince her that the school's rules on this are stupid, and that her violin will be perfectly safe well packed underneath the coach (assuming it has a good case!)

This.