Are opportunities to excel in music limited by postcode and middle earners income?

Are you already doing everything that your local Music Hub / ex county music service is offering?

Northumberland one is here www.northumberland.gov.uk/Children/Young/Music.aspx?nccredirect=1#ensembles but there may be others locally depending where exactly you are.

In our area, they are surprisingly poorly publicised, but once you are 'in' you realise that there is a whole network of groups - DS started with jazz. stumbling into it via a week's course one summer holiday, but now also does one of our county music centres, and could do woodwind ensemble too - 3 groups per week, year round, for under well £150 annually, and with progression from junior ensembles up to high quality senior orchestras.

have you looked around for local grants? There is often money available for music courses or equipment. Music is expensive. Have you asked at CHeethams what fee's you would be expected to pay? You may be pleasantly surprised.

Good luck.

I don't know how many other dependent children the OP has but with no ither dependent children on An income of £60k you'd havecto pay around £6,700 per year including boarding.

With a couple of dependent children the contribution would be around £5000

Full fees at Chethams is nearly £32,000 including boarding.

My dd is at a different school where there are not enough places to go around. She's on a bursary & we pay about £9,500 per year not including boarding.

On £59k you would get considerable help on MDS

Scotland has four specialist music units attached to state schools. Some kids board, others are day pupils. It is all free. Kids do very well eg Royal Academy, Royal College etc. Entrance is on aptitude rather than the level they have achieved and they can apply any time throughout tbeir school career.

Kids come from England so might the Edinburgh one be an option for your son, even whrn he is a bit older?Think it is Broughton High. Glasgow one is Douglas Academy.

Agree about orchestra fees. Looked at NYOS for my son but it is the price of a family holiday so he is not auditioning

Sorry came on hear to sympathise as I don't have anything constructive to add. I hope someone can point you in the right direction for a bit of help soon.

I disagree, balletgirl. I would say that 59k is smack bang middle earning territory. 2 people earning just under 30k is def in the middle bracket.

If you're above the MDS income limit you're not what I would call a middle earner though I appeciate everyone's circumstances are different in terms of outgoings.

We have a very small mortgage for example.

I am so disappointed with our private schools and lack of opportunities they provide for not so rich but not so poor state school children who are musical.
Up here it sometimes feels like there are opportunities but only if you are well off making playing orchestral instruments for the rich or supported poor only.
We really wanted to join the NCO but with the orchestras taking place down south again it is all prohibitively expensive.
Where can middle income earners turn for help with financing music?

Thing is, pretty well all those bursaries come out of the fees of other middle-earning parents. We barely managed to keep paying school fees during a period of redundancy and low earnings. I got fed up with being approached from the schools to contribute to bursary funds when I could barely manage to keep my own children in private schooling, including music lessons. Some schools like Eton have huge foundations; many others do not. They rely on fee income. That's me and other parents like me! And we are very stretched.

I'd agree. I was asking some questions on another thread about nco and got some really helpful replies. Then I went and looked up the prices on their website. It's over 1k! The bursary support cuts out at 59k gross. The thing is that when you have several kids how much can you justify spending on a hobby for one of them. I think I will keep paying for private lessons and look out for a local orchestra.

That is really hard and unfair. Have your contacted your council's music service to see what they offer. (Sorry if that is a silly question.) My son is doing a one day singing/ composing course through Hertfordshire music service for free next week.

I agree its unfair that its always the squeezed middle who lose out. My son wants both singing and guitar lessons and I can't afford both.

Yes

I agree it is very unfair that ability to access music training is so dependent on income.

However I'd be interested to see how much this affects outcomes as most young kids who do music at school and play in orchestras will eventually drop out - often I get the impression that music is seen (by parents) as a passport to good schools and isnt necessarily viewed as a worthwhile activity in itself (my piano teacher friend in London reports a lot of pressure to get young kids through grades so they can get into the right schools - she hates it).

Most of the professional musicians that I know started later - my daughter's former piano teacher who has a formal music education and is a working composer only started playing piano in his teens (much like my own dd who is 14 and has been playing for less than 18 months) and my other very musical friend (who has worked as a composer, used to teach at music at degree level, and plays in a well regarded jazz band) only started to learn an instrument in his late 20s!!!

Have you heard of the Music and Dance Scheme (MDS)? It provides funding for talented musicians and classical dancers to attend schools suited to their talents, and funding is based on a sliding scale according to parental income.