NCO 2019

Ds really enjoyed the regionals and the concert! I still catch him humming the music. Tbh my dd found the regional not challenging at all. She’s much older and really should have been in the London seniors and was quite gutted when she wasn’t offered a place there. She’d been there the last 5 years and missed her friends terribly! Last concert in a couple of weeks..

Where was your regional hikakin? I’m not sure it added much. She improve so much at the residential but realistically does so much orchestra nearer home it’s questionable whether it’s worth the long journey!

Not sure if we do regional next year. Mine may not be offered though! I found this year's concert less excited. I may be wrong but didn't feel positive vibes from the conductor. He looked a tad frustrated by the standard. But again, I may be wrong.

I’ve not linked into this yet this year but just caught up. Lots of auditions again. My girl hoping for U11 viola but her current viola isn’t great (new one for Xmas) so hard to get that classic depth of sound. Hoping this doesn’t count against her too much. She loved the U10 residential. We weren’t so keen on the long journey to the regionals esp when they moved to north London. Such a long way from us! Trying not to think about it till mid December....! Good luck all!

Yes I think so Bostik !!

Wow, what a roller coaster for you last year! So, I'm right in thinking that if an applicant doesn't make the NCO, they stand a chance of possibly making it into a regional orchestra instead? And are these the NCO 'Associates' I've heard about?

It was an unusual situation. We heard in December that DS2 got regionals. Then I got a call in January that we had received the wrong email and that he had in fact got into U10s. They only discovered the error when they were about to chase me for a response. It was a bit of a rollercoaster!

The plus side was that by then we had signed up DS2 for Pro Corda, and so he ended up doing Pro Corda x 2 and NCO last year! We wouldn’t have done Pro Corda if we knew he had an U10s place!

January!!

Rupertswife January sounds unbearable!!

Some days I forget. And other days I remember and think it’s such a long wait until second week in December! Long shot getting in for ds here .. his expectations are quite high. I’m quite interested in the feedback from the audition. I’ve always found that really helpful

DS2 is similar. He isn’t expecting to get in, but will be very pleased if he does! He hasn’t asked about when we will hear. We heard well into December last year. And then they made a clerical error, and we heard the real result in January!

Love trumpetboy’s sense of humour!

trumpet 😁 He sounds like he has a great attitude and sense of humour! Good luck to everyone waiting. I’ve told DD it won’t be until Christmas in the hope of her not thinking about it too much. She’s mainly concerned with her quest for a flautist to teach her at the moment so it’s thankfully on the back burner

Trumpetboysmum I like his attitude DD was not so bothered until she auditioned. It really doesn't help that it's such a long time to wait hear. Her hopes are even higher haha. I laugh but really I'm as nervous as you. Theoretically, I know it is all experience but I'm not convinced she will see it that way. 9th Dec seems like such a long time...I have patience....I have patience

Owlm it might not be till the second week . Last year they handed out all of the places after the winter concerts which are on 9th December this year . We didn’t hear till the end of that week either . I feel nervous just thinking about it because I will have to tell ds. Ds is very matter of fact about the whole thing and says he will be finishing this year on a high anyway because his final note in the concerts a super high note a super d I think ? I think he has the right attitude

Yes, my DD is also constantly asking. I had tried to manage her expectations as she really hasn't had many lessons this term. But clearly I've failed because she now really wants to get in. I've told her we will hear the first week of December. She's counting down the days

Hi, my DD auditioned in October, cello under 11
Cannot wait to get the result.
Good luck to everyone!!!

Training orchestra had fifty something in the summer as far as I remember....

I suppose there’s still the under 10s and under 11s for primary school though.
I think its about keeping NCO financially viable moving forward and making the best use of the funds they have . The children in training orchestra will I bet still get places they just might have to get a bit older / more proficient on their instruments . Wind and brass players have to jump straight in at under 10s anyway though admittedly at primary school age there are less of them as they start to learn later on the whole, though there aren’t many places on offer .
I think we are lucky in that we still have a very good county music service so ds has been playing in wind ensembles and orchestras pretty much since he started playing in year 4, but we were lucky. He was no where near good enough to think about NCO till year 7 anyway

So, about 100 children in each of the age-banded orchestras, roughly?
Seems a shame they lost the training orchestra, especially since very few primary schools seen to offer any kind of ensemble training.

Training orchestra usually had about 40 I think. Some years the total was around 640. Some children do drop out. Just going by memory because my kids were in for 4 years - not that it affects me!

Also - for 2018 it was 700 children apparently (from the info we got at the start of the year); which makes 600 in 2019 make sense given the loss of the training orchestra. Worth asking the NCO re associate places as it seems to vary (but no evidence of that except haven’t been any/many associate places in London the last couple of years!) - but maybe Waffle already has asked as she seems certain if the figures?

60-100. So it used to be just over 600 musicians, all told.

Any idea how many only get into regionals?