October Music Thread

PS I think the boarding experience at specialist music schools can be a little different to a normal school. Smaller year groups, less space to hide, more mixed in with older children, more pressures, more slightly demanding characters, etc

Too late to go at 11? Definitely not provided DD works hard and progresses in the meantime. Also not sure about your comments on JD. Go to a convenient JD for a couple of years and then maybe board at a specialist school at which point can drop JD or take it up again later. BoardIng has been the trickiest aspect for us with two children from year 7 and year 9 and I wouldn’t have liked them to have done it earlier. Also I don’t think it is necessary.

I boarded from 7 and survived, though I can't say I was particularly thrilled about it. I went with my brother, though, so I wasn't on my own. Not that he was particularly thrilled about that, either! Still, 8 does seem very little. We were pondering about year 7 and whether it's leaving it a bit late? Alas, we are definitely not close enough to any music school to go as a day pupil.

Our nearest JD would be about 40 minutes in the car but a number of people have said she should go to RCM or RAM if she's going to go to any, which would be a good 3 hours door to door, I should think. Not a prospect I particularly relish. I find the idea of a specialist school plus Saturday JD to be fairly horrifying!

They usually take boarders from 8 - so little- but they seem to cope.

Are you close enough not to board or could you move- plenty of days kids go to music schools?

What about a jd ? ( hopefully you wouldn’t have to get up at 5am to get to one either !!) again she’s still so young you’ve got plenty of time to look at all your options and think about it

My advice is to wait and see for a couple of years and see how she develops. Possibly something to think about for year 7 especially given the boarding aspect.

She sounds great brass we are sticking with regular school here mostly it’s fine - but you have to be very organised !! Ds hadnt even started playing at 8 !!
You could go and look around with a view to going for year 7 - not even sure if they take children younger than that - but someone will know !!

Newbie here. Minimally musical myself, DH even less so, we somehow have a very musical DD (8) and a DS (5) who looks like he might follow suit. We have been wondering about specialist music school for our DD and would very much appreciate advice from those who have sent their DCs/decided not to send them/know people who have gone.

By way of background, DD, who was 8 in the summer, is taking G5 violin and theory this term. She plays piano but only started last September. She loves to perform, compose, sing, etc.. She found the very idea of music school very exciting, until she learned about the boarding aspect. She adores DS (and vice versa) so splitting them up would be very hard. She also has a superb violin teacher and is very happy at school. On the other hand, we can see that fitting in the full extent of her musical pursuits and goals around normal school is going to be increasingly difficult. She is very bright and a more condensed academic day would suit her fine.

This thread has been very useful for finding out about this brave new musical world we find ourselves in! Any and all advice most welcome.

We decided against JD due to the travel - at least 2.5 hours each way. Glad we did as year 7 and all the school ensembles and dance groups (she’s a music and dance scholar) means she’s very busy on top of academic work and therefore shattered by the weekends. I don’t think she or I would have coped with the weekly travel to JD at this stage. We might reconsider for year 9 or 10 but not yet. Besides she has amazing teachers here and lots of ensembles and masterclasses at school so no need, for us the right senior school has worked out as the best option.

That sounds great Herts- let me know how it goes. Dd is a little young for all that yet, but give it a few years/or five and she’ll want to do it!

Yes summer academy does look good. Ludwig Albert does one I think as well although can't remember the details. DS hopefully going to Keiko Abe one next summer if we can save some pennies :)

Thank you so much herts, I'll have a look at this

I think I only involve myself so much because of her learning difficulties.
Her mh does suffer if she sets her mind on something and she can't do it for some reason.
She likes to plan, her latest is building a tiny house and travelling the world as an opera singer. she's done her homework and conned dh into saying he'll help her.
I said if they get as far as curtains I'll make these for her. I'm terrible at sewing.

Looks like all our DC's are off to Germany then..... 

Wow Herts- that’s looks great. Have you seen the percussion summer academy too- looks good! Plus great value €600 for a week with accommodation!

Romany - this is about percussion facilities but he talks about fees which are max of Euro1,000 per year. He doesn't talk about German in this video - I think maybe I heard him talk about it in person. I do remember him saying somewhere having weak/no German shouldn't be a barrier to applying but would need to work on it.

www.facebook.com/NebojsaJovanZivkovic/videos/1966474756708528/

She is doing German GCSE and if it goes well would like to opt for A level too, but this person/ couple of people on ABRSM forum were saying you'd need to be pretty accomplished.
I like to keep dd informed when she talks about her future, just so she doesn't get her hopes up with something that is a complete no go.
She's been mentioning it a lot lately, so thought I'd do some research, but not found much.
Wouldn't it be brilliant to get a copy of one of the tests to see the standard.

Ds would love to study in Germany - he’s been going on about this for ages . Anyway he’s taken GCSE German so we’ll see !! This was because he thought I could help him out - but I’ve forgotten most of it over the last 20 years - great place though lots of fond memories

Good luck to nosebleedboy!

Romany We were in Austria at Easter - Vienna & Salzburg. It would be a wonderful place to study, probably worth learning German for!

I saw an introduction to Vienna by one of the teachers and he said yes you need German but don't need much to get in and you can learn while there. He also pointed out that the fees were ridiculously cheap compared to UK/US so you could afford a lot of German lessons before and during. I'll try to find the clip.

I think it will be fine and he will be fine. I think it's great that he can do it alone, I imagine dd will be like this and me and her dad will be sad.

Just whilst I'm here does anyone know anything about the german/Austrian Conservatoires? Somebody told me they spoke German in all lessons and that the test for overseas students was kin to undergraduate level.
Just wondered if anyone could advise.

too many dc rely on parents at this age

DD - a couple of years younger - is dancing in a competition in a town some way away tomorrow... with 2 of them and only 1 of me, someone has to go it alone, and at least DS doesn't need complex hairstyles, makeup or costumes...

(Nor, as far as I know, does judging of auditions involve all candidates standing in a row on stage, holding numbers, with their best 'game faces' on, while they are judged and have prizes awarded [or not]. Not an aspect of the dance world DD or I enjoy...)

All the luck in the world to Nosebleed Boy! So exciting,but I can imagine it's incredibly nerve wracking as parent.

Good luck to nosebleed Boy, I hope it goes well.
It's great he's going on his own, too many dc rely on parents at this age and it can look a bit . My ds1 went to his uni days by himself.
I think I'll feel left out if dd decides to go it alone, but I'll know it's her choice.