November Music Thread

Thank you knittinganewme - really interesting data that I hadn't seen before. A reminder how tough to get in (1 in 7 or so for top conservatoires) and how few places in certain instruments. 30 for percussion across all conservatoires surprised me especially given how many will be from overseas.

Sorry that was supposed to be NBB! 🤧

Very well done for NBL and fingers crossed for Friday!

Really interesting @knittinganewme. Being non musical I’ve not really got much understanding of conservatoires, so like @Wiifitmama I’m also interested in the differences/advantages
Well done Nosebleed boy sounds promising and good luck for the next one

Zero could be less than five, all the numbers are multiples of five so that is what they round to.

Was the audition (nosebleedboy) for conservatoire? I am interested what the difference is between that and doing music at Uni? I checked the link just posted and ds2's unusual instrument is listed, but with 0's all the way across - no applications. Which of course does not surprise me but I have no idea how to interpret that!

I'm going to drop a link in here for those with older children who may be thinking about conservatoire applications in future years

www.ucas.com/data-and-analysis/ucas-conservatoires-releases/ucas-conservatoires-end-cycle-2017-data-resources

If you scoot down the list to the last section "instruments" you can see how many offers and how many acceptances were made in each category - it's not split by institution but gives you an idea of how many applicants were chasing how many places. The numbers are rounded to the nearest five which may be significant for those with minority instruments. Depending on the instrument the competition may be smaller than you think.

Good news on the reserve offer nosebleed boy and good luck for Friday

Crazy - we didn’t get in with tge C clarinet as others have done but the Eb got her through grade 1, made the transition to Bb before grade 2 but had to wait to take it until she got used to the size! She’s still diddy now and still wears a sling with her wooden clarinet most if the time, especially for long practices and orchestra etc.

Fingers crossed for Nosebleedboy on Friday!

A reserve offer is better than no offer. DS has this week and next week with no tuition (although the ensembles continue) because of it being audition week. When he saw it on the diary he was a bit concerned that it was him that should be auditioning for something but I did think that it was so to free up staff for auditions for 2019 students.

The second one will be easier for him because it will be altogether more familiar.

Well done nosebleed boy! Much better than a rejection and great that he got good feedback on his playing. His interview will probably be better next time, now that he has the experience of a university interview.

Well, results in from Nosebleed Boy's first audition - reserve offer, so basically a waiting list. Reflects the view that he's a marginal candidate - and that the playing went well but the interview badly - and a whole load better than a straight rejection -

Absolute first choice institution audition this Friday. NB uncharacteristically nervous.

Am amused to see that I am not the only one who pretended I had a music lesson so that I missed PE. I sometimes had to hide in the toilets rather than a practice room though! My DD also prefers music to PE but I have avoided telling her about this plan so far.

DS2 started with 1.5 reeds (Vandoren) worked his way through 2 and 2.5 and is now playing 3 (Rico). He likes to have several reeds on the go at one time.

Hotdog - buy 3 reeds, they don’t last long especially at the beginner stage! I agree 1.5 good to start with, plastic reeds are challenging for beginners so having regular reeds is a good idea, the better they sound and the easier they are to play the more she’ll want to practice. Sounds like she is doing ok, is she on a full size Bb clarinet? Mine started on an Eb clarinet as she’s was too small to play Bb, she moved to the Bb when she was 9. If she’s on an Eb you’ll need reeds for an Eb.

Thank you all for the advice. If nothing materialises on Tuesday, I will look at getting her a 1.5. She has only had 7 lessons so far and has learned quite a few tunes already so I think she is doing ok given her age. I am sure her technique is very much a work in progress at the moment and she is also learning to read music at the same time as never had any instrumental lessons before now so I can imagine it is all a bit of a challenge in the early days!

DD also started on Rico 1.5 and then switched to vandoren and increased strength with time!

Mine plays on plastic reeds and alternates various mouthpieces, but she played on Vandoren to begin with.
It really doesn't matter what reed they are playing on, if they aren't lasting then embouchure needs revisiting.

Ha! Violentetta is great Romany - some of them were a bit older than Y8 but definately some young ones in there.

nerdy Well done to your ds for playing Last Post & Reveille - my ds used to play it at school & at a local church. As he's not at home we've suggested that he goes onto the school field on Sunday to play it. Hope that he does.

DSs teacher recommended Juno reeds ( for kids ) 1.5 , they’re apparently designed to be easy to blow... doesn’t stop them getting chomped though

I played clarinet once upon a time and I agree with crazy start on about 1.5

Lol at "I used cello lessons as an excuse for missing PE lessons my entire way through high school, even though it was rarely a clash. I used to go and hide in the practice rooms or go home … When the teachers asked my classmates where I was, they used to say 'oh cello lessons'. And nobody twigged.". This was me too 😂😂😂