Autumn 21 music thread

@londonmummy1966 mostly online I believe, but with varying submission dates.

@Siriusmuggle - good luck with the conservatoires - are they online (so only one set of audition tapes) or 5 in person trips? My DD loved Cardiff but they couldn't offer her what she wanted sadly.

To all the potential violists out there I would say give it a go. My DD is the type who wants all the glory of being a front desk player but none of the hard work so viola was an easy choice for her as there were loads of really good violinists and only one viola 5 years above her. I think it helped that being a harpist meant that she was used to counting hundreds of bars of rests and then doing something flashy that everyone noticed so she had nerves of steel when it came to orchestral playing. It also meant that at CYM she got put into quartets that were significantly above her pay scale.... Having a cellist older sister who had been reading tenor clef since primary school also meant that she wasn't going to let a little thing like an alto clef defeat her!

@Siriusmuggle - good luck with the conservatoires - are they online (so only one set of audition tapes) or 5 in person trips? My DD loved Cardiff but they couldn't offer her what she wanted sadly.

To all the potential violists out there I would say give it a go. My DD is the type who wants all the glory of being a front desk player but none of the hard work so viola was an easy choice for her as there were loads of really good violinists and only one viola 5 years above her. I think it helped that being a harpist meant that she was used to counting hundreds of bars of rests and then doing something flashy that everyone noticed so she had nerves of steel when it came to orchestral playing. It also meant that at CYM she got put into quartets that were significantly above her pay scale.... Having a cellist older sister who had been reading tenor clef since primary school also meant that she wasn't going to let a little thing like an alto clef defeat her!

Conservatoire applications submitted- originally 3 London plus Birmingham and RNCM. Last minute change of heart means rwcmd now added and he’s withdrawing from trinity. I’m looking forward to the audition fee refund!

The clef is scary for sure - but no worse than for her sister who is having to manage the tenor clef on two instruments now.... Certainly the school violin teacher (down as a viola teacher too) says she doesn't like to teach it, so maybe that's part of the problem. All viola teachers seem able to teach violin!

Horsey, great news on orchestra! DD2 gets a promotion from junior to proper wind band this year - one of two bassoons - and the only one who got her instrument stuck together during the first rehearsal and had to run up to the canteen so I could unstick it. Argh. Never have these problems with the flute.

No one in our council plays viola, it's a shame as surely it can't be any more expensive. Hopefully as the regional orchestra develops and gets back up and running there might be some who would be interested. I suspect they will say the new clef is too hard, they seem to shy away from anything challenging. Dd2 is excited to be going to orchestra for the first time after half term, principal bassoon!( Only one)

Ha - well it's a hard ask for my not particularly musically gifted daughter, put straight into a quartet because she was the only viola and even in the ensembles she's playing a very different part from Violin 3.

Still, I tell her its character building. Impressed she's stuck it out to be honest. We thought viola quite normal as both her teacher and her head of music at school were first study viola - guess perhaps just a coincidence.

Viola players seem to come in waves here, i suspect there hsve been some recruitment drives periodically, or they come after a bulge of talented violinists so the most available route into the talent program is with viola. Dd1 is a violinist who has shown no interest in the viola and dd2 went straight for double bass

Hello, thanks for the thread, just introducing myself. have 8yo DS who plays cello (preparing for G4) and 9yo DS who plays violin (G6) and harp (G3). both just started at a London music school on Saturdays, two weeks in and it's going well so far albeit tiring! struggling to fit in much practice during busy school days, 20 mins per day per instrument feels like winning at the moment...

Given the girls' music school's terrific fondness for moving students from oversubscribed instruments onto more unusual ones in the wind department, I don't really understand why they same doesn't happen in strings given the HUGE number of violinists.

"Flute is it?" one parent remarked to me about three years ago. "You'll be getting a bassoon soon..." She was right.

Ha! DD a violinist at specialist music school. Also plays viola but has NO lessons, had a years worth at age 11 and rest of her viola ability comes from what she learns as a violinist and playing in ensembles. Guess which instrument she plays in all the school ensembles... spoiler: not the one she's there learning!! However she loves it and it works for us as keeps her progressing.

Londonmummy I never understand why more people don’t take up viola. The top strings group at saturdayschool this week?30 odd violins, plenty of cellos and one viola (my poor terrified dd1 who is really new to it.) All the second and third violins complaining they weren’t violin one…

Thank you @thirdfiddle - once upon a time that was my DD until she worked out that violas get more opportunities and don't need to put the work in......

Sorry - realised I should have introduced myself - have 2 DC one just started at RCM - piano, cello, harpsichord and one in sixth form - harp, violin/viola voice (grades 7, 7 and 8 but not done any exams for quite a while). Elder went to specialist music school younger CYM and now music scholar at a (non specialist) boarding school.

Happy to answer questions on how it was applying to specialist schools and JDs and senior conservatoires if anyone has them....

Hello - can I jump on here to see if anyone has advice before I start a separate thread? My 17 year old did Grade 8 singing a while ago and wants to do a diploma - she thought ARSM. Her teacher has said she can't do it until she is mid 20s as the repertoire isn't suitable until then. It seems a bit off to me given the ARSM was clearly aimed at teenagers who have done Grade 8 but found DipABRSM with its viva a bit daunting and were defecting in droves to ATCL. Surely they should be assessing on how the candidate performs the music not on whether they have the voice of a mature opera singer or not.

For background she is an ex-cathedral chorister with a purer head voice and a warmer mezzo register and quite a lot of overlap between the two (so can produce a warm top G but her top Cs are more churchy). I can't help thinking that a careful choice of repertoire - oratorio/early opera/art song should be OK for ARSM. Failing that perhaps she could go down the ATCL route where you can select your own repertoire (although that programme does need to be mainly opera/art song but again with a bit of oratoria and early opera ought to be achieveable).

Otherwise are the exam boards saying that anyone can do any exam they are technically capable of except for singing where you need a fully developed adult voice?

@PinotAndPlaydough Just ask away on exam questions, between us we've probably asked the same questions and got some answers too. There are some good apps around to help as well. You can also see whole exams on the Abrsm website so you can see what happens and how they mark them. We've hopefully got a couple of exams this term and one after Christmas. Will be nice to do it live as I don't think either DD would have the stamina to do the performance one with four pieces in one take. Live gives them the chance to get their breath in between.

horseymum it was really really lovely, great music and a great atmosphere. Hope you dont have to wait too long for concerts to start up again.

@Mendingfences Hope it went well! No idea when we'll have our first live concerts. Probably not before December. Hoping for a couple of Christmas ones though.

Real life concert for my 2 eldest today at the chamber music festival - I cant wait

Thanks so much. Good idea, I’ll look at the Conservatoire websites not UCAS 👍🏼

Hi, I’ve posted a few times on past threads (mainly questions because I’m fairly musically ignorant!). DD1 plays violin she’s due to sit grade 2 in a few months, she’s also started drum lessons last week and does ukulele at school.
DD2 has been doing flute for about 5 months so still a novice and has just joined the school choir.

I’m hoping I can get some hints and ideas for when they do their grades (dd1 missed grade 1 out).