Spring 23 music thread

How annoying.

Ds HATES having to make recordings with passion. But at least as a pianist/keyboard player he isn't reliant on others. He was going to do one audition recording with a drummer but he just couldn't make it work (even though the drummer is excellent and ds plays with him a lot)

Huge amounts of weeping last night from DD1 who is the throes of year11 stress. Did her GCSE music recordings on Tuesday, and was really happy with the final one - which is the one that has cut off in the middle on the recording so they will have to send a different one.

Head of Music doesn't see the issue (I suspect because she's happy with all of the other recordings too and DD1 is just being a stressy teen) and they can't be re-recorded because there is no-one on staff who can accompany her on piano at a sufficient level. Gah! She was the only child in the class who needed a piano accompanist anyhow so they had to get someone in.

I guess it is this sort of problem we won't be having with DD2 at specialist school. But poor DD1!

Good luck to her @MissScotland - I'm sure the waiting is horrid, but even if they don't technically have an advantage against external candidates I'm sure your DD does have the 'advantage' of being brilliantly taught by the right people in an 'approved fashion'....and probably having more confidence in the audition because she knows the place and the deal.

Hope you hear soon though.

Thanks @northerngoldilocks . Offputting indeed. But for us, there were many advantages to RAM.
The auditions will continue until the end of next week so we aren't expecting results before that.

The lack of a link between the primary academy and junior academy was offputting when I looked into it- but from memory there was a week of auditions- so would imagine results won't come out until all auditions completed.

@horseymum Thanks. I checked email history. Unfortunately the date for final results was never specified. Re coming from the primary program, they claim that you have no advantage over kids coming from the outside so who knows :-)

We're not at the Royal academy but I'm sure the info will be buried in an email somewhere. Hopefully if she's been in the earlier program there is a good chance to progress to the next stage. We have progress reports etc that would indicate if progress wasn't satisfactory.

Thanks @horseymum . She did the audition today. Are you referring to the Royal Academy? She's already in the primary program there but needed to reapply for the juniors. I'll check my old emails to see if there's a timeframe there.

They will have given a timeframe when you applied I expect. For the JD my DD goes to I think the results are out in end of April, the auditions were start of march. I don't think the results dates will be on their website, only given to applicants. Are you waiting results? Hope you hear good news.

Just found this thread. Is anyone familiar with the application process for the junior department at the Royal Academy of Music? I'm trying to find out when the results are given but can't find it anywhere. TIA

Having looked more closely I'd not checked the dates properly and procorda doesn't tie in so perfectly. DD has also refused to do a violin residential. Reckon I'd have more success with piano so will look into options for that or a mix of the two on a chamber course for next year!

Has anyone sent their child on a pro corda residential course? Was just looking for DD and there is one that overlaps nicely with the London Youth Wind Band tour her brother is doing - so before i get too over excited about the prospect of a child free week I thought I'd see if anyone had any experience.

She'll be coming to the end of year 5 so would be the year 4/5 one she could do. They say grade 3+ but look for potential etc which sounds fine on paper for her re violin, or could see what the deal is with piano (but think I'd prefer her to do strings if possible at this stage as its more sociable).

Grateful for any insight. Thanks.

How lovely @horseymum . DD2 has had the music department concert on Saturday, which was a lot of fun (though she had a huge nosebleed in the middle of it, which did at least make her easy to spot in the ranks of the chamber choir). She's organising a school lunchtime concert for this week - which is stretching her powers of ingenuity and cajoling, but she reckons she's managed to organise something.

DD1 is recording her GCSE performance pieces - cue huge stress - especially since DD2 has been dragged out of her normal lessons to help with various recordings for the rest of her sister's class. We're having a thoroughly non-musical easter holiday since DD2 eschewed all music possibilities for a holiday with her cousin in the sunshine, and the rest of the time we'll be tramping around the Lakes in the rain. May bring the flute... No bassoons!

Looking forward to a week full of music here- two regional music service concerts, then JD symphony orchestra. Love it! DD will be needing her Easter holidays. Youngest DD then has a holiday orchestra course which will be nice for her as it's usually elder one who gets to go on more things.

Well done to your DS @Siriusmuggle. I know how lucky we are too to attend a school with an amazing music department that is so supportive and encouraging of the children, some of whom are very young indeed. We should be thankful that some schools at least still have the resources and commitment to provide access to rarer instruments. I would ideally like to see county music services also being able to provide this support but realise this is unlikely in the current financial environment.

@northerngoldilocks - dd did the Chet's junior course (do they still do one just for children?) and I think they only had to be accompanied if under 10 or something? Dd was 12 and went alone.

Had a look at this year's and it seems the junior course is running at the same time as the main summer school so U18s need a parent.

When dd went she had a good time but it was juniors only at the time. She loved it but I thought there was a lot of time just spent wandering around and watching others which wasn't great but it was 2021 and just managed with covid so that might have had an impact. Interesting they've not done a dedicated junior one again.

Thanks- I'll check out both for next summer when hopefully she will be feeling a bit braver in terms of going on a residential course!

Pro Corda does a piano course.

@northerngoldilocks i think the Chets one doesn’t need and adult. Contact them to confirm, they’re lovely people. I’d recommend anything there.

That's a good idea - though again on piano they're harder to find. I've been looking for piano ones and have only really found Chetham's (which i can't work out if an adult has to accompany at if they're at the junior course) or Wells International Piano school - which DD has refused to consider this year but might be persuaded for next.

You may also find some holiday courses (often summer) in your local area.

This was our unwitting gateway into the county music service - the 4 day course led into conversations about where others did music more regularly, and the rest unfolded once we were ‘in the system’ / ‘in the know’.

Thank you @northerngoldilocks , that's a really helpful beginner's guide! I think I'll have to spend a day doing a bit of googling with a notepad on hand, so glad I now know where to look and what to search for, thank you all so much!

@Teapotkitten Just to add to the helpful posts you've had today i thought it might be useful to set out the different options there might be. This will by no means be exhaustive but hopefully a bit of a starting point re Sat options:

Firstly as noted there are the conservatoires. These are university level specialist music schools. For example Royal Academy, Guildhall, Birmingham Music Conservatoire etc. They generally have a junior department (or 'JD' where they take school age kids on a Sat and do different music activities depending on the childs specialism. As noted, these places are generally highly competitive. They publish a minimum standard they'd expect but for popular instruments like piano the actual standard they require is often much higher than the quoted minimum.

Secondly there are advanced training centres (I think this is right) - so CYM in London would fall into this category and the other Guildhall Young Artists centres (different from Guildhall in London) such as Norfolk etc . Again there are usually auditions (unless your child starts on one of the primary programmes) and they generally have a minimum standard, but look for potential too.

Lots of local councils have some kind of music service. Ours isn't great, but our neighbouring boroughs ones are really good and often you don't have to live in the council area, though priority could be given to those who do. Locally ours run lessons, ensembles, choirs etc.

Finally some independent schools run their own Saturday schools - one locally to us does and its where my DD does her piano lessons, but also a strings ensemble, choir and piano trio. It all depends on whats feasible locally and we're in London so there are lots of options within a closer radius than in the rest of the country (though the competition for places is insane!). There are also some music schools who confusingly call themselves conservatoires, but aren't and just offer lessons and ensembles - like Blackheath but some combination of these terms and your local area in google might yield some good results.

If composition is of particular interest then it could be worth looking into what options there are locally in any music provision for tuition on this. Also worth considering a second orchestral instrument if of interest - piano can get lonely, though we've found duets and trios to be a great addition.

Just to say that some Junior Departments have access to means tested government MDS funding which can cover fees and even travel for children to attend.

That's really interesting, thank you both! I think Birmingham might actually be commutable for us, certainly something to look into if DS carries on the way he is!
His biggest interest seems to be in writing his own music, and this is why he's been making noises about other instruments... he's now wanting to write pieces for multiple instruments after I let him loose browsing on a music score website, but he really needs to get lots of experience playing in a group if that's what he wants to be able to do.