Autumn 23 Music chat

If you want any info I’m happy to help. It’s academically very good, boarding is great and obviously the music is amazing.

George Caird was head of wind back then and absolutely lovely).

George Caird was principal of Birmingham when my husband went there.

I’ve heard of a couple of wind players that didn’t get back in.
Really tough - I’m kind of glad that DS won’t have to face the possibility of that happening next year.

He did manage to get his applications in, thanks, PollyAnna8844, but it was all very eleventh hour in the end and very stressful! Relieved that he can now focus on preparing for auditions.

Good to hear the RAM open day was good. The strings day was online this year and it was really hard to get any real sense of the department ‘vibe’.
DS decided not to apply there, as he hasn’t actually visited, which is a shame as I had a very happy year there as a post grad. (George Caird was head of wind back then and absolutely lovely).

NYO - have heard the auditions were pretty brutal this year. A number of this year's orchestra did not get places for next year.

@horseymum in the 2 years DS has been in NYO there have been quite a few musicians from St Mary's

@Alsoplayspiccolo did your DS get everything sorted for his Conservatoire applications?

I took DS to the Woodwind & Brass Open Day at RAM on Friday. It was a really interesting day and the head of woodwind was so passionate about his role preparing the students to get jobs in the music world. Did anyone else go?

Chet's was indeed brilliant. What a place! Think DD would definitely like to go, but doesn't want to board before 6th form and I worry being a day pupil would just be exhausting. I was surprised at just how good the academic side looked though, which is very tempting given the school she is currently at. Difficult decisions ahead..of course no place even guaranteed if she does apply.

His school is having a music day next week - he's been asked to do a turn, and will sing and play Piano Man by Billy Joel! Parents aren't invited, annoyingly!

Brilliant choice of song. My son sand and played New York State of Mind for his uni auditions.

@minisnowballs the DOM is a horn player so is a huge advocate for endangered instruments! He’s also an excellent person and has been a big influence on my boy since he first encountered him.

@georgedawes we never got to the open day because of train strikes last year (plus ca change), but Chetham's were so kind and welcoming to DD when we went for consultation lessons etc.

The Director of Music seemed to really like bassoons! Enjoy yourselves.

@georgedawes my son went to Chetham’s for 6th form, he loved it. Enjoy the open day- it’s a fabulous place.

I think it's amazing what children can do if they try. We have a Ukrainian ward (she's 16) - had never tried the piano until she got here a year ago and had 20 minute school lesson with her former host family. She had no piano there, but now she's moved in with us.

Her grade 3s are sounding fantastic- I'm so proud of her!

First child in my house to ever ask my opinion on anything musical too.

Grade 8 in under three years is going it some @FlightoftheTumbleBee! DS took nearly five, and I thought that was good. He is OTOH a prodigious sightreader, as loves just to play through stuff. It means he relies on it rather, instead of learning stuff properly.

His school is having a music day next week - he's been asked to do a turn, and will sing and play Piano Man by Billy Joel! Parents aren't invited, annoyingly!

@FlightoftheTumbleBee my DH teaches one of those instruments at one of those JDs so feel free to PM me if you have any specific questions.

Junior Guildhall, Junior Academy (RAM) and RCMJD are all equally good and equally tricky to get into. Unless you want a particular teacher then it often comes down to which one is more convenient to get to, and many apply to all 3 so also comes down to where you get offers.

Oh I'm sure you and the teacher are right! Just amused me to be another music thing I really have no idea about.

That really is a music school minisnowballs! I didn't think it was possible from what you'd said previously to cram any more music in!!

Is anyone going to Chetham's open day this weekend?

I’m sure a separate one is a good idea @georgedawes (new teacher sounds serious). Must admit that dd just used my phone and now uses hers- currently grumpy with her ‘always flat’ A.

checked her school timetable this am- another new ensemble- this week ‘early music’ til 8pm to go with all the others. Didn’t even know the bassoon did early music.

Thanks thirdfiddle! She's always used a phone app before, but new teacher says has to be separate one now (no idea why!).

georgedawes tuners - most people seem to have some variant of this one: www.thestringzone.co.uk/korg-ca1-electronic-tuner
I've had mine for many years, it's had one new battery and its main problem is i tend to mislay it. Or one friend just has a phone app now.

Going back to cadenzas melodiousthunk no, mostly not written out by the soloist I don't think, mostly either set by the composer themselves or from standard options that have been composed by great players over the years. But obviously to establish the latter someone has to decide to do their own thing and compose a new one, and a few modern big name players do that too.

Sight reading is part of the assessment process for JDs so working on it would make sense. My DD is pretty good at piano sight reading and i put it almost exclusively down to her enthusiasm for learning Adele songs in addition to her piano lesson pieces - she has always played lots of extra things and the main thing with sight reading is that you improve by doing lots of it. She also does a piano trio (the 3 people playing one piano variety) and that has really helped too. Basically lots of playing where you just have to play through and keep going.

We have the same issue with the London days @PinkGrapefruitSorbet !

@FlightoftheTumbleBee your son sounds brilliant, getting to that standard so quickly is a brilliant achievement. DD is grade 6 (ish) on piano and that's from age 7-13....sight reading is tricky for her too on piano as she just doesn't get the opportunities like she does for her orchestral main instrument.

Thanks for the ideas @georgedawes - I'll have a look for local things. All the London stuff is so far away that it would take up a whole weekend and he'd miss other local rehearsals, sadly. He does have a final NCO weekend in London in November, which he's really looking forward to and I'm sure will have a bassoon tutor.

Welcome @FlightoftheTumbleBee - I don't know anything about piano or London JDs but you'll get great advice on this thread! Your son sounds really talented at piano to have got so far so quickly!

Thank you @georgedawes !

Thank you, @northerngoldilocks.

Ah yes of course, I forgot about RCM, thank you! What is CYM? (I ask that, but I'll google of course.) And how do they rank, do you know? I think I've heard/read that RAM is the most difficult to get into, is that right? Or does it depend on instrument? And do kids normally apply for all of these London JDs in one go? Or is it more common to apply to just 1 or 2? How common is it to apply and be rejected, and then to reapply the following year?

Thanks for the info re Guildhall pre-audition advice session.

I hear you re age 14 and G8 level piano. His teachers have advised the same. He actually does play above G8 but the idea is to get the G8 done just to have something to show on paper. He's been playing ... maybe about 2.5 years? So he's come on very fast. But his profile is very spiky, very good at some things (e.g. playing hard pieces; enjoys practising), and not good at other things (e.g. sight reading).

How important is the 2nd study for these applications? He really isn't that keen on the flute, but he's carrying on with it for the orchestral stuff, which he loves.

Many thanks again.

Welcome @FlightoftheTumbleBee ! Sorry I can't help much with your questions, but as a fellow non musical person I understand what's it's like. We're not in London so can't comment on the conservatoires really, but the open day we went to was really helpful in understanding what they were looking for. If they offer pre audition advice as @northerngoldilocks says, I'd really look to take advantage of that, as it's good preparation more than anything else.

@PinkGrapefruitSorbet are there any small competitions or festivals your son could do? I know there's not lots of time though. DD did one for the first time this year, and it really helped. There's also the Big double reed day in Guildhall and the British double reed day at RAM coming up soon - they often have performance opportunities and feedback from great tutors during the day. We really wanted to go to the Guildhall day but sadly it looks like the trains make it impossible to get there on time!

DD is having the opposite problem with seat straps and harnesses...she's always learnt with a neck strap and has been told she needs to play with a seat straps! She's not really happy about this as she prefers to play standing up, even though her performance is better sat down. She's hoping a harness might be a compromise but as it's a slightly new body position it's throwing her tuning out a bit. Bassoons are such a combination of things to go wrong, aren't they!

We need to buy a tuner, can anyone recommend a decent, inexpensive one?