Autumn / Winter 24 - music thread

This has been so brilliantly helpful. Thanks everyone.

Having been through the options I think we will apply for NCCB. I have also reached out to NYO Inspire because they cater to her year group at 13+ but she is young in her year so I have asked them whether she can get involved.

ESO looks amazing but she is too young and also the standard looks very high so I think that's one to think about in a few years' time.

DD was very keen on the idea of the Scout and Guide CB but the dates don't work with a Scout camp she is doing. Again it looks a great one to revisit in the future too.

I really liked the look of NSSO until I realised that their summer Philharmonic residential is arranged in early July when the private schools have broken up but the state schools haven't. Although I think my daughter would be Sinfonia level I was a bit 🤔about it and it put me off. I went to a private school and I'm not generally chippy about the state / private distinction, but that felt a bit of an odd thing to do.

DD was also keen on the Gloucestershire Academy of Music course because it combines outward bound activities with music which she would love.

So lots to look at and she has been cheered to know there are other options that look fun. We have rejected the Projects Place and will start planning for more auditions!

Stark reminder of how competitive wind instruments are MockCroc, grade 8 at 12 sounds brilliant to me. It's great to see how many options there are, sure you'll be able to find her something cool. And have you got NYO Inspire on your radar?

Mine loved English schools orchestra.

Thanks everyone - these are such fab suggestions. She has been to Wells summer School a couple of times and really enjoyed it (they are so lovely there) but I think wants something that is a bit more concert band / orchestra focussed. The disappointments are the tough side of parenting aren't they, because even when we know they are working hard and doing well sometimes they only feel the knocks?! But we have been looking at some of these options online and she is excited about them so all your suggestions have been a real boost. Thanks for the context amr78. Your son sounds like he is doing brilliantly. There are just so few spaces for some of these instruments the competition is so fierce. My daughter goes to a state school and our local music service is so lovely but really struggles for players, so these opportunities are what she lives for to meet kids her own age who have the same interests as her.

@MockCroc my DC have done residentials with these guys in the past and enjoyed them - its Grade 5 plus so not sure if standard would be high enough but you could ask - when they did seniors half the GLoucesteshire Youth Orchestra seemed to be on it. https://glosacadmusic.org/sessions-and-ensembles/holiday-courses/summer-holiday-residential-courses/

@MockCroc there’s the national youth concert band https://www.nycb.co.uk/the-bands.html Wells cathedral school also offer a wind and brass residential in the summer holidays which you don’t need to audition for but caters for all abilities. DS did it aged 12 and really enjoyed it. Sounds like your daughter is doing amazingly to be working towards grade 8 clarinet aged 12. My son auditioned for U12 NCO and got offered a place on clarinet which we couldn’t take up but he didn’t make it into the main orchestra. To put it into context, he passed his grade 8 with distinction in the summer aged 14 and it’s been suggested we should consider specialist music schools or JDMs (although we’re not going down this route).

A friend's DC did a summer school at cheethams one year and loved it. There's also the national scout and guide orchestra/ wind band, takes from grade 4/5 I think so may not be enough of a challenge.

Well done to your DC2 getting reserve, but I can understand deciding not to wait. That sounds like a great recommendation - thank you. I will have a look. She has been quite pragmatic about NCO but was secretly really hoping for it so she's a bit down.

Hey @MockCroc - sorry to hear your DC missed out on NCO. My DC2 was only offered reserve. Last year she did National Children's Concert Band at Easter and proclaimed it " the best week of my life" 😀, so is planning to book into that again rather than wait in case a reserve spot opens up.

There's a video audition process but it's very low key. Last year the decision was back within a week. There were lots of DC that age, or if she prefers NYCB (older age group) runs at the same time and they socialise together.

Hi everyone, I'm looking for recommendations for orchestra residentials or similar for Easter / summer in the South East / midlands. DD has just failed to get the place she set her heart on in NCO U13 orchestra. She's not going to take up her place in Projects because she has grown out of it. She would like to try for something else and I know you are all a mine of musical recommendations. For context of what she might be eligible to go for, she is 12 and sitting G8 clarinet. Our local music service isn't up to much and she's feeling a bit lost. She's hoping to audition for London JDs in the new year but who knows whether she will get in. It would be nice to have something for her to aim for. Thanks!

By the way, he did the string arrangements for this song. https://open.spotify.com/album/0yeosMq6y20NXz7GUMB5Jv?si=z0-DKuOUQy2CMOmWRuuQkw

Ds was very good at maths when younger, but put the minimum effort in at school. But he does have a mathematical brain. He is really good at sight reading, it's probably his biggest strength but I think a lot of that comes from his constant playing through of musical theatre scores and doing lots of accompanying He looks for the patterns in the music.

That certainly fits dd2 - she is extremely lazy

I love this theory! I can now say I wasn't lazy enough to excel at maths 😂

So in fact down to practice and development of neural pathways.

Maybe it's a visual processing thing? Goes straight into eyes and out of fingers/mouth without the need for the brain to process? A bit like touch-typing...

I'm v mathematical but spent most of my youth feeling on the back foot with sight reading having spent my primary years learning with Suzuki method. So maybe more training than mathematical ability.

New theory, maybe maths and sight reading both appeal to the lazy: Both reward understanding and skill with the need for less hard work.

Hmmm... DS an excellent sight-reader, no doubt partly down to choral training. He is average at best at maths! Ditto languages.

Turns out he's doing grade six horn this term, his teacher mentioned in passing. Along with G8 singing and diploma piano. Oh well, gets them all out of the way before GCSEs next summer I guess!

Fascinating discussion on sightreading ability. DH is as mathsy as they come and very very good at sightreading (on the organ so feet as well as hands). DD was the star of piano sightreading class at Junior Guildhall and absolutely the worst mathematician in her year. Both are also very good at aural - in part as they have perfect pitch so only half of an aural test requires any thought at all. DH is very much a listening learner and DD is pretty well 100% visual.

I have a serious mathematician and she’s not too shabby at sight reading. Her memory playing is very good and she can repeat music if she hears it played by someone else - she can’t name notes played though so 🤷🏻‍♀️

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0012gj9

I found it really interesting.

Two of mine are excellent sight readers. Combination of lots of ensembles and early teachers who installed use of a metronome and accuracy in the playing from the start, so that the sometimes complicated subdivision seems to come naturally. Good at maths but not genius level, it's taken lots of work. There's an interesting podcast by Tom Service about sight reading and playing from memory, I'll try to find it.