Autumn / Winter 2025 Music

I know many excellent young musicians through our JD/ NYO. Only one home schooled and not for reasons of practice. These young people are out winning multiple competitions and/or seats in youth orchestras. Hard working and organised but they also do other things too. Music is meant to be fun and a teacher should start with where you want to be, combined with the time/ energy/ resources available and come up with a joint plan. It might involve compromise as in you say you want grade X in X months but can only practice x minutes a week. Teacher might suggest it could take a bit longer but we'll see how it goes. Hope you reach an agreement.

@Londonmummy66That makes me feel better. She does 45mins harp, an hour or more piano and around 30mins violin most nights. And she composes for fun. It’s all through choice. It struck me as madness but music isn’t my field and I just don’t know. But when he told her to quit ensembles and I saw her face, I just knew it was the end of the road.

@chocolateisnecessary - unless she has already got her Fellowship and is looking for a very early application to conservatoire he is being ridiculous. Who is she meant to be "competing" against anyway? I have a DD studying for an MPerf at RCM after getting a first in undergrad on under 3 hours of practice a day. The idea an 11 year old should be homeschooled to allow for music practice is crazy. Mine did Saturday JD on 2 instruments on less than an hour a night on each and even at specialist school for 6th form rarely practiced for more than 2 hours a day.

He keeps saying she should be home schooled to
do the practice. Even if she stays, it’s clear that be won’t take teaching her as seriously if she doesn’t ditch everything else.

She’s 11. He’s v ‘She can’t compete without that level of commitment.’ It’s the same every lesson and relentless. She feels she can’t please him. She’s a trial tonight with someone who’s as good but apparently much softer.

Having a bit of a nightmare here. I think we’re going to change teachers and it’s going to be very horrible. Current one putting DD under way too
much pressure, saying she needs to quit everything else - other instruments - or he’ll just teach her ‘for fun’. I feel v anxious about telling him, but she’s buckling under comments like that.

NYO applications are open for this year. Means you can see the excerpts and decide if you want to have a go. Applications close mid May but get a few extra days to put recordings in. Happy to answer any questions I'm able to as one child been in it for two years and other done inspire for four years. I know there are other parents on this thread too who can answer.

Yes they did.

Thanks everyone, think we will then. Hopefully grade 5 will be well done and dusted by then (fingers crossed for next Friday) and she will be on the long path to grade 6, I gather it is a really big gap for cellists so expecting at least a year in between of all sorts of new technical stuff and rep etc.

@Compsearch, that sounds very impressive. Go for it and he’ll totally love it!

Lovely to hear what everyone is up to! Nothing much to report here. DS has been really enjoying the music he’s playing at the moment (from grade 5 syllabus - thinking might be good for nco audition later this year, though equally they may be deluged with kids playing those pieces!), and (unusually for him) has been asking DH to play through them with him. He is incredibly lucky to have a pianist at home but up to now has not appreciated it!

definitely have a go 👍- they have kids all ages starting from 8 :) and they all seem to be enjoying it!

Definitely have a go. It’s so well pitched. My youngest started in year 4.

We are considering NCO (I presume for next year now). DD will be 10 at the end of the year. Good age to have a go or too young?

Thank you for all the joy sharing. & So pleased to see another generation getting the NCO love, it's been DD's absolute favourite thing to do so far. They're generally good for a bit of choreography!

Music happening here too. Dd played in a chamber concert at the weekend, has another concert on Wednesday (cello at both) then two informal piano concerts next week, along with evensong at a local cathedral. She has a solo apparently but hasn’t practised it yet!

Musical joy here is a show Ds worked on won an award last night.

Musical joy here was a joint concert last night between DS's school jazz band and a band from an international school in Toronto.

The two groups met in the afternoon, rehearsed each other's music for a couple of hours, had dinner and lovely cross-cultural chat, then a fabulous and joy-filled concert to finish off. Warmed the cockles.

DS sang A Little Less Conversation, backed up by the jazz band. It was ACE.

In the midst of festival prep and exam prep for child 2 (three different instruments in the festival and grade 5 cello the following week). Good news on the music scholarship front for another child too. After this we need a break! Interesting isn’t it, as we are in the grim element of pre exam practice I was musing that in the light of Waffle’s desperately sad news, we maybe do too much music and need to spend more time just relaxing as a family. Not sure our balance is quite right. Edited
to say that we have concerts for the next two weekends as well! Two for the non festival child and one possible for the festival child.

Yeah, we were at the Midlands one. DD was sat behind a kid she’d competed against recently and they had a good old gossip which was lovely! She had the best time.

We have had a joyful weekend of music. Middle one played in a competition, then a concert. Youngest joined me in my amateur orchestra concert as emergency contrabassoon dep, after I scurried round procuring a three day loan of one. Thankfully it's the one she plays weekly anyway as they can be fickle beasts, with lots of idiosyncrasies in fingerings. She took it in her stride on two brief rehearsals.
Music really does help lift things and we are fortunate to be able to immersed in this. I'd love more children to have this joy.

@chickentikkasalad I'm so glad he had fun. I can see one of DD2's teachers on the NCO Projects pictures, which makes me smile as DD first met her on the very first Projects weekend.

Our exciting music news is that DD2 has a new (to her) bassoon. A charitable trust is buying it and lending it to her until she's 25 if she wants. She says it's true love and we are very grateful.