Autumn / Winter 2025 Music

@Musictimesthree hope that improves after a slow start. DD2 was rather put off by the text she got from a friend at who recently started at a London one on Saturday that read

'conservatoire is absolutely everything I hoped it would be. Except I have no friends'.

That made her (and me) very sad as this friend of hers is totally lovely. I think it might just be harder to get started, but maybe you make firmer friendships in the end.

I'm sorry that he's not enjoying it. Is it PCV? We had that issue as you simply book a room number so have no idea who else will be in the flat and DD ended up with several Chinese masters students who never spoke to her. It would have been so much better if they had allocated the first years in flats together. She did go to lots of freshers social events and met people there - that plus setting up chamber music ensembles got her to meet people quite quickly and she has a lovely tight knot group of friends now.

DS just started conservatoire in London. Staying in halls where all the other students in his flat are international.

Variable numbers of students playing the same instrument in different years of the programme (5 in current year, 9 in year above).

He’s finding that the total number of students in his whole year is less than the number of students on some courses at universities. Therefore a general lack of people to socialise with plus as there’s no facilities there’s limited opportunities to meet people.

Still early days but worth considering.

I’m guessing there must be a fair number of international students, as you’ve suggested - I hadn’t really thought of that.

Good point about uni v conservatoires.
DD went to a campus uni and found that so much more sociable than DS is finding conservatoire, plus there’s no facilities like a gym or sports pitches, pool etc so no chance of enjoying those activities.
And of course, DD made friends from lots of different subjects, not just her own, whereas conservatoire is obviously limited to music, even if there are different disciplines within that.

Might a proportion of the 19 be international students?

One point to bear in mind in the uni v conservatoire debate is that conservatoires tend to have very little in the way of extra curricular clubs and societies. I find it a bit sad that DD1 has had none of that experience whilst DD2 has a ball with her various sports and music clubs, wine tasting club etc (maybe a bit too much of a good thing sometimes).

I think the whole conservatoires thing can be a mystery.
For example, last year DS was one of only 2 in 1st year on his instrument, while one of the other conservatoires had 19.
I have no idea where all those other people were hiding prior to going, as you’d assume DS would know of most of turn’s existence just due to attending specialist school and being in NYO.
And that’s before you start to wonder why so many would pick one conservatoire over another, given that they both have fantastic reputations for that department.

DS’s teacher’s class is all male, to add another question into the mix.

@achangeofnameisasgoodasarest If you’re looking for Liberal Arts programmes with a strength in music, Durham would be a good option. It’s second in the UK for Music and the department is in a wonderful location on Palace Green which is a world heritage site. The Durham LA programme allows study of two or three subjects, so she could use that framework to build a JH prog with Music and something else, or in a three subject combination. Optional subjects include social sciences as well as Arts and Humanities. Plus vast amounts of music happening at a college as well as university level. There’s also the RNS in Newcastle which is an excellent source of instrumental teachers.

I think I spotted Liberal Arts at Warwick when I was looking with my older ons @Alwaysplayspicc but they didn't do music - will have to look at the others. Wasn't sure how they're viewed and organised as a degree here - I did a joint honours and even that confused people and definitely had its chaotic moments.

I think i was just surprised @Londonmummy66 as the entire bassoon dept at her school is female and most of her teachers have been too. I think the same dept at RCM might be all girls in the current first year.

It more made me think about the process that had got them to that place - ie is there some way that one school wants a particular sound that can only be made by someone very tall, particularly given the focus on contra, or do girls not feel welcome when applying? It could just be coincidence but for them all to be boys was weird when there were so many of them - it was a full dept class across all years and types of course.

Eventually DD2 says one other girl turned up, but she was also looking round, not a student.

There are females in her instrument at RCM if that is helpful

The really big issue with conservatories is - do you play an instrument that requires a specific practice room - if you are a flautist who can practice any where including your sound proofed student room (ie PCV at RCM) then that's fine. If you are a percussionist at rCM that's also fine as there are a lot of percussion only rooms and not many percussionists and no second studies. If you are eg a fortepianist with only one room you can book as there is only one room with a forte piano then you will be screwed if your conservatoire doesn't ring fence that room for historic keyboard players - hint - a lot of them dont.... Its one reason why organists are better off going to Oxbridge and getting almost unlimited dibs on an instrument and only going to conservatoire for masters.

There absolutely are liberal arts degrees in the UK, achangeofname. Birmingham offers liberal arts and sciences, and Royal Holloway also offers liberal arts (and they're just the 2 unis that I know of from DD applying).

Very interesting, thank you @Compsearch

Yes, exactly! To be honest I found it quite lonely. There is a bit of a mismatch because brass, wind, percussion for the most part are very keen on orchestra and there are more than enough of them to fill the orchestral spots, so opportunities are limited to start with and then need to be shared out, whereas strings generally less keen and often not enough to fill the spaces.

To fill the gaps we had things like wind repertoire sessions (playing through excerpts - useful) and brass band (not my cup of tea). Even chamber music - I found it hard to get string players interested in doing things like Schubert octet or Beethoven septet because if they did chamber at all they were focused on string quartets or trios. A lot of people I encountered were very determined and focused on their own practice and preparing for assessments etc so less keen on playing music for fun (sad!).

This was obvs an age ago but DH teaches at one now and while things are definitely more organised than back then, and they work really hard to make it a rounded and useful experience for all students, there’s a lot of unstructured time (deliberately). So if you want to practice your instrument all day it’s the best place to be; if you don’t, it might not be.

@Compsearch -thats really helpful thanks. She did like it - but I think she’ll like uni open days too. Weirdest thing is that the entire department for her instrument appears to be male- it was so odd to watch her walk into a room of 20 or so people who were all hugely tall boys. I tbh found that more offputting than she did!

Oh wow! That's really interesting, what do orchestral musicians do at conservatoire then? DD is doing at least 2.5 hours of practice and 1-2 hours of chamber music daily, then a few hours of orchestra, individual lessons, academic music, choir and performing classes/concerts throughout the week, probably adding 1-1.5 hours a day - and she's 11 so hasn't really started in earnest yet 😂 I get it a soloist may have to practise the whole day at conservatoire, but brass players cannot even do that much practice! 🤔

Oh sorry - that was my description of my time at Cambridge.

My time at conservatoire was more like 3 hours of attempted practice per day with just one orchestral project a term, 1 chamber rehearsal per week and MUCH time in the pub. I think that’s why for orchestral musicians, universities with loads of extra curricular music going on can be good alternatives and good prep for professional life. But depends on instrument and personality and so many other things.

@Compsearch Conservatoire does sound like a specialist music school 😁

Re. scholarships, I think in the current economic climate they're more about financial survival rather than flattery. Or at least I felt that way about DD's scholarship.

@achangeofnameisasgoodasarest the conservatoire audition process is obviously intense and stressful and competitive and it’s really amazing to be offered a place after going through that process, but none of that means it’s necessarily the right choice or the right thing to do.

I think it can be easy to be swept up in it once you’re in the process because it’s flattering, especially if scholarships are involved, so I’d just be wary of that. They will woo excellent musicians in a way that universities don’t.

@Ubertomusic everyone I know in this position just fitted it in somehow…not quite sure how tbh! A typical day for me involved 1-2 hours of practice, 1-2 hours of chamber music, a 3 hour orchestra rehearsal (7.30-10.30pm most days) and doing academic stuff around that. DH did 4-5 hours practice a day but as a pianist wasn’t in any orchestras. We did also spend a lot of time in the pub etc so I think probably didn’t sleep much. Good times!

@Compsearch - that's also helpful thanks! DD2 is definitely NOT someone who can't imagine doing anything else - I mean I can't imagine her ever not being around music but it might not be playing.

Today she is utterly enthused by Anglo-Saxon, for example- she's a candidate for a Liberal Arts degree if ever I've seen one but they aren't such a thing here.
She is, however, enjoying the open day more than I expected - though I think it feels just like an extension of school to her, which says an awful lot more about how odd her school is than about how conservatoires are.

Let's see what she thinks when she sees uni too.

Sorry I’m only a lurker on these threads but I know NYSO is a really small organisation and if he’s been before maybe it’s worth emailing them about the injury and asking for an extension?

That's truly shocking, sounds like a serious problem in the admin 🤯 So sorry it's happening to you and your DS!

That’s absolutely awful! Feel so sorry for you and your DS. Wish him good luck for the next one

That is so poor. So sorry about that.

Nobody seems to know how it works. It appears that they’ve changed it but didn’t tell the candidates or the administrator. Even the panel are confused. His tutor is at a loss as to how he’s not been taken forward.
Hes got another one next week but he’s always been less confident about that one.

Oh god @Siriusmuggle what an absolute mess. He must be devastated.