Spring / Summer 2026 music thread

I was certainly under the impression from the video submission guidance that they can submit it in as many or as few videos as they like.

@CelloMumFlums I've no idea, all I know was there was much hilarity as older one was 'helping ' younger one. Not sure any actual usable takes got done yesterday! I think they can all be separate but I leave her to do it. The staff are pretty helpful though if you get in touch.

Hope all final year recitals are going well and best of luck to those with exams next half-term.

Super grateful for any advice re 1st round NYO video auditions: do intro and both pieces need to be in 1 take with 2 excerpts in the other (as for NCO) or can you submit eg 5 videos with intro/ piece 1/ piece 2/ excerpt 1/ excerpt 2 separately? Thank you!

😂 My overworked and depressed brain was not imaginative enough :))

DD's former violin teacher says he was happiest in Japan - very well paid 100% secure job, family accommodation provided and classical musicians revered by the Japanese... not sure if that's universal though as her Japanese teacher was not supported at Japanese school and actively discouraged from doing music instead of academics 🤷‍♀️

And I was seeing him on a park bench cuddling up to a couple of labs for warmth.... no doubt where DD will end up.

That should of course should read digs, not dogs.

I know. That's one of the reasons I was reluctant for DD to prioritise dance, the others being extreme competition, injuries and short career...
It still feels sad though, irrationally.

True but you still need to live.

one of the problems was having to keep paying London rent whilst out on tour. Dogs were provided, but the pay just wasn’t enough.

Good luck @Comefromaway
we’ve just got home from my kid’s final year recital. I was really nervous! He definitely relaxed as he went along and the final (very difficult) piece went as well as he’d hoped. His tutor, head of department and other professor of his instrument came to watch which was great but also nerve wracking. It was good to see so many of his friends supporting him too, can’t believe that’s his last bit of assessed work done.

Oh well, no one is in the arts for the money, I guess 😂

Dancers are also paid far worse than musicians too.

Dance is even harder than music... 😞
We're of Romani descent so amateur dancing never goes away and of course there are lots of classes to maintain structured training, but there are not so many performing opportunities in adult life...
Anyway, I digress :)

She isn't really dancing at the moment. I hope that one day she will redisover her love of dance but a lot has happened.

After some end of year showcases, I realised I suffer from post show blues - was feeling nearly depressed for quite a while. Does your DD keep dancing @Comefromaway ? I nearly felt like grieving that DD had to stop dancing to focus on music...

Good luck also to your DD @Londonmummy66! I have literally sobbed the few times I’ve watched DS play so cannot imagine I’d cope in something like a final recital!

DH has been examining them this week and said that he was moved to tears by one he heard yesterday - pretty lovely job for him!

Hope your DD's recital goes really well!

Best of luck to your DS @Comefromaway ! It's nerve wracking for parents but your DS has been building his career already so lots to look forward to!

good luck to your DS @Comefromaway - not being allowed to watch is actually the better option. I've had 2 degree recitals from DD and have another coming up next month. Sitting there is excruciating. She's currently agonising over the running order and which of the 2 instruments on stage she'll play each piece on.

I'm not even sure that it is open to anyone outside the conservatoire. He has had to scale his original idea down a bit. He was going to perform with a full band but due to being away (working on a professional show) it is just him and singer now.

It made me laugh that he has been practising one particular very tricky piece (by a theatre composer called Jason Robert Brown) then watched a video of the composer playing it live and even he doesn't play all the notes as written!

Hope it goes well @Comefromaway - such a big milestone!

@Comefromaway Hope it goes well, it seems like so much pressure on one performance but I'm sure he will be well prepared. I take it you won't get to see it at this short notice!

It’s ds’s final recital tomorrow. He omitted to tell me the date until now but he has been working.

I had a laugh the other night as DD was looking at some early French keyboard music and suddenly took her hands off to play air cello - when I asked what she was doing she said working out what the tenor clef notes were - yet another indication of how weird the musical brain pathways can be.....

😂😂 we are at the stage with one of finding it in pieces but the other is just starting so tenor clef is in a separate book.