Spring / Summer 2026 music thread

My DS did rcmjd for 7 years from 11-18 (left last summer to go to RCM) and absolutely loved it. There is a good mix of solo, chamber and orchestral opportunities. He made loads of friends and it was a really positive atmosphere. Feel free to do me if you have any specific questions

Are there any RCM JD parents here? Can I ask you for your / your child's experiences? It seems great but there is a limit to what you can see on an open day and I would be grateful for feedback. Thanks!

Hey @MusicallyMe - I have a DC at JRNCM. If I remember correctly they auditioned in mid March, and got the result mid April, so hopefully it won't be too long for your DC. Fingers crossed for you!

Sorry to jump on this thread, but my DC auditioned for junior RNCM yesterday, does anyone have any experience of when we would find out?

@CelloMumFlums Congratulations on your two offers! And best of luck for the audition :)

It's hard waiting for results of things, especially when you don't have a set date. Hope they get into the right place for them.
I've been listening to mine both practicing for their orchestra course this coming week, even occasionally together!

Hi @ArtfulMember We have received offers from two with an acceptance deadline of 1st May and one audition still to go. Hopefully yours will come through soon.

Hi there, have people been receiving any JD offers recently? We have heard back from one, but still waiting to hear from the other two that DD applied to. One of them said there were lots of applicants this year, so perhaps they haven’t gotten through everyone yet

That really depends a lot on what your 'everything else' looks like. DD had to miss her usual saturday music centre for it, but it's only two weekends in the year and was worth it for the social aspects of playing with people more her own age and the sheer NCO joy factor. They really are expert at giving the kids an amazing burst of musical energy.

I would view them as more of a warm up to orchestra residentials (NCO or otherwise) than a warm up to JD in terms of the nature of the activity.

He’s almost certainly leaning heavily on his natural ear.
That is okay, I'm convinced it still helps. Just attempting to follow the part while playing things he more or less knows by ear will help form mental connections.

@678socks Yes that’s all absolutely true. And we have been trying to work on exactly those areas. But for some reason things just aren’t clicking. Which is why I suspect there may be something else going on with the way he’s able to process the information.
@thirdfiddle Yes absolutely, he is in a Saturday morning ensemble and seems to be doing fine there- but again I very much suspect that that may be due to being able to hear something once or twice and play it… He’s almost certainly leaning heavily on his natural ear. He also seems much more able to sight read something when there is accompaniment/ piano/ an ensemble to slot in with. So again that might be an ear thing. But I’m aware sight reading a skill he is going to have to build eventually so we will keep chipping away at it and hope for the best!

Yes and no to be honest. It depends where you are. We rearrange a lot for them, and it’s a long drive, but I think it’s where she’s at her happiest so it’s definitely worth it for us. She’s in a small sectional too. It does her good to meet other harpists her age at the same kind of level.

Would anyone say NCO weekends are a lot to juggle with everything else? Someone said to me, not sure how you will fit them in. Thinking a good idea to try those with a view to JD in the future

It makes sense to do the musical knowledge for now. The thing that made the most difference for DC's sight reading long term is playing in orchestras/bands. If it's an ensemble sort of instrument he plays.

I agree with @678socks there are a lot of techniques to developing sightreading. My son’s teacher has him write in the counting sometimes before he starts. Then, you need to develop the exam technique for how you look at the piece in the 30 seconds and making sure you try out any tricky bits. Make sure he knows that the goal is not to play the sightreading piece perfectly but rather to give a musical performance at a steady tempo. Emphasise the importance of dynamics as they are an easy way to boost your marks. And then, the most important thing is lots of practice - little and often. Sightreading is hard and not particularly enjoyable but, as he gets better, he will enjoy it more. It will also enable him to access new pieces more quickly so it’s definitely a skill worth developing for its own sake, not just for exams.

@ReadySteadyTeddy1 obviously see what the teacher says but I have also taken out the rhythm patterns and done those away from the instrument also have a structured way of tackling each one that he learns and does in the exam, practice spotting the tricky bits etc. Actually though what often helps children is tonnes of duets in every instrumental lesson and even practice they do. It is fun, doesn’t feel like sight reading (but is). Could you delay the exam to have a screening done? My child’s slow processing was picked up in a dyslexia assessment.

Hi @678socks So we have the Trinity books and have been working through the grade 3 and now 4 sections, but for some reason it doesn’t seem to be improving the actual sight reading. It’s a mess honestly 😂My DS does seem to have good theory knowledge though (he’s very maths-y, so maybe that helps all of that stick.) I can’t even work out how to help as I’ve always been much better at sight reading than anything else (on a totally different instrument though.)
Unfortunately the Musical Knowledge option only goes up to Grade 5, so we’ll have to tackle that beast eventually. But we wouldn’t have time to do any kind of assessments on processing etc before the exam, so probably for us best to go for that option for now and maybe look for extra time if he goes onto subsequent exams.

Oh crikey, mine has slow processing (and therefore extra time in exams) but didn’t even think about music exams 😱😱. Need to remember for grade 6. When I looked briefly at musical knowledge for my son for grade 4, I felt it required a lot of theory knowledge actually and for us wouldn’t have been a good last minute swap. Needs a bit of prepping. Not many of my teaching colleagues have taught it either. Have you seen the sight reading books produced for trinity sight reading tests, a good step by step approach and they are grouped: initial-grade 2, 3-5 and 6-8 so you only need to buy three!

@ReadySteadyTeddy1 - the extra time is the standard ABRSM provision for any form of LD - dyslexia etc also attracts it so if the eye tracking is confirmed then he should qualify (at least with ABRSM).

Thank you so much everyone. I’m going to get the Paul Harris, and of course carry on working on SR. That’s also great information about the slow processing @Londonmummy66 , although it’s more eye tracking than slow processing that I think is the issue. I’m going to look into a full evaluation eventually, but it’s tricky when a child isn’t really struggling at school to get these things done.
@horseymum yes we’re quite surprised with his speedy progress. He just seems to ‘get’ it. It’s very lovely to hear him play.

@ReadySteadyTeddy1 - can't help with Trinity but second the Paul Harris books - they are very good. Also our DD has slow processing and school did a note which went in with her ABRSM applications and got her extra time for sight reading (3 minutes instead of 30 seconds)

Agree readysteady, musical knowledge makes a lot of sense in this situation. Worth working on the SR too to catch up as I think it stops being optional at higher grades, but there's no bias at current grade, each option is scored separately and full range of marks available.

Also if you think there may be dyslexia or other disability reason for finding reading hard, you may be able to arrange large print, coloured filters or something to help with the sight reading when it comes to it. But just having been playing for such a short time is a good reason too!

That sounds brilliant progress in a short time. There's no bias towards/ against the options within the face to face; as far as I can remember it wouldn't say on the certificate. The only thing some people have strong opinions on is the performance only exam option as they don't do any supporting exercises.
With regards to sight reading, have a look at the Paul Harris improve your sight-reading as they take a helpful systematic approach. The ability to play by ear is fantastic though, I'm jealous of that!

Can anyone help me with a music exam question? DC10 is taking his grade 4 this coming term (he’s been playing this instrument for about a year and an half) and I’ve just looked up the Trinity syllabus properly. It says in the face to face exam that he has the option of choosing something called Musical Knowledge instead of sight reading. He’s always struggled with sight reading (I suspect there may be some kind of underlying eye tracking issue, as his dad who is a musician has the same and is dyslexic.) They both are amazing at playing by ear though.

Anyway, would there be any underlying bias against a child who decided to do this option rather than the sight reading? I’m aware there might be pathways considered as ‘easier options’ and I don’t want to hinder his ability to get a higher grade by choosing the wrong option.
I’ll of course discuss this with his teacher, but wanted to gather opinions here first.

Just wanted to flag up that there is a thread asking about life at Wells on the boarding school thread as I know there are a few Wellies parents around https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/boarding-school/5512864-wells-cathedral-boarding-vs-day-pupil-life-insights-needed