Spring / Summer 2026 music thread

That sounds hopeful, @Theoneiwantedwastaken . Was there an interesting programme of events, too?

My daughter was accepted to the Junior programme last year. There were no auditions. After I sent in the financial information there was nothing else to do. I received an acceptance email mid June

I'm impressed with all your kids auditioning for NCO and JDs. Mine is not at that sort of level!

I'm wondering if anyone has experience of Future Talent? DD has got through round one of a junior award application. There don't seem to be auditions for the junior programme, they've just asked questions about finances, so I'm not clear whether she's got it as long as we're under the income threshold, or there are some more hoops to jump through. DD is asking me daily if there's news!

I agree on the point of quality and probably musicality too.

DD auditioned with under rehearsed grade 5 pieces the first year she did NCO projects (violin, london). Quite sad that this year she is too old to audition, it's been a happy place for her. Really encourage anyone to have a go if they're in the age range.

Don't worry too much about grade levels. Cliche but it really is quality not difficulty. Kids playing grade 5 pieces range from sounds a bit beginnerish to close your eyes and it could be the teacher playing.

Thank you @678socks! he really loves it and has made great progress (got it for his 6th birthday, almost exactly 2 years ago), though there seem to be plenty of kids who started earlier and/or further ahead.

I think doing something like NCO would be really inspiring for him to meet some of those kids as he’s not in any ensembles at the moment so just sort of practices in a vacuum! But I’m sure it’s really competitive.

I think it depends on the region, London is a bit more competitive. Friends in London got in with grade 6 on cello, I think grade 5 is worth trying.

@Compsearch wow he is doing amazingly well!

DS is auditioning for NCO this year with grade 5 pieces on violin; he is year 3 just turned 8.

It says grade 4+ and that they take a mix across the age and grade levels, so if that’s true he must be in with a shot, but I think the prep will be good experience for him whatever. Will probs wait until a bit closer to the deadline to submit anything!

Thanks both. Year 4 currently, suspect possibly grade 6 done by the time the weekends actually happen (assuming after spring exam session).

not sure about Cello but DS is violin and he auditioned last year as a grade 6 and just about got in from the waiting list! Violin is the hardest though so I’d say give it a go and see what happens!

The weekends are designed to be mixed ability and fairly mixed age (quite a lot of younger ones because the older ones also have the option of the residentials). Gde 5+ for cello sounds totally within the norm for the weekends.

Apologies if I have asked before but for ‘NCO weekends’auditions, is just post grade 5 (cello) unlikely to be good enough?

Our earliest ensemble started at 8:20 and that could not be moved around unlike individual lessons or music theory so it's better to double check which ensembles have more or less fixed time and which ones are mandatory. Early ensembles are usually not the main ones, but you wouldn't really want to miss any ensembles as they're the main point in going to JD (good teachers can be found locally).

If this is RCMJD, you can ask to start at 10am if you’re coming a long way and they’ll try very hard to make that happen. When we started there, someone was flying in from Germany each week so their timetable was set to start with the earliest flight arrival time!

Bear in mind that your child might enjoy it so much that they’re begging for an 8am - 6pm timetable …. Lots of people drive/train a long distance with a very early start to fit in everything the kids want to do. But I don’t know anyone who stays overnight weekly.

The London JDs try and take travel into account when setting the timetable. RAM JA specifically asks about where children are travelling from and also asks about earliest start times in their questionnaire. I understand RCMJD do too. That said, they do expect a willingness to get on early trains.

It depends on the timetable and can be doable without accommodation if ensembles start later in the day or you take the first train around 5am.
First lessons rarely start before 8-8:30 ime.

I think they must@chocolateisnecessary or possibly they have friends/ relatives that they stay with in London?

Someone at RCM suggested getting on at Gloucester Road as it's quieter. I think on home days for Chelsea, we may actually travel with DD, as that concerns me more.

Do the parents pay for accommodation the night before? This is the bit that always confuses me. We’re in Cardiff and we can’t get there in time on the train network. Transport and hotel costs would hit the thousands.

College Confidential and The Student Room are also really useful for information on summer programmes and courses.

From what the heads of RCMJD and JRAM said, some children travel/ have travelled from quite far away to get there - Ireland was definitely mentioned and I think France too. We are just over an hour out via train which I am very grateful for. DD knows other children at these and Guildhall JD and talked to them about it.

I too had never heard of JDs before this thread! If I had, we may never have moved out of London and life could be very different!

Good point @northerngoldilocks - that should be perfect for him then.

@StuntNun if it’s any consolation, I went to conservatoire without having done any of these things except for NYO, which I only knew about because I saw it on TV (Mahler 1 at the proms in 2004!). Now my kids are going through it I randomly Google things, but this thread is genuinely one of the best sources of info out there!