Spring / Summer 2026 music thread

@horseymum I think you can now do the A Level without needing to do all this harmonisation too - harmony classes aren't compulsory (for nerds only, DD says - but she's a proud nerd).

DD was the first tranche of kids to do the online G5 - the pilot one during covid that went so badly they gave us all half of our money back. Doubt she remembers a single thing from it!

We’re working through grade 6/7 theory books here but as part of composition lessons which makes it more fun! The teacher makes sure they apply it and it’s helping it sink in.

Mine have both done ' practical musicianship' (which actually involves sitting in a classroom!) throughout JD but never seem to get a certificate or anything. The report card seemed to indicate they listened to some music and wrote some figured bass ( middle one) but after four years it didn't seem to have been aiming for anything. I wonder if it perhaps filled in some of the gaps between higher music and a level as higher is pretty light in terms of any kind of theory. I don't know if she could have done grade 8, it was certainly never mentioned. Younger one is slowly meandering towards grade 5 theory in these classes but needs a shift on as will do grade 8 in the autumn!

@achangeofnameisasgoodasarestgood luck for your DD’s exams. Two exams in a week is impressive!

@StuntNunDS did his theory last year and I still remember the agony of waiting so well. Fingers crossed for the 28th.

@Siriusmuggleand @Comefromawayreally hope things work out well for your young musicians.
@Compsearchglad he enjoyed the evensong. I love the robes too. It’s a pity DS doesn’t want to be a chorister 😂.

Thanks @StuntNun -

I'm trying to work out whether 'harmony' lessons are essentially the same as theory lessons. If theory is all harmony then she's covering it - writing figured bass, bach chorales and counterpoint with a teacher each week - but I wasn't sure if there was something other than harmony in there

Fingers crossed she gets good results @achangeofnameisasgoodasarestit can be impossible to tell how well you’ve done in exams.

With regard to the music theory, it is useful to have but there’s a huge jump between grade 5 and grade 6. Up to grade 5 is purely memorising but from grade 6 you need to be able to actively write music including harmonies and figured bass. It has been made more of a jump by grades 1-5 moving to online exams which necessitated taking out any composition elements from the lower grades. Your DD would probably need some theory lessons to be able to take the higher grades.

No European connections at all I'm afraid. There are some very distant Welsh connections in dh's family but that's about it.

Figured bass always used to appear in grade 6 theory.

@Compsearch sadly ineligible for any Eu passport. Very annoying.

and @Compsearch how exciting re evensong. Sorry, I think i was typing my message when yours went up. Glad he's loving it. I can see that choir robes must be lots of fun - DD2 is very unimpressed to be appearing on the national youth choir website in her least favourite piece of musical attire - a purple polo shirt. She'd much prefer a robe.

Hello, just checking in on new thread. Exciting but scary times @Comefromaway and @Siriusmuggle. Assume you’ve checked the family history for possible Eu passport opportunities?!

DS did his first evensong last night - first time wearing choir robes so he was very excited (I think he thinks he looks like Harry Potter). I think it’s been great for him - he seems to have benefited a lot from being with the older choristers. Really nice for him to have some musical role models/peers.

@StuntNun arrggh, I remember the feeling. DD2 took two practical exams this week and I'm not feeling all that positive about how they're going to have turned out (nor is one of the teachers, it emerges - she's trying to get things out the way on second and third studies with not a lot of prep time). But theory is worse with the long wait. Fingers crossed.

@Siriusmuggle and @Comefromaway - the big world of work! Wow, that must feel very real suddenly. I think DD thinks she can stay cloistered in some kind of academic music world forever if she tries. Not sure it's a great plan.

I wondered if anyone on here had kids who had taken the higher theory exams? DD2 has only got Grade 5 (taken at primary so yonks ago) but she wants to apply for academic music so has been attending higher theory classes at school (something they rather grandly call 'advanced harmony'). She says she can now do a bach chorale, a figured bass - is that even the right phrase, and is working something called counterpoint.

Does this map onto the theory grades and would it be worth her taking them if so? I'm only asking as she's got her eye on oxbridge music and some colleges ask for them if poss. If she's halfway there I guess she could work on the rest?

Sorry I accidentally resurrected last year’s thread - I saw Spring/Summer and posted before I realised. DS took his ABRSM grade 5 theory exam on the 20th February and it has been agonising waiting the 28 days to see whether it worked or not. I’ll be constantly checking on Friday to see whether he has to resit or not.

And my dancer daughter saw for herself how her year group was scuppered by Brexit. Previously her college had sent lots of graduates to Germany, now they have the odd one or two but is is the exception.

Ds did get some work in Europe (Paris) but he was only there for three weeks. All of the playing musicians were French although many of the stage performers were British. He was allowed to work there for a certain number of days without a visa but the theatre would not normally employ non European musicians, ds was on the sound/tech side for that job.

@Comefromaway thats a mixed bag but sounds promising career wise.
I’m seeing my MP soon about the barriers to early career musicians working in the EU, there are so many jobs he can’t apply for because he doesn’t have the right to work in the EU post Brexit.

I think it would be a relief for me if DD had some work lined up - it's a long way to go for us of course, but tbh has been my biggest worry since she had to specialise in music.

What places would require formal qualifications anyway, besides schools? It looks like everything is by auditions and recommendations mostly.

Best of luck to your young professionals @Siriusmuggle and @Comefromaway

Best of luck to him Sirius.

My musician is unlikely to graduate. He is putting a huge effort into his final recital, his final year project is I think composition based but he is not attending academic lectures and I suspect has zero intention of completing his academic work. He admits he chose the wrong module (I could have told him that last year) but he doesn't care. He has got quite a bit of work lined up, performing, tech & orchestration and he just wants to be out there now. He is also building up his rentals business.

It's very frustrating as a parent but I guess he has achieved his aim.

@horseymum it is. He’s got one part time role to apply for, another that isn’t live yet and ongoing occasional freelance. Also looking at potential bar work to enable the rest of it. Whilst also doing final year project and final year recital prep. A lot for an ADHD brain to juggle but if it all aligns it could work.

@Siriusmuggle I'm sure it's both exciting and daunting!

Hi all. Just catching up. Incredibly my kid only has 3 months of music degree left. Now trying to work out how to earn a living from it.
He has a few fun/interesting activities coming up.

It was interesting for me to see that nowadays you don't have to be Heifez, Perlman, Vengerov, Hahn (meaning you don't have to have that X factor that is impossible to teach and that makes a great soloist) to enjoy an international career yet at the same time it felt like their show was harder to do than "just playing a concerto through" however ridiculous this may sound :)

Mine went to see Jess Gillam this week and loved it! Including the sparkly outfit.

DD and one of her teachers are huge fans (I only shout "look at Beethoven on your t-shirt! No wonder he's deaf!" 😂 ) and they're rarely in Europe so we decided to go, even though we had to wake up at 3:30 after the concert as DD had to be in a rehearsal away from London early in the morning.
The things we do for music... 😂🤦‍♀️