Spring / Summer 2026 music thread

Oh, DD loves london @Ubertomusic - and she is itching for more independence, but she knows it would cost a bomb and not everyone would be together as students because of that so it might be less 'fun' and she might have to live at home from year 2. She sees that her sisters are benefitting from being in relatively low-cost cities as it does make student life much more pleasant. London for Masters (and staying back with us) is her plan after uni if it all works - but that is so so far away that I think she should stop even trying to plan that far ahead! So happy to have her back at the moment but I barely see her because she's always at the Proms.

That's interesting, I thought they would get that "independent living" experience boarding in Y13, but it looks like it's a different feel?

I was hoping DD would return to London for uni or conservatoire but she likes the countryside at the moment and wants to go somewhere with a really ancient look and feel. The school is a bad influence! 😂

@Compsearch you're right it's the 'living in london' that is putting DD off. She loves london but i think it's a very different student experience especially as I'd baulk at student accom when she can get into Waterloo in 15 mins.. Looks great though!

Agree, we felt Bangor was as safe as anywhere possibly could be regarding the 'will this course keep going' question. (But we're not looking now, DC has already completed a year elsewhere)

@CurlyParsleyI’d definitely look at Bangor. I know some people who went there and the outcry if they tried to close music there from the Welsh-speaking community would be so phenomenal, I doubt they’d risk it!

Is King’s on your list @achangeofnameisasgoodasarest? maybe not so appealing for a Londoner but a good friend is on the music faculty and he is an absolutely wonderful musician. There’s the option to have instrumental lessons at RAM, and I’m pretty sure they have a “liberal arts” degree similar to Durham where you can mix and match a bit.

Was there another parent on this thread whose child was doing Rachel Cooper’s string course at Guildhall this week (or maybe their child’s friend? My memory is terrible!). DS did it and really loved it. I was worried he might not have friends as it was quite a big age range (in theory) but there were loads of kids his age and he had the best time. Looks like they’ll run it again in future - I’d highly recommend it as an easy way in to ensemble playing (no audition, non-residential) in a lovely venue (concert was in Milton Court today).

@CurlyParsley we are big fans of a welsh uni - her big sis is at Swansea - maybe we should have a look at Bangor. The 'will this course exist' thing is a real fear, ever since we picked a school with a thriving music dept when she was in year 7 only to have it lose both GCSE and A Level by the time she reached year 10. Probably why I get so stressed about the whole thing!

Just realised that in earlier post it should say Bangor was 'a big hit', not 'bit hit'. Definitely worth considering even if grades suggest somewhere else.

Don't have any personal knowledge of Liverpool, but I know people seem to enjoy studying in the city, and the course has a mix of classical and pop modules. As they have a specific Music and Popular Music course as well as the straight BA one assumes there might be a reasonable number of students attracted by that which may be a benefit, off-putting or neutral depending on your point of view! Newcastle same.
First in our minds as parents was always 'will this course still exist by the time my DC finishes'. It's very hard to know. You do get 'vibes' of course (see Nottingham). And there is some financial info available.

He's frantically doing politics and English essays for teachers to mark to get his predicted grades up to necessary As! And has to do a music essay too, and some reading...

v similar @herbaceous - is he also frantically doing composition, harmony and essays over the summer hols or is he a bit more organised than DD?

@nearlyfinishedmusicparent the history is indeed hard going. So content heavy. DD is getting into the NEA but it is a lot of work. She also has coursework for her other two so it's a lot at once.

Ooh this is all v useful. Thank you! Top three are currently Cambridge, Manchester and Durham, but he has to get the offers and then the grades!

Bristol also a strong contender. Birmingham on list; as is Glasgow. Liverpool too - any thoughts on that one?

York would be fab, but we live here!

Also Southampton - didnt excite here. They are in Clearing now at BCC but last year that was a C's and D's offer by end of the period. Apart from Oxbridge, and even then the odds aren't bad, you know for sure that an offer will come if you meet the published requirements, so you genuinely pick what suits best. Can be hard to work out though! DC 'just knew' which I think is the best answer tbh.

For those looking at unis, don't discount Scottish ones! Glasgow has a good music department, you can do Bmus or MA, including many joint honours combinations. Whilst I don't think you can do a full music degree at St Andrews, they do have a fantastic music centre, with lots of extra curricular music. I think you can maybe do some modules as well. One year they even had a bassoon octet! Aberdeen also has a very active music department. There are also music degrees at Napier and some others. Some of these will have community music. At Queen Margaret you can do music therapy as a post grad. For some courses English students would get into second year with exceptional grades. Bonus of going to an ancient Scottish uni is the undergraduate degree is an MA!

This is helpful thanks @CurlyParsley.

Know lots of happy tonmeisters but DD is not at all that way inclined (sadly!). Birmingham I think we need to see. Leeds I hadn't considered so thanks!

We toured music departments within the last 2 years. Not surprised what has happened at Notts.... RHUL good choice, DC just couldn't see themselves living there, ditto Durham, Bristol unconvincing on commitment to Arts, Birmingham good, Bangor was a bit hit, Surrey course seemed rather a thin add-on to the totemic Tonmeister. Leeds worth looking at. Settled on York.

We have changed teachers a few times across children/ instruments, all fine. For one, the teacher who wasn't continuing even found us the next teacher - it was a no brainer as she was the only other teacher of that instrument in a wide radius and he knew we'd love her. We did. We are still in contact with most of their teachers regularly and one current one has suggested lessons with the two previous ones for audition prep. Hopefully things settle down. Most teachers genuinely want their pupils to thrive, whether with them or their next teacher. Often a teacher knows when it's time to pass them on. We have been so fortunate with the musicians in our life and what they have done for our children.

@DitheringMusicParentWe’ve changed teachers twice - one harp, one piano. Both were upset, ignored me, have been incredibly off with my daughter - glaring at her when competing etc in a way designed to throw her off. V v poor behaviour.

Lovely to hear about Manchester and Durham. In terms of unis we looked at, Sheffield, Notts and Cardiff did not excite musically. Not really surprising given what happened afterwards in some cases as some have now been cut to the bone and I suspect are off the list anyway.

As I say, we weren't visiting for DD2, just killing several birds with one stone by taking a peek around.

and @DitheringMusicParent no. We've had the odd awkward one, but DD2 was doing sectionals with her lovely first ever bassoon teacher this week and was delighted to see her.

Yes, I thought it was normal! All the music teachers I've had have been normal and sane. DS had one "interesting" one on cello, who has been being awkward since he left her in 2022 (can't avoid her, small town), but thankfully has had an excellent teacher who behaves very professionally and communicates faultlessly, since he was 5.

Is this normal behaviour for one teacher passing a student to another teacher????

Normal music teachers respond if you contact them as a parent, full stop. If the initial contact was A saying to B can you look after this student while I'm on mat leave, it makes sense they'd have a conversation with each other as well. Not instead.

When we've changed teachers so far 2/3 cases they've been thoroughly supportive and want to stay in touch and hear about DC's progress.

Number 3/3 does have some things in common with your teacher A and made things awkward. In retrospect I wish we'd left a lot sooner, I think we had a clash of both personalities and approaches (mine and DC's).

Friend who is a senior lecturer in Music at Manchester seems to be having the time of her life and absolutely loving the place. So it seems to be thriving based on my anecdata with n=1!

A friend from here, currently organ scholaring at a large foundation on the river in Oxford, finds the composition part of undergraduate music there good, but is very underwhelmed by the rest. He'd probably have been better off at Cambridge, but he went with the scholarship...

Trifle alarmed by tales of dismal, or closing, uni music departments. The ones we've seen - Manchesteer, Durham and Cambridge - are all seeemingly thriving. And not dominated by tech.

Do you mind saying which ones you've found disappointing? So i can cross them off the list?