Looking for a secondary school with excellent music facilities Berkshire/surrey/Hampshire that is non-selective academically? [[edited by MNHQ]]

[Zivajones]

Help, our 11 yr old is lazy academically(comatose !) yet driven musically, violin grade 3/electric guitar grade 2 & singing grade 2, we can't find a non selective academically challenging school that offers enough music for him state or independent. We have an outstanding state secondary close by but not enough music & the private schools with great music facilities seem to all be academically selective!. Does anyone know of any schools with fab music facilities.... In Berkshire/Surrey/ Hampshire. Thanks

www.mfy.org.uk/

The panels for music scholarships obviously don't just consider technical proficiency at grade 7/8 level or beyond but at the most competitive private schools it seems that there are quite a few competing for music awards age 12/13 with that level of technique in at least one instrument as well as being extremely musical, (not forgetting those who have achieved this whilst being choristers!)

Sorry OP, not directly related to your question

Hello OP.

Why not find a good private teacher, we found some good tutors that are worth their weight in gold? In fact, schools were the worst for music tuition, obviously apart from the specialist junior depts.
Have you considered going for an audition or consultation.
Auditions are usually around mar/april and open days are coming up soon.

There is a free school in cobham that prides itself on being musical. However I would have thought it would have been too tiny to offer much in the way of emsembles.

I think its wrong to be disparging of the talent of a child who has taken up music late. Often the dedicated musicans over take the hot housed, but reluctant children.

I think that schools are more interested in attaintment in music than innate potential, however naturally talented a child is.

ReallyTired

Totally agree. My dh is world class (particular genre of music) but only took a grade 6 on his 2nd study to get into college.
They heard his first study, was offered a place and won the memorial prize for his year.
He never started until age 15, he lives music it is his life and ours too

I think asking for two instruments at grade 5/4 and above for a year 6 pretty much rules out the 90% of musically talented children in this country whose parents don't have a spare £200 a month to spend on music tuition.

My son's lessons (45 minutes a week piano, 30 minutes percussion) are a real financial stretch. He got a distinction in his recent grade three exam and has carried off a couple of trophies from local music festivals. I know he's talented and has a great ear, but at most he'll be a grade 4 in his instruments by the end of primary. If he'd started earlier and could have two half hour sessions a week in each instrument I'm sure he would have made better progress. It would also have helped his motivation if his state primary acknowledged that he has some talent in music instead of pretending not to notice because the teacher can't be arsed to differentiate.

Vidaloca actually I think having musician parents rather than lots of cash is a key factor contributing to some musical children being so much more advanced than their peers, probably partially because inherited talent but also the early recognition of musical ability and the right sort of support.

the average professional musicians income is around £20k per year
be careful before you push them towards that path
music is much better as a hobby
hence my links

Summersend, I'm sure you are right.

It's very frustrating for me not to be able to help Ds more.

I also find it infuriating that while his state primary offers great support to talented athletes (extra tuition, etc) they ignore children who are achieving highly in music and art, in the sense that they make no attempts to acknowledge or nurture their talent.

And if the parents are musical as we are you can do a lot of the teaching yourself at home - eg I put them in for and taught them all the theory grades 1 - 5 at home (and of course had money been shorter we could just have done the grade 5), ditto singing etc etc

I also agree with Talk that earnings are so bad for musicians no way would I want any of my 3 music scholars to make a living from it and nor would they want it but I think it helps self esteem if you are good at a few things, music, sport or whatever, having the high grades however unfair this feels does make other people think you must be quite good and make some children practise which otherwise they might not and grades 6 - 8 give you university UCAS points which can be useful later. £200 a month is not the usual cost even for music lessons in private schools. it is more like £200 a term per instrument for those where we don't teach them at home.

Vidaloca , take heart, your DS's lesson time is more than sufficient for him to progress, it is probably more a question of practice time (of the right quality) that will make the difference. As has been said before involvement in county music groups or schemes could really boost his music time and is usually of reasonable cost.

Laura, in London where I live the going rate for tuition is £35 - £40 an hour. This is what we pay. Ds's teachers are EXCELLENT though and worth every penny. :-).

Ds won't do anything professional with his music but I am hoping it will help him with self esteem as a young adult.

His state school used to offer subsidised music lessons but they were rubbish, and this last year they've stopped offering them.

I have just paid or am about to pay for 3 sets of one to one private lessons at their school for the term and that is £200 for each instrument (outer London) and one just passed grade 8 and he does want to carry on with lessons which is fine. I am not sure exactly how many they get a term - 10? of 40 minutes? that's a guess. I don't actually know for certain.

I agree with the post above about practice. In fact if you can sit with them for 15 minutes just about every day that can make a huge difference. I like to accompany them on the piano so the pieces with accompaniments always end up better because we do them more for my own selfish reasons of my own pleasure (although I am not sure on the earlier grades I would call it pleasure to accompany someone not yet very good, but one endures it....)

Hi Vidaloca,

Bit of bitchiness on here about levels, unnecessary IMO.

I know a boy who got a musical scholarship
(20% off the fees) , he had grade 3 violin.

Also know a boy who got drama scholarship with Zkamda level 2, whilst a level 5 girl did not get in.

Talent and enjoyment count for more than just grades.

The way some private school parents march their kids through the grades....that is not my cup of tea.

My son enjoys violin, he "only" has grade 2, but enjoys it and gets on with his teacher.

I am sending him to a state secondary and will continue with his private lessons. It HAS been great for his selfconfidence, she has gently persuaded him to take part in a competition and he did well.

A love of music is to be nurtured IMO, good luck! To me his grades sound pretty good btw

I find grades depressing when some people see the goal of learning music to be wracking up the grades rather than actually making music that sounds pleasent! Wouldn't be nice if two children learning an instrument could ask what type of music they liked rather than what grade they had passed.

Ds skipped grade 1 guitar and his first exam was grade 2. He played a wide range of pieces and certainly worked through grade 1 standard pieces in non grade books.

"Laura, in London where I live the going rate for tuition is £35 - £40 an hour. "

That is not far off what we pay in herts. It costs me £12 for a twenty minute lesson. I agree that practice is more important than the length of lessons. Ds generally does twenty minutes of practice every day. He is making faster progress than some children who have 30 minutes a week lessons. Do well in music is bl**dy hard work rather than necessarily talent!

Okay back to the original question.
Guildford County does a lot of music, including a very successful boys choir. But so do quite a few other State comprehensives in this area; eg. George Abbot has several musical groups and is even having a music tour this year.
Surrey County music provides quite a lot of opportunities for various levels of musicians, and does also allow private and home schooled children to take part. If he is really talented then it is fairly straight forward to go to London for the various Saturday academies. The YMCA in Guildford offers opportunities for young bands too, if that is more his thing.
Most private schools around here are selective. However some are not so highly selective. Maybe look at Frensham Heights or the Royal School?

Well done for recent posters for dragging this back to the point AND pointing out how some of us are totally up ourselves. Sorry to OP. Hope you haven't been put off by those of us who slide into stealth bragging by the second post. With his diversity of interest your DS has everything going for him and his progress is plenty good enough. By saying he was driven you might mean he practices anyway and that's what's needed most. Also listening to his teacher and making sure his practice is productive. Good luck to him and you. I haven't commented on schools because I can't advise well enough. School websites and newsletters are useful - you can get a good hint if the music department is valued from those.

DD has done Hampshire Music service right through
it runs parallel to the costed exam systems but without exams
she will do her Trinity grade 7 at easter
but the exam is purely for UCAS points,
the more important thing is the enjoyment of the area and county ensembles

after all, what is the point of learning an instrument if it does not lead to enjoyment in playing and meeting like minded people

FWIW music tuition is £70 a term - 40 min lessons, groups of up to 4 at lower levels but effectively 1:1 by later years

You need to clarify what you want from the music and ensure that your choices are about the child not what the mother missed out on

I am looking for a private singing teacher who could help my son for his grade, if you have any contact would be very helpful. Thanks

ZOMBIE THREAD you would be better off starting a new one