May Music Thread

[Wafflenose]

Have a new thread for May... you all managed to fill the April one!

This is a place to chat about music lessons, exams, practice, aural, theory, performances and anything else you like. We have many regular and occasional posters (some of whom are learning themselves) with children ranging from complete beginners to very advanced. We do try our best to make sure everyone feels welcome!

I am mum to Goo (12) flute and piano, and Rara (9) cello and clarinet. They play in loads of school groups, South West Music School and NCO, although practice isn't going too well at the moment. Later in the week, all three of us are taking part in a big community concert, which will be lovely.

se22 and crazy, I am sorry to hear the situation. I hope all will work out for your DDs very soon. We've been lucky in that sense. Although DS's primary school is not so musical (no orchestra, no ensembles...), we've known many fab young musicians who DS could look up and socialise, even before he started nco/jd. So he's never really stood out nor feeling unfit in his musical circles. It will be even better from September as he is starting secondary school with a strong music department.

Kutik73, We want to audition music place at grammar school, but don’t know which school has music space?

violinandpiano, you mean a music scholarship place at state grammar school? What I understand is usually the selection process at grammar school is academic only. I don't know for girls but I know a strong musician (g8 for both violin and piano in Y5) went to Tiffin (so no music audition) and apparently he is having wonderful musical opportunities there. If your dd is academic and wants to try grammar school then you may look around for the one with a lively music department? There are not many in London (I assume you are in London?) so narrowing down shouldn't be too painful?

Your dd may like to try music scholarship at independent school. There are still those who offer very generous financial awards.

violinandpiano it depends where you are - I know a few state schools that will take children on music criteria. Kingsdale and Haberdasher’s offer “music scholarships”, so I know at Kingsdale it’s 15% admitted on music or sport aptitude and you’re then given free tuition in your first instrument I believe. Think Habs is similar. Chelsea Academy and St Gabriel’s also admit some places on music aptitude I believe.

It depends where you’re located - I only know the South London options!

And double that’s fab news for your DD! Good luck to her for this week, and to DD2 for the rest of her sats (nearly done now...)

Crazy and SE alas the age thing is also a factor in school Orchestras for us - chamber groups are more flexible bit tiles gernally maintained for Orchestras; seating policy for strings also has age factored in.

violinandpiano here you go -

“Here is a list of schools using a Music Aptitude Test for selective school entry. Please check the exact criteria for each school as we do not guarantee that their tests are exactly in line with the specimen questions that we use. We do our best to keep this page up to date but occasionally information supplied may be out of date. Please advise us of any schools that are no longer offering the MAT criteria for intake.

If a date appears after the school’s name, this states the date which you must return the supplementary form for application under the Musical Aptitude criteria. Many of the links below take you straight through to the relevant page with a listing for the supplementary form.

Ashmole Academy – uses an enhanced MAT that we have available in our download package.
Bushey Meads School
Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School
Chelsea Academy
Dame Alice Owen
Haberdashers’ Aske’s / Prendergast Hilly Fields / Crayford Academy
Highgate School
Langley Grammar School
Leventhorpe / The Bishop’s Stortford High School / The Hertfordshire & Essex High School
Ousedale School
Parmiter’s School
Queens’ School (Bushey)
Rickmansworth School
South West Herts School consortium
St Anne’s Catholic School, Southampton
St Clement Danes
St Marylebone Church of England School
St Paul’s Way Trust School
The Hertfordshire & Essex High School and Science College
Twyford CofE School
Uxbridge High School
Watford Grammar School for Boys
Watford Grammar School for Girls
William Ellis School
Wymondham College”

If you’d like me to PM you the link to that website just tell me!

violinandpiano, if you meant a music place at state secondary (not grammar school) then go through Tabby's fab list and work out distance and school ethos which should help you narrow down. Also it's good to consider your expectation and check the standard/liveliness at each school. Because, offering a music place doesn't always mean the standard is high nor musically very active. I know a music scholar at a state secondary realised the school wouldn't really offer as much as she expected so she goes to out of school music groups during weekdays which may be fine for your dd as she goes to jd but just a thought.

St. Cecilias in Putney has a music place too. They don't use MAT.

string I have absolutely no gripe where an orchestra states that bandings are age based - but in the case where they say group x is for grades 2-4 and group y grades 4-6 on their website then only when challenged as to why your child is still in group x not group y do they mention age. It just isn't transparent.

Yes - even though St Gabriel’s isn’t on that list they do have places, they’re just allocated through an SAQ I believe, like their faith allocated places.

As Kutik says definitely look at all available schools if you’re looking for a strong music department - my DC go to a state school that admits a small portion of the year by academic selection, where music lessons are very reasonably priced and there are lots of music opportunities. It and another local school are renowned for their strong music department, but neither accept students based on musical aptitude.

Tabby I'd be interested in which area of south London those schools are? Are you able to pm me please?

Just keep adding to what Tabby write. There are (usually academically strong) secondary schools where they don't offer a music place at the entry but once you are in they hold auditions to select music scholars. Some of those offer free tuition, and re-audition each year, which I find very fair as children develop differently over the years (so those who attained highly in Y6/7 may not be the highest achiever in a couple of years).

Se- completely agree with; just our school (and others here) are the same - supposed to be grades but seems to go on age. Not necessarily the best thing for anyone involved

TabbyTigger, Kutik73, Lots of information, Thank you.

I am just wondering my DD can not get a academic place at any grammar school, so I want to try music to get in Grammar school. We try both to increase her chance to get in a grammar.

Independent music scholarship should be very hard to get. She is not an advance music girl, but if she can pass academic test and have a chance to audition Music scholarship, we will try.

Kutik yes DCs’ school works like this! DD2 got a “full music scholarship” which means she gets her first instrument tuition free and DD1 got a “half music scholarship” which means she gets 50% off her first instrument tuition (and she’d only been playing flute for a year at that point, then took up violin in year 7!). They also get invited to lots of workshops through this and get priority for various trips and concerts. It’s a really good system!

I’m not sure about music helping to get into actual grammar schools violinandpiano as most are very academic focused. Most of the schools offering specialist music places are just good state schools - not actual grammar schools. Have a good research!

TabbyTigger, Your DC's school is so good. It can help to save your tuition fee. Is it an independent school?

No, it’s a state secondary. I think around 70/80 places are awarded based on a test that children in and out of the catchment can take, and the rest are based on distance, but it’s a very popular school so the catchment area is small. My children are out of catchment but performed well in the entrance test which is how they got in. A few schools in South London operate in a similar way - taking a small portion based on test scores but the rest on regular school entrance criteria (distance/siblings).

violinandpiano If your DD is at jd, I'm sure she has a very strong chance of a music scholarship at most independent schools. They are not looking for prodigies, rather children who play well for their age (>=grade 5/6 with distinction at about age 12) and are sufficiently enthusiastic about music to be able to lead and inspire their peers as they move up the school.

Having said that, music awards are not generally associated with large reduction in fees, although the school would probably be inclined to offer a large bursary, if there was the need.

Double has recent experience, I believe.

Tabby, I have a feeling that your DCs' school may be the one we considered last year. DS scored high enough for their academic entry so he could have got in safely if we put the name on the list. In the end we decided it was too far from us even though we were considering moving closer to DS's school - we didn't want to move too far! But we liked the school and my intuition seemed right from what you tell us!

I echo what Taggie said, pianoandviolin. I remember your dd was working on g7 or 8 stuff last year when my DS was tackling much lower standard of music! Unless she is not keen so doesn't look enthusiastic then she will get an award I am sure!

violinandpiano the independent schools in this area seem to look at musicality and potential as much as what grade they are. DD1 was offered music scholarships worth 10% off fees and tuition on one instrument by 3 schools when she was preparing for Grade 3, but she does play oboe.

DD2 (11) plays bassoon (Grade 7) and got stuck in the middle of a bidding war a couple of months ago with one school offering 40% off fees plus free lessons on two instruments and the other offering 25% plus lessons on two instruments. They usually offer up to 20% and 10% respectively, so it can be done. It's worth exploring the options - and many indies offer bursaries too.

Kutik73, It is shame my DD does not really enjoy music, so she now improve so slowly. She is not ready for Grade 8, so should be much lower level than your DS's.

I think DAO and Mill Hill are worth trying. For independent school I will think of them after September when we have the result from state school.

Why doesn't she enjoy music any more...? I hope it's just a phase. Also, let's not think of grades as it's so confusing. Because, I don't see a huge gap between g5 musician and g8 musician at our DCs' age. But then sometime I see huge difference between g7 and, ...g7. Do you know what I mean? Grade 3 may be good enough and grade 8+ may not be good enough - it depends on the school, who you are competing against, and also the child (its musicality/potential rather than her/his working grades on paper). So all I would say is technically speaking your dd is perfectly a scholarship material, so unless she in unwilling it may be worth trying. These days they don't offer lots of discount though some still do. At least one school in my area offers 40%, and I don't quite remember the exact names but in SE there are a few more who offer very generous financial awards. You may start a new thread to attract more knowledgeable parents on MN.

And, good luck! I was in your shoes last year, so understand the pain and stress... to all of you who have to go through the terrible horrible transition process this year.