NCO2020

[Stringchild]

So my last time of opening this thread - a place to share 😊

@Karate1 sorry to hear about your regional - which area are you? Was it supposed to be this coming weekend? And which age National?

Also the first experience for my DS and now we see it ebb away. I think we’re about to lose all the school and local concerts too. Inevitable considering the circumstances. What a horrible year this is turning out to be.

Plenty of time for practice at home instead ... not really the same..

Hi Deep.
Our regional supposed to be on 22 Mar.
As the venue cancelled all external bookings in light of the ongoing threat of covid 19.

Why the keep on cancelling (just received email from music school that it will be closed from Wednesday) if the schools are still open?
I really hope NCO residential will follow what the government decides for schools.

I think it will be cancelled......it’s not really social distancing is it.... 😬

Looks like venues for U13 and main orchestra concerts are closed. I think it's only a matter of time before we get the email. Sad for the kids but this is no-ones fault. I expect they need the schools they are being held in to cancel the booking for the insurance to kick in.

Schools round here have cancelled all trips, including those within walking distance of the school. Most external agencies or visiting professionals have been cancelled and residential trips have been cancelled - with less than 24 hours notice in one school I know of.

It's hugely disappointing for everyone but it's nationwide so all children are in the same position and it's not as though one group are being disadvantaged. The organisers of one of the residentials my DC was due to go on at Easter said that no-one wanted to be taking children away from home for days if the risk was that lots of them/staff might become unwell with coronavirus and that remaining children and staff would have to be quarantined.

NCO is pretty much the only organisation I know that hasn't cancelled already... we lost Easter NYMT courses over a week ago. Sad, but necessary I feel. None of these organisations want to do this, and I'm sure they are working really hard behind closed doors to try and rearrange things so that the kids still get a great experience when things get better. Disappointing for the DC's but I found my DD to actually be very grown up about it when NYMT was cancelled. Bearing in mind this was a dream come true for her....

Finally, confirmed

I know - sad for everyone. Fingers crossed something may still be saved later in the year. The outlook is pretty grim though.

Pleased that the orchestra's have been cancelled - not sure what the turn out would have been anyway.
Music is important but the health of the children, their parents etc. is more important in these circumstances.

Hello - I hope you're all doing ok in these extraordinarily unfortunate times. Lots of individual practice going on?!

I just wondered if anyone had been in touch with the NCO about the finances regarding the national orchestras? I imagine they're working out a plan but I'm paying in installments (as are many others, I'm sure) and the next is due by the end of the month. I realise they'll be hoping for some income, even though the Easter residential is cancelled, but my own income has gone into freefall, so I'm just trying to budget.

I was going to wait until the beginning of next week and then email them, but just wondering what others were doing / thinking / have heard?

Thanks.

Bit disappointed we've not heard anything from the NCO during lock-down. When so many other musical organisations have organised some marvellous on-line activities to keep the music going I would not have expected the NCO to be so silent.

Nothing about fees either - would have expected at least an update.

@strings123 - there were a couple of things - webinars with Jess Gillam and Sheku K-M but no playing. I understand some of the staff are furloughed.

Which orchestra are you? There was an update for the U13 orchestra today to say that they carry on planning the summer course and have moved the Easter one to October half term. Fingers crossed at least one of those happen.

I got in touch with the finance person a couple of weeks ago to find out if I should carry on paying, and I got a response. I hate chasing people in these difficult circumstances but I think it’s acceptable to ask for an update. Are you sure there aren’t emails in your spam though?

That’s interesting that the U13 Easter course has been moved to October. The U12 Easter course has been cancelled with refunds, but they are still hoping the summer one will go ahead.

They sent an email a couple of weeks ago asking parents to fill in a form to say whether or not October would work for them, so I guess there was sufficient support for it. Maybe they could only do it for some orchestras and not all.

DS has only started NCO this year and no guarantees he’d get into the main orchestra next year so it’d be really sad if the one year he is in it, it all gets cancelled. Still, nobody saw this coming. It’s just one more thing on the long list of things fallen by the wayside, like school..!

Hope everyone is keeping well.

Did anyone else get the email today?
Not a surprising outcome, though we were pleased to see they will be automatically members next year.
NYO are doing the same it seems.

Yes I got one. Very sad but not surprising. Glad that they’re keeping the membership the same for next year. But will that mean those currently in u13 wont get into the main orchestra (ever)? I guess they need to make a cut-off point somewhere? Bit of a logistical / financial nightmare for the organisation.

Oh, I hadn't thought about that! Sorry, DD is in Mains, so wasn't thinking about the year after
They did say they'd offer auditions for slots where people drop out, but that doesn't help anyone with what happens in 2022.

My DS is in u13 but only got in this year so hasn’t done anything yet. So I guess he’ll miss out on chance at main orchestra but I’m just glad he’ll get a year of playing. Fingers crossed. He managed one rehearsal of regionals before everything stopped but through that (he got a couple of phone numbers and got added to a whatsapp group) he’s found the other members of his section and has been talking / zooming regularly. Hasn’t even met them yet irl. Best decision in the circumstances and I hope it gives these disappointed kids something to look forward to next year!

Hello - anyone else getting excited about NCO online kicking off? It's not the same as getting together in person, but we are looking forward to it here. Hope everyone is well.

Yes, I've just been having a look on the new website and it looks great!

NCO virtual summer course - a great deal of work has obviously gone in to planning the course . I wish there was more actual live on-line musical contact though as it feels a bit unbalanced towards periphery activities. Wonder if I am alone finding website is a bit confusing too.

Agreed strings. The sectionals are great and really engaging, but I do feel there is a lot of work for us parents. Have just been filming the various sections for upload today and it was quite fiddly.

How is everyone finding NCOnline? We submitted a mambo and a sectional ensemble recording, and did two of the taskmaster challenges but have less time this week so I don't think we will manage much more. Hoping to do a musical postcard on Wednesday... Watched a few webinars but haven't managed the most recent one yet. Ds doesn't like colouring, Disney or Harry Potter so we missed those things out!

I guess regionals from January are out of question. What do you think?