NCO2020

[Stringchild]

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

Thank you for your info squintsoftheworldunite!
We can't wait for the email from NCO regarding dress code and hoodies!

I have started filling the acceptance form and have realised the fee we need to pay. Well, if I think about 2 residential courses with such a high standard and good pastoral care and accommodation, I know the subsidised fee is a reasonable price but unfortunately we both are working so can't be eligible for applying bursary so I need to be very vigilant with my spending money in the new year.

My DH is not musical at all and he doesn't agree I spend a lot of money for my DD's musical activities, so I have to pay everything from my salary. My DH doesn't know how much I pay for the tuition fee, summer course, concert tickets for professional orchestra, music sheets, grade exam, instrument maintenance etc.

It's very expensive! Well, rant over, I hope one day my DH will understand and agree to contribute especially if my DD say she would like to go to Uni with music or conservator!!!!

Hi, how to pay for the regionals?
Are we going to receive an email with the link? I can only find the due dates on the website.

There was a link in the email I received offering DD2 an associate place back in December. A £20 deposit was required in order to confirm the place.

@SE13Mummy
I paid the £20 but would like to pay the rest but don't know how to do it so I was wondering if I missed something or need to wait for NCO to send an email with the link to Trybooking again.

I was assuming we had to wait for further emails to pay the next instalment. But I could be wrong!

@Luckyfab - I just came onto this thread to ask the same question. I've just emailed them via their contact form to ask if I've missed something.

Also - another question which I'm sure someone here can help me with: when do tickets go on sale? My DS is U13 National so their concert is at The Anvil Basingstoke. Nothing on their website yet.

So much to think about: forms, MONEY!!, fitting holidays around, concert tickets, and dozens of questions an hour from my son (and I can't answer any of them).

I realise the people working there have an enormous job and so I don't want to be pushy, but I'm hoping we get some more info soon ....

@deepflatflyer NCO will let you know when tickets go on sale so that you can get them. I think there were priority sales for NCO members' families.

@deepflatflyer , Hi, pls let us know what NCO replies.
Abt tkts, as per last year NCO will send an email with a link to purchase tickets. Last year for the August concert they sent the email in June.

@Luckyfab will do!

@Luckyfab

I just got a reply about the regionals. They said:

"We are hoping to send out music along with more information and the payment link for the next instalment this week."

MUSIC? As in, they get it in advance I suppose. That'll be interesting.

@deepflatflyer Great. Thanks for the info.
Abt music. Last year they sent music for the regionals and some more difficult excerpts form pieces they will play during the spring and summer courses

We've just received payment link and music for London Juniors!

Ah - good to know. I haven’t for London seniors but maybe that’s on its way ...

I haven’t had anything for London seniors - has anyone else?

Hello all. New to this thread. Thanks for sharing info. Nothing received for south westerlies yet...

deepflat, nothing for London Seniors here yet. They're not the first date for regionals though so perhaps NCO are doing it in order?

Northerlies first rehearsal is Sunday and they got their email on Friday, so I suspect they're working through them.

I just emailed again to see what's happening with the London Seniors and got an automatic reply which I copy and paste below in case anyone else is wondering:

"Thank you for your email regarding regionals. We will be sending out music, payment links and further information early THIS WEEK (W/C 20th Jan) for our London Seniors, South Easterlies and South Westerliesorchestras - we thank you for your patience.

If you are in our Northerlies regional orchestra you should have received an email from northerlies@magnaconcordia

If you are in our Easterlies regional orchestra you should have receivedan email from [email protected] already - please check your junk inbox if you haven't seen it. We will be in touch again next week with final information ahead of the 1st rehearsal.

Ifyou are in our London Juniorsregional orchestra you should have received an email from [email protected] already - please check your junk inbox if you haven't seen it. We will be in touch again prior to the first rehearsal with final information. "

I don't know about anyone else but I haven't had anything for London Seniors and now it's way past 'early in the week' ... it's Friday!

Wondering what the timeline is for getting info (schedule, music, tickets, just general info) about the Nationals - so far all I've had is requests for the money! I realise they have a massive job to do but for newbies who don't know anyone else, it's getting a little bit unsettling ...

Not had anything for South Easterlies but it is our 3rd year with NCO and I am used to emails arriving not long before the day! I think they try to do lots with not many staff.
Try not to worry - I am sure everything will work out.

@TrumpetVoluntary
Thank you for the reassurance!

Are the nationals a bit last-minute too? I think I'll expire if it is ... Trying hard not to be 'that' parent but it is a big thing and I have no answers to give my son who is in danger of being hugely anxious about the whole thing...

Have just checked emails from last year and found that

• hoodies went on sale 12 Feb
• we got more detailed information about the U11 summer course on 25 April
• we had an email about tickets for the end of course concert on 8 May.

The groups with Easter courses must receive information sooner - they probably focus on those this term and summer courses next term?

Has anyone seen the social media posts about the ‘new collaborations’ with local music services and the regional orchestras?

Perhaps the reason lots of kids in National Orchestras didn’t get regional places?

How’s this going to work? Are the kids who’ve worked hard to get places now playing alongside kids from music services who haven’t had to audition? Are the NCO players now mentoring other kids?

This is seriously putting me off making a long journey to get DD to regionals, we take her for the quality of HER music experience. This sounds like the quality will be compromised.

NCO has changed so much since Mr Clarkson left and I don’t think for the better sadly.

Interested to hear what others think

And I’m not a troll, I lurk more than post these days following trolling episodes on other threads which made me most uncomfortable.

@Lurkingmusicmum, I've seen a couple of social media posts about that but I don't see the collaborations as a negative thing. It may be because this is the first time either of my DDs has been involved so we have no experience of previous years but my general feeling is that anything which increases the social reach of orchestral music and diversity of those who play it is a positive move. Having seen the list of children in the regional orchestra DD2 will be in, I would hazard a guess that the make up of the orchestra doesn't reflect the makeup of its region.

Perhaps the collaborations have been about recruiting undersubscribed instruments? Or maybe the collaborating organisations hosted auditions to encourage their children to take part? NCO wasn't on my radar and that's as an adult who was involved in lots of musical activities as a child/teen/young adult, who plays a couple of instruments at grade 8+, did A-level music, is actively engaged with local music services, has a DD at a JD, has friends who work for local and national music organisations etc. etc. - even with my background it's just not something that I would have considered had it not been for DD2's instrumental teacher strongly encouraging her to audition. Over my years as a primary teacher in London I've taken hundreds of children to free concerts at the Royal Festival Hall and other London venues. It's nearly always the first time children have seen an orchestra and that's often the case for the parent helpers that come with us - even though these families live within walking distance of some of the venues. Some of those children may be gifted musicians but for the lack of opportunity to learn whether that's because of finances, organisational capacity of the family or because their parents have no idea it's a possibility. If collaborating organisations are working with NCO to help more children see orchestral music as something that's open to them, then I think that's a good thing.

A quick look on social media explains that of the 12 children from the Nucleo Project who auditioned, 9 were offered national places and 3 were offered associate places. That sounds like the result of an outreach or raising awareness project, not a compromise on quality.

I don’t doubt the impact of outreach and opportunity however my point is that many NCO players didn’t get regionals because there was no space which is disappointing for those who didn’t get a space and also for those who did and their friends didn’t - NCO has been about the friendships for my DD and seeing friends each month at regionals. Also in some places the partner is the local music hub/service. DD has done the music hub but was singled out by the other kids because she worked hard and practiced, she stopped going in the end. She likes NCO as all the kids are similar standard and everyone works hard and practices and no one is singled out as ‘odd’ for loving classical music and working hard at it.

It's a shame your DD gave up the music hub activities because she felt singled out. My DDs both do/have done music hub ensembles which are organised by stage rather than age and so tend to be in groups with others playing at a similar standard. Practising is something all of their music hub peers do and liking classical, jazz, opera etc. is par for the course so it sounds as though your DD may have been particularly unlucky with her hub.

As I said before, this is our first year of being involved with the NCO so I may be completely wrong but I was under the impression that the residentials were the main event for the children who'd got places in the age-banded orchestras and that the regionals were primarily for children given associate places, with spare places being filled by age-banded players. If there are fewer spare places at regionals, I don't see why it might not be the case that it's because hard-working, classical-music-loving, practisers possibly even from a music hub, like my DD is
were successful in their auditions and were considered to be playing at the required standard. Isn't it often the case that children who've been in NCO one year won't necessarily be given a seat in subsequent years? Or that some of those children may be offered regionals only? Presumably one of the risks of a set up like this is that children may well not get to see NCO friends from one year to the next anyway? I realise that missing out on a regional place - and all that goes with it - will feel really hard for a number of children but I still can't see that the involvement of music hubs = a certain drop in standards.