Spring 23 music thread

[thirdfiddle]

I saw some sunshine today so it's officially spring! Here's a new thread for all things musical.

With a nod to those who started the series, well before my young folk picked up an instrument or I braved the vipers of MN. This little corner is for support only, and bragging about your young folk's musical achievements is positively encouraged.

How are things looking for new year? Anyone new want to join us for a chat? Any lurkers want to delurk? All welcome from pre beginners to music college and beyond.

Was just typing that this is my favourite bit of the internet! Let's keep it friendly 😀 I asked for opinions and people give them- a range of answers is to be expected. Dd plays oboe ( and piano) and is likely to get mostly As for highers. The places I listed were her teacher's suggestions, based on the current teachers and what he thought might suit her. It's not many as he's mindful we don't have a bottomless pit of money to throw at auditions. Good to know about RWCM and scholarships, we have family there so might be a contender although London is so much easier to get to.

In an ideal world you wold be applying to a range of places from aspirational to lesser renowned but still good but audition fees really hit hard (RAM I'm looking at you charging my dd £150 to view a 1st round self tape).

I agree. Ds only wants to apply to the London 4 partly because he's Autistic and wants to be closer to home (wee in the far south east). I also think that even though RCM,RAM and GH are right up there they may not be the right fit for your child. We loved RCM when we looked round, adored it but ds feels that the competition will be immense. For him too, he has a real interest in musical theatre and being in a pit band (has been in NYMT) and Trinity do a lot of collaboration with their dance and musical theatre facilities. He didn't have a good experience when he auditioned for junior GH. He prob wasn't good enough but they didn't treat him very well (that's another story). He will audition there though but junior trinity clearly saw some potential in him and took a gamble that paid off. It's not unlike looking for a Senior school or Uni really.

Of course, I forget when we are on this thread that our dc know each other.

And the collaboration with the MT department is the entire reason my ds is at Leeds!

@horseymum all the conservatoires mentioned will consider applicants for scholarships at the audition stage. They aren’t means tested at all and really reflect how much the institution wants to have you. So the best people end up with the conservatoires competing over who will
offer the most money.

I’d say though that it would be better for your DD to be in London over Royal Welsh even if it meant less of/no scholarship.

For oboe, her teacher is right - I’d choose either RCM or RAM over Guildhall.

@horseymum that is the stage we are at too. DS is looking at RCM & RAM. Have you registered for the RAM open day on 29th September?
DS goes to RCMJD and we had a Conservatoire talk back in April. I was very surprised that the Conservatoire application process is much earlier than for universities July-October and I feel a bit of pressure to get things sorted this year so DS knows what he has to do next year. One thing that was stated at the talk that confused me was that the answer to the question 'when should you have consultation lessons?' was 'AFTER you have accepted your place'! What happens if you don't like any of the teachers - aren't you a bit stuck? Can anyone please advise the best timing to organise them and any ideas how you go about doing this?

She's at the JD for RCS so has actually had a session with the senior oboe tutor and has had the cor tutor on youth orchestra so has met some of them. It's hard to travel to open days too, I need to find out when they are!
I need her to do some research herself - ds did all his own, never saw his actual application although was able to comment on his personal statement.

@Pollyanna8844 definitely have consultation lessons before the auditions, probably in the term leading up to them. They are really helpful for numerous reasons.

DH (who teaches at one of the ones you’ve mentioned) seems to get emails direct to his work email address requesting them so it is pretty informal. I’d suggest your DS just looks at the professor lists of the places he is interested in and contacts the teachers he likes the look of to ask for a lesson.

At RCS I think there's a form to request them, can be zoom or in person I think.

I can help a bit with conservatoire auditions. Mine auditioned at RAM, RCM, RNCM, Birmingham, Wales and trinity. Offered places at all of them, one unconditional, at least 4 with scholarships (including RCM full scholarship).
He chose RNCM which some may regard as less prestigious BUT he got to keep his existing tutor, he got a big first year scholarship and the more modern nature of the course suits him. He’d probably have been kicked out of a London one as he wouldn’t be organised enough to actually get there on time (waiting for adhd assessment).
Also consider where they want to work as networking starts pretty early on!

I’m sorry if you took my post as a personal attack - it wasn’t, but it’s a fact that RCM, RAM and GH are the top tier conservatoires.

For info, RCM we’re clear at the open day that there’s no point having consultation lessons until you’ve been offered a place, at which point they will arrange up to 3.

GH were the opposite and strongly suggested consultation lessons per-auditions.

Thanks @SweetforOrchestra.

@Alsoplayspiccolo how long, usually, is the period between receiving an offer and having to accept it?

Not very long. Deadlines vary according to whether all offers are made, for example if all are made by say 30th December you have until something like 5th February.

I think that, as with all types of institution, ‘top’ depends critically on the course, the teacher and the interests of the particular student. In the non-musical world, Oxbridge might be regarded as the ‘top’ universities is a very general sense, but for Games Development, Abertay is the best. For sports, Loughborough can be the best. For architecture, arguably the Bartlett or the AS in London.

Similarly for Conservatoires, the best match for a particular student on a particular instrument with particular musical preferences (jazz or MT or Early Music) or particular courses that match musical and academic aims (joint course in Manchester) may not be the same as ‘the most prestigious institution overall.

AA, not AS, apologies.

I think you’re able to accept a conservatoire offer but still keep uni offers open, due to the difference in time scales between the 2 processes.

Seems I’m mistaken - just looked at UCAS and they state that you can only hold one place; on accepting an offer, you have to reject any others.
Thats not what we were told at one of the conservatoire open days.
I know people who have applied to both conservatoire and uni, have accepted their conservatoire offer and later changed their mind and gone to uni - perhaps they apply to uni AFTER the conservatoire offers?

It's all so complicated! I'm not sure how much help we'll get from JD as they basically want you to continue there!

In our experience (very ordinary comprehensive with limited Music experience), school helped with the mechanics of the UCAS Conservatoire form.

County music leader wrote a reference, and instrumental teacher offered some guidance.

Otherwise, DS did all the research, found out about courses, arranged a trial lesson (ended up with a short spell at JD on the back of it) etc. And he did get a place, and did - in the snd - very well. I think they’re quite used to a less than slick application process, especially from those who come through the county / standard state school routes not from JDs or music schools.

It all sounds super stressful! I can see that dd’s new school is like some kind of conservatoire prep machine- I’ve no idea how we would have done it otherwise , we have absolutely no idea how it works.

Well it’s ancient history in my case but I applied to conservatoires and universities from a normal state school with no help from anyone, inc my parents. It’s still
true today though that the only thing that really matters to the conservatoires is the standard of performance in the audition.

When I applied (15 years ago!) the conservatoires weren’t even on UCAS I don’t think which meant I was able to accept both a conservatoire and university place, then later deferred my uni place and ultimately did both (chronically indecisive!). Looks like that loophole has been closed now!

my son’s friend missed the conservatoires deadline last year because his academic reference wasn’t done on time despite his part being completed on the first day of term & another friend had to nag & nag for hers to be done this year. The college simply didn’t understand early application!

It always has been about the biscuits for dd. The food is the highlight. Although she adored the repertoire this course particularly

Glad it's not just mine. Which SLYO did your DD do?