Spring /Summer 24 - Music thread

[northerngoldilocks]

The old thread was filling up, so here's a new one to talk about music activities. Come and talk about music lessons, choosing instruments, exams, auditions, specialist schools, orchestras or whatever other music activities are going on. Everyone is welcome, from those with total beginners to those whose children are studying music at advanced levels. Ask for advice or share successes or struggles. There's loads of experience across a wide variety of instruments too(though bassoon's are weirdly popular on here - you'd think that every second child plays one!).

I signed a few weeks ago.
DS was at the RWCMD jd for 2 years and DH previously taught there. It would be a disgrace for the Conservatoire to be the only one in the UK without a junior department. There are lots of outreach projects happening via the county music service, BBC NOW, WNO etc, all of which will be pointless if children have nowhere to progress to.

Thank you for supporting the Junior RWCMD petition @northerngoldilocks & @horseymum. So pleased you've already signed as well
@Alwaysplayspicc .

Exactly, no step up option for those who need it when resources go into schools. Schools in the main just can't support the top end musicians.

Good point about the outreach projects being a bit pointless when there's then nothing to progress and aspire to.

Here's the link again if anyone else can support the petition to save the Junior RWCMD:
https://petitions.senedd.wales/petitions/246232

Thank you!

Signed @GreenTeaWhite . I told DS about the closure and he was horrified. He was advised, when he was 10, that if he wanted to go to a Conservatoire then he needed to be in a JD asap. We can't imagine what his life would be now if the opportunity to attend a JD had been taken away from him. He lives for his Saturdays and the level of teaching has opened doors for him musically. Apart from comments already made about all resources being funnelled into schools, what about the home educated children - where will their opportunities come from?

I too would not like to see the closure of any JD's. But l would not like anyone reading this thread to assume their DC has no chance of gaining a good Conservatoire place if they don't attend a JD as is suggested by Pollyanna.

Good point @Frankley mine never did JD. Full disclosure he did do 6th form at a specialist school but had 5 conservatoire offers. Specialist schools are not financially elitist either thanks to the MDS scheme.

Absolutely. There are no JDs in Northern Ireland and lots of NI musicians in all the conservatoires (including me, back in the day!).

It is really awful though that the Welsh one is being closed - makes no sense at all. I have signed the petition.

My relative also got five offers @Siriusmuggle , he transferred in sixth form from his local teacher to an hour a week with one who teaches at a Conservatoire.
(He starts in September, l think he has chosen to go to the same one that your DS is at)
There are many ways to get there, I'm sure they all are fun.

There are so many different paths amongst mine and his mates- it’s actually quite interesting. Mine loves where he is so we think it’s a great choice! His mates took a mix of routes- specialist school for all of secondary, just 6th form, JD, normal school, national ensembles and a fair few brass banders.

@Pollyanna8234 Thank you so much for signing. Like you say, a lot of the children live for these Saturdays. Mine absolutely love going. If schools were able to provide them with what they need, JDs wouldn't need to exist, but schools don't.

Reassuring to know you don't necessarily need to have been to a JD to get into a conservatoire. It's just so sad that the enjoyment the kids get from already going is being taken away.

Thank you so much for signing, @Compsearch !

Just to clarify I certainly don’t believe that a JD is the only route to a conservatoire, rather it is what we’re were advised at the time by his then teacher, as non musical parents we had no idea either way.

@GreenTeaWhite DH does some work for RWCM and I asked him about this yesterday - he said that the closure is because it’s not financially sustainable for them to run anymore - apparently the English and Scottish JDs are subsidised but the Welsh government gives them nothing at all, and they literally cannot afford to run it anymore as the fees charged don’t cover the costs. Just in response to your comment that it seemed to be ideological - according to DH that isn’t the case - they are devastated about it and know they are letting the students down.

I really hope the petition makes a difference and they can find the money somehow. It’s such a shame.

@Compsearch Yes, the Junior Department does run at a deficit - £188K a year, which is less than the principal of the RWCMD's annual salary. The college itself is currently running at a surplus, as per their last financial report. They no longer want the rest of the college to subsidise the Junior Department, but it does seem to the parents that the SMT are not doing what they can to raise funds to help. E.g. They've managed to raise £3 million (out of £12 m) to restore an old library. The parents have come together and it seems that a common view (based on research from articles re the principal, for example) is that this decision is said to be a financial one, but swayed enormously by ideological/political views.

Announcing the closure of the JD part way through the term it intends to close is very poor management. Also, they have shown little consideration for how their plans to close the Junior Department has affected the children emotionally.

Ah ok @GreenTeaWhite - DH is just reporting what he’s been told by staff at the senior college. The people he spoke to were all really upset about it, but they’re not the decision makers.

I hope they can plug the gap somehow 🤞🏻

Trip to Italy sounds exciting @QueenMabby - are they going by coach. Got DS's schedule for his tour to Austria this summer and he seems to be spending about 48 hours on a coach to get there. Rather him than me. Guess when you're 13 it's all exciting!

Wow, trips abroad sound great. Youngest DD is excited as she's getting to go on a ferry for a music residential. Not actually to an island, it just cuts out a long bit of road. Dire warning to be at the departure point on time or bus will leave without them!

@northerngoldilocks - no, they're flying. Dd most excited that her cello gets its own seat on the plane! Coach to the airport though at silly o' clock which is part of the fun apparently.

We also have the very long coach trip tour option. On DD2's 15th birthday. She seems more resigned to that than I would be. Nice to see so much music holiday excitement though.

DS went on a tour to Italy last summer. The coach trip home was over 30 hours long!
He had a brilliant time but had had enough of travelling by the time he got back.

Niche question - but has anyone bought a carbon fibre violin bow and has a view whether it is worth going up to the more 'intermediate' option - eg whether there is a noticeable difference? DD needs a full size bow and was just going to buy the same one she has now (3/4 bow) but noticed Caswell class it as beginner and suggest the step up for 'intermediate'. The string zone say its good to gr 8 though. She's playing at around grade 6 standard at the moment.

My DS changed to a better carbon fibre cello bow and it has made a difference to his sound and to the comfort when playing. He had the most basic carbon fibre bow from amazon for his half-size cello, his teacher recommended he got a better bow for the 3/4 size cello (it came with a wooden bow) and he changed to a full-size carbon fibre bow at that point.

It was worth trying some in a shop as the bows feel quite different to each other and some seem to suit different types of music. DS rejected a more expensive bow because he didn't like how it performed when playing modern, "noisy" pieces versus being silky smooth for calm classical pieces.

Dd has a wooden bow so am not sure what it's worth paying for carbon fibre. Hers was £600 new but we got a very lightly pre-loved one for less. She tried both and preferred the feel of the wood. What's the difference? I know nothing!

Thanks both - I know in reality the right approach would be to let her try them. There isn't really anywhere that we can go that has these, so seem to be stuck with chancing it or paying for a trial at home. She's 11 so not sure how much preference she will have yet - or whether this preference will change as she gets older.

@QueenMabby carbon fibre are perhaps more stable and less likely to warp and also supposed to be less likely to break, which given DD dropped her first (thankfully cheap) bow on the tip and broke it, is an advantage. She was quite young then though and hasn't done anything like it since so probably shouldn't judge her now on that! I think though that ultimately wooden bows are still widely preferred, its just that the quality of wooden bow i'd get for the same money would be much worse.

They all seem to have gone up though - her 3/4 one is now at least £30-50 more than it was when i bought it. The deluxe one is more than £200 extra than the standard so might not be worth it but on the other hand if it lasts longer and then ultimately is a reasonable spare then it would be good. The existing bow that came with the violin I passed down would need lots of work on it and still never be great, so really isn't great as a spare except in a real emergency and even then i'd replace ASAP.

My dd is grade 8 now ( violin) she bought a better carbon fibre bow with her last violin but has since had a new wooden one that she prefers( £600 though..)
if you’re anywhere near us your dd is welcome to try some( we now have a few..)

@northerngoldilocks the stringzone will send you out a selection of bows to try for the cost of the postage. We did that for DD1 when she needed to upgrade her cello bow and they were super efficient.

DD2 has a carbondix bow which several teachers have raved about and one went out and bought one for orchestral work. Not sure if anyone will send one of those out on approval though as I don't think stringzone stock them.