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!).

Mine almost applied for that but he's already got paid work this Sunday which he can't change.

What a shame. This was the one weekend ds hadn't got anything on although he had been hoping to go to a conference type event in London (an industry thing but where there are student tickets available). He played with this group a while back (for the benefit of others it is a group who usually do what is known as closed sitzprobes of west end shows but they occasionally also do public concerts).

@Comefromaway thats really exciting for your DS - sounds like he's getting quite a few opportunities which is great in terms of building out his network.

@BBLY I wonder if it might be worth a separate thread specifically asking for feedback on Chineke as there doesn't seem to have been any experience on here. Its reasonably new too though isn't it and so there aren't really going to have been many people on it, whereas NYO / NCO have been going for many years.

Hi, I'm looking for some thoughts on specialist music schools vs. JDs please.

DD plays 3 instruments and sings, she doesn't have enough time to practise so we applied to a specialist school. She got an offer, but on one instrument only so we'll need to continue privately on at least one more. We would need to move which is a huge change of lifestyle (work is flexible so no problem).

She's at a JD and happy there so I'm not sure what to do. We would definitely save 2-3 hours a day and maybe 10K a year as well, but I'm a bit concerned if it might get a bit odd not seeing non-musical people around. Also, I guess music schools (and JDs) can be very competitive at a higher level, and if you have no escape to "normal" life it might affect your mental health.

I'd appreciate any thoughts or personal experience.

HI@Ubertomusic - I have one who is now at music specialist school. She has three studies? You only get an offer on your first but you usually get to study the others as well? So DD has three hours of lessons across her three studies but the bulk on her first? she still gets to play the others in ensembles...

Happy to answer any more questions by message if it's helpful- though we are still just learning at the moment as she only started in September.

Hi @Ubertomusic congrats on the offer. For us, JD works best as DD wouldn't want to board and the three specialist schools we could feasibly travel to would just be such long days, there wouldn't be time for any other life outside. She would have missed her friends too. It works well for others on this board though. We wouldn't have got enough fee reduction for the fee paying and the other two are state schools so would have saved money there. I think she might have considered it for 6th year but had dithered about for what to do it wasn't really an option. She gets the residential fun bit from courses.

Thank you @horseymum 🙂It's such a big decision that I cannot make up my mind, and yes we would miss our friends. I'm also a bit concerned about academics - DD is not very academic but does reasonably well at school and might want to study something not related to music at uni.

Maybe look at the grades- the specialist school near us gets the highest in the country I think. ( St Mary's in Edinburgh) Partly it's tiny and the kids are really motivated.

@Ubertomusic mine went to specialist school for 6th form and boarded. His class mates are studying a variety of things at university now. They had a complusory second study and some of then had a 3rd (his best mate pretty much had 4!).

Can I join again?
Have dropped off the music radar.
Mine play for fun but elder daughter now leader of school orchestra, in a string quartet and a baroque group, also plays piano
Younger has been ready for grade 6 viola for 2 terms but hasn’t had time for theory. Done last night at the 11th hour as they left for a school trip this morning! Fingers crossed for a pass she has worked so hard this holiday at it.

@Ubertomusic I had one who did JD until year 11 and specialist for 6th form. You don't say how old yours is but in my experience her school were really happy about her music until about halfway through year 9 and then did a total reverse ferret and basically put constant pressure on her to stop music and focus on academics. It probably didn't help that she was one of the weaker girls academically in an otherwise extremely academic school but it got so bad the head of her JD actually rang the head of her school to point out she was in the accelerated stream so would get a place at seniors and that therefore was likely to be heading to conservatoire not uni so music practice was important - and even that didn't stop it. So moving her for 6th form was a no brainer (even if it took away the automatic place at seniors) and she absolutely loved it. Getting back the 3 hours a day that she was commuting helped too. She had by then realised that voice and cello were for fun and just kept them on for ensembles and orchestra etc.

Hi @Soundofshuna - good luck with the Grade 5 theory. Sure you know but results are always 28 days and pretty much to the hour it was submitted. DD had a month or so between the results and her grade 7 practical and that made it a bit more stressful for us but all worked out and is a well trodden path! Sounds like your DD has done a more sensible approach and can get results back before she enters the practical.

The entries from school
close 29 days after she takes it..
my eldest did the very first on line on but didn’t have grade 6 ready at that point so there was less stress

You can just enter - if she doesn't pass (and sure she will have if she's covered the work) then you can cancel within 14 days anyway. Also the 'auto refund' policy is still in place for those who don't attend until the end of June 2024 for ABRSM. When my DD broke her wrist just before Grade 5 we got a refund of her fee and didn't need to provide any evidence because of the automatic policy.

@Siriusmuggle Was it difficult to manage A levels and 2-4 music studies? It sounds like a lot of work... Motivation helps for sure but there is only 24 hours in a day...

@londonmummy1966 DD is only 10 so it's too early to focus entirely on music but we just cannot manage time wise. She goes to an academic school and they are not supportive with her music though not putting academic pressure yet. DD did trial lessons at the specialist school and said she did that topics three years ago at her current school so I'm just wondering... She's not very academic though, it's just the school stretches them and she can cope with that at the moment, being roughly in the middle of her class academically. It'll get more difficult in secondary I'm sure, but I really want to keep her options open for as long as possible... We have tutors for two extra languages they don't offer at school, just because she likes it, so I'm not worried about not having enough GCSE, but STEM is also important and these are harder subjects...

@Ubertomusic I'll PM you

Not for that particular person. First and second study were closely related (think both keyboards for example), third was a rarer orchestral instrument and fourth was voice so slotted in as and when. Still managed 3 A stars at A level. This isn’t my child- mine was much more middle of the road.

Thank you @Siriusmuggle !

Thanks Northern Goldilocks ( sorry can’t reply for some reason) School insist on seeing theory result before entry so will hang fire but good to know!

@Ubertomusic A friend has a child at a state specialist school (attached to a comprehensive). At this school, the music specialist kids drop the number of subjects to 4 other than music, with English and Maths compulsory, so that leaves 2 other subjects, so no chance of doing 3 sciences. My friend has tutoring for her child for maths as she doesn't think there is enough classroom time in maths as her child is not mathematically-minded.

My child wouldn't enjoy the hyper-focus on music nor the competitiveness at the music specialist school, but loves JD on a Saturday.

I know people view specialist schools as hyper competitive but that’s not our experience. It was more like a team for my child and the others on their instrument. They did ensembles together and rotated who played first in orchestra etc.

At my dd’s specialist school they can do triple science if they really want, and some even specialist maths. But it’s not encouraged. Dd takes just 8 GCSEs against the 10-12 most would normally take at the comp she has come from.

on the other hand she is finding this academically quite unstressful- which is nice given that I’ve just been through GCSEs with her sister and know that they can be a lot of unnecessary stress. Some stuff is very very well taught, some less so. And school Is quite clear that those eight GCSEs can get her anywhere she wants including oxbridge for non music subjects as her predictions are really high.

It does feel narrower than her old school- but also deeper as she gets to do so much music- so gcse music learning goes much further than at her old school, and other things are less taught to the test. She’s also covered a lot more in English lit for example than I know she would have done at her old school as the relentless focus on timed gcse questions has not started yet.

I suspect it depends where you are coming from- selective London private it will seem academically slow, but if just a standard school about the same. What is clear though is that dd is having a very nice time getting to what I suspect will be exactly the same end point that her sister had a not very nice time getting to - ie a clutch of GCSEs at 7-9 that open every door necessary. Dd2 just gets the music on top of that.

yes, I’d love her to be a little more academically challenged but given that mainly I just want my kids to come out with decent grades and their mental health intact (I know so many that don’t) I am pleased that she’s so academically happy - and it gives her time to (for example) read for fun and enjoy learning how to play some sport.

Musically it doesn’t feel hyper competitive- dd2 is definitely not one of the ‘stars’ and everyone knows who they are but that doesn’t stop her being valued by her very good teachers. And I’ve been amazed that she’s had- for example - solo opportunities on her second instrument… wasn’t expecting that.

So mostly it’s good I think - though dd2 would be first to say that you shouldn’t assume all the teaching is better than in a state school … just smaller classes and less disruption. She says if it wasnt for the outstanding music she certainly wouldn’t pay for the rest of it!

My daughter took 9 GCSE's including triple science at the MDS school she attended, the same number as ds took in his state comp so it really must vary a lot.

Just got back from our second youth orchestra course concert in 2 days. Both of my kids have done a 4 day orchestra course this week and its been brilliant. It really is lovely seeing them get the opportunity to play in a large groups and seeing all the hard work they put into learning pay off. Particular highlight was DD's string ensemble playing an arrangement of Elgar's Nimrod - was really lovely as well as some entertainingly chaotic 'fun arrangements' of other things too. DS's orchestra is rather more serious, but it was brilliant too. Just the weekend here before back to school and getting them to do some normal practice routine after the holidays.