Spring /Summer 25 - Music thread

[northerngoldilocks]

Time for a new thread for spring!

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.

Yeah Nicky is so great - DS also adores her. He did the ones in Saffron Walden in October and she wasn’t there due to illness, so he was so pleased to meet her this time!

You may know already but it’s not widely known - Nicky and Wynton are married and have a baby daughter - which explains his involvement!

I did know they had a baby together - they've also worked together for quite a number of years before that though . Don't think i knew they were married - anyway its fabulous that he takes time to get involved with the foundation too!

@achangeofnameisasgoodasarest - top tip re AirTag. I am just picking one up at Argos!

Loves the talks about the benedetti session. DS went too. He was in intermediate and loved the music from both days! He said he learned more stuff from the 2nd day which is slow piece and is often harder (for him anyway). His favourite was the duet of Nicky and Yumi. We also met Yumi’s sister in a different event so that was na nice connection! This was his first Benedetti and he’ll definitely want to go back for more. The teachers were amazing! I wish they return to this side of the country soon. The next one is in Glasgow!

@CompsearchI’m sure as time goes and he matures your DS will appreciate different kind of music more. My DS sounded just like yours a year ago and now he enjoys all sorts of music. It’s surprising how much difference a year or two makes!

ha ha…it was me who thought the other pieces weren’t great! I guess there is also still time for me to mature musically as well!

I see and lol - we all have preferences and favourites don’t we. I’m not even a musician so a whole lot more to learn!!

Good luck to those waiting to hear if they have got second round auditions for NYO. Rejection here for second child but think she's actually relieved not to spend the next few weeks on excerpts! She's happy with doing Inspire things again. Was a nicely worded rejection too, and bonus points for being on the day they said it would be, hate having to wait ages for things and not knowing, that's worse!

DS and his French horn have made it to south Wales, despite train cancellations.

In diploma news, we'll have to wait until school starts again in September! AAAggggghhh...

Well done to him @herbaceous! A relief for you I'm sure. Though once they get used to those trains there is no stopping them.

DD2 also not through the first round for NYO. She was a tiny bit sad- even though she didn't actually want to do it. I think when you're at a school like hers, anything that involves 'putting yourself out there' is a high risk strategy.

I'm not sure her recordings remotely reflected what she normally manages (they were also in the middle of her GCSEs) and it is frustrating that if she'd had done the Inspire orchestra, which she was offered but couldn't do because of our hols, she wouldn't have had to record at all.

However, as I always remind her, when one door closes another opens, and she has only been playing the blessed instrument five years. She has had heck of a run of getting absolutely everything she applies for - but music is a tough game. I'm proud of her for having a go.

Not in the same league as NYO and diplomas, but as an update, DS's ABRSM digital exam came back 11 days after it was submitted. (Piano, Grade 8, distinction.) He's very happy to have ended strongly, with two G8 distinctions, both sat the week after his A-levels finished!

@PhotoDad amazing! What a finish! You must be so proud of him.

I'm sorry to hear that and frankly its their loss but with LSSO she'll be getting equally good experience. I also think it is good for them to not get everything they apply for.

DD has an audition on Thursday which she thought would be straightforward but has now been told she is expected to score read at sight - she is not happy....

Still a bit busy here. One grade 7 guitar exam yesterday (he didn’t do as well as he knows he could and was a bit upset, which wasn’t easy - nerves hit in a one-on-one setting), plus an NCO audition still to tape for the youngest. We’ll see re the exam. There was a big admin mix up about booking him onto it which has been a faff. Good luck to everyone waiting on NYO. Can definitely recommend the Benedetti sessions! Youngest had the time of her life!

@Londonmummy66 that sounds scary but she’ll be more than up to it! To be honest dd2 gets lots of orchestra- she was very ambivalent about it anyway but I think worries about career implications if she doesn’t try. Which is tricky at 15… she worries too much.

she’s definitely now switched onto ‘if I’ve underperformed in this recording maybe I have in my GCSEs too’ as a sort of panicky side order. She hates to feel she’s overestimated herself. Fingers crossed she’ll get a boost from those and lsso.

she’s definitely not got into many things in the past- including nco- but she did manage that one in the end. I think it’s mostly who else applies in any one year- nothing personal.

@achangeofnameisasgoodasarest - oh god the "I've messed everything up" moments of misery...... I always felt that the biggest downside to where she is was that there are so many of them they don't get much of an opportunity to redo recordings. My DD had a maximum of 2 goes for her conservatoire auditions (as they were online due to COVID) which was scary. At least at A level it is live performance not a recording.

As you say it is important to remember that it isn't personal. DD used to get v upset that one orchestra she played in always brought in the same (unauditioned) boy to play piano even though she'd begged them to let her audition for it. Eventually they had to take her to one side and explain that she was too useful being a strong and accurate player on the back desk of the cellos to move elsewhere......

@achangeofnameisasgoodasarest , I am in a private group on FB that is for musician mums and one of the mums posted that their DC hasnt been offered a second round audition - cue lots of fellow mums’ stories of not making it into NYO but having very successful careers…including a very well-known and fantastic bassoonist!

DS took 3 attempts to get in, so there’s still plenty of time for your DD. ☺️

Hi, would you mind letting me know how to join please? As a non musical mum I’m always keen to learn from others on how to support my musical DS better. Thank you.

@Alwaysplayspicc @Londonmummy66 thanks- you’re cheering. DD’s recording was a car crash- booked for one day, teacher was off sick- GCSEs got in the way for the next one, accompanist couldn’t do the rescheduled time,’only half of it was accompanied etc etc.

felt really rushed and I was sad for her when I sent it as it wasn’t really what I know she could do- the other person doing it got the hall, proper accompanist etc and dd didn’t even get it recorded using the equipment the school usually uses because of all of this and it was done in a really rubbish space on her ancient phone.

I’d be cross if I thought it was anyone’s fault but I’m sure it wasn’t and of course these things shouldn’t make a difference anyway.

anyhow- plenty of other things for her to concentrate on- I would just hate for the school to decide she had no future because of it.

Ah, I didn’t word it very well - it’s a private group for mums who are professional musicians.

You’ll get lots of useful advice and support on this thread. 🤩

To add to the NYO stuff. My son didn't get in on his only attempt, despite doing NCO. He did get into a specialist school for 6th form and obtained 5 or 6 conservatoire offers, many with scholarships.

I think that if NCO and NYO really want to widen participation they should just move to a position where all audition videos are unaccompanied (not unaccompanied pieces, just played without an accompanist).

At the moment there is the situation where you can have a live pianist but not a recording or you can play unaccompanied. They say that it doesn't matter but it does all sound better with a pianist and a good pianist can make a massive difference to timing on pieces too so its just less 'equal'. I'd have thought that getting everyone to play unaccompanied would mean that it was clear that it was just their playing that was being reviewed.

Hmm, I'm sure the school wouldn't base their decisions on NYO results? 🤔 I always thought NCO/NYO were good for uni CV but at specialist schools surely they don't have any problem with conservatoire admissions so don't really need any extra "boost"?

NYO has been tough competition afaik, wind and brass places are so limited and some of really good musicians we know didn't get in, even though playing in NYBB for example which is much more advanced for brass than NYO. I haven't seen what NYO has been playing recently, but I think Mahler was an excellent challenge, and for wind and brass particularly, so it's not like they're missing out on playing advanced repertoire either.

My DS also hasn’t got to the next round of NYO auditions and is really disappointed. This is his third attempt after two fantastic years in NCO which he adored. We are based in the north east so there’s very little music for him to do to keep playing at a good level. He’s preparing for his ARSM diploma but lacks good ensembles. He’s in the National Youth Wind Orchestra which is just one week per year - he’s going for the first time next month and I’ve no idea if it’s any good. If we were based further south there would be more options, though DH is Scottish so DS can try for NYOS. Commiserations to others who are disappointed too - and yes we are also in the same gcse panic spiral so fingers crossed those have gone better!

Out of curiosity - what does Wynton do at Benedetti sessions? DD would love to play in his workshops but I was a bit confused as the sessions are for strings only? 🤔