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Extra-curricular activities

Find advice on the best extra curricular activities in secondary schools and primary schools here.

Original poster

Spring /Summer 25 - Music thread

706 replies

northerngoldilocks · 14/02/2025 18:04

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.

OP posts:
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12
achangeofnameisasgoodasarest · 16/08/2025 10:29

@herbaceous it is pricey - DD2 could feasibly commute but she doesn't want to, though it would take the cost down. She's really excited by the repertoire (Mahler 1 in particular) so I think we'll be going for it.

DD2 is spending most of her time at the Proms at the moment, taking her mind off those GCSE results. Shos 5 by heart tonight - she's really excited having just played it herself (though obviously not by heart). Taking her cousin who has never been to the proms, and knows nothing about classical music, I just heard her describing the experience as 'a kind of classical mosh pit'.

Compsearch · 16/08/2025 11:09

@achangeofnameisasgoodasarest Im going to the repeat of that prom tomorrow morning - really looking forward to it!

Congrats to all on their A level results!

achangeofnameisasgoodasarest · 16/08/2025 11:11

@Compsearch have fun - it's clearly a popular one, she only just got her promming tickets. I'm quite enjoying the morning dopamine rush as we all join the queue for her - like a mini win every day.

Apparently Shos 13 last night was 'amazing' and she enjoyed the Ravel.

This from a child who used to scream every time we put on classical music when she was little! She's always been unpredictable.

ThisAgileDeep · 16/08/2025 13:31

Londonmummy66 · 15/08/2025 12:18

@achangeofnameisasgoodasarest - delighted that the girls both got their first choices - hope they have a ball at uni. Very jealous that your DD is going to Swansea - I grew up on the Gower and have fond memories of fish and chips overlooking the Mumbles lighthouse. Nursing is busy but at least the beach is right by the campus!

@ThisAgileDeep - sounds like CYM would be a good fit for your DD then as the stagecraft is great fun and the head of voice is an excellent teacher. (My younger daughter had her for lessons as she is voice focused rather than instrumental) She could also take piano and composition classes - maybe even explore a bit of jazz piano. My suggestion re piano there is that it would probably get you in as a late applicant as her standard is so high even if it won't be her main focus. Happy to put you in touch for a chat if that is helpful - they are a bit less uptight than the JDs at RAM and RCM so have more flexibility on late applications especially when people are moving from abroad. Also she can always try it for a year and then go somewhere else if it isn't a good fit.

Thank you for your help. I still don't know how to PM you from here. 😀

ThisAgileDeep · 16/08/2025 13:35

Ubertomusic · 15/08/2025 22:51

Congrats on the uni places @achangeofnameisasgoodasarest ! Exciting new chapter :)

@ThisAgileDeep Guildhall has Vocals and Drama course at their Kings Cross branch https://www.gsmd.ac.uk/study-with-guildhall/children-and-young-people/guildhall-young-artists/guildhall-young-artists-kings-cross/courses

I don't have personal experience and the branch is relatively new but just in case.

Thanks for the info. I'll look into it.

ThisAgileDeep · 16/08/2025 13:36

herbaceous · 15/08/2025 10:26

@achangeofnameisasgoodasarest DS has been accepted on to ESO too!

Tho I am sweating a bit over the cost. Is it worth it?

Army music academy sounds amazing. DS has expressed interest in joining the army just for the music, but wouldn't be allowed on medical grounds I suspect - he's blind in one eye.

@ThisAgileDeep I used to live in East London, but it was before DS got heavily into music, and I never explored the opportunities. No idea even what CYM is!

Your daughter sounds amazing! By 'public schools', do you mean fee-paying or state? The term is so ambiguous!

My apology, I mean state school 😂

Londonmummy66 · 16/08/2025 13:41

@ThisAgileDeep - to PM someone you need to click on the three little dots at the top right of their message - that brings up a drop down menu that includes a PM option.

Pollyanna8234 · 16/08/2025 13:44

@achangeofnameisasgoodasarest DS went to Shos 13 last night and loved it. It was his 3rd Prom this week! He had managed to get a cheap restricted view seat in the Rausing circle. However, a couple (50s ish) arrived to sit next to him after the 1st piece. The man spent the whole of the Ravel scrolling on his mobile and then stood for the whole of the encore. DS could not cope with this and joined some friends that were Promming for the second half and said he looked up to see the same man standing for the whole half!

He is doing SLYO this week coming so will have to pause on the Proms attendance for a bit

achangeofnameisasgoodasarest · 16/08/2025 14:01

@Pollyanna8234 DD2 is not doing SLYO this time as she's just done Shos 5 with LSSO and the concert clashes with GCSE results day as well.

I hope they've found someone as they did ring me at one point to beg her to do the contra part - she was pretty adamant she wouldn't feel up to it. Lots of her friends are more dedicated I think and will be doing it anyway.

Hope he has fun!

Pollyanna8234 · 16/08/2025 15:18

Thanks @achangeofnameisasgoodasarest DS did it 2 years ago and I had to go and get his gcse results and whatsapp them to him! The signal there wasn't great so he didn't get his results for hours

se22mother · 16/08/2025 17:57

double shos summer here…. DD not impressed

achangeofnameisasgoodasarest · 16/08/2025 20:20

@se22mother very dedicated of her to do it all again!

se22mother · 16/08/2025 20:48

I did jokingly suggest she see it at the Prom tonight… she declined 🤣🤣🤣🤣

achangeofnameisasgoodasarest · 16/08/2025 20:54

@se22mother ha!

I've yet to hear what DD2's cousin thinks of her first proms trip - no doubt dd2 analysing the whole thing in great and tedious detail.

Original poster
northerngoldilocks · 18/08/2025 14:51

Massive SLYO presence from the London contingent on here! DD and DS have both gone too - waiting to see what 'modern' piece has been chosen for SLYO 2. Last time it was a medly from Lady and the Tramp i think - as ever capturing the zeitgeist for tweens and teens 😂

OP posts:
chickentikkasalad · 19/08/2025 13:29

Hope all DC are enjoying their well earned summer breaks.
Apologies as I have to let something out of my chest. My DS did his grade 5 theory exam online last week but I’m worried like hell now. I think I might have messed up the room scan. I used the webcam to scan but the cable wasn’t very long and I had to duck under the cable at one point. I couldn’t do a good smooth 360 scan a there’s only 30 secs. I tried a few times in the end went with the last one. I’m not sure I actually covered all parts of the 4 walls. Webcam is zoomed in quite a bit so I couldn’t cover a whole wall so had to move it up and down. I don’t know why I didn’t use the mobile phone to do the scan. I think I was panicking at the time as we had a problem with software install prior to that and I had to call hubby to help. I was worried the 3 hour window will close. Overall it was very stressful. Now I don’t think I’ve done the best job at all. Also we forgot to show the blank piece of paper before the exam so I showed it just after he started the exam. DS forgot to rip up the paper before closing the exam so I emailed them the torn off paper afterwards. It was such a bad experience now I’m worried he might have to do it again if this one came back invalid or something. I feel sorry for my DS. Im sure he would have a good score as long as the room scan was acceptable.
What do you wise ppl think? Should I pay and ask him resit the exam or wait till 28 days?
thank you for reading!

chocolateisnecessary · 19/08/2025 13:29

I’d wait. Everyone who sits it seems to have a story!

chickentikkasalad · 19/08/2025 13:36

chocolateisnecessary · 19/08/2025 13:29

I’d wait. Everyone who sits it seems to have a story!

Yeah I e heard of so many horror stories about it and was quite worried about it already beforehand!

chickentikkasalad · 19/08/2025 13:37

Has anybody actually done a bad room scan and failed because of it?

Original poster
northerngoldilocks · 19/08/2025 13:57

I think that on at least one of ours we forgot to show the ripped up paper, the room scan is always a debacle as its hard to facilitate - it sounds like you showed most of it, i'd probably work on the assumption it will be fine.

It will be 28 days pretty much to the hour you clicked submit so best not to worry about it for a while.

OP posts:
Original poster
northerngoldilocks · 19/08/2025 13:59

Also - to add, our wifi stopped working in the middle of DD's Gr 5 theory and we got on a train and went into my work (thankfully still had time) and then had to re scan the room - but she was sitting in a glass booth in the office so that was a bit tricky - my work isn't anything to do with music though so at least that wasn't an issue. She still passed though!

OP posts:
chickentikkasalad · 19/08/2025 14:36

Wow northern that’s quite a story. Hopefully ours is okay too

ThisAgileDeep · 19/08/2025 15:40

chickentikkasalad · 19/08/2025 13:29

Hope all DC are enjoying their well earned summer breaks.
Apologies as I have to let something out of my chest. My DS did his grade 5 theory exam online last week but I’m worried like hell now. I think I might have messed up the room scan. I used the webcam to scan but the cable wasn’t very long and I had to duck under the cable at one point. I couldn’t do a good smooth 360 scan a there’s only 30 secs. I tried a few times in the end went with the last one. I’m not sure I actually covered all parts of the 4 walls. Webcam is zoomed in quite a bit so I couldn’t cover a whole wall so had to move it up and down. I don’t know why I didn’t use the mobile phone to do the scan. I think I was panicking at the time as we had a problem with software install prior to that and I had to call hubby to help. I was worried the 3 hour window will close. Overall it was very stressful. Now I don’t think I’ve done the best job at all. Also we forgot to show the blank piece of paper before the exam so I showed it just after he started the exam. DS forgot to rip up the paper before closing the exam so I emailed them the torn off paper afterwards. It was such a bad experience now I’m worried he might have to do it again if this one came back invalid or something. I feel sorry for my DS. Im sure he would have a good score as long as the room scan was acceptable.
What do you wise ppl think? Should I pay and ask him resit the exam or wait till 28 days?
thank you for reading!

Edited

I think you'd better wait. My daughter took the Theory 5 exam when she was 7 so we didn't take it seriously. All the scanning went wrong, but she just went with the questions and submitted （and some questions she couldn't do before it was auto submitted）. When the results out, she failed, but we got email from ABRSM asked us to retake the exam for free due to error on internet transmission. The 2nd time, she handled all the process herself, as we thought she would definitely take another theory exam again when she grows up, so we didn't care much. She was too young so she couldn't do the scanning correctly. But she passed the exam, and the new result overrode the old one, I don't think ABRSM is strict on how we scan the room.

chickentikkasalad · 19/08/2025 15:46

@ThisAgileDeepthank you for sharing the experience. I think I read your post a couple of years ago too lol. DS is only 8 so I did the scanning for him. Maybe next time I leave it to him - he might do a better job 🤣. Fingers crossed he doesn’t have to do it again. He’ll probably be sick to revise again!