NYO Inspire

[Madrescuechicken]

Has anyone got any experience of their child applying for this? Has it been a good experience? My DD is currently a member of the U13 National Children’s Orchestra and I wondered if this was worth applying for alongside NCO for next year.

@Madrescuechicken my son is in NYO and has participated in Inspire activities over the last 4 years. It is definitely worth applying. Many musicians become part of NYO after going on Inspire courses. Also, attending Inspire courses can open up future opportunities with NYO such as being a 2 day guest on an NYO residency as well as being enjoyable activities in their own right. I recommend you also ask this question on the Spring/Summer music thread as you will probably get more responses

Thank you so much! Can I ask what activities your son participated in? I think it’s probably worth a shot at applying as she meets the criteria of being state school. She’s also an unusual instrument.

@Madrescuechicken during February half term there are individual instrument courses which are 1 day and chamber courses which are 3 days (I think). He has done both of these. There is also the Inspire orchestra in the summer. You apply for Inspire and then you get allocated a course. For an unusual instrument she probably will be in demand!

Definitely go for it. The number of activities varies and sometimes you don't get loads of notice as they probably work down their list of potential players! Mine have both enjoyed it and have done the October days, then February residential and got asked to do the inspire orchestra but it clashes with a pre booked holiday. They have turned into pretty good independent travellers and we have also travelled around to things. The middle one then got into the main orchestra and inspire experience definitely helped. But even if you are not aiming for the main orchestra it's worth it. An unusual instrument definitely helps too.

Thank you! So can you end up being asked to go anywhere or is it regional?

It's DC2's first year in Inspire this year. She's had an orchestra day, a two-night instrument family residential, and she's about to go on a 10 night orchestral residential. She's had a blast.

The activities, food and accommodation are all fully funded and organised, but travel is not. There were lots of orchestra days in various locations, and I think they try to match people with a local one where they can. However the instrument family residential and orchestral residential are just in a single location as far as I know. One was an hour's drive for us, the other is about five hours away, so swings and roundabouts I guess.

Wow! This almost sounds too good to be true. My DD has done NCO under 12s and under 13s main orchestras (this year and last) and has absolutely loved it but it has been difficult finding the money to pay for it. She is prepping her audition for the final U14s this year too but I think NYO Inspire sounds like it’s worth a shot as well. Do they audition for it? With NCO we have sent in a recording of x2 contrasting pieces. Also as she has just turned 13 last week I’m wondering if she’s a bit on the young side? How old were your kids when they first started Inspire? Apologies for all the questions!

There's no audition process, just an application form - thank you for reminding me that she needs to apply again for next year! From the orchestra information sheet the 13/14 yos are definitely outnumbered by the older ones, but everyone is super friendly and the support staff are brilliant at matching people up with similar aged room mates. Plus the days are pretty full, so there's not a whole of unstructured time. DC2 marginally prefers NCO as it's all people her age, but has still had a fab time with Inspire.

Fantastic! Thank you for all your help. She’s filling out the form as we speak. It suggests we’ll hear back quickly too which is nice.

It's free (excluding your travel costs) so Ok but don't expect anything like the level of NCO - the level of tuition is nowhere near the same. DD has done it for a couple of years (after main orchestra of NCO) but doesn't get enough out of it to bother again. She thought English Schools Orchestra was a lot better (though not regional sadly)

Thank you- that’s very interesting. What’s different about the tuition? Is it less sectional stuff? My daughter has loved NCO so will definitely be auditioning again for her final year if she’s lucky enough to get in again.

Tutors not as good, music less interesting/challenging, less individual/small group attention. As I say, it's OK but nothing like the intensity (in a good way) of NCO

It's meant as a taster experience so not doing a full symphony etc. Mine have enjoyed the tutors and had small groups but maybe depends on instruments. For those who play rare instruments it's a good chance to meet others. If you have the money to go on a longer course, that might be more satisfying but equally mine see it as a potential gateway to further opportunities.

Hi my daughter attended her first inspire day last weekend and today we received an emailed saying to look out for future events on social media and also to review the inspire day. Does this mean that she won’t be invited to the residential?

@Alakazam8 that's the standard email that gets sent out to all the NYO Unite participants - please get your young person to do the survey as positive feedback is needed to keep providing free activities! It's no indication either way as to what they will be invited to other things over the year.

In fact I've just had a look through last year's emails - the invitation for the Feb Half term 3 day/2night residential came through in late November, and we didn't hear anything in between

Hi @Alakazam8 they are very hot on evaluation, they will not get to do other things if they don't do it! There's no guarantee for the Feb residential, child's friend didn't get invited but then got a last minute invite to a creative type course which was different from the standard instrument family one but didn't fancy it. I think it's harder for more popular instruments but fingers crossed there will be something on offer. Hope yours enjoyed the inspire day. The one mine was at sounded fantastic, so much energy!