Autumn / Winter 2025 Music

[northerngoldilocks]

Time for a new thread in time for the new school term!

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.

I think the whole conservatoires thing can be a mystery.
For example, last year DS was one of only 2 in 1st year on his instrument, while one of the other conservatoires had 19.
I have no idea where all those other people were hiding prior to going, as you’d assume DS would know of most of turn’s existence just due to attending specialist school and being in NYO.
And that’s before you start to wonder why so many would pick one conservatoire over another, given that they both have fantastic reputations for that department.

DS’s teacher’s class is all male, to add another question into the mix.

Might a proportion of the 19 be international students?

One point to bear in mind in the uni v conservatoire debate is that conservatoires tend to have very little in the way of extra curricular clubs and societies. I find it a bit sad that DD1 has had none of that experience whilst DD2 has a ball with her various sports and music clubs, wine tasting club etc (maybe a bit too much of a good thing sometimes).

I’m guessing there must be a fair number of international students, as you’ve suggested - I hadn’t really thought of that.

Good point about uni v conservatoires.
DD went to a campus uni and found that so much more sociable than DS is finding conservatoire, plus there’s no facilities like a gym or sports pitches, pool etc so no chance of enjoying those activities.
And of course, DD made friends from lots of different subjects, not just her own, whereas conservatoire is obviously limited to music, even if there are different disciplines within that.

DS just started conservatoire in London. Staying in halls where all the other students in his flat are international.

Variable numbers of students playing the same instrument in different years of the programme (5 in current year, 9 in year above).

He’s finding that the total number of students in his whole year is less than the number of students on some courses at universities. Therefore a general lack of people to socialise with plus as there’s no facilities there’s limited opportunities to meet people.

Still early days but worth considering.

I'm sorry that he's not enjoying it. Is it PCV? We had that issue as you simply book a room number so have no idea who else will be in the flat and DD ended up with several Chinese masters students who never spoke to her. It would have been so much better if they had allocated the first years in flats together. She did go to lots of freshers social events and met people there - that plus setting up chamber music ensembles got her to meet people quite quickly and she has a lovely tight knot group of friends now.

@Musictimesthree hope that improves after a slow start. DD2 was rather put off by the text she got from a friend at who recently started at a London one on Saturday that read

'conservatoire is absolutely everything I hoped it would be. Except I have no friends'.

That made her (and me) very sad as this friend of hers is totally lovely. I think it might just be harder to get started, but maybe you make firmer friendships in the end.

We looked at lots of factors when he was considering which conservatoire to go to- uni wasn't even on his radar. One thing we looked at was the number of students as he's a socialble person. Fortunately his long standing first choice ticked all the boxes. Interestingly he only lived with musicians in his 1st year as he lived in halls. Year 2 he lived with friends from primary/first few years of secondary school. Year 3 one of the same friends. This year he's with a friend doing chemistry at one of the other unis in his town. He's got friends at conservatoire and at all 3 unis- too many social groups really.

@achangeofnameisasgoodasarest that sums it up.

@Siriusmuggle we had a dilemma where the best college for social life was definitely not the best for teaching quality and employment prospects. Decided to go for the teaching. Also not sure about sharing with non music students, concerned the practice would annoy them!

@Londonmummy66 it’s not PCV.

Hopefully as @achangeofnameisasgoodasarest it just takes longer to get started at conservatoire and the friendships that result are firmer.

@Musictimesthree practice is ok- they have a lot more contact hours so he does it when they’re out or he prefers to go into college when possible now.

If it’s Subdial, my DS had the same issue last year. It’s really hard, not least because London can be a pretty tough city to live in.

achangeofname, that’s so sad to read. I hope things get better for them. Still early days.

Just flagging quickly for anyone who uses Allianz musical instrument insurance (now Lark). I got the renewal quote through today. The instruments are insured in my name (on the basis that i bought them all) but i'd never been asked in the past about who uses them. Noticed now on the renewal that there is a category for 'is this instrument used by someone under 16' and 'no' was selected

I'll be updating mine, but thought it might be worth others checking.

Yes, I had to update them about under 16s, was never asked when making the quote. Also they assumed I owned them all when two were loaned. Definitely need to read carefully. It was simple to update though.

@northerngoldilocks I hadn't noticed that when ours renewed. Thank goodness DD2 has recently attained the lofty heights of 16. Thanks for flagging!

I was down at Music Hogwarts yesterday for DD2s lunchtime concert. Tell me you're overloading your Sixth Form specialists without telling me you're overloading them - she had to introduce the concert, play her piece, disappear deep into the music department to play in a quintet rehearsal because it had a bassoon solo part even though she'd told them she'd been scheduled into a conert, and then return on time for the final applause.

She was slightly late and out of breath and then got told off by the deputy director of music for not 'managing her clashes' (she had, but her teacher ignored her and insisted she came anyway)

Yes - i called up and its sorted. They said new underwriting question but given how many of us on here are likely to use them thought it was worth noting.

I also realised i hadn't added on DDs new bow so meant i was able to do that. Really wish school would say where the music trip is this year though - strongly suspect it will be Europe somewhere and at the moment only insure DDs violin for UK. DS has done a lot of tours in Europe so is worth having worldwide for him.

Also @horseymum did you manage to insure loaned instruments on there - what did you do about proof of value? A friend has her child learning at our local school - their instruments aren't great but if you lose them the head of music insists on brand new replacements. Her DS is starting oboe this year so the replacement value is considerable and he's 7 so shes naturally concerned in case he loses or damages it! She was going to look into Lark but unsure of how to deal with not owning the instrument?

Ds takes care of his own insurance now but he is with Lark. Apparently a lot of ex Allianz staff work for another company called New Moon and they were so helpful when I called but unfortunately for ds they don't cover laptops and mobile phones (Lark will if they are primarily used for music). Might be worth getting a quote from them though if your needs are more usual.

Lark will cover ds for when he loans his equipment out which as a keyboard programmer he often does.

Thanks for that @Comefromaway i've just run a quick comparison and its looking like its £15 cheaper than Lark - but as a % its quite a lot! Will check it out later on and might swap to that. I only insure a flute and a violin, have decided that the guitars aren't worth worrying about as would just replace!

I don't think I needed a proof of value? One I did have a value on a formal loan agreement, the other her teacher told me the value, but it was a standard woodwind instrument , so easy to check. May be harder with strings which are more individual, eg 18th C violin!

Ds needs more professional level insurance now including public liability. There are things that he wouldn't bother to claim on of course.

I don't know if anyone is with Cover4Music. I have been told they ar not good. I did take out a very cheap public liability policy on behalf of the band that ds used to play with because the hotel we were holding a Christmas party at needed proof of public liability. I don't think I'd trust them with instrument insurance.

Thanks @horseymum i think that's probably right. The difficulty with loan instruments is the combination of not owning them but being liable for replacement / repair. Sounds like it should work for my friend. Her other son left his clarinet on a bus and it never got returned so she's more conscious that she'll have to pay out if there is any issue. Its a state junior school so a much more sensible approach would be the school insuring them all and then charging the parents a rental to cover it but its not the case, so individual insurance feels like the right approach.

The violins they have are replacement value of £95 though - feels generous given the instruments they use, but i think for those you'd just take the risk!

I'm surprised that isn't the case. back in my own schooldays we paid a nominal fee (I remember it was £1 per term) which covered insurance.

Hello - just checking in again, I've dropped off a thread or two I think. I have casual brass player DS, just started 6th form and finally has a school orchestra to join. And increasingly quite serious viola DD who is y9 and waiting on result of her last ever NCO audition and thinking about what to do next after that or if it doesn't work out. Both in theory working on grade 8 but more interested in the ensembles.
Great to see you're all still going strong.

Crazy that chickentikka's DS already playing grade 8 music, I might take that as a sign of how many threads I missed except I think it may just be him being unstoppable!

And so sorry to hear about siriusmuggle's DS being messed about like that. Anything involving auditioning can turn on a nothing but no excuse for poor communication when they must know how much it means to young people.

Welcome back @thirdfiddle, yes he is playing grade 8 pieces but with a grade 6/7 technique. He just loves sight reading and especially difficult pieces 🤣. Never has the patience to learn things properly though!

welcome back @thirdfiddle!

My DS moved up to a half size violin today - his 3rd violin in the 18 months he has been playing…surely will slow down a bit now?!

It is SO much louder and he is absolutely loving it. I’ve just had to remove him from the bathroom where he was playing because he liked the echo (his bedtime was 1 hour ago!!), but the enthusiasm is really lovely.