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.

Premier inns always a good choice!

Indeed 😀 and dates well in advance too.

@herbaceous glad Rudolfus was good! DD2 is just getting her head in gear for next year after a dreamy New Year's wander around cambridge where we nearly lost her in the medieval books section.

Now she's thinking about choral scholarships. Turns out if you email directors of music there they invite you over for a sing - who knew? (probably everyone else, but I think I'm a little intimidated even if she isn't).

@achangeofnameisasgoodasarest - This is indeed the case. Which we only found out because DS's school's H0M told us. DS emailed Kings and St John (the most 'prestigious') who who invited him to come and sing at them. Obviously on different days for maximum inconvenience. DS reckons if they say he stands a chance then it's worth going through the whole choral scholarship rigmarole.

I do get vexed with the opacity of the whole process, and how those who aren't 'in the know' don't stand a chance.

@herbaceous I am astounded - I would NEVER have had the brass neck at their age (or indeed the talent). This DoM suggests she comes on a Sunday for Evensong. It is another of the 'big' ones, so I was surprised.

I suspect DD2 doesn't stand a chance with the big ones, but maybe would get a smaller one if lucky. She's competent, not brilliant, when it comes to singing.

More importantly she has to actually get a place and the grades to go there - it all seems a bit 'pie in the sky' to me.

To be fair, the address was on the website and they do clearly try to encourage those from less obvious backgrounds - she just emailed herself as they suggested. Her DoM may be horrified - who knows?

Well indeed. DS is all 'I might do music/English/politics at Cambridge'. Forgetting that a friend of ours got a choral scholarship, 13 9s at GCSE, AAA*A at A level, and still didn't get in!

If I had the mental bandwidth, I'd set up something like wiwikau specifically for music parents. These threads are great but not very visible. Everyone deserves to know how to go about finding music opportunities from bashing out the first notes on a first instrument, to courses, funding, exams etc. Friends whose kids are not musical don't always get it in the same way or understandably aren't interested. In the same way I'm fairly uninterested in football ( but still ask about it as I'm not totally rude!) I've seen the odd thing but it's been for talented kids or pro players etc. Our JD seems to specifically discourage parents communicating ( in case we revolt- although management is better now so I don't have to write so many emails!)

@horseymum - absolutely- I’ve hard to learn as I go along and genuinely I’m still very confused. There is some stuff on the university wiwik site on both conservatoires and uni - j was delighted to spot one of dd2’s teachers offering sage advice on there.

@herbaceous - well dd2’s GCSEs are nothing like that but she loves her subjects and has genuinely got herself to where she’s gone off her own back…I think she’d probably be quite nice to teach because she’s such a self starter.

But she knows it’s a small chance and there are lots of other places where she’d be very happy.

I can only imagine how stressful the (total lottery) university process must be as a parent…best of luck to everyone going through it!

Totally agree about lack of info…it’s no coincidence that the majority of musicians these days are either from musician families are extremely well-off (unlikely to be both 🤣).

DS has a little concert next week with his class at school - who have been learning violin for 1 term in a group of 30(!). He is playing a piece at the beginning - first time he will actually have played solo in public so no idea how he will cope with it but hoping he enjoys showing off!

Wow @Compsearch - good luck to him!

Total lottery indeed. We are neither musical or wealthy. But we do have what is called 'cultural capital' I think - and I am an inveterate researcher. Which is useful. Pity I never researched how much a bassoon cost though!

@Compsearch it’s so good that he gets these opportunities- lots of playing in front of people makes such a difference in terms of it being something that’s just normal rather than daunting! DD used to find it v stressful, then went through a phase of it being ok, but did play a solo at the Christmas concert for her Sat centre and was v nervous again. I think it was just because she hadn’t done a piano solo for about a year, so definitely good to keep doing them whenever offered too. Might have also been because in her case there were 100s of people in the audience as it was a massive concert so loads of families watching!

I agree with the information availability. When mine was younger we met someone who was a pro on his instrument through the young minority instrument play days. He was very generous with advice and told us about a lot of opportunities out there. Things like specialist schools, NCO etc
If he hadn’t gone to specialist school for 6th form the whole conservatoire process would have been completely baffling.

Thank you @northerngoldilocks - I agree it’s so important. His school music offering is quite poor - there was a specialist music teacher but she left 2 years ago and they haven’t replaced her, so music is now covered by one of the other members of staff who seems to have no qualifications in it whatsoever. Obviously we can support DS outside of school but it’s such a shame that none of his peers seem to be interested in it at all. My niece is at a private school and I think everyone in her class is learning an instrument in reception!

Hope your DD’s concert went well…if it’s any consolation my DH is a professional and still gets nervous before concerts, and weirdly unrelated to the prestige/importance of the gig! He’s been fine in the Musikverein and shitting himself in local music societies in the UK. I think having practice performing with nerves is probably the most valuable thing you can do.

It's such a closed shop.

Being a chorister in a cathedral is such an amazing opportunity for musical children, but so often only open to those who go to the associated school, or happen to know about it. DS's old cathedral school used to do 'outreach' at local schools, to gather new recruits, but since it closed down and the choristers now go to local big posh private school being a chorister is offered as more of an after-school club.

I'd never even heard of JDs until I came upon this thread, and only knew about music scholarships to public schools because DS was a chorister. And so the loop continues!

@Compsearchthink that’s fairly common for juniors. Sounds better than DDs junior school where they did have a music teacher but bizarrely she didn’t really have any music skills and just didn’t allow anyone who learnt outside school to do things (like the music lessons were some kind of weird pyramid scheme). The whole provision at state schools is so varied. We are lucky at senior that there is quite a lot going on but the standard is mainly ‘for fun’ rather than the impressive orchestras in independent schools. We’ve chosen to add on with extra curriculars to try to bridge some of the gap but it is significant

@Compsearch DDs went to a really musical primary, but no-one was allowed instrumental lessons until Year 3- and then in groups. Which everyone here thinks is really late - though it is when DD2 started. I also remember when DD2 took her instrument home to practise her TA remarking 'why are you taking that, you'll only have to bring it back next week'!

But it really was otherwise fab for music. Secondary a v different story. It's so patchy.

Meanwhile in my own little bit of musical news, I've finally decided it's time for unmusical mum to get back to it. Thanks to a very kind local brass band I have acquired a borrowed euphonium. Got it in November and have been doing weekly beginners brass sessions (no lessons). Reckon I have my Grade 3 pieces nearly down though my tone leaves a little to be desired.

Loving it! There really aren;t many instruments out there where you can be a beginner in your 40s but brass seems to be the exception.

@achangeofnameisasgoodasarest well done you! That’s brilliant. Love a euphonium. I’m still aiming to take up viola at some point so I can be in the middle of a string quartet - my retirement dream!

I started in year 3 in a group lesson (of 3) as well. Our local music service came in and selected kids (via a cassette tape aural written test) and then the ones who were selected got assigned an instrument (no choice whatsoever!) and had lessons for free for the rest of primary. We only had to pay for instrument rental which was £20 per year. My family was v poor and non-musical but I absolutely lucked out being v well suited to my instrument and absolutely loving it and it totally changed my life! Ah the 90s…

It meant though that the musical kids had 4 years of free lessons, as compared to DS’ whole class of 30 doing just 1 term of violin, and then I think next year he gets 1 term of cornet…I don’t understand the rationale at all. We have gone backwards in so many respects and it’s such a shame.

Primaries round here seem to get a term in year 3 or so of group violin, or trumpet. And that's it!

And the secondary I worked in had minimal provision. Couple of out-of-tune pianos...

I've always had a hankering to join a brass band. Maybe I should take up the flugelhorn.

I do play the bassoon, but can't find the right ensemble around here that isn't too good, too basic, or on the wrong night!

We've got a low music primary: recorder and glockenspiel taught by non specialists in whole class with no peri teachers. I'm aware of children learning piano and guitars out of school but mine is the only 'orchestral' child as far as I can tell.

Congrats on the euph @achangeofnameisasgoodasarest it's an excellent choice of instrument. I'd encourage any adult who fancies having a go to contact their local brass bands, many have learner groups of all ages and will often welcome music readers as percussionists into main bands as well.

Mine are the only string players in their primary and the only pianists of any note. Music seems to be timetabled and then pushed aside for other things. Whole class tuition on the clarinet for one term in year 4 and that is it. Lots of shouting about how musical they are as a school and really nothing to show for it.

Shouting about amazing music provision seems to be the norm in some primaries whereas the reality can differ. The kids secondary school doesn’t particularly shout about it and it’s so much better than the primary. There are so many kids who went to that junior school who have been really affected by being told they weren’t eligible for stuff because they didn’t learn at school too- funnily enough they didn’t apply the same rules to sports and DD was able to swim in galas for them! That said, all better than my schooldays where my year didn’t do anything other than recorder cos our teacher said ‘no, don’t want them going out all the time’ so that was it- no music lessons for that whole class at all! Guess it’s always been patchy!

@Compsearch her concert performance was good thanks couple of unusual slips I noticed but don’t think others would have but could tell she was so nervous. There is still lots she could work on to improve that particular piece but guess this is always the way so it’s time to move onto some new repertoire. Shes mainly playing piano versions of kpop demon hunters at the moment but technically is supposed to be working on some Schumann!

Does anyone please have any tips on where to cheaply buy a replacement tenor horn case? DS has broken the handle off!

I often see random cases on FB marketplace. Or would it be possible to get it repaired? A saddler might be able to. Or if you have one of those repair shop type/ recycling places they might have people with the right skills - stitching or riveting?

My brain hurts after a music lesson myself this morning. The teacher is fab but I do struggle with more than one thing at a time which isn't ideal for an instrument that definitely requires to think about bow speed, pressure, placement and fingers, intonation and rhythm! ( Double bass) I know pretty much all instruments require lots of things going on at same time, it must be good for you to focus like this ( at my age!)