Junior Guildhall environment and workload

[BillyGal]

My 16 year old DD just got into junior guildhall for the violin. She's really passionate about it but I'm a bit worried about her workload as she will be starting a the same time as she starts her a levels.

She also told me that one of the members of the audition panel was quite rude. He made a comment about her not practising enough when she said she practiced roughly 30 minutes on weekdays but a lot on the weekends and almost laughed when she said she might want to be a soloist saying she needed to be practicing 4 hours a day for that (which I don't think is realistic at all).

Does anyone know what the schedule/environment there is like?
And could it be better for her to go somewhere less intense like Junior Trinity Laban?

commenting about not practising enough isn't being rude; it's simply stating a fact. DC has practised the violin for an hour a day (plus half an hour on the piano) since very young, even throughout the A levels.

The amount of practice needed varies but an hour minimum was the general goal from grade 5 onwards. DD’s friend who is playing now as a professional violinist was practicing 3-4 hours a day by 16 (she was at the royal academy junior branch and also travelled nearly 2 hours each way on Saturdays for orchestra practice and her lesson) you basically have to give over your teens and early 20’s to be a soloist. My dd never practiced much, still passed grade 8 by the skin of her teeth and is a good amateur player, currently playing for the country she lives in top amateur orchestra but not being paid of course! Congratulations to your dd but yes the panel member was being honest, she will need to give up other things to fit in more practice

Congratulations on the place! It's a shame the panel member was rude in the way they put their point across but he maybe thought he was trying to give some perspective. You get out what you put in so she may find the environment there inspires her to do more. It would be a challenge to keep up with pieces, scales, studies, ensemble pieces, audition excerpts etc on 30 mins a day but she may be very efficient. In my experience, most of my children's friends who are good musicians are very organised with school work and practice and got really good grades as well, so fitting music and exams in was fine. There's lots of support on the music thread from parents with musical children both older and younger than yours, do join if you want.

Alternative perspective:

my dc is a jazz drummer.

he did not do 4 hours practice a day when in his teens because quite apart from anything else the neighbours would have gone bonkers.

he has a music degree, has spent a couple of years teaching and gigging and is now doing a masters in jazz at guildhall.

Congratulations on getting into Guildhall on 30 minutes a day!
He was not being rude, just stated the facts (well no, soloists have to practise more than 4 hours a day tbf).
He can come across as slightly eccentric but he's not rude at all and actually one of the most inspiring teachers. Guildhall strings are not as intense as say RCM, I'd say go for it but do a tester with teachers as it's the most important thing.

Violinists and pianists live in a separate universe, other musicians' experience is irrelevant to them.

Thanks for the advice!

Although she doesn't do much on weekdays she does a lot (and I mean almost the whole afternoons) during the weekends. I think she was slightly put off by the way he said it but she is quite a sensitive person. Anyway, she seems very set on going so we'll see how it goes. 😁

My son's a violinist and to be honest almost all the big name soloists today were debuting with orchestras by the time they were teenagers (at the latest). Many were at specialist music schools and a surprising number were home educated so the 4 hours a day is not that mad. So many kids move cities/countries at a young age because they (and their parents) think they can be soloists. I was just looking at the BBC proms list and one of the young violinists making her debut is Sueye Park and she moved from Korea to Berlin aged 9 to learn with a teacher!
(And to be honest I hadn't even heard of her before I saw her name on the Proms schedule). You can look up the last 5 years of string finalists on BBC Young Musician for instance and look at where they were studying and what they were doing. So I think the teacher was being realistic about what it takes to be a soloist.

Mine does 2 hours after school on most days (plus homework so he has zero down time but that's his choice). And then 4-5 hours on weekends and 5-6 hours in the school holidays. He's at a conservatoire on the weekends, and plays in a couple of big orchestras so sometimes he has a prodigious amount of rep to get through. I think he realises he's not going to be a full time soloist but he loves orchestral and chamber music and it's his happy place to be playing with friends.

Junior conservatoire was very good for my son because it showed him what he could aspire towards. Otherwise he was for a long time a big fish in a small pond. Very much the best musician in his school all the way through primary, everyone always saying how well he played. And of course the prodigies on YouTube seem like they are on another planet. Then he went to junior conservatoire and realised that there were kids like him, who went to similar schools who were just amazing and it gave him something to admire and aspire towards.

My DD when to JG and loved it - she'd come home after a punishing schedule literally fizzing and asking why she couldn't go there 5 days a week and to school just the once.... SHe actually left to go to specialist at 16 but that was because her day school was so difficult about her music. At the time she applied she was doing about 45-60 minutes on piano and half that on cello. I suspect she was auditioned by the same person as a similar comment was made but then she was the only pianist he'd allow to play in string chamber.

Lots of the older teens can be found in the odd corner with their nose in some homework when they need to but it is also good for them to share their passion with others who feel the same.

You can also have a brilliant time at a JD even if you don't want to be a world class soloist. Mine loves the chance to have new music friends, take part in ensembles, have fab lessons and play alongside some great players. Playing alongside those who are in NYO, BBC young musician etc is really inspiring.

Depends on what sort of soloist she would like to be. You'd know if she was going to be a world-class soloist already and she would have already be doing more than 4 hours a day for a number of years. But it's possible in the future if she is inspired to practise a lot of hours going forward that she would get some solo opportunities with local community orchestras. It sounds like the panel member was direct, however the music world is very competitive and they were honest about what is required.