Music colleges

[drummermumma]

I wonder if anyone can give me some advice. Dd is about to enter year 10. She wants to go to some kind of specialist music college after her GCSEs and although I've taken to Google I'm a bit confused about what options are open to her at 16. She's a very talented grade 8 drummer who's been lucky enough to be in a few renowned productions. She's not massively academic otherwise although does work very hard (I would expect her to get a low pass in Maths and English at GCSE). Any thoughts on good music colleges that would give her the best education and chance in the industry? I would be happy for her to live away from home if necessary.

My son is off to Leeds Conservatoire in a few weeks and his friend who is a drummer is applying to music college next year so I’ve been researching places but mostly post 18. There are some 16 plus places but several are fee paying or lower ranked colleges. Ds has also done some pit shadowing (one was arranged by a drummer) and has played with NYMT. He and his friend simply did a Btec at our local FE college but Ds had regular lessons with a good 1:1 teacher.

A few questions

is your Dd a kiit drummer only or does she also play tuned percussion?
is she interested in pop, musical theatre or orchestral or all/any?
Does she read (and if so standard or drum notation)
what is her level of music theory?

if any if the above are lacking is she willing to learn?

@Comefromaway thank you. She's a kit drummer not really interested in anything other than pop or musical. She sight reads drum notation very well and can read standard notation quite well, but generally doesn't have to as only other instrument is guitar (and voice). She's been in a BYMT and an NYMT production as pit drummer. Loves it. But wants to be a band drummer or session drummer ideally. Music theory knowledge only through drum grades, school and what I have taught her. Is it worth her taking some theory exams?

If she had her way she'd be a singer/songwriter but she knows her drums are her strength so accepts that's what will get her a place at college.

She should absolutely keep up with those as well. Some places you can do voice as a 2nd instrument.

Yes, it’s worth her getting to grade 5 level as that will give her many more options at 18 (ds’s friend is taking a year out partly due to that).

to be honest (and my dd went away to MT college at 16) I’d keep her at home if possible. Depending where you are several of the music colleges offer junior departments.

For pop places to look at age 18 would be Royal Northern, Leeds Conservatoire, LIPA, Trinity, Huddersfield, Salford. Not Birmingham as they only offer Kit alongside a general orchestral percussion course (we know a drummer who trained there who works in MT though). All of the above places require theory knowledge of approx Grade 5 level (LIPA insist on the exam).

The likes of BIMM, ACM etc won’t require theory but she sounds too good for those places to be honest.

At 16 there are places such as Purcell School, Tring Park & Hammond who offer popular or commercial music courses if she really wants to go away but it’s nowhere as near as common to go away at 16 in pop as it is in classical.

Another place we were quite impressed with was LCCM. Seemed to be a bit higher standards than BIMM.

Are you able to say roughly where in the country you are?

Buckinghamshire!

Not an area I know that well but I guess depending on exactly where you are commuting to a Junior Dept in London might be possible.

At 16+ in London area Brit School, ELAM and ACM all do level three music performance qualification worth the equivalent of three a-levels. All have application process with auditions etc. All look good but slightly different emphasis in each. Highly competitive to get in but sounds like your DD would be very well placed. Brit take a small number of out of catchment applications with about 10% boarding with local families at 6th form level. Hopefully one of those might be good for your DD.

Ok just seen your location so my reply may not be that useful but ACM or Brit out of catchment might be possible.

LIPA 6th form college are 16-18 and have a music strand. They've had successful bands come out in recent years. They have student accommodation available for anyone not local to Liverpool.

I didn’t think they had accommodation for 16 year olds? It’s commutable from where I live though.

@Comefromaway my DD had a few friends from around the country who went to LIPA 6th form and lived in student accommodation. It isn't specifically for the 6th students and they are mixed in with normal Uni students in the flats. I think it's a huge leap of faith as a parent to send their 16 year old to live away from home at that age but they all seemed to survive!

Thank you all some good food for thought here. Sorry for not replying sooner, youngest has been poorly this week 😩

We are going down the A level route with our drummer who has done grade 8. 2 traditional academic a levels plus music tech A level. She’s keen to do session and band drumming but also keen on the production side so looking at music tech degrees at RG unis in the hope that this means if she decides not to go into music professionally she can keep her options open. Not desperately keen for her to do the conservatoire route if I am honest as feel it’s a bit too pigeon holey as she’s reasonably academic too.

Yes I get that re the conservatoires. My main concern is that she's much more likely to have a career in music if she goes down the band/session/pit route than if she follows her singer/songwriter dream and I don't want her burning bridges at too young an age. But I don't want to burst her bubble or squash her dreams. So hard to know what to do and how to support.