13+ music scholarships

[howtodrainyourflagon]

Out of curiosity as it's quite a way off for us: what sort of standard is required at the most competitive schools and is there a bias towards specific instruments? Are they always looking for orchestral instruments or do saxophone, piano, recorder and guitar work too? How fierce is competition? And how much is voice a factor too?

Usually they expect more than one instrument, with one grade 5 ish although this can vary from one to another. Unusual orchestral instruments may be more sought after. Yes they do tend to be competitive and you would find the same kids auditioning for several schools.

Competition is fierce.

Serious performance standard on one or more instruments, plus at least adequate voice.

Cash value of the award might be peanuts (though may well pay for high quality tuition on one or more instruments, which is a huge saving).

Holders are usually expected to continue to excel in their main instruments, be in school orchestras and ensembles, volunteer to accompany dramas etc etc. it's a very serious commitment, but very rewarding for those who have a true passion.

Ds's school is not especially selective academically but is considered a very strong music school (cathedral chorister school). At 11+, to be considered for a music scholarship, students are expected to be at least grade 5 1st instrument, grade 4 second instrument and grade 2-4 theory. Voice would count.

I would expect 13+ scholarships to be looking for at least that standard and probably a bit higher. It should say on the individual school's website.

My DS is currently auditioning for a 13+ music exhibition, which would pay for his music tuition.

We have not applied for a scholarship because:

-he only has one instrument (Grade 7) and a currently breaking voice

-he would have had to take a theory test and after ploughing through grade 5 theory 2 years ago, neither of us could face revising it

-the music department seemed to be looking for boys who would function as junior members of staff - composing music for ensembles, conducting choirs, starting new groups etc. Perfect for the right candidate, but not DS

• the music department admitted that the scholars spend most of their spare time in the department, while DS will also want to do a good deal of sport

Hope this helps!

That is helpful, particularly kingscote. Lots of the websites say g5 minimum which puzzled me as mn seems to be full of 10 year olds who have g8 violin or piano. I hadn't realised the workload on music scholars but I think ds might be ok with that: too early to tell really. Whataabout non orchestral instruments does that matter?

At 13+ the level will be higher than gr5 which is minimum required at 11+. I would say gr7 will not be unusual with the occasional gr8 auditioning. Two instruments will be the norm unless you really play one instrument incredibly well and have a good voice for example.

I think they would want one orchestral/ensemble instrument in addition to piano, whether it was oboe for the orchestra or saxophone for the swing band.

Some schools love an organist!

In terms of commitment, yes, it's huge. It gets in the way of many other activities be it sport, drama or science club. But nobody is whipping DS into participation, he does it because he really wants to, enjoys it, and feels it is fitting with his "scholar" duties. At every point he could say "no thanks" to one or two things without it being an issue at all.

DS applied for music scholarship with grade 5 piano and grade 4 voice at very academic school at 11+ and wasn't even offered an audition. Now in that school, I realise how naive I was even to consider applying when I see the quality of the music played in concerts.

i only know about entray at 11+ (not 13+) but guess it is similar although higher grades probably required for 13+ (11+ was two instruments, gr5 or above or 1st intru', gr4 or higher for second). from what i have learnt ideally one of the two instruments should be something unusual as LOADS of the kids play piano and violin (dd plays these...). what helped her was that she asked to play the piano and sing with it in the audition (she has a v gd voice). as it turned out the director of music loved this so if you dc can add something that the other applicants won't be doing that could really help. with regards to being a music scholar, yes, she is required to do loads of stuff ie help other kids, be in the choral chamber choirs etc however she loves this so this isn't a problem for her. she does have to catch up with class work as her weekly lessons tend to overlap classes but she hasn't found this (yet..) to be a problem. best of luck

It will depend on the school. What instruments are they short on?

DS got his 13+ music school on tuesday.
He is playing grade 7 pieces on trombone, and a grade 4 piece on piano, and singing a song which I am guessing is grade 2 or 3 standard. I've never heard the song as he refuses to sing in front of us!!!
I know they like to see lots of participation in groups/orchestras too.
I guess how competative they are depends on what the scholarship is worth.
Good luck!

ds HAS got his 13+ scholarship on tuesday

Oh, yes, whilst that was the minimum specified to apply, it was clear later that the best musicians were more like grade 7 in year 7 .

Hmm 13+?

Round here they are 11+ schools and DH kids that apply from his prep are at least grade5. Quite a few are successful.

I would guess that at age 13 they are looking at grade 7-8 tbh especially if highly competitive schools. Going by the kids mine were at school with ( grammar) it's not that rare for able kids certainly a couple in each year group- and these were the kids who didn't apply for scholarships but chose the grammars instead.

Unusual instruments no doubt give you and edge. Piano and violin is incredibly common, almost formulaic - if you have a child in such a situation I'd wonder if a swap to viola wouldn't give so much more opportunity all round. Able violinists fight hard for out county orchestras etc almost as much as clarinettists ( poor dd2!) .

Good luck mini 1805,

Good luck mini 1805. Ds has neither violin or piano so there's one good thing. He's g5 at the moment with 4 years to go so it's an avenue I'll look into, provided he continues to enjoy it and make progress.

Others at ds's school are applying to a different senior school, are gd 6 cello +gd 4 piano, and gd 6 flute + gd 3 piano

As you can imagine the standard required for a scholarship at Eton, Winchester or Harrow is higher with a number of candidates applying who are very musical and also achieved technical ability post 8 / post first diploma in at least one of their instruments. The British candidates include those who are also choristers. Exhibitions usually grade 7 / 8 standard in first instrument plus grade 5/6ish in second. Not surprisingly choristers usually tend to play the more uncommon instruments perhaps selected by their music teachers with scholarships in mind.

The DCs need to really love music but the plus is the fantastic musical experience and teaching they gain and fellow musicians of very high standard without attending a specialist school or junior conservatoire.

Depends on the school. At DS's academic but not hugely musical school, one child was awarded a 13+ music scholarship with grade 4 on a minority instrument.