It is good see that the BBC have put the finalists of young musician on the web so you can listen to their full recital ahead of televisation. It is good to see that a harp player has gone through to the last rounds, I liked her performance . So far Im liking the tuba and trombone player and oboeist she has great tone. i havent listened to keyboard or strings yet. Anyone else out there had a listen

I thought that the Oboist was very good, but I don't know compaired to the other oboists who entered.

Link, anyone??

Google is your friend

http://www.bbc.co.uk/youngmusician/

cheers, forgot about link

Excuse me for being biased but the flautist i reckon is the best
And he's only been playing 4 years! He's very musical - his version of Zoom Tube - WOW! wish i had the confidence to play a piece like that. Really good!

Is it just me or does anyone find the level of swaying about getting excessive these days?

I only watched the oboist (that being my instrument), and found her waving around all over the place intensely off-putting. It seems to be getting worse and worse over the last few years - or am I imagining it? Woodwind players seem to get the disease worse than strings or brass. (Unless I just notice them more.)

She *is* good (but what do you expect from someone who goes to the Purcell School?!), although her tone is a little odd to my ears.

There isnt one amongst them who doesnt go to a specialist music school or is studying music further. Yes I agree with the swaying think this topic was going off in another thread. I find it most distracting. I wasnt sure about the flute player although i too am usually biased. Maybe it was the choice of pieces.

The violinist has a lovely tone and a beautiful technique but she keeps playing out of tune! I know she's very young and I take my hat off to her for the good things about her playing but I was surprised to hear a violinist in this competition make so many mistakes with her intonation and fear she won't do very well if she repeats this at the next stage. If her violin was out of tune with itself she should have stopped and retuned, and if she was out of tune with the piano she could have adjusted her fingers to match the piano and avoided open strings - or taken a minute out to retune. I'm baffled.



Yes this does seem to be the case. Unfotunately nobody else has the time to do the amount of practice necessary to reach these levels, or can afford the high-level tuition for that matter.

...not completely true. Sam Law (piano) from Ballymena, Northern Ireland doesn't go to a specialist music school. His school - Ballymena Academy- is a state grammar school -(selection at 11 based on the 11+ (or what they call "transfer test" over here).

ahh I stand corrected.

I agree that almost all of them go to specialist music schools and stuff, and i don't think it's fair Obviously if they're the best, then they're the best, but it makes me feel as though there's no point in me entering any of these competitions as i stand no chance against people who've been at specialist music schools for years!
Is it the same way with auditioning for conservatoires? I'm wondering if there's any point - as i'm going to be up against these people!

Got to say, I wasnt especially impressed by the flautist, he had a good stage presence but performance was somewhat average for this standard of competition. Chant de linos was ok, he mastered most of the notes for such a difficult piece but it didn't make me think 'wow' in any way. Zoom tube was well executed performance wise, but he made up rhythms losing sense of where the beat is, and at the end he misses out a little chunk of the piece with the top F's, probably just a memory slip. Im not saying hes not good, but in the past alongside the likes of Paul Skinners performance of Zoom tube, it does not compare, nor does it compare to Adam Walker's performance of Chant de Linos. And then theres the unoriginality of the programme, playing exactly the same pieces as the 2004 woodwind finalists.





Not really, I know plenty of flautists who have got into conservatoires without having been to music school. Of course you will encounter very tough competition at RAM and RCM, its to be expected and only the very best really get in, with alot of international entrants.

His biog says:
Ballymena Academy.......".where he is studying for A Levels in French, German, Maths and Further Maths.

He began playing at the age of six and travels regularly to Dublin for lessons at the Royal Irish Academy of Music."

Which I guess isn't the same as going to a specialist music school full-time, seeing as it would be a 200 mile round trip from Ballymena to Dublin.

How can you listen to them

Found it!

I am not sure I like the flautist either

This is another stupid question, but when do they get the 20 down to 5?

..he'd do a fab recital for it wouldn't he?!

Does anybody agree with me about the violinist playing out of tune? There must have been a good reason for it - nerves, being out with the piano, a slipped string - because she couldn't have got that far if she always played so out of tune...

They should have a Young Musician of the Year for Ordinary Mortals as well, in my opinion. As least that would be slightly more meaningful.



I know Sags thinks otherwise, but I would suspect that the conservatoires - especially the 'Royals' - are biased towards the specialist music schools. Admittedly it was a long time ago now (almost 20 years) but when I went to a Guildhall audition, they didn't even *listen* to me. I walked in and they said 'well, obviously we're not going to give you a place...'. And that could only have been based on my paperwork - ie. I went to a bog-standard comp, etc etc. (I should have sued them or something, but I wasn't brave enough in those days!)

Coincidentally, I heard the oboist live yesterday, in a masterclass. I liked her tone more in real life. But she was by no means the best person there - she played a piece that was slightly beyond her, and didn't have it completely under control. But she *looked* good because of all the waving about. Hmmmm.

Well, a student of mine this year got as far as the last four at Guildhall. She was offered a reserve place which didn't materialise in the end. She is state-educated, and has her flute lessons at sixth form college with me. One of the candidates she was up against, on the other hand, jetted over to Berlin once a month for lessons with the principal flautist of the Berlin Phil.

I personally know 10 students who started at London music colleges last September who haven't been to specialist music schools or junior colleges - one pupil, my son and son's friends. And I do know of a few specialist music school kids who haven't been accepted, so if your playing is up to the required standard (which is high) you stand a good chance. Both my pupil and son said that they heard people practicing at the auditions who seemed to have a totally unrealistic picture of their own ability.

Good. I would hope that in the last 20 years things *would* have got better, what with all the government initiatives about widening participation. It would be pretty scandalous if it hadn't.

Perhaps hes already got it, just a thought I havent listened to violinist yet, I will later if I get time.

had alisten to violinist I wasnt sure about the tuning. I have also listened to delia percussion Her first piece I felt lacked any direction. Never sure about drums played with no music but I loved her second piece it was gorgeous and played well I thought. Will have to compare performances with other 3 now.

They did it already, in February. They're just keeping you in (false) suspense!
The guitar player won the string final, don't know about the rest.

Dont spoil the suprise LOL i wont have to watch then

I know the piano one but am sworn to secrecy!!!

I know the brass, but I'm not going to spoil it for those who like a bit of suspense.

I think this competition's a bit of a nonsense, really. If this lot are the 20 best under-19 musicians in the UK, I'll eat a pound of my own earwax.

But not everyone enters the competition, even if they play very well. Only those who enter can reach the last 20! A lot depends on what else people have in the pipeline in terms of A-levels etc; unless you are completely convinced that you are able to put in hours and hours of practice (which is probably much easier to achieve at a specialist music school), you wouldn't do a competition like this.

A friend of my son's is in the NYO for clarinet and is jolly good, but she's only 16 and in her AS year at a state school. In two years' time she might well enter, though, as she'll either be on a gap year or at a conservatoire by then, so will have lots more time to practise.

I found her painful in a couple of places. I don't have 'perfect pitch' (whatever that is) but I'm very hot on intonation in my own playing.

Yeah, I found it pretty painful too.

I just looked at the oboist's interview and she said if she gets to the final she will do the STRAUSS concerto. She is *extremely* brave!!! This is a work that daunts a lot of 'grown-up' oboists - not so much because the notes are hard (they're well within the grasp of someone who's done grade 8), but because it is completely exhausting - you barely stop blowing for 20 minutes.

If she can pull that off I would be *well* impressed.

Well its good a flute player has gone through but i personally preferred the oboe.

I thought the oboist was better but I think it's because I didn't get the flautists second piece - sounded very bizzare to me. It could just be that I'm a philistine though

Also, thought the flautist seemed like a much nicer person so although it isn't a personality competition I'm glad he won.

Well its good a flute player has gone through but i personally preferred the oboe.
[/quote]

I preferred the oboe too. Thought the exciting modern flute piece was great, but a little bit gimmicky. Wasn't too impressed by flautist reading the music for his other two pieces.

I think the flautist was fantastic, but i think the fact that he played such a different piece may have been what made him stand out, rather than his playing if you get what i mean :s He is GREAT though as was the oboist.
Wheee im so glad a flautist got through though Being a flautist myself haha. And although Zoom Tube may not have been so nice to listen to, he did play it really well and i think he pulled it off well. I played one of Ian Clarke's piece before SO bizarre yet very fun

And yay at Andrew Nicholson being on the panel! My friend met him and played his flute a few weeks back Jealous

Anke (clarinettist) is actually studying Law at Oxford and she says she's lucky to get a full hour of practice in each day.

Personally, I thought the oboist should have won. She was brave choosing the pieces she did and played them all with gusto and conviction. The Blues for DD was impressive - jazz oboe is immensely difficult to pull off! She'd also been through a family loss (with her mother having died just before the second round), but she'd held it together all the way to the final woodwind round.

The flautist was hmmm, well, he was ok. He picked difficult pieces but jazzy works on the flute still suit the instrument very well - being brave enough to do the same on the oboe is another thing. I was also disappointed he used a music stand, particularly so that was set up at a level somewhere around his knee-caps. (I'd have marked him down for that anyway). Yes, he'd only been playing for four years and he's done well to get as far as he has, but the oboist has also only been playing for five years and has also managed to cover an enormous amount of ground, on what is widely recognised as a very difficult instrument to play.

I've not got the time to sit and watch all the performances online - but it would appear there are a lot of others posting on here who have far too much time on their hands

I've never played the flute, but personally I didn't much like the actual tone quality from the flute, it sounded harsh to me, which is either a) his instrument isn't very good or b) its deliberate with the choice of repertoire.

I would have gone for the oboe too - similarly I've never played the oboe, but unlikely as it sounds my viola teacher was involved in setting up the Barbirolli international oboe festival (originally it was the Isle of Wight International Oboe Competition) and I got to go to one of them in '93/'94?

I would have gone for the Oboeist too!

looking forward to tonight's show as the judging panel seemed less than impressed in the short clip they showed at the end of last nights programme. Dominic Seldis (who lives near me in the Forest of Dean) was quite vocal about playing a piece with only 9 notes! Should be fun

Gutted that the brass semi is on tomorrow night as I have got a rehearsal . At least I can console myself that I was actually there. I did want to see the programme though as my daughter plays in the same section of the National Childrens Brass Band as Peter Moore and he is a really nice lad.

I'venot checked to see how many violinists are in the string final, but if there's only one, I think she commits the cardinal sin of stopping during the piece (memory lapse?) and discussing with her accompanist where to go from. Next you saw her in tears being escorted swiftly away backstage.

mmm, I would have liked to see either one of the clarinetist go to the final (probably the guy), but alas it is not to be...

Hopefully it's the cellist to go through tonight!

I've read these posts with great interest. It gladdens my heart to hear of non specialist music school kids get places in at Guildhall, RCM etc. My kid works so hard, has had a bad time finding the right teacher, has been told in the past she will never get anywhere unless she boards away at a specialist music school and practises for at least 3 hours a day.

She has found a great teacher after wasting a year with no teacher then having a teacher she did not get on with. So there is hope for her to reach her dream after all.

My old school usually manages about 4 or 5 people per year to Oxbridge (any subject), and seems to manage about 1 person per year to one of the London music colleges. I know someone at the moment in their last year at Guildhall (alto) and someone in their second year at Trinity (oboe), so yes it is possible without being in a specialist music school.

I like the guitarist and then the cellist.

I've just listened to recordings of the string players on the bbc site. I found that the program on BBC4 didn't include enough music for my liking. In the 30th anniversary program they said that 7 million people watched the first final live. Now they didn't seem to play more than about 1 minute of continuous music without talking over it.

If you want to know who wins the strings final, they played some of the winner's piece(s) at the end of afternoon on 3 today. (On listen again fast forwards to 3hrs 45mins).

early warning, i may sound a little harsh, here goes
why is everyone complaining that only people from specialist music schools get into conservertoires? there are lots of people who get in without having gone to one? it's good that lots of young people have ambitions to go further with their musical training, but to be honest, the UK has some of the best conservertoires in the world, and you will not only be up against the people from specialist music schools, but those really genius of a musicians from continental europe. and to be fair, you have to appreciate what people from special music schools go through, they are stuck there, a lot of them boarding, with minimal academia, and around 4hrs basic practice everyday. they are also coached by some of the most inspirational coaches - if you ask me, they deserve that place, and people who don't go to special music schools, if you ever want a chance to study at london conservertoires, take my word for it, they are a hot house, you will be playing 8hrs day min, if you don't have the basic intensive atmosphere of a practicing day, you will not get very far even if you do get in. so, practice as if you DO go to a specialist school, and keep in mind the kind of competition you are up against - UK conservertoires wouldn't be where they are today if they didn't specially hand pick every single ugrad. good luck

oh, and the results for the cat finals were in AGES ago. they just haven't published them yet.. or have they now? i know the pianist final 5 personally, i had a class with him last year - enough of giving it away

Have just listened to the first few mins of each of the string finalists' performances. One of them I kept listening right to the end... guitar!

Guitarist it is.

2/2 fails so far. I predict tomorrow to be...mmm, much as I want to say the horn, let's try the tuba player.

Random question but I'm catching up on tonights episode as I didn't get home to 9:20pm. Anyhoo, they are all talking about specialist music schools and having practice time built into the day.

Do the students still do things like maths, english, sciences etc? Just curious as I know that some of these are compulsory in normal state schools - are they still compulsory in specialist musical schools?

Sorry for the randomness but having got into music at 24 (and lacking the fundamental thing of talent!) I don't know how this works and I'm just curious.

Well, Delia Stevens goes to my school... which certainly isn't a specialist music college! She's also 16, and in the thick of GCSEs - lovely.

It says on the website that "she was inspired to begin playing by the school orchestra" - surely she can't mean our school orchestra?!

make that 3/3!

I have 2 our of 2 so far.