My daughter wants to apply for a music scholarship for which she will have to play two contrasting pieces on her first instrument and one on her second.

A lot of the higher grade trombone "pieces" are in fact two movements of a sonata. Obviously this means that for an exam the two movements are seen as "one piece" but would this be the same for a music scholarship?

Another question concerns a Cello sonata. Her teacher suggested she play just half of a movement because the whole movement takes 7-8 minutes to play. She said that in an audition they wouldn't want a piece that long and that their wasn't much point since the second half repeats the same techniques in a different key. I wondered whether English music teachers would find it acceptable for someone to turn up and say "I'm going to play the first half of X".

With the sonata, I'd definitely recommend having the whole thing prepared, otherwise it gives the impression of not being fully prepared.

With the trombone pieces, there's no need to stick to the ABRSM's decisions, and choosing the movement which she plays best is my recommendation.

Also, I'd ask the school. They're generally helpful and not out to trip anyone up

If she decided that the trombone is her second instrument on which she needs only one piece, would they let her play both movements or not? If not, she might be better off playing one of her modern pieces which contain a variety of styles within the same piece. (A lot of French pieces are a bit like mini-sonatas so in a piece which lasts around 3 minutes you have three or four different "movements", including a slow lyrical one and a fast "bouncy" one.

And finally (but maybe I ought to start a different thread for this) how should we decide which is the first instrument and which the second? She is at a roughly similar level on both (if we look purely at the French exams she has taken).

I think she is probably slightly better at the cello (but this might just be because I like the cello better than the trombone as an instrument and she has a nice vibrato on the cello) but she is a better sight-reader on the trombone because she plays in lots of wind-bands and other groups on the trombone. Also when we visited the school that she wants to go to, they seemed more interested in the trombone than the cello as it was something missing in their orchestra.

Do you the timescale of the audition? I think that will give you a big clue as to what you can play.

Daughter has played two movements of a sonata as one piece for auditions and festivals and played a contrasting piece. The sonatas were baroque the two movements fitted into the timescale along with the other piece. She played the slow movement followed by the faster one if that's any help once you have decided.

Best of luck to your daughter

If she auditions on one as a first instrument, would she then be expected / obliged to stick with that as a first-study instrument, or would it be acceptable to change at some later stage? Which instrument does she prefer? Is there a sight-reading element in the audition? Any or all of these might affect which she chooses as her first-study instrument. But it would seem that her chances might be slightly better if she went for trombone.

Your case may differ from ours, but we requested the school to consider both the instruments as equal priority and 2 pieces each on both instruments (total of 20 minutes). They agreed to this without any problem but insisted to play / sing from memory.

She's not auditioning for a music school, just a music scholarship in a school with an active music department. As far as I'm aware it is only for the audition that they ask the children to have a first and second instrument. Lessons would be the same length for both instruments.

When we met the head of music she asked my daughter what she played and when my daughter said "cello and trombone" got quite excited about the trombone and only as an afterthought asked her which was her first instrument.

I agree. Check with the school how long the pieces should be. You might find the info on their website. They will schedule auditions quite tightly, I imagine, so won't thank you if your daughter plays for longer than they ask for and throw all their timings out!

My girls' school specifies around 3 mins for each piece for 11+ auditions and 4-5 mins at 16+ but I have no idea how typical that is.

In your position I'd probably go for trombone as first instrument if her sight-reading is better on that. Once she's in the school, I wouldn't have thought it would make much difference in practice. If she's a similar standard on both instruments, I imagine they'll ask her to play whichever they need most. That might change as she moves up the school. I imagine they will have more than one orchestra/group, so she would probably end up playing cello in a sting orchestra, trombone is a brass/wind/jazz band and whatever they most needed in a full orchestra.

Good luck!