Following on from the post about lottery wins and dream jobs I expect that, given a chance, many Forumites would love to own their own music schools. What sort of place would it be and what would your students study? Do tell.

One of my friends teases me that I run the RAM (the Reigate Academy of Music).

I think I would name my music school after... em... Stravinsky, maybe? Or Shostakovich...? 'The Shostakovich School of Music'... sounds good As for what they would study, just the same as your average conservatoire

I would want music clubs for babies and toddlers, a junior early music ensemble, lots of choirs and singing groups, my own theatre for doing opera workshops and performances, Cyrilla to run the Kodaly classes, some fantastic instruments to loan to deserving students of all ages, classes in conducting skills, lots of performance opportunities for all and the very best and most enthusiastic and inspiring teachers that money could buy. There would not be a great deal of importance placed upon exams and most certainly not the grade a year idea. Exams would be used to gauge progress at the end of a course of study for those who wanted to take them and would be chosen from the three main boards. I don't think that we would hold our own Petrat Music School Grade and dips. There would be a cafe too for parents to wait and have a chat while their children were having lessons and a gym and swimming pool for everyone. I must buy a lottery ticket today!

Sign me up Ratty

*sorry, I've had to edit parts out of this post - if it is a problem for anyone, you can PM me*

I have an idea for a music academy in my home country.

It would mainly be a piano school, that being my area, but after it was established, I wouldn't want to exclude other instruments!

The building would be in a circle, with a central circular area (not covered) for breaks and playing for the younger kids, and we could stage performances there in the round with a grand piano in the centre.

Also, if anyone has seen this amazing toy that has cropped up in a couple of parks - its 9 brass or copper squares fitted into the tarmac of the ground, and underneath I think there must be bells and springs because when children jump on it, each individual metal square makes a chime on a different note! It's so clever and so much fun for kids. Well I'd have a giant one of those somewhere in the play area of the school so playtime can be musical too!

*****

I really have a whole plan - it's my dream ... just need the money to fund it!

If it was a lottery win I would love to set up and run a music school but I wouldn't do any teaching myself (I hated teaching ) *covers eyes to hide from all the withering stares * But I would love to provide it if I had the money.

I would design and build a place with many rooms, each with a high quality piano and any other requirements decided by the teachers... and a concert room for termly concerts. Then I would employ very good teachers on a very good salary, then bring in as many professional players as possible to give workshops and lessons. There would be an orchestra for all members of the community, instrument loan schemes and bursaries decided by small competitions. There would be scholarship schemes for players who achieve entry to the Conservatoires.

At one end of the building would be my working studio and gallery (of course ), a luthier's workshop with resident craftsperson, a small cafe with excellent capuccino machine, a computer room with all the music software people would want, a 'sofa room', and separate practice rooms , .

And all of this would be set in a park with trees, a duckpond, and some cuddly rare-breed sheep. The building would be built from recylable timber, insulated with straw, heated by solar panels and the toilets would flush with rainwater.

oh, oh, oh there would also be a helicopter pad to bring in the students who didn't live locally so that nobody missed out...




I remember one of those in a park nearly thirty years ago. It frequently broke down and made a hideous noise but it was great fun!

O yes, I forgot about the green side of it. Thanks Lottie. Mine would have a solar panelled roof and a wind generator, a bore hole for water and recycling bins in the car park. It would have a small row of workshops on site too where instrument makers and menders could work and a drop in centre for jamming sessions as well as a recording studio. Better buy two lottery tickets!

But a very valid point. When we've discussed this recently, the main argument in favour of the other "boards" seems to be that they're a way for candidates who wouldn't be able to pass an exam from one of the main boards to obtain a piece of paper.

I read it as music stool. I was thinking, well, if you won the lottery, you could probably get thousands of the things!

David, don't take things personally. I certainly have much better things to do than to make remarks about most of your posts. If you choose to enter your pupils for exams with other "boards" then, at the end of the day, that is a decision between you and them.

I do think that there is no real reason why a candidate should not want to sit graded exams from any of the three main boards, and exams which are well-regarded too, if they're able to pass them.

Although I think you could end up with one VERY COOL stool.