Hai.
I was wondering has anyone here applied to RAM for composition?
How do you book an open day for RAM or do you simply just "turn up"?

I was thinking of applying to RAM for composition, and is it possible [around late Aug?] if someone here could look at my composition and say what they think of it as well?

Also I'm not too sure whereas to go to. I was thinking RAM.. then Cardiff, Sheffield, Bath Spa, Oxford Brooks, and Plymouth, so I'm not too sure what other music colleges to apply too . Can any of you help me? I kind of in two mind travelling up North to be honnest, I'm nott too sure abour RNCM too.. :/ and I don't think the RWCMD does Composition too :/

Why don't you order a prospectus for the unis, there is usually something in there telling you about the open days. Also RWCMD does do composition.

Have fun chosing where to go.

I'm a little confused about your choices of institution - the RAM is one of the very best places in the country to study music, if you think you stand a reasonable chance of getting in why are you looking at Plymouth, Bath Spa and Ox. Brookes? All fairly far down the league tables - unless you have a specific person you want to study with at these institutions I would consider aiming higher. Cardiff and Sheffield are respectable unis, but not in the same league as the RAM. Have you considered Manchester, York, Nottingham or Kings? Even Oxbridge but personally I don't rate their music courses (or the RNCM for that matter).

Other music colleges worth trying if you're going for RAM could be the RCM - I don't think Trinity offer undergrad composition.

I'm sure people here will assess your pieces if you like but you'd be far better going to a local music theory/composition tutor or get a nearby lecturer (freind of a friend perhaps?) to look at them as they will have much more of an idea of what to look for in an audition piece.

As for open days they hold official open days for applicants, but if you email them I'm sure they will be happy to show you around unofficially.

Hello. Basically it's my grades i'm getting roughly around BBB/BBC hopefully so that's why I'm not aiming high however I didn't realize about rwcmd but my computer doesn't work very well so if it starts working again soon I'll look it up in more detail. I'm not sure about applying to rncm because it's too far from home
And would like to ideally come home with every weekend or fortnightly.

In that case I would apply for colleges rather than unis, if you're a good composer your grades shouldn't matter that much - music colleges often give unconditional offers, and if you have no choice but to go to a less good uni the quality of tutoring could be substantially lower, also the contacts and opportunities that music college, especially the london ones, give you are invaluable.

Thanks for the advice, I'll talk to my music teacher when I go back in Sept about applying to music colleges. I am aiming mainly at London for the music colleges, however universities outside of London though. I may apply to uni and music colleges to boost my chances to be honnest then just applying to Music colleges.

Don't rule out Cardiff for a music degree with those grades, my offer was the lower of the two for music. I agree with Des, colleges are more likely to give you an unconditional if your really good at composition.

Trinity do actually, and they also offer scholarships to BMus composers in some cases.

So the colleges you should look at: RAM, RCM, Trinity, Guildhall, Birmingham, RWCMD. They all seem to be local enough. I think you should try and get away from the whole going home at weekends thing though. No-one else will, and you will miss out on really important parts of music college life if you're not around. It will also get very expensive with all the traveling, and take away time you could be spending working, practicing, or socialising. It's really not the done thing, unless you have exceptional medical issues or something like that.

Definitely apply to unis and colleges, you have absolutely nothing to lose by applying through UCAS as well since it's not a pricey system (unlike CUKAS) and doubles your chances of getting an offer. But before applying to college, you should certainly look very closely at their requirements and expectations. It's impossible to say without hearing your stuff but with grade 5 theory in your sig, you might find the standard suprisingly high. Colleges will expect you to be working above A level standard in theory, harmony and analysis for a composition degree, and to have a very good knowledge of repertoire of all eras. You should bear in mind that composition is one of very few music college disciplines that you can do just as well at university - it's not so important to have a music college environment because it's such an individual discipline compared to studying an orchestral instrument (where you really need to be playing in orchestras, chamber groups, studio classes etc regularly which not many unis can offer). Many composers opt to go to a top music uni, take lessons there since a lot of unis (KCL, Bham, Oxbridge) have professors who are well-known composers or specialists, and then study postgrad at music college.