Any help from Cambridge instrumental award holders

I'm thinking of applying for an instrumental award but one thing on the website slightly concerns me. It says that holders are required to spend at least 6 hours a week doing rehearsals! Does anyone know if that is rigid quantity and if you hold an instrumental award how many hours do you have to put into it?

Cheers

Reply 1

groovy_moose

Although i don't know any instrumental award holders (to the best of my knowledge), i wouldn't have thought that 6 hours a week would sound like much to the kind of person they were looking for for it. I mean, i did rather more than 6 hours per week at school... never mind if i had happened to get involved in music at uni (which i didn't, but nonetheless...)

Reply 2

Nonsmoking

I know a guy who is a choral scholar - from what I hear he spends at least 6 hours a week in rehearsals, if not significantly more. He says it's really quite a big time commitment, and eats into his other musical interests (composing and playing piano). If the instrument is something you'll be required to perform or tour with regularly then you won't be able to get out of regular rehearsals, so don't apply for it unless you're pretty damn keen!

Reply 3

sugarplumc

I have an instrumental award. Nobody keeps a record of how much time you spend in rehearsal, and although there are weeks leading up to a concert or a coaching session when we do 6 hours, most of the time groups only do 2/3 hours per week. You are assessed as a group on the concerts you do, not the hours spent in rehearsal. It is a very good scheme and I would recommend it. One thing to keep in mind is that if you are good enough for an award (and they can be very competitive depending on the instrument), you are likely to be involved in a lot of other music-making. I may only spend 2 hours a week with my IAS group, but probably about 30 hours a week doing music in some form (and I'm not studying music).