Frequently asked questions
Who can apply?
What is the best age to come?
How many places are there each year?
What instruments can I study?
Do I have to be able to play 2 instruments already?
How good do I have to be?
What’s an advisory audition?
What happens at the auditions?
Is academic ability taken into account?
What happens if I’m not successful?
Can I apply again?
What happens if I am successful?
Do I have to move to Plockton?
Can I go home at weekends?
Do I have to go to Plockton High School as well as the Music School?
What’s the Music School curriculum like?
Who will be teaching me?
What about my present music commitments?
What will all this cost?
When do I apply?
What do I do now?
The National Centre of Excellence in Traditional Music (NCETM) is open to secondary school age students resident in Scotland, who play or sing traditional music to a high standard, or show genuine potential to do so. If that applies to you, and you want to put some time and effort into improving your playing or singing in an intensive environment, you can apply. We aim to provide the highest possible quality of tuition and an all-round, in-depth experience of all aspects of Scottish traditional music.
In theory you can come to the music school at the start of any academic year. We have, however, found that some entry points are better – or more popular – than others.
Because this is a residential project, and very often people are coming a long way from home, we tend to get more applications from the higher end, i.e. S5 and S6, because that’s when people feel they are ready to move. It is not impossible for students to come into S1, but unusual. Most students – unless they would be going to a Residence anyway – feel that they are not ready to leave home at this point. We have only ever had two people start in S1, and neither of them has finished their schooling here.
Entry to do S6 alone is common, and welcome, but so far every single person (and there have been many) who has done that has wished they had come a year earlier to allow them time to settle in to the lifestyle.
Our preferred entry points are S3 and S5. Entry into S3 is a clean break academically, as people would be choosing their subjects anyway, and many people feel ready to cope with the big move. S5 is also an academic break point, and it has the further advantage of giving you two years here instead of one.
Entry into S4 is not normally accepted as people are halfway through Standard Grade courses which may be handled differently at Plockton than at the youngster’s present school. A change of school at this stage would lead to considerable disruption of a pupil’s studies.
If you are currently at a school that has a different pattern of SQA examinations – eg if you are doing National Courses (Intermediate 1 / 2) in S3 and or S4 – please feel free to contact the Director to discuss your particular situation.
How many places are there each year?
The number of places available varies from year to year depending on how many students are leaving. The Centre is funded for 23 residential students and we can take up to this number, plus a small number of non-residential students, depending on the number of applicants of the appropriate standard. Most years we audition roughly twice the number of applicants as there are places available.
The disciplines offered at the National Centre of Excellence in Traditional Music are accordion (piano key), Highland bagpipe, clarsach, fiddle, piano, guitar, flute/whistle, Gaelic Song and Scots Song.
If you play an instrument which is outside the range of disciplines presently offered as formal study, you will have the opportunity to use that instrument in group-work, although you won’t get regular lessons on it. Current and former students have used drums, percussion, double bass, bouzouki, mandolin, clarinet and saxophone in this way.
Do I have to be able to play 2 instruments already?
No. You have to study two instruments while you are here, so that you will gain a breadth of musical experience, but essentially it’s your ability on your first study instrument that gets you in. You can start your second study instrument from scratch, and it can be changed from year to year (but not during an academic session).
This is a very difficult question to answer. It’s very difficult to describe, either in writing or verbally, the kind of standard we’re looking for. We look for a high standard of musicianship, but we will take your age into account, and we would look for a lot more from someone hoping to do just S6 than we would from someone entering at a younger age. The best thing to do is to come to the Centre for an Advisory Audition with the Director, either at the Open Weekend, or by private arrangement.
It’s important to realise that NCETM does not exist as a panacea for people who can’t get regular lessons at home. Our mission is to take the best young people and make them better, not to plug gaps in instrumental tuition in Scotland. We recruit our 20-odd students from the whole of Scotland, and the auditions are very competitive.
An Advisory Audition is a chance for you to visit NCETM, get a feel for the place, meet some of the people involved, and find out whether you have a reasonable chance of being accepted into the Centre. The Director will listen to you play, and give you some advice as to whether he considers it worth your while applying. If not, he can often offer some advice as to what you should work on to get to the required standard. Even after doing an advisory audition, you still have to go through the formal application and audition process.
What happens at the auditions?
The audition consists of approximately 15 minutes of playing, followed by a short interview with you, and finally an interview with you and your parent or guardian. You may play on one or more instruments, and you are encouraged to demonstrate as full a range of your abilities as possible at audition. It should be noted, however, that admission will mainly be decided on your performance on your 1st study instrument.
The audition panel will consist of the Director, an NCETM tutor in the relevant first study discipline, a senior member of Plockton High School staff, and a member of the NCETM management groups.
The section of the interview involving the parent or guardian is intended mainly for the parent to ask questions of the audition panel, although by the time most applicants get to this stage, they have done an advisory visit or attended an Open Weekend, and many of their questions have already been answered.
Is academic ability taken into account?
No. As already mentioned, there is a representative of the High School on the audition panel. This is not to investigate your academic ability, but to try to find out about your ATTITUDE – your ability to integrate into Plockton High School, to cope with the demands and pressures of combining mainstream and music school activities and to be able to make a positive contribution to school life.
What happens if I’m not successful?
We will inform you, both by telephone and formal letter, that you have not been successful in your application. If you wish, you can request feedback from the Director as to why your application was not successful.
Yes. We have had students who applied two or three times before securing a place. If you are thinking of reapplying, it may be useful to request some feedback and advice from the Director first. It is also possible, and indeed desirable, to have another advisory audition.
What happens if I am successful?
We will inform you by telephone and formal letter that you have been successful in your application, and will offer you a place at NCETM. You will need to accept this offer in writing.
You will then be required to attend an induction week – usually in mid-June – where you will get the opportunity to experience a little of the music school lifestyle. At the end of the week, you will have a short interview with the Director, and will be able to discuss your experiences through the induction week. If you have serious reservations about attending NCETM, you will be able to withdraw at this point.
Do I have to move to Plockton?
Unless you are a current student at Plockton High School, and live close enough to travel into school daily, you will have to be resident in the High School Pupil Residence. You should note that during the week the Residence is also occupied by those students of Plockton High School who live outwith daily travelling distance of the school. You will be bound by the rules of the Residence, which are available in the Residence handbook, a copy of which can be obtained from the Residence Manager.
The implications of the residential aspect of music school life should not be underestimated. The communal nature of residence life can be difficult to adjust to, and you and your parents are urged to give this matter the most serious consideration before submitting an application. Getting a feel for Residence life is one of the most important aspects of attendance at either the Open Weekend, or Advisory audition, and we strongly recommend to all applicants that they take the opportunity of attending one or the other.
If you have any questions on any aspect of Residence life, please call Mrs Shona McGuinness, Acting Residence Manager, on 01599 544249.
We do one residential Music Weekend per month which is a compulsory part of the curriculum. At other weekends, you are able to go home if you so wish, but the feasibility of this depends on how far away your home is, and there are two main issues to take into consideration.
Firstly, long journeys on a weekend are very tiring. We have found in the past that even though, with the best will in the world, people want to get home, leaving here on a Friday afternoon to get home late on a Friday, spend Saturday at home and then do it all again on Sunday to get back here in time for Monday morning can be very hard going, and you may find that you get back here more tired than you were when you left!
The second issue is that it can be difficult to organise public transport to make a long journey after school finishes on the Friday. The High School have been very flexible about this, and have in the past allowed people who have a long way to travel to leave early on a Friday and return late on a Monday, especially those in the lower school. However, the effect that this can have on your High School work has to be taken into consideration, especially in the upper school.
Experience suggests that a fair balance could be that you stay here on the music weekend and one other weekend per month, leaving two weekends per month to get home. This has the dual advantage of keeping you in touch with home, and also enabling you to become part of the team here. There are some students who are here pretty much every weekend, so there’s always somebody here, and almost always something going on. Another very common solution is that your parents and other family could visit you here. There are lots of good hotels and B&Bs in the area, plenty to do, and many worse places to spend a weekend!
Do I have to go to Plockton High School as well as the Music School?
Yes. You cannot attend the Music School without being a student at Plockton High School.
Plockton High School is a normal comprehensive state secondary school with a roll of about 350 pupils: The majority of students do not attend the music school. The students of NCETM are completely integrated into school life, and the Centre is widely regarded as an asset to the school. All our students are encouraged to take as full a part in the general life of the school as possible, although in the case of a clash of interests your music activities take precedence.
You should be aware that the life of a music school student is a very busy one. While it is often tempting to try to become involved in a wide range of activities, we would advise students to be realistic and not over-stretch themselves. Music school activities can often lead to a substantial amount of missed school, and the added workload created can be heavy. This is particularly important for those students in S5.
What’s the Music School curriculum like?
General information regarding the structure of the curriculum is available in the Prospectus. You should however note the following points:
Individual Instruction
All NCETM students study two disciplines, and receive one period per week of individual instruction in each of these disciplines. These two periods are classroom extraction periods, and every effort is made to minimise the disruption this inevitably causes. You will have to catch up on any work you have missed in your own time.
Groupwork
Groupwork is an integral part of the Centre’s activities. It is important that you realise the degree of commitment to other students that this involves, and are willing to treat Groupwork with the same level of importance as your individual study.
Practice
You are expected to do a minimum of one hour’s practice, split between your two studies, each night from Monday to Thursday. This is part of the Music School curriculum, but it cannot be overemphasised that this is a minimum amount. Most people who have reached a standard good enough to gain a place here already practise at least that amount anyway.
Performances
We attempt to spread performance opportunities as evenly as possible between students. The final decision as to who does any given performance rests with the Director and is dependent on a number of factors, including amount of school missed, suitability for the requirements of the performance, etc. You should again note that the onus is on you to catch up on any school work or work given to them by their tutors.
Recording
As well as recording a commercial CD every year, there are various ways in which you can make use of our in-house recording facilities, one of the most common being making your own album as an S6 project. We encourage students to become as familiar as possible with recording, and many students say this is the most enjoyable part of their experience here.
Time Management
Perhaps the most important thing we expect form our students is that they have the ability to manage their own time responsibly, and to inform the NCETM office of any planned absences. The timetable system used varies from week to week to take account of tutors’ and students’ other commitments. This means that the timetable must be very flexible, and depends heavily on good communication between you and the office.
We have a team of regular lead tutors, details of whom can be found in the Prospectus and on the web site. All our tutors work for us on a freelance basis, and are involved in other professional music activities, either as performers or in some other capacity. This means that at times, they are unable to come to Plockton. We have experienced depute tutors for each discipline who we can call upon in this event. This enables you to experience different teaching styles, and to have a range of influences on your playing. Our regular tutors and deputes communicate with each other to ensure continuity.
What about my present music commitments?
We encourage students to maintain their current musical commitments as far as possible, but you should note that in the event of a clash of interests, your music school activities will normally take precedence.
Essentially, nothing. All places are fully funded by the Scottish Executive Education Department. The only expense you would have would be travel. We pay travel expenses for the start and end of each term, and for one return journey per term. Any travel home over and above that is at your own expense.
You can enquire any time you like, and Advisory Auditions can be arranged at more or less any time during the school session. However, there is a timeline for applications, which starts with our Open Weekend in mid-February. The closing date for applications is in early March, with auditions in late March and an induction week in June leading to a start at the Centre in August.
First, let us know who you are, and that you are interested in applying to the music school, if you haven’t already done so. If you fill in and return the attached form, this will give us all the information that we need.
Next, come and visit the centre. We have an Open Weekend in February each year, which provides an opportunity for you to visit the centre, meet some current students and staff, and to have an advisory audition with the Director. Individual visits and advisory auditions can be also arranged at a mutually convenient time throughout the year.
Then, if you’re still interested, apply. Application forms can be downloaded from the link on our home page.
Tel 01599 544706
The National
Centre of Excellence in Traditional Music,
Plockton High School, Plockton, Wester Ross IV52 8TU
email
dougie.pincock@highland.gov.uk
www.musicplockton.org