Anonymous wrote:For us with MCYO, it's 3 concerts a year. Weekly rehearsals and you'd better have a good reason to miss because they don't want kids skipping too many sessions. The audition is in August, which for my anxious kid means vaguely stressing about it all summer while she practices.

She has a very demanding private teacher who does 3 studio recitals a year. That's really where the actual work and the improvement happen. Along with the MCYO audition, where she's always looking to get picked for a Principal position, those performances are the most stressful.

Apart from that, we don't do camps. There are school orchestra concerts, but those are very low key.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As an orchestra parent in a different orchestra in a different state, I find it's a lot of parent commitment. Annually 5 mandatory school concerts/assessments, 4 private orchestra concerts, 3-4 district or similar opportunities, 2 camps kid attends with concerts. Plus auditions for some of those and weekly private lessons and lots of practicing. There's always something related to orchestra going on. It's not too much for my kid, so we do it, but it's a lot for the family.

Completely agree. It’s a lot on the parents.

Hereabouts, our schedule is 2 school and 2 outside mandatory concerts. 9 mandatory concerts a year seems like a lot!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As an orchestra parent in a different orchestra in a different state, I find it's a lot of parent commitment. Annually 5 mandatory school concerts/assessments, 4 private orchestra concerts, 3-4 district or similar opportunities, 2 camps kid attends with concerts. Plus auditions for some of those and weekly private lessons and lots of practicing. There's always something related to orchestra going on. It's not too much for my kid, so we do it, but it's a lot for the family.

Completely agree. It’s a lot on the parents.

Hereabouts, our schedule is 2 school and 2 outside mandatory concerts. 9 mandatory concerts a year seems like a lot!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As an orchestra parent in a different orchestra in a different state, I find it's a lot of parent commitment. Annually 5 mandatory school concerts/assessments, 4 private orchestra concerts, 3-4 district or similar opportunities, 2 camps kid attends with concerts. Plus auditions for some of those and weekly private lessons and lots of practicing. There's always something related to orchestra going on. It's not too much for my kid, so we do it, but it's a lot for the family.

Completely agree. It’s a lot on the parents.

Anonymous wrote:As an orchestra parent in a different orchestra in a different state, I find it's a lot of parent commitment. Annually 5 mandatory school concerts/assessments, 4 private orchestra concerts, 3-4 district or similar opportunities, 2 camps kid attends with concerts. Plus auditions for some of those and weekly private lessons and lots of practicing. There's always something related to orchestra going on. It's not too much for my kid, so we do it, but it's a lot for the family.