My S21 actor works full time during the summer (last year had two jobs since one was a poorly paid internship) and does 10-15 hours a week at school for shockingly little. It works out. S24 is going to a much more expensive school and we agreed to pay for his last camp experience this year, but next year there would have to be a very compelling reason.
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We feel like we have won the lottery with our third and final college kid. Not only did he land a full tuition scholarship, but secured a job as a Residence Assistant for the past 2 years with paid Room and Board and a decent stipend. He has had some decent paid gigs as well.
We are now remodeling the bathroom. 
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That is awesome!! Goals lol Goals!!
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Oh thatās so great! My dream! I have both kitchen and bathroom that need remodeling! 
Sending positive thoughts to all of you and your amazing kids!
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Thank you - I just can not wait for college decisions - just in limbo until we know!
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We had that last year. 2 top picks. Accepted to one, waitlisted on the other. Had to commitā¦ Ended up getting accepted to the other but it was far too late to change at that point, which was a bit of a bummer. Still worked out great, and not sure - she may have picked the same program anyway - but it was like āOh, man, NOW you tell us?!ā
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I have heard from one small festival that they received a record number of applicants;another small festival told me this was the year with most need on the part of applicants they have ever seen.
Iām not quite sure what is driving the application numbers- I donāt think more people are going into musicā¦
To those of you whose kids work in the summer- how do they not fall behind relative to their peers who are practicising and attending a festival? I canāt figure this out.
My son has some entrepreneurial music-related projects heās working on that will hopefully end up being renumerative, and might get a gig playing at a classmateās chiurch for some services, but if heās working for a little bit of money rather than practicing and makiing more progress between lessons that doesnāt seem like a great trade-off. Seems it might be penny wise and pound foolish.
I never could go to a festival in music school - I am professional horn player/teacher. I worked like a dog. It was hard at the time but it built those scrappy skills. You can practice on your own! People ask me all the time how I built a successful horn studio. When you have those scrappy skills you can do anything! At some point parents can not finance this anymore.
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I wonder if anyone has experience with Chautauqua Music Festival in NY? My violinist son got accepted and has to make the decision by tomorrow evening. Since he did all the applications I wasnāt aware of the costs and was pleasantly surprised that all we have to pay for 7 week festival is $200. It sounds pretty good, but I never heard any reviews from students who attended before. Anyone?
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My son was very lucky. College ended in May. He was able to work until he left for whatever summer program he was going to. He worked at a restaurant and would do anything there. College didnāt begin again until Labor Day, so he had a few weeks after the summer things ended to work again.
My kid also worked 10 or so hours a week during college.
Spending money was never an issue for him.
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I know for some instruments even those musicians in school cannot physically practice more than a certain number of hours a day or theyāll end up injured. Is horn like that? In strings/piano it seems if you arenāt actively learning/practicing your falling behind your peers, or at least thatās how it appears to me given my kid didnāt start at age four.
Itās not so much parents financing or not- Iām thinking more that we should be thinking of summer training as part of the price tag that has to be worked out on the front end. Like when we know we will have to buy the cello a seat on the planeā¦
My daughter is a violinist and she will come with me for a 12 day festival but I think work is just as valuable. With 2 in school, we will not be able to give them spending money either. I would rather she have some money in the bank. 12 days will break up the summer but getting some work experience on your resume is also great! I definitely had friends that never had a job in college obviously families had the means to pay for them - but how do you get a job if you never had a job. My daughter babysits and also has some young violin students. I think waitressing or doing some other work will be good for her. Create a chamber group, volunteer to play in a nursing home or hospital. I think there are other things the kids can do to keep up their playing. I run a horn ensemble on Monday evenings throughout the summer. There are things like this for strings a summer community orchestra. We are very close also I donāt know if she wants to be away all summer before she leaves for college as I would rather spend time with her too!!
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Nobody in my part of the world attends summer festivals. Most conservatory kids take substantial time off to relax over the summer but spend the rest practicing and working.
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Same here with our second child!
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my violin child got in too and if you hear anything about it keep us posted!
also does anyone have info on Madeline Island Chamber Music Festival?
Excellent! Last night we talked about it and decided to accept the offer, given the price and description of the program and the fact that the festival was recommended by his instrument teacher. Otherwise my son never will know what he missed. Which means heāll have to decline all the other festivals that he applied to if he gets in.
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Which one?