bluemagic, the youth orchestra in our city has a very strict age requirement and DD will be eligible to audition in 4 years.
There are string group classes but most of those are aimed at 4th grade and up. What DD really wants to join is an improvisational class for string jazz band but I don't think that's going to happen for many, many years.
The competition her teacher has in mind is a state competition. The winners then move to a regional semi-final. I believe there is substantial scholarship money involved but that's not really a consideration for us. We certainly do not expect DD to win anything.
We've been dealing with a lot of minimum age requirements since last summer. DD ended up not doing the summer camp her former teacher wanted her to participate since the people in charge wanted her doing beginning and non-music things with other preschoolers when she was ready for technique and music theory classes. Her new teacher is not a big fan of the Suzuki method so we are not doing any Suzuki group classes either. It's rather sad that we can't access the resources in our community.
Anyhow, DD had her 3rd lesson with her new teacher and I think we're going into the right direction. Her new teacher is determined to get rid of all of DD's sloppiness and for once, DD is actually cooperating. She is a different child. The new work load is very demanding and technical but DD is loving it. I've never seen her smile so much during her lessons.
I'm still not sure if I want her on a stage facing a panel of judges when she's only 5 and I still believe she can learn without dealing with competition but as her teacher puts it, you'll only learn to perform by performing. I might have to hold a lot of home recitals with friends and family.
