| # | Name | Comments |
|---|
| 1551 | Jenny McCrea | |
| 1552 | Jennifer Coyle | |
| 1553 | Barry McNally | Ireland has a lot of latent talent in the musical area and this is demonstrated by the fact that the culture of Irish music is among the strongest in the world. this latency has survived because of the love of music by the Irish. Young aspiring musicians deserve the whoelhearted support of the Governments of both parts of this Island to allow them to reach rtheir full potential and make us all proud of them on the international stage. The NYOI is a basic tool that is required to give these young musicians the opportunity to practice their trade at the highest level. Please reconsider this decison and see that it is to allour benefits that the NYOI should survive and prosper. |
| 1554 | Conor McNaughton | |
| 1555 | Anonymous | |
| 1556 | Conor Toal | |
| 1557 | NIALL LEONARD | |
| 1558 | John Morrissey | |
| 1559 | Anonymous | |
| 1560 | Anonymous | |
| 1561 | David Ward | disgraceful |
| 1562 | Gary Doherty | Having little involvement with NYOI other than being a member of NYSTO, I never-the-less disagree with the decision to merge the two orchestras together. It is my firm belief that the National Youth Orchestra of Ireland as it stands, with a junior and senior orchestra works very well. The merging of the two orchestras will serve only to make the orchestra even more difficult to join, and at the moment, membership is hard to obtain.
I say leave the orchestra as it is, if there are problems getting students of higher level institutions to join, send out a rep to gather interest.
In reality an orchestra of players with ages reaching 12-24 will doubtfully function well.
Reguards
Gary Doherty |
| 1563 | Katey | |
| 1564 | Rosemary Charlton | |
| 1565 | Colm O'Keane | |
| 1566 | Nigel Finn Phillips | This decision is a disgrace it is robbing many youths of the chance and experience to play at the high level previous available to them. For the development of music cultural in Ireland this represents a step backwards. |
| 1567 | Anonymous | |
| 1568 | Orla Henderson | |
| 1569 | Deirdre O'Shea | As a founder member of the Cork Youth Orch almost 50 yrs ago at age 14yrs. I found that membership of the orchestra enhanced my life and kept me playing the violin into my adult life. Younger orch players gain experience to become senior players. D O'Shea |
| 1570 | Rebecca (Craig) Murphy | |
| 1571 | Laurent Wagner | |
| 1572 | rahel leiser | |
| 1573 | Maria Higgins | I heard the youth orchestra on my visit to Dublin an they were an inspiration, surely you wouldn't want to waste such talent!! |
| 1574 | Jennifer Macdougall | |
| 1575 | Roger McCann | |
| 1576 | Association for Amateur Orchestras, Finland | Dear All,
having discussed the matter among our steering group we give our limited, verbal support to NYOI in this situation. We understand the problem the decision of combining 2 orchestras will cause and share the fear for it's effects on the functioning and quality/lucrativness of the orchestra among the young potential players. We here know it too, based on the experiences on our summer schools and their orchestras, that combining too large an age group is not the way to go if any other solution exists.
On behalf of SOLI, Soitinmusiikkiliitto (Association for Amateur Orchestras)
Antero Kaukonen, secretary |
| 1577 | Anonymous | |
| 1578 | Ronan Tighe | |
| 1579 | Anonymous | |
| 1580 | Delo Collier | The amalgamation of the two orchestras will restrict the opportunities of students from parts of the country where music education is already seriously neglected and underfunded. This is a retrograde step and most serious development for young musicians. |
| 1581 | Philip Bates | |
| 1582 | Alan | |
| 1583 | Niamh Wallis | |
| 1584 | Sarah McMahon | |
| 1585 | Anonymous | |
| 1586 | Alex Petcu | OK I've finally decided to sign this. I obviously don't agree with the joining of the two orchestras in principle. I don't think anyone does, not even the people who had to take the decision. At first I didn’t want to sign since I believed this resulted from the inevitable fact that without the funding to support 2 orchestras you just can’t have 2 orchestras. However after thinking a little I’ve begun realising just how nonsensical this decision was since there are clearly things that could have been done to help prevent something like this.
The NYOI say lack of players is the core problem (especially over 18s). Absolute rubbish! Simply put the orchestra has no money. Proof? The cost of each course is now at around €650 and increases by about €50 each half-year. Given most in the senior orchestra are students who don't exactly have an endless supply of cash how can they fork out €650 for every course (next year it would have been €700, year after that €800, etc)? It's just not in their budget. What about the who sometimes have 2 or even more players in the orchestra. To a family with 2 members participating it would set them back by €2,600 (and ever increasing) a year. Of course the problem feeds on itself since a course that’s too expensive means less players willing to participate which in turn means more need to be brought up from the J (who do it for free). The paying members then have to pay for their food, accommodation and transport which increases costs. The next year there are even less willing to participate (because of rising costs) which means even more have to be brought up from the J which increases costs AGAIN.
To be honest I don’t know who’s fault this is so I won’t blame anyone in particular but with such a massive problem I believe the decision was taken in one of the worst possible ways, ie suddenly, without any warning and a shock to everyone. What they should have done is said “Course will continue as normal this year but because of lack of players and other problems the 2 orchestras could well have to be joined together in the future”. This would have at least warned people in time and more people would have given support to the NYOI knowing such a disaster was on the verge of happening. This might have also encouraged players to stay in support (for example I dropped out after Christmas this year but definitely would have come back if I had known such a disaster was about to happen and would result in this being my last course) which might have finally driven down costs and reversed tumbling snowball situation
Another thing is there are certainly plenty of players in Ireland available. Just a few weeks ago I saw a band perform at the band championships which had 5 (fairly decent as well) tuba players, yet how many tuba players audition for the NYOI orchestras each year? In fact I have met many people who are of the standard to audition but simply do not know the NYOI exists (such as 2 of my percussion students who also said nobody in their brass and reed band knew about it). Maybe some serious campaign could have been undertaken to spread awareness before taking such a wild decision.
One more thing which is what originally steered me against this amalgamation is the problem of repertoire. I wonder if the youth orchestra will ever play such insanely difficult stuff as Mahler 9 or the Rite of Spring again. |
| 1587 | Sarah McCarron | |
| 1588 | Angela Whistler | |
| 1589 | Lynn Sheehy | |
| 1590 | Anonymous | I think it's naive to think that an orchestra whose age limits are 14-21 will actually contain any members from the lower age group. The already stiff competition to get in will now be heightened and it is highly unlikely that anyone below the age of 18/19 will be given a place. So essentially what is happening is that the junior (under 18s) orchestra is being abolished. The problem arises down the road then that without a junior orchestra where these musicians can gain the necessary experience, won't we soon be faced with a lower standard in the "amalgamated" orchestra??? it seems to be a vicious circle from there! |
| 1591 | Dara O'Connell | |
| 1592 | Nicola | |
| 1593 | Anonymous | I am signing the petition as a concerned music teacher and examiner, with a background working in the British music education system. Any option that offers real music experiences to young Irish people, who are already at a disadvantage vis a vis their British counterparts, should be kept open. |
| 1594 | Catherine Power | I am a parent of an excellent 14 year old viloinist in Waterford who travels to Dublin (and has done since the age of 7) every week for lessons. Please reverse this crazy decision |
| 1595 | J Sheridan | |
| 1596 | Aoife Carlin | |
| 1597 | Diane Daly | |
| 1598 | Gordon Garde, Cork | |
| 1599 | Kevin Lenahan | |
| 1600 | Peter McNamara | |