Three of the talented Cashell siblings have passed or are passing through London's prestigious Menuhin School, writes Rosita Boland.

'If I'm on the plane, I drink tea," Sophie Cashell (14) says. She doesn't even think about what she's just said. There's an elevenses' tray on the table in the Cashell front room at Balbriggan and Sophie is drinking hot water, because that's what she usually has. Unless she's on a plane. Which is many, many more times a year than an ordinary 14-year-old schoolgirl.

Sophie Cashell and her brother Ben (17) are both students at the prestigious Yehudi Menuhin International Music School in Surrey, England. Their sister Anna (21), who is now going into her final year at the Royal College of Music in London, is a past pupil of the Menuhin School.

Lest anyone may think it is thus easy to gain entry, think again. There are just 59 places in the entire school, where the pupils range in age from eight to 18, and the intake is from all over the world. The Cashells are the only family to have had three siblings pass through the school.

Anna's instrument is violin, Ben's is cello, and Sophie's is piano. Their brother, Hugh (20), who is a second-year engineering student at Trinity, chose some years ago not to focus on his flute-playing. "Too much practice," he says. "I didn't want to do it enough. But I admire the others; they chose music because they like it."

"Hugh is going to support us all when we have no money!" Sophie says, and the others howl with laughter; this is obviously a running family joke.

With several hours of daily practice and years of commitment already behind the three musicians in the family, to say you would have to like playing music is a deliberate understatement. Asked to describe what he thinks is a typical day at the Menuhin School, Hugh grins and says: "Practice in the morning, music classes, lunch, more classes, orchestra practice, more practice, and bed. Did I mention practice?" The others agree this is pretty accurate.

At the Menuhin School, there are two individual lessons a week; masterclasses from visiting teachers; concert trips to London; and the opportunity to attend music summer schools. Everything is built around music lessons and practice; there are ordinary lessons too, but only one hour's homework a night. Music practice takes up most of the day, which is why it would be impossible to attend an ordinary school while studying music so intensively; there is nowhere in Ireland that you can study music full-time before third level.

"The great thing is that all your teachers are in the same place," says Anna, who used to travel to Cork for weekly violin lessons with the Romanian violinist Adrian Petcu, before going to the Menuhin School aged 12.

Anna, Ben and Sophie have been playing music since they were very young. They are all vague when questioned about at what point they realised their interest in music; it seems to have always been there, rather than arriving one day via a road-to-Damascus type experience. Neither Alan nor Susan Cashell, their parents, are musical.

They each play a different instrument; given that they are all exceptionally talented, was this a deliberate decision not to compete with each other?

"More by accident, really," says Ben. "It is easier in that you never run into each other at the same competitions, though," he reflects pragmatically.

Sophie used to play violin and piano, but her focus is now solely on piano. "I felt I could express myself more through the piano," she explains. "That I could show people more."

What they all have in common is the love of the buzz from a good performance.

"A good performance is when you're out there and you're not really thinking; you're not worrying about anything. That's why you practise. I can tell when I go to concerts if people are relaxed or not," says Ben.

For Sophie, a good performance is "when you feel happy afterwards. When you feel you've communicated something."

Hugh, a rock/pop fan whose family connections have given him an unusually close insight into the other end of the concert scale, has astute views on classical music concerts. He too can instantly spot a tense player. "For the audience, it's no fun looking at someone when you're feeling they're in agony to get through the performance. It's hard for the audience anyway; there is a very formal structure to classical concerts, you can't clap until the end, for instance. At rock concerts, the audience can have as much fun as the performers."

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Cashells seem older than they are, particularly Sophie. They have had experiences and made the kind of difficult decisions that few of their peers will face for many years. But there is nothing stiff or distant about any of them, nor any of that hothouse aura a specialised education can sometimes produce. The siblings, who are clearly all very good friends with each other, are a bright, confident, articulate, hugely engaging quartet, and effortlessly charming, to boot.

And they are a quartet. Hugh may not be the full time music-student that his three siblings are, but he's definitely the essential fourth leg of a chair. To some extent, he's the envoy from the outside world: the one who takes them to rock concerts, and tells them about his summer job (the practice schedule means summer jobs are impossible for the others to take), life in a non-music-oriented university, and lots of things most people take totally for granted.

Ask them all how they would respond if told that music was no longer part of their life, and there is a short bewildered silence before Ben says cheerfully: "I'd beat up the person who told me. Then I would sing."

Anna frowns. "It's so much part of me, I wouldn't feel right."

"I would feel kind of dirty. Not clean," Sophie says, as her siblings howl with horrified laughter.

"It'd be really, really, really odd," Hugh says flatly.

For Anna, Ben and Sophie, although they are having a privileged education, the future will be testing. Classical music is notoriously difficult to make a successful career of. Audiences are dropping, and there are very many talented and underpaid players out there.

From a practical angle, they are not the only committed ones in the household. Parents Alan and Susan have supported them throughout, morally and financially. All three children have received many grants and scholarships - both Ben and Sophie are on scholarships at the £21,000 a year Menuhin School - but the fees still need to be topped up with other funds. Money has to be found for masterclasses, summer schools, the six-weekly flights home, and Anna's accommodation and living expenses in London. And once the children leave education, they will have to return the instruments, which are only on loan for the period. Top-quality cellos and violins are horribly expensive; they haven't yet figured out what they'll do when that need arises.

"You don't go on holiday and you don't do up your house," Alan says, explaining how they manage. He is a teacher in Sandford; Susan gave up her job some years ago to stay at home and ferry the children to lessons. "But we don't mind, we honestly don't mind. What we fear is that they won't be able to earn a living, and that's what every parent wants for their child, to send them out into the world. But classical music as a career is so difficult."

They were lucky in that they married early, and thus their house is not a financial burden; pity the Irish family today facing a mortgage and three musically gifted children to educate. It's not the financial sacrifices that have been hardest, but seeing three of their children grow up away from home. "It's heartbreak," says Susan.

We move to the kitchen to allow music practice to begin. We fall silent as the sounds of three instruments from three different rooms fills the air, and makes it shiver.

Anna, Ben and Sophie Cashell play at King House, Boyle, at 1 p.m. on July 31st as part of the Boyle Arts Festival, which begins today and runs until August 1st. Highlights include the group art exhibition at King House, with 54 of Ireland's key artists, including Seán McSweeney, Felim Egan, Barrie Cooke, William Crozier and Gerald Bruen. Recitals include the Cashell Family; violinist Catherine Leonard and pianist Hugh Tinney; pianist Prof Peter O'Brien and singer Susie Kennedy; a lecture by former film censor Sheamus Smith; readings by writer Brian Leyden and Vincent Woods. Boyle Arts Festival booking on 079-63085. www.boylearts.com