Spring/ Summer Music and Musicians Thread

I have to share:

Dd1 passed Grade 1 violin with distinction. I'm dead chuffed for her.

Dd is a smallish 7 (128 cm) but manages fine on a bb clarinet, except the lowest notes as waffle says

Waffle, I'm surprised Rara manages a treble. dc3 (9) has been trying out mine but feels her fingers are getting too stretched out,. ( It may well be that she just likes descent better, so that's an excuse).

My descent Aura recorder has the german fingering but she has been learning it on a different on with BAroque fingering. Do you have the same differences with a treble. If so, my treble would have the German fingering as well, so she might be better of with a different one anyway, if she ever wants to try it?

Thank you Waffle I think I will stick with one to one lessons as she'll be able to read music so she may get frustrated if held behind. Also the idea is to see how fast she could progress with the skills transferred from piano with regards to sight reading.

She is 130cm so not tiny tiny, not even the tiniest in her class but she's not a big one. :)

I hope I will find an open minded teacher like you Waffle I have a feeling they'll see her and say no because she's not that tall.

waffle what is your opinion on group lessons? Apparently our music service offers a max of 4 group lessons on a Saturday, to start with and offer the instruments also. It is tempting from a socialising point of view for a couple of terms but would she learn anything? 30 min only also which makes me think she'll only get a few minutes individual attention...

Thank you all! Not sure if our local centre is offering loan instruments but I have sent a lessons enquiry hopefully they will reply soon. It seems like 9 is a good age to start from what I can gather online, she is petite though so I am hoping she'll still be able to take lessons.

I've caught up with the thread now (and the laundry). Howabout we are a banding household, they've qualified for the Nationals in Cheltenham in September. I am rehearsing variations on "Hi new sixth form, DS has been here a week but he needs a day off".

DS is 16 and a brass bander. He's recently started playing bassoon for reasons that escape me (I suspect that it's avoidance of GCSE revision) but I'm not sure how serious he is going to be about that. He plays in two brass bands, county wind band, a youth brass band and at the local music centre on Saturdays. DH is a bandsman too, he plays piano and is learning flute. I am the non-musical parent, I drive DS here, there and everywhere, attempt to control the calendar and keep up with the washing of the white shirts.

I suspect that the next exam will be DH on flute, I think DS has done with music exams now until the uni years unless he starts with bassoon of course.

Fleur our music service offers free instrument loan for the first year of tuition. So something to check before you buy anything. Once we got to the end of this I opted to buy a second hand instrument. In our case although there is no VAT back scheme for second hand it was cheaper than buying new and a played in instrument was a better option from a maintenance point of view. It also works out cheaper than renting because the instrument holds its resale value quite well. Teachers are really good at advising on all this.

Fleurdelise our LA music centre offers free instrument hire to anyone attending who is also having lessons. You are responsible for insuring it but that's all. I'm not sure whether they have a waiting list for lessons but they don't for ensembles - turn up and you are in.

music theory we are into GCSE revision here and so I have encountered Quizlet. It's a flash card app, there are theory sets already set up that you could be using. They certainly have the music terms for G5 (and earlier grades) because I've just looked - it could save someone a bit of work.

I'll be back later and introduce myself - I have a backlog of chores from spending nine hours yesterday running the musical taxi service.

dc1 and 2 have lessons at their school. Our problem is more that dc at school miss out on many lessons as it clashes with other (sports) activities.
I sit in with dc3 as I would otherwise have to wait outside in the rain. She misses out on lessons due to lack of time, only has alternate weeks, with often more lessons being cancelled (currently 5 week gap between lessons).

Musicmom DD is doing 11+ plus next autumn, she is only starting year 5 in September. She is born in August so one of the youngest also. Good luck with 11+ preparation, we started recently slowly with a bit more formal preparation.

Loose DD has selective memory when it comes to what she needs to practice between lessons so I find sitting in lessons a great help. Even though it is all written in her practice book she still looks at me for guidance during practice. I can still just about keep up with the knowledge of what she has to do, so I can help her with the sight reading exercises such as reminding her "you need to check the key signature, don't forget to count, check your hand position" etc. Same with pieces where her teacher comments on her hand position. Not sure when I'll stop being in lessons, I guess when it becomes obvious that she can remember all her teacher's comments by herself.

For the lesson before piano exams we go to the teacher's house and I sit in, which both the teacher and I find really helpful. Also, when children are little, either being there or having good communication between lessons makes a big difference. I am sure ds2 isn't the only one with a very selective memory about what the teacher told him in the lesson!

Did did Suzuki cello so we were expected to be in on everything ; we don't go to her clarinet lessons (not allowed!) and I do notice the difference. We are completely non musical so being I. The lessons gave us some inkling of what was supposed to happen in-between :). But am sure that as DD gets older it matters less if we are not in

Fleur and Green - are you doing 11+ etc this Autumn? DD is - oh joy!!

I hear some of DD's guitar class, because my own class follows immediately afterwards. However I met DD's piano teacher for 5 mins when DD auditioned and haven't seen her since. We get a formal written report each term though ;)

Most of the parents of the kids I teach at home sit in lessons most of the time and I like that - they get to enjoy the journey alongside their child and to support their learning. I think it's not usual though for most people?

Welcome to all the new music people and have a successful term!

I still sit in my Dd's piano lessons 2 and a half years later.

Not because she needs me but because of habit, Dd's teacher asked me to sit in lessons for the first few months as she was little, then I asked when shall I stop coming in and she said she doesn't mind at all. So now I find that it works so well that it would be wrong to change things.

I wasn't expecting to sit in the clarinet lessons but good point about ensuring I would meet teacher to enable some sort of communication.

Fleur I'm naturally laid back and it never occurred to me I might need to meet the teacher until a friend told me she'd actually gone into school and sat in on the lessons! Another friend sits in on lessons at the music Centre. I don't do that but I've found writing in the practice book and making sure I do meet them has really helped, and the peri teachers give great advice on buying instruments. You don't need to see them every week for it to work - maybe once a term and the odd emails! One thing I did do as a result was to switch from 20 minute lessons to 30 minutes as soon as grade exams were mentioned, just to make sure everything gets covered.

Dd (13.. Year 8) plays clarinet , piano and guitar.
She practices a lot . She did her grade 5 clarinet in the summer before starting secondary school .. Then worked through grade 6 level pieces and scales and just took her grade 5 theory. She is now just starting on grade 7 pieces.
She is about grade 3 level on piano... And is taking her music gcse exam next May/June
. She practices throughout the day... flipping from one instrument to another. It's everything to her...It's what she does iykwim.
None of us are musical apart from her... I think this adds to the pull for her. It's her thing.
She has a fairly quiet summer ahead musically. No exams.. Just a nice orchestral summer school to look forward to.

I never met DS's first clarinet teacher...she appeared in school, did magic with him + 3 others in about 20 minutes a week and then disappeared again!

I only realised how brilliant she was when she retired and the next teacher didn't seem to manage very much at all.... luckily he lasted only the blink of an eye and the stand-in for the final term until the county music service stopped all peri teachers was DS's absolutely lovely current teacher, who suggested out of school 1:1 lessons after pointing out that as he'd got to about Grade 3 in a couple of years of 1:4 20 minute in-school music lessons he clearly had some aptitude!