May/ June Music and Musicians Thread

Good luck with the move Musicdoc! If it helps, we moved three years ago during dancing exam week (three DD's doing exams!) and I was obsessed with knowing where 'the ballet box' was at all times which had everything for the rehearsals and exams (we had 6 exams in 2 days). Maybe Pack a music box and take it in the car with you during the move? Wishing you every happiness in your new home.

green - lol about the date. I have the G4/5 ABRSM CD for the car which got us through the melody singing. Miniprada was fine with sight singing (amazingly as she hates singing) but really poor at the melody singback. Many a school run listening to the CD...I'll be glad to see the back of it come July!

Musicdoc(and everyone new), your children are really advanced, so much to look up, well come, this is a great place for sharing and ...like me usually moaning.

Loose: I was shocked when she canceled her rehearsal night without telling me(b'cos she has a sleep over planned). She normally does practise very little however is well focused. Thats ok by me to have a break, she only needs 30-45 mins being focused a day and with violin, its portable, we can practise anywhere we go.

Musicdoc moving hous and exams puts everything into perspective - I will never complain about exams again!
Green - sympathise with the meltdown. dS1 at age 14 is still capable of them and the last one was the night before his exam! I notice that DS2 is absolutely shattered at the moment and desperate for half term so I wonder if MiniGreen just crashed? A good night's sleep hopefully made all the difference - to her. I imagine it was a bit stressful for you!
DS2 is taking his keyboard on holiday next week - I am hoping to get a few goes on it as well! Luckily we have headphones!

Hi all, I've been off the forum for a while but have got a busy few weeks coming up with my two. DS(11) is taking G6 Cello (Trinity- until he gets to G5 theory), G3 singing and G2 theory, whilst DD (8) takes G3 piano and G5 theory and is preparing for G7 violin (in the hope that she gets the theory passed).

In the middle of this we are moving house which could fall on the same week as G3 piano/singing or G6 cello!
Good luck to you all!

Quickly dipping in to mark my place

Re Cello strings - we love Larsen Soliosts

Really, singing in Grade 4, we will def fail the singing session, except the 2 years old none of us can sing in tune!

Surprisingly, our largest problem was echoing! She constantly misses few notes or sings out of tune. Sight singing is almost 100% hit on the other hand. Not sure what to think....
I already delegated problem areas to the teacher.

Ah yes G4 aural....the dreaded sight singing! Not DCs favourite!
Not sure how DS1 will get on with the aural at G5 he is supposed to be going to an aural club at school but it is a bit hit and miss.... He assures me he can 'name the era' I remain to be convinced!!!

We don't have exam date yet, but we have week. All of a sudden it is getting very real and a bit scary... (for me, not for dd, she loves exams, she calls them fun activity ).
I downloaded aural app couple of days ago and discovered that we have more problems than I anticipated .
There going to be few very busy weeks....

Argh got DS2 and DDs piano exam dates and they are on the only day I warned the teacher we could not make. It's the last day of term 8th July when school is only till noon. It is Ds2 last day at this primary school and so if I take him out he will miss all the fun and games and part of the prize giving assembly. I have e mailed the teacher and said unless it can be moved I will have to pull him out. DD can do hers because she will probably only be watching a DVD in class. But DS2 will miss out on all the shirt signing and stuff. I guess waiting for Xmas wouldn't be the end of the world either as he is struggling with the pieces a bit....
Someone asked about cellos. DS1 (taking G5 this session) has just moved up to a full size from a 3/4. He had a Stenor 2 with Dominant strings which the teacher suggested as being good strings.
When we bought his full size one we spent a fortune at the local(ish) string instrument shop because this is his forever cello. It is a Caswell's Maestro and the shop keep said it would do G8 and beyond. Luckily his teacher is pleased with its tone. Although not always the way DS1 plays it!!!!
He played others when testing which one to buy and the strings that seemed the nicest sounding were Jargars.

Prada: thats great having a chosen date, now I am really gutted( only kidding!)
Icould: another instrument!!!:)

We have a melt down tonight with someone storming their feet and retreated to their room for an early bedtime without even brushing their teeth. Well, that person chose sleep over over the Orchestra rehearsal and pondering with the bow for 30mins before all of the above happened. Well, I am happy if I dont have to pay or worry about it anymore for good, although I reckon there will be tears "mommy why you didnt nag me to practise!"

Thanks Mistigri, I'll pass that on to him.

Hi there! I have a musical DS (15) and a dancing DD (13) who also dabbles in a little music in her extremely limited spare time.

DS is, as we speak, in his audition for the county senior jazz band, having started in the most junior of the junior bands at the age of 10. he's auditioning on the calrinet, because he took his Grade 6 on that first, but if he fails to get in the plan is to accelerate Grade 6 Alto sax and audition on that at the next session. he only does exams that he has to, so i think after this ()if he does grade 6 sax) there will be a long pause before hwe aims to do grade 8 on both before leaving school.

DD plays cello, having played clarinet at primary but then deciding that a more ;'whole body using' instrument would suit her. We're debating at the moment - she dances 12 or more hours per week after school, plus all sorts of extras, and so music practice is a low priority. However, she likes doing SOMETHING not dancey. Another option would be to shift to / add singing as that fits naturally in with dance, and she can sing but has v. little confidence.

Truffle for guitar chords and a wealth of other stuff (contemporary guitar styles, not classical), take a look at the justinguitar.com website. My dd then aged 11 used it when she first started (she was self-taught in the initial stages). An older beginner with a musical background should be able to pick up the basics this way.

It sounds like a euphonium but it has french horn valves and it has two rings on the back and a shoulder harness for marching. We have not exactly perfected the shoulder harness yet, at the moment he needs a squire to aid him. The challenge is that it has an offcentre bell so it won't stand on the bell - it won't stand at all.

My dining room now contains a piano, euphonium, euponiumalike, cornet, flute, bassoon and a tenor horn.

Hope that's not too much of distraction Icouldbe.

Fleur there's a huge box in the porch, the ten week delivery period on the new instrument turned out to be a total fabrication because it was delivered this morning. That's something else to add on to the insurance cover.

Ha Truffle I was watching the hairy bikers (the teenagers/old people pairs program if anybody watched it) last night and basically one of the old people on it always wanted to play the piano as a kid and his dad didn't allow him so the teenager surprised him with... 1 (one) piano lesson. I thought, gosh, all that money I have spent and one lesson seems to be enough. (Disclaimer: I do know it is the thought that counts so it was very sweet).

*I spend way too much time on this thread...

Hello everyone, I think I last posted a few threads back. It's lovely to hear about everyone's progress.
I have DS1 playing organ and piano, DS2 clarinet and sax, DS3 piano and a newly acquired guitar (see below). DD plays clarinet and piano. They are at specialist music school, DD boards and is pretty serious about it all. The boys are day pupils, DS1 is serious about the organ, for the other two it is a hobby really.
Only one music exam this term, DS2 grade 7 sax.
DS3 potters at his music and asked for the guitar as a birthday present. He asked for lessons but we said no, at this stage, as he has a history of starting something and doing well but then giving up when real work is involved. So he is going to use the Internet for tuition and see how it goes. The kit arrived, complete with a DVD whose title made us laugh: The Complete Guitar Player - 6 lessons!
If only I had known that a complete player only needs 6 lessons I could have saved a fortune over the years!

Just got our ABRSM G5 piano appointment - july 01 which is fantastic as we have an inset day not often that happens to us! Hope everyone gets the dates they want.

Hello! DS (10) plays trumpet and cello, both around G3 and he will be doing the G3 Trinity exam in early July (date yet to be confirmed). DD1 (5) started the violin last September but already wants to give it up in favour of piano lessons - she wants an instrument that you can sit down and play! DS takes his lessons at school, owns the trumpet but hires the cello. I shell out £45 each week during term time for his lessons, so when you add on music books, exam and festival entry fees and holiday courses, it is costing around £2k each year for his musical education - so no chance of him taking on a third instrument as I just couldn't afford it. The silver lining - once he is G5 level, all future lessons would be free as he would then automatically qualify as a music scholar at his school (private, so goes to Y8). DD1 does group lessons at a local music school on a Saturday morning during term time - far, far cheaper. Given DS's school schedule (long days), he would not be able to pursue music out of school, so we have been rather stuck with the expensive option of private lessons in school time.

However, we will be moving to NZ in September and so all change viz schools, music teachers and lessons. We will even be able to have a piano, something we have no space for at present, so DD1 will be pleased.

On which note, I am contemplating buying DS a cello before we leave. I've been advised to invest in the best quality strings I can afford. Can anyone suggest both a make of cello and strings that I could investigate? He is using a Stentor Student 2 temporarily with a set of good strings on it and the sound seems far superior to his usual hired instrument (Stentor 1 I think with standard strings). Many thanks for any guidance.

Ah, and Fleur...you're making me want to learn the clarinet!

Can't believe the new thread is this long already!
DS (14) plays piano, drum kit, marimba, timpani, xylophone and anything that makes a noise when HIT. Plays classical, ragtime, jazz, fusion and Star Wars. He's preparing Gr8 on all of the above which means we're going to have a busy year as of September OUCH...the thought. Also doing a few composing classes with a famous resident composer at school. On top of all this he plays in six ensembles in school plus choir.
I should be working myself

Icouldbe enjoy the new baritone! Not sure how loud it is but I suspect that if DD would dare playing one of those my neighbours would move out. I was already conscious last night that while they said they enjoy hearing DD practising piano not sure they enjoyed the F F F F E E E DDDD "strangled duuuuuccckkk noise".