October Music and Musicians Thread

We have an end of November date for Grade 7 piano. Slightly earlier than piano teacher wanted, but good to have it out of the way before December madness!.

Disappointed to find out that DS1s uni Christmas concert clashes with the younger DCs school concert. Uni is only an hour away so we were hoping to go!

loose I don't know where time has gone either. DS also in year 10. And I only have one. Sometimes I feel that time has all gone into hours of music and practice, like sand through a sand timer, and I'm not sure how I feel about that. Conflicted. Or maybe it's just one of those blue days...

Oh, Green I do hope everything goes ok with work - it is incredibly stressful to have to run out of the door at a particular time, especially when things are uncertain. I remember going into work at 7am on Fridays for two years just so DCs could go to a martial arts club!
Agree with you that 11 is too young - at 14 and 16 it is much clearer. I am biased, though, as I teach in post-compulsory education!
Sixth form isn't a burning concern here - more the shock that I have a DC old enough to even start thinking about it!
In music exam news, DS1 has his date through for his grade 6 bass guitar exam next month and for once is definitely ready so I think he might even enjoy the experience! Hopefully we get grade 5 theory out of the way as well, crossing all fingers.

We have primary school then secondary then high school in our country. Eventually high school friends stick with us longest as its not as big and matured as Univ where friendship is formed in a different way and we have usually got over our crazy teen and formed a personality that could last. I think moving to another 6th form, making new friends would be great Loose, beat of luck. My friend's daughter(who is a French) who has a daughter did really well with her gcse then there are so many options opened for her at 6th form, she moved to a much more academic school as of her choice(she was very shy and wasnt as academic earlier) and planning to do medicine in one of the best Univ in this country. There shouldnt be 11+ in this country, it is too early to categorise someone who will be good at what.
Drummers: I am over it now , just only worried of losing my job . Classic mistakes: no rehearsals before, getting to the place late should be for the amateurs, I would usually slightly more organised. Deep down, even given a perfectly smooth start etc, we are still underprepared and we appreciate it. I have done my small research, we still have few more chances to try(if we want to as I need to get someone feeling excited about it first, maybe after this December show).

We had last night full on with scales, its all labour, we are slowly killing them one by one. Last night my husband was saying we should book a trip away next midterm week. I said we are saving for the violin and couple other things and we will be skiing for 2 weeks at Xmas anyway(the other 60% of the truth is I dont think we could learn all of these scales on time for the exam this term).
I have a hard time at work and finding it very hard to leave at slightly earlier than 5pm to drop her to the violin teacher's place on time, not too sure what to do now(even I do start early, already in Waterloo now catching other 10mins train).

I see.

Drummers he doesn't have to move, just that he has the option! Actually staying where he is would be a good choice but he's expressed some interest in sixth form college as an alternative.

Loose why do you need to move DS1 for 6th form?

Green sorry to hear, how stressful...
Remember: there are no loosers, only learners.
The good thing is, you always said this was a rehearsal. So whatever the outcome, next year you'll prepare with more time and arrive there an hour earlier Whenever I feel like you're feeling now, I always find the thought consoling: next time it won't be like this. The rain, of course, there's nothing to do about that except move south
I love your DD's level of stress zero.

Green I am sure it went better than you think but sounds like a very stressful experience! I thought things like that (rain, lost, building site) only happened to me...
roll on half term - DS1 is getting ratty because he's tired and DS2 is fretting because he doesn't know which sets he'll be in after half term. He had a headache last night and another load of homework so no cello practice but it now turns out teacher is ill so no lesson today. Hopefully he will get band practice, though.
Had a mild panic at weekend over sixth forms. No need for any forms yet as DS1 is only in year 10 - it was more the realisation that it's not as far away as I thought! Where on earth did the time go??

Green - we will be at the Barbican too; maybe we will even manage a thread get-together!

Reread my post and realised I got your name wrong Hapsburg, sorry!

Hahaha, you had my full sympathy as I couldnt imagine if we had a harp with us today, its a longgggg way from the car park. Yes, the building is massive, and hiding at after the building work. There werent any where to hide from the rain as we had to walk around the building. I was running into a wrong place where it says staffs only in hope finding someone to ask for a direction as it was near dark with no-one ourside.
Waffle, right, I think we are under 10s as she will be 9 before end of this year.
Its ok to be a looser everyone, we were too crazy anyway.
Harp: will bring her to the concert in Barbican, I am sure she will then know what has happened today(everyone in this household doesnt care about it at all, come on, my husband completely forgot to ask us about today).

Green - there are quite a few options and NCO will decide the best orchestra for each child that meets the standard; some repeat years in the same age banded orchestra too. Now you can relax and wait for the December letter (usually early December for the younger orchestras, but i don't think they have said when it is this year yet).:)

Green, I think you said, Barnes, yes? If so, the building works on site nearly finished me off, hauling the harp every which way and miles from the normal parking for Regionals which we've had there too. Even when you were on site, finding it today was difficult.

Green if you are in/near London - you could bring your DD to the NCO concert at The Barbican on 11th Dec if you want to motivate her for next year. I'm sure the audition wasn't as bad as you think though, you may be pleasantly surprised. Mine always comes out of these things and announces it was 'definitely the worst ever'.

I think we registered/paid for U10, will research to find out the difference.
(Thanks Fleur)

Thanks string, I am now feeling like a looser and gutted, ha, which I know I deserve it and I have someone reading Lords of the ring and giggling, oh dear!!!
TRL: were you there today? Best of luck to your daughter too, awwwgg! Fire alarm, really! I made a wrong turn when it was pouring then we finally came back and parked and was shown that we had to turn left then left etc, we were late so werent listening the instruction properly so was running in the rain to find the room, it was hiding in the end corner

Good luck Waffle! Green maybe it wasn't that bad, you never know.

We were there too today Green but got away just before the rain came - torrential doesn't even begin to describe it, does it? You may find she didn't play as out of tune etc as she thinks she did - I can imagine she felt anxious in a strange environment, having been entriely soaked first and not really knowing what to expect. You might both be pleasantly surprised, and at least next year she knows exactly how it is. Is she aiming for Training or U10's?

DD had the 'pleasure' (?) of a fire alarm going off in the middle of her first piece so we all had to evacuate the building and she had to restart her audition 15 mins later when we were allowed back in.... Nerves of steel job, and a huge hug afterwards!

Green - i hope it turns out ok - i never know how ours is going to turn out! ;you may get offered the regional orchestra if not the age banded (and you may get both :)); The Main and under 13s orchestras are playing at the Barbican in December so that might be a good one to take DD to?

I made a mistake of still coming to work and timed to leave on time and it didnt happen and we thought there isnt a need for practising with our accompaniment as we thought we know the pieces well and practised back in June for the exam( we couldn't schedule for it to happen as our teacher was very tight the last couple of weeks). She has never played infront of audiences so she was turning backward and gave the incorrect signals to the piano accompaniment and was panicking managing to be out of tune. I tried to make it as it is disappointed that we didnt do well but I am more disappointed when she doesnt care. Next year I will show her what is NCO, why it could be an amazing opportunity so she is motivated. I only read about it on the deadline day about 2 weeks ago so we deserve what happened. It was still a great experience and hopefully we learn from it for the future.

Sorry that was in reply to Waffle. Greenleave, that sounds stressful. Maybe it wasn't as bad as you think? I guess it's still good experience whatever happens.

Good luck with the auditions folks. I haven't checked on here for a while, as I'm immersed in a world of giving aurals, asking scales, listening, driving to accompanist rehearsals and tears!
Just want the exams out the way now.

Seriously - wow, he is 7.