November Music Thread

Get well soon Green!

Thank you to whoever recommended the BBC4 Sheku documentary, it was really great. Very inspiring.

Never that's an idea! I think there are a few of us...
Oh poor Green I hope you feel better soon - but enjoy the lesson today, will be interesting to hear how it goes!

I am "enjoying" my (very rare) sick day today too, whats a flu season! We have a whole choir(with coughing) in this household at the moment-gosh, none stop!
Only good thing about it is, I will be sitting in today lessson which hasnt happened for a very long time, so looking forward to it.

About flute, very tempting here, might not go there for now though until we are slightly settled with the two instruments

Loose We could start a practice diary thread?

I will read it then, sounds like it could be quite inspiring in a way! Maybe if I tackle grade 5 I should keep a diary of the ups, downs and excuses for not practising. I can imagine entries such as ''Feeble efforts met with mocking stare from cat'. Mind you, it's more fun to post here! Or at least fun for me, it's possibly quite tedious for everyone else!
Waffle I felt really sorry for DS2's piano teacher on Friday. His cold just escalated once we got there and he spent most of the lesson alternately playing and blowing his nose.

Loose I don't know if it would give you an inferiority complex! It was quite funny to read about all the different people he talked to, like I could just go and ask Murray Perahia what he thinks about the interpretation of these bars of music. But I thought it was very encouraging that such a busy person manages to find time to play quite a difficult piece, and how much fun people seems to have playing music together.

Suspect Play it Again is going to give me an inferiority complex!! Though I do have a shed (but not a sound-proof one!)
The Sheku programme was very interesting - the key thing appears to be that the kids all want to practise and don't have to be reminded! Also how cool was it that when his youngest sister was practising cello he wandered in, fixed her bow hold and she was transformed!

drummers I was thinking about Play it again on my way to work - I was just remembering how funny it was that he would turn up at a party and Alfred Brendel would be there, and how he could build a sound-proof shed for his piano. Unlike mere mortals such as us!

I watched it drummersmum- very good.
Clearly a talented family, or children who practice a lot or a bit of both.
Also rather clever too.
I'm sure he'll be fine, he seems like he has his head screwed on.

Prada what a marathon for both you and miniprada. Glad she did well and it's over and now you can really enjoy the 11plus
gillybeanz do you have any advice for eliphant ?

Did anyone watch the Sheku Kanneh-Mason documentary yesterday?

Thanks fleur

This is the carols book for clarinet that DD is having fun with. They are easy and good sight reading practice because she knows the tunes and has no trouble reading them.

Good to hear the festival went well for miniprada!

Well a week without music festivals . She did really well in both piano classes. Next year I am definitely entering her into the older kids classes as she fares better with the trickier pieces. An amusing moment when we realised that the hand wringing about whether or not to take G6 piano in December at the violin teacher's special visit was unnecessary as the festival judge congratulated on on playing a difficult piece 'not yet even in the examination arena' - she is working on the 2017/18 syllabus and so can't anyway We had a good giggle with the piano teacher yesterday who hadn't realised either!!

Sorry to hear of your car woes Waffle. Bad luck. Hope Goo has a speedy recovery.

Was thinking of you all re: flutes. One child at miniprada's orchestra had left her brand new Yamaha flute (with solid silver mouthpiece) on the train. It has not been handed in after two weeks - poor child was beside herself. I only hope that it is lost in the tfl lost property system rather than found its way to cash converters or eBay.

Thanks Fleur!

Hi all I came here after drummersmum referred me to this. My previous thread is www.mumsnet.com/Talk/secondary/2782269-Pros-and-cons-of-sending-a-child-to-a-music-specialist-school I have a 10 yr old daughter very keen to go to one of 5 music boarding schools. It will have to be one of the 2 London ones because of the distance. Well she just likes the idea of boarding schools - like Hogwarts etc. I don't think she is mature enough to work out what the impact of doing so might be. Also she usually does not like to be "pushed" by her teacher and is rather messy and disorganised, etc. I just feel she would not like the regimented life at boarding school but I'm afraid she'll hold it against me if I didn't let her go and at least audition. If she fails the audition then that's me sorted then. I hate to sound mean but I really doubt she will like it, but as she is headstrong, I don't think she will forgive me unless I let her have a go. I would like to hear your experiences of your children at this sort of school, especially if your child has been homeschooled. I am feeling really tired now but will respond later in the day. At the risk of repeating myself, I hope my initial post in the other section will suffice. No trolling please... I am simply not up to the effort of responding... I am seeking gentle support and guidance from anyone who truly wants to do so for me. Thank you in advance.

Thank you all for the good thoughts, DD is better and ready to start a new week tomorrow. I am a bit down but I have outed myself here a lot so I won't go into details.

se22 I've got a clarinet Christmas Carols book for grades 0-3 I'll take a picture of it tomorrow (I am in bed) and post it for you.

Hi Waffle, hope you have recovered from the accident.

What is the name of the clarinet carol book please? Dd may enjoying practicing it too.

drummers I've read Play it again and it's what made me try to play chamber music. :)

Bbc 4 8pm doc on Sheku bbcym winner about to start

Quick update, what did I say?
We now have another Selmer Mark vi sat in the music room.
There were 197 saxes in the mass sax choir this morning and dd and her school friend were the youngest.
She tried a baritone and sopranino and tried to get round her dad when he arrived. Needless to say she is back at school now with a few free reeds and no more saxes.
They asked for volunteers to go on stage during the masterclass, she was there like a shot apparently, she didn't get picked to take a solo though.
Dh said there were some of his colleagues there, lots of professors, players and of course Jess She had no fear and was mingling on her own without dh, talking to them all as if she was their peer. I'm afraid she gets her communication skills from me, she's fearless

Loose I am reading one of the books DS got for his birthday: "Play It Again" and I keep thinking of your posts and your progress, so similar!
www.amazon.co.uk/Play-Again-Amateur-Against-Impossible/dp/0099554747

Ah, Buddy Rich is a favourite here, too. MiniPaul has good taste! Good luck with the piano - you may find it's quite addictive. 'Indian Pony Race' going well here - I've almost ironed out all the 'help! Where now?'moments!! Still having to go very slowly on the 'Pleasant Meadow' but it is the whole piece hands together now.
Have let DS2 off practice today as he has a streaming cold and frankly I don't want him sneezing all over the piano!