November Music Thread

Congratulations Shakey, you can put your feet up for a while now.

Shakey Congratulations to your DD!

Shaky that's an amazing score. Many congrats.

Green I too use the journey back from work to write a plan for the evening's practice (which rarely starts before 19:30). Without a list of practice points/scales etc the evening here can get heated.

shaky 127! Many congrats to her.

Evening all,I'm feeling quite screamy tonight. Ds has come home and decided that he's not going to practise his pieces but instead do a piece that his school music teacher has asked him to do for their winter concert. Don't feel I can say not to do it especially as we don't have a date for his audition yet. He keeps forgetting to use the bottom third of the bow for some reason.

On the plus side,he's working through his theory books. He finished one last night and has got straight onto the next one.

School homework has gone out of the window.

I need a drink!!

We have certainly had our ups and downs with my supporting practise. As drummersmum says we are only human. I think that we can see where music can take our children and the opportunities it presents. It's how I met my husband of twenty-something years.
My children both love music and have had their moments of hating it on this run up to exams.
Miss 12 looks like she is going to get stuck into some serious technique. We have her results! She got 127. Haven't sent the comments yet.
Miss 10 is doing lots of fun stuff for the rest of the term and then ARSM is on the list for next year.

Well done Shaky! Bet you're so relieved! Next tranche of dates has come in for miniprada and school selection process 😬😬

Shaky: must be a massive relief to you, congratulation. I am being ambitious and hoping there could be a grade 8 day for us oneday. By then she will be on her own, just thinking of it makes me happy

Fleur: feel for you. Every day I am on the train home I plan what will be happening in the evening, how can I win(meaning 30-45mins proper focused practice). It rarely ever happens. For example, last night because she was too tired so bed at 8, no practice. Its so hard to be calm.

Sorry Gherkins, I'm well over the border and Eisteddfods are foreign territory for me.

Shaky what a relief. Good luck with results.
Gherkins can't help either sorry. The whole festival thing is still a bit of a mystery to me.
Fleur I know how you feel but it'll pass. We're all tired at the end of the day and our support sometimes just isn't perfectly toned because we're all human.

Gherkins I have absolutely no idea about Eisteddfod! Hopefully someone here would know.

shaky That must be such a relief!

No tantrums here the past two days, for a change!

We had a stroppy evening last night sight reading related. I feel bad now it is just that I lost it with the lack of concentration. She was playing the the hands wrong in one of the exercises, playing the left hand in her right one and the right in her left. She was obviously tired but so was I.

Hopefully I'll make it up tonight and stop nagging.

Two grade 8 exams done.
Stress lifting from household.
Phew! I need a stiff drink!

Stringchild that's amazing! I definitely want to get DS2 trying it! He had a choice last night - practice one instrument playing all his new and more difficult pieces and write his music essay (due Friday) or both instruments and write the essay tonight. I was at college but DH reports a solid 35 minutes on each instrument. Obviously preferable to writing an essay!
Grumpy teenager much more cheerful this morning after coming home in a mood yesterday because he was covered in ink after his pen "exploded". I think his music lessons were a welcome distraction!
Waffle I am so impressed with Rara - she really has found her instrument! And MiniWoolleybear seems to be racing along with the bassoon!

DD's school have just started an orchestra this term and though they are lowish on numbers at the moment (12-15) the standard is good, apart from one new violinist and a grade 1 flute they are all grade 3 or above.

I'm watching with interest regarding secondary school as we will be facing this next year. The state school we would prefer has an excellent senior wind band that tours the country, we have a family friend who is 17 and the lead clarinet in it, dd wants to take her place in a few years. We have watched them perform and you can tell the enthusiasm of the teacher is totally infectious.

The majority of dd's friends will be taking the independent route which we will also consider but it will be dependent on us getting a bursary.

We are still looking for outside school music. DD currently plays in a junior wind band but is hoping next term to be able to move up to the senior band with her clarinet and play bassoon in the junior one, we shall see as it will mean 3.5 hours of playing straight after an hour of school orchestra. We found a great new band at the start of term but it didn't finish til 9.15 and was a little way from home so was just too much of a late night for both of us. We also got offered a place for bassoon at a music school last September and decided not to take it as we didn't want to dedicate 9-1 every Saturday morning with no input into her main instrument.

Evening all, can I pop in and ask a question or 2?

DD1 is just 8 and has been singing for a while and her teacher has just entered her for an Eisteddfod - I have no idea wheat to expect at all and DD is just floating on not worried about her pieces at all. She is singing in 2 classes but other than that I am clueless as to what to do/expect on the day. Anyone with any tips?

Loose and other cello moms (and violins too?) _ DD has spent a happy hour this evening trying to get an even 32 notes to a single bow for Donkey and Driver....endless amusement and well worth a go for a laugh if you feel tempted to put it their way :)

Drummersmum- I agree about neighbours. We are lucky to be very remote at the moment. We are looking for a second London property (it won't be detached!) if miniprada chooses the London indie option and I have been thinking about what we would do about early morning practicing!!

Smiling at "hogwarts school and school but not a school":))

Hahaha, so it isnt just us, phew! I dont think she actually brushes her teeth neither needs the loo that long(she doesnt clean her teeth properly either and once a week I have to wash her hair because she doesnt do it properly during the week- imagine you stand in a shower for a very longgggg time then when its finished your back is still completely dry if you know what I mean). And staring at the mirror or staring at anything for long time aimlessly is so typical(and I dont even have a girly girl as she doesnt care about "the look"-yet). Sometimes I think of sending her to a camp where her day is packed and there isnt for these wasted private time in life...

I totally agree with the decision for specialist music school/ JD really does have to come from the child.
Sometimes I wonder how dd manages the workload and the long days, her timetable reads like boot camp, but they do get good breaks.
It's not for everyone and many musicians never attend such a school, it isn't necessary.
I'm happy with the all round education she gets even though it's the minimum acceptable to cover the nc.
We knew this when we signed up, so have no regrets at all.
It isn't the place if they enjoy PE as too few children in each year to form teams and there is no time for extra curricular activities because they need down time. We also knew this when we signed up.

If anybody is ever interested I will gladly pm her time table and will also ask for friends 6th form, if anyone is just interested in these years.

Definitely Gilly!
I'm glad I went with what she wanted to do, but then there was never much doubt.

Paul

Hogwarts for musicians
That's what my dd calls her school. I can remember when she started and she told all her friends that it was music with extra curricular Maths, Eng, Science, etc.

DS2 gets up at 7 and sometimes manages a bit of piano practice before school. DS1 has to be lured down with breakfast although I have heard some quiet bass practice after that! He has two music lessons tonight and two school tests to revise for and has eaten all the snacks in the kitchen already...

Respect all these early risers! We can't do it, won't do it. It's 7am here for the two males and 7:15 for the queen of the house who gets orange juice pressed by royal consort because she would press an onion and not realize. Le Dauphin leaves for school at 7:50 by which time queen needs intravenous caffeine. Even if we went for it, we're in a terraced house and can't make music before 8am.