December Music Thread

Green hope your DD has fun with the new violin. I think instrument size is a very personal thing: DD who is very petite (and has tiny hands) plays quite a large acoustic guitar and doesn't find it a problem. She finds it easier to play the full-size guitar than her downsized acoustic (equivalent of a classical 3/4), probably because there are other factors that actually matter more than size, including the quality of the set-up.

We could actually do with a 3/4 sized piano (since she has mini-hands) but they don't exist lol!

We tried few 3/4 and then just thought of why not 4/4 then they didnt seem as too big or might be because they are all old and rustic violins so they are not as big as the usual 4/4 brand new. The sound of 4/4 is so muchhhhh beterrr(when R played, not us). They can all be exchanged with no cost so we dont have to stick with it forever if its not the right one. She hasnt had a go yet since as we are just out of bed now then a long bath to follow.

Wow full size violin, is your DD in love with it Green?

DS2 is taking part in a NYJO workshop and concert in January, very much looking forward to it.

Full size violin???? Wow!!!

Misti: I am truly happy for you! Hope there are many more to come!
String: its a shame we didnt bump into each other today, admittedly I had a very long/late drive so was the last one for the day.

I took a deep breath and left the house at nearly 2pm and drove nearly 140miles on a misty and foggy day too despite the fact that I have never been on the motorway by myself ever(luckily she had a long nap in the car so wasnt witnessing my driving as much on the way there). We ended up with a full size as R said that it shouldnt be too big for her. The service was outstanding.

Sounds great trumpet boys-mum
Congrats on NCO

Yes I think she will really like it Gillybeanz.
She'll probably have to do the residential, but I think she would be fine with it.

it was great last year Paulweller lots of music and also lots of time for sports and games and all of the tutors were fab ds would definitely have gone back but he's got an nco course instead now

Aw, Waffle the poor child has had a bad bout of illness, from the sounds of it. I hope she is better soon.

Paul
She'll enjoy the Easter course and will give her a taste of what her sister is doing .

Trumpet
Our very good friends run NYJO and the younger collective, it's a great experience for them.
Too far away for us atm and doesn't tie in with school, but sometimes dd gets a free visit from some of them, if they can tie in with some work up here.
If you are near London and can spare the time and commitment an absolutely brilliant start to a professional career.

My little percussionist might be doing Easter course, at Purcell?
Haven't booked it yet though.

Prada - yes I did. Bit of a surprise purchase but I am committed to getting to whatever lowly grade I need to join the easiest community orchestra I can find by the time I retire

Ooh string - did you love it? It's like Olivander's wand shop....!

Trumpets/Boy - dd has done workshops with NYJC this year and will do 4 next year hopefully; not old enough for summer school but has loved the experience to date.

Kitty - well done to your little one. We also know some amazingly advanced pianists - think of diploma at 8 or 9; but I think you can be gifted without having done that.

Waffle - sounds like you are on the road to recovery in your house?
So we went to Woodbridge violins today and I have a viola for me for xmas😳 So any v b easy beginner book recommendations much welcomed!

Loose if he's not ready or doesn't want to audition and you are close to London then the courses that they run at kings place are also great. think you would have to wait till September now though . ds is going to his second one tomorrow he only plays with the beginners as he hasn't done much jazz before ( not that they are really beginners at all) but the older teenagers who go are amazing I'm looking forward to tomorrow's concert already

Petra that looks great, thanks! DS1 has a friend who plays trombone who might like this as well.

The Second best of luck to your DS, I hope it goes really well for him!
Trumpetboysmum that looks incredible. DS is definitely old enough but whether he's ready for it is another matter. On the other hand, just putting together an audition would be a learning experience for him.
drummersmum I meant to add thanks for the warning about Guildhall. It's ok to take a bass guitar on the Northern Line but I think the drum kit would never make it!

For courses dd is doing this www.brass-academy.co.uk/ in the summer - despite the name it also has percussion!!!

She did it last year having had all of 4 cornet lessons before and loved it!

drummersmum at the risk of outing myself I teach in the college where the rhythm studio is based! I didn't realise they were there in the Summer holidays! Definitely will look into it - DS1 loves jazz funk! Many thanks!

DS2 has his Grade 5 clarinet exam on Monday.

He has worked really hard towards this exam, so I'm feeling quite nervous for him.

Thank you for all replies.
I really should ask her teacher if she is musically talented, but he has taught my son for over 4 yrs now and because I don't play the piano myself I normally leave things up to him.
He is trying to find suitable songs for her as she is a tiny 6, so therefore has tiny hands and she she hasn't even used the pedals yet as she cannot reach them.
Exam out of the way she is now learning Pam Wedgwoods Summer Song and Christmas carols.
To be honest we only did the exam because she wanted an certificate and was shocked when the teacher wanted to enter her for G2 as my son took his G1 after 2 yrs.
We only practice up to 20 mins max per day and some days we don't because she doesn't feel like it.
The same with her brother.
It will be interesting to see how she did in her exam as she came out in smiles and said she enjoyed it?

but great sorry posted too soon

Loose I'm not sure how old your ds is I got an email from the national youth jazz collective yesterday they run an amazing auditioned summer course which I think is probably suitable from mid teens up. Ds isn't ready for that yet but is doing a year long non auditioned course with them at the moment it's great. If your ds doesn't want to audition or is younger the brass academy are also running percussion courses during the Easter and summer holidays ds went on one earlier this year not jazz ( and not cheap)