(Mostly) August Music Thread

Owch! Is that how much an accompanist costs?

I think we'll go solo.

Oh and I was asking because I can imagine what the new teacher will say if I drop it on her in September, oh my darling Dd is auditioning for NCO, I drove her a bit mad anyway about the length of lessons and duration through the year, she probably already thinks I am THAT parent without starting with her and saying "my dd is so amazing she'll audition for NCO". Not that I think she's amazing, I think she would benefit from auditioning and if she'd get in it would be amazing, I haven't got high hopes though considering they are stating grade 4-6 for U11s and dd just did grade 3.

The books I've ordered though have cds and are grade 4-5 so we can see how much justice does she do to them. Having cds would be easier for me to identify if the preparation is anywhere near performance level.

I remember last year when I first came to know about NCO from here, we put our name at 11.30pm on the last date and it was end of September. I didnt even know what was NCO and what does it do. We then decided to play the 2 pieces we did for G3 in June. We didnt practise and had no teacher from June so no surprise we didnt get a place. I later on came to know how competitive it it is, it was nice not knowing and naive in the sense that there wasnt any excitement or disappointment. We paid £25 for the fee and £100 for accompaniment. If we do it this year I wont have accompaniment as I dont think its worth it for us(level of preparation and dedication). We havent chosen a piece either, reading here people already chose their picks, I remember Kutik mentioned a special piece. I think others deserve much more. What I find in music is, some other children play so much more advanced and better and we are in awe because we know how hard not only in term of talent they have but more in term of how much hard work and dedication. In short, they earned it.

Hope all NCO children and parents have a lovely day today! Enjoy!

Thanks for the encouragement foundout and Niggle I think we'll start preparing a couple of pieces from the new books we've ordered but that will have to be after our holiday. If I think she sounds any good by September I'll see if I can still get an audition space.

Is anyone else doing the last G5 theory in November before it changes format next year? We are going for it. Did 1 hour yesterday on book 4.

DS, with a range of educational pysch problems has GCSEs next year and he will need all my attention and help. And there won't be time for everything.

Fleur, I just booked DD's audition and we have chosen pieces ourselves. Will go over them with the teacher around September after a few months practice.

I don't know where these teachers are that organise everything or suggest things. Ours is good, I think, but doesn't do that.

DD is auditioning for county orchestra and county strings in Oct too, more likely to get in!

And have just booked an intermediate strings ensemble afternoon in Cambridge with Marianne Olyver in October through ESTA, if anyone else is interested. 4 hours workshop, they send the music beforehand and ends in a little concert.

Hello Schwang, originally from Auckland here. Are you near Christchurch? Only so many cathedrals in NZ!

(oh, and 30kg here)

Not NCO but lower key audition. This is what we did and then nearer the time just checked with the teacher to see whether they were "suitable" for he audition. ....and then less than a week before dd changed her mind and chose a different piece.
(Not as bad as other dc who 30 min before ABSM exam changed her mind about which piece to play, well, no, she always wanted to play the other piece but was too scared to ask her teacher....)

Welcome to the new people Didi and Schwang.

Talking about NCO I wonder how crazy would I be to put her down for audition, chose two pieces with her, her her piano teacher to check dynamics and readiness closer to time and see how it goes, there's nothing to lose is it?

Does anybody know when is the closing date for applying?

I am intrigued by piano trainers also.

I just realised that sadly we've missed the NCO audition as dd won't have a teacher till 16th September. No help in choosing pieces and polishing them. I was going to put her name down sometimes in August as her previous teacher was going to confirm dates available during the summer to teach and prepare dd. Oh well maybe next year...

I am intrigued by piano trainers......

Sympathies Waffle. We do that journey to DH's family but with an extra couple of hours added on. At least it is mainly motorway.

DS2 is back at Cathedral Choir today. Doesn't usually sing in the holidays, but they are doing a 'special'. Feels very weird.

Piano trainers you say waffle? Obvs. We need a picture of those!

schwanengesang do you have any family/friends in the U.K. Who could get a batch from eBay for you then ship them over to you in one go? We've had some that way. We are fortunate there's a bookshop sells second hand music locally.

waffle thanks for the new thread, I had failed to realise it was here til now!

I'm mama to 7yr old little lady who did G3 clarinet and g2 piano last term. She plays in 2 county bands & is joining orchestra in September, hopefully. She has the most wonderful teacher who she adores though she's moving to JD in September. We decided to put her in for NCO audition, for experience largely. Following from the weight conversation, she's 128cm and 21kg. She's a dancer too so never stops moving so can eat for Britain and has legs for days. We are quite early on in our musical adventures so our instrument collection is comparatively disappointing! Student B flat clarinet, cheapy E flat clarinet that she first started on, piano, ukelele, a few recorders and a random fife?!!? She is after joining the guitar club at school in September to tinker on that so I guess we will be adding a guitar to the mix soon. She's looking forward to learning the bassoon in due course.

We have just got back from a fab week in London- she did an Ignite workshop at RCM, went to the proms, ballet summer school at Pineapple and finished the week with a proms family workshop. Plus a wonderful time tinkering with her musician cousins the whole week long on clarinets and lots of improvising at jazz piano. She had so much fun.

Hello.

One of these years I hope to be a regular on here but for now DS is 9mo and can't be let near my violin lest he smash it. Loves bashing the piano though. I used to play violin back in the 90s but haven't practised in years. Would like to restart that, and piano, and learn to sing properly, and lead DS by example in playing/ singingstuff that is simple enough that he might be interested in copying it. Currently singing is my only instrument, in a cathedral choir that is currently a bit saggy (no money for a DoM or any heating, and everyone is tired of struggling for numbers/ having no budget/ having hands too cold to turn pages every service).

Does anyone know where I could get old ABRSM /Trinity/ Suzuki books for violin, voice and piano, grade 1 onwards? Ideally cheap and secondhand, really don't mind if covered in scribble/ trashed. Amazon UK obvs has them but paying international postage on every item means it gets too expensive quickly. We live in a small town in NZ where books and sheet music are horrifically expensive - think 20 quid for a trashed secondhand ABRSM grade 3 piano book from the 1960s...

Hello Didip. Your little DD, same age as my youngest is doing well. Can't get mine to do more than 10 minutes without lots of faux wailing about arm hurting. Doing any music with focus at 7 is an achievement. Some children just do really love the violin! More challenging with both dyspraxia and dyslexia certainly, so more impressive. My DS has both diagnosed , and I appreciate that DCs have to put in so much extra effort to get results.

Hello. I love reading these threads, I rarely post anything as we are very much just starting off but I thought it might inspire other newbies to join in if I did ! I have 7 yr old dd who is approaching grade 1 standard ish violin. Taken a while to get here - not massively musical but a real little grafter currently has violin on holiday with us as didn't want to miss a weeks practice. She is also dyspraxic and dyslexic but her violin has been brilliant for both - It makes it harder but it's fab OT. Her little brother is starting violin soon age 5 as he wants to be like his sister. She is very very excited about this ! Her other brother loves drumming at school and has zero interest in learning anything formally. I used to sing and play clarinet many years ago. We have a surprising number of instruments considering the lack of music currently happening in the house - piano, Bb clarinet A clarinet, tenor sax, 3x cheap recorders, guitar, full size violin, 1/8th size violin and soon 1/4 size violin. And small djembe drum !

Hello Prada! And wow on the "puppy", we dream of having a beagle one day!

Loose: fingers crossed for the result!

Only, Fleur, Niggle, Double, Waffle, we all have similar age daughter, mine might be the heaviest, just weighted her before going out tonight, 35kg! ( and I am on the same height as Waffle, 1.59cm).

Thanks Waffle I'll order some and see how we get on when we get back from holiday.

Waffle what strength reed would you have your pupils dd's level? She's on 2 vandoren the blue ones but she started squeaking more often recently and I know that last time she was squeaking her teacher increased the strength. Obviously I don't want to do more harm than good, I wonder though if we should try a 2.5.