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Original poster

September Music Thread

665 replies

Wafflenose · 01/09/2017 01:01

Hello, and welcome to a new thread for September. This is a lovely, calm and supportive corner of Mumsnet where we can talk about everything to do with music lessons, exams, practice, auditions, and whatever else you like. Contributors of ALL standards and ages welcome. There are lots of experienced music parents on here, but we also have a steady stream of beginners, and the collective knowledge on here is impressive.

I'm Waffle, teacher of woodwind - mainly clarinet and recorder these days. My DH plays the guitar for fun. We have two DDs - sensitive, highly strung and accident-prone Goo (11) who plays the flute and piano, and starts secondary school next week, and laid back, funny Rara (9) who plays the cello and clarinet, and is also a reading machine.

There's not too much going on for us musically this term, apart from auditioning for NCO in October. My main priority will be getting Goo settled in a much bigger school, with a longer day, and she's getting there under her own steam, eek! Luckily for us, we don't have any music exams or secondary school entrance stuff going on, but I know that lots of you do. I am anticipating Grade 8 Flute and Grade 3 Clarinet next term, and Grade 5 Piano in the summer term. I've no idea if Rara will do any more cello exams after the drama of the last one! At the moment, she says she's sticking to the odd numbers. Nutcase.

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Fleurdelise · 17/09/2017 17:48

Wow at the amount of homework! Shock

We've upped her game since school started as I want dd to start doing more organised work rather than just play all day so she gets 3 maths pages to do a day (takes about 30-45 min) and now she has to do music theory also, I ask her to read a couple of pages a day from the book and then I ask her random questions.

Once the grade 4 and 5 Eric Taylor books turn up I will assign her a couple of pages a day too.

She obviously also has to do her music practice and read but somehow there seems to be enough time to do it all and get a bit of spare time. Weekends are more relaxed.

Hopefully she'll get used to more structured work till next September.

drummersmum · 17/09/2017 17:47

OMG what a list.

Original poster
Wafflenose · 17/09/2017 17:46

We knew exactly what we were getting with this school (the local state comprehensive). She'll get used to it, and there will be slightly less homework in Year 8. I'm encouraging her to do 60-90 minutes each weekday night, so that she can finish off the rest on either Saturday or Sunday, and go out on the other day. Last weekend we went out for the afternoon on Saturday, and today she managed to go to SWMS for the day. Just a geography poster left to do. We have had reading activities, maths research, maths investigations and calculations, build a cell model for biology, make an adjective poster for German, learn German numbers for a test, learn a German conversation (and all the spellings for the words), a DT safety poster, a geography poster, some reading for PE and Art, gather ingredients for Food lesson this week, research designs for a children's lamp, writing a paragraph about a music club she has tried, and I forget what else...

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drummersmum · 17/09/2017 17:46

Ha ha kutik if you could see the size of his pasta plate at dinner you wouldn't wonder whether he's real.
Wow waffle that's a heavy start with the homework. I hope they're brief!

Kutik73 · 17/09/2017 17:28

I just can't picture DS doing so much homework. He's got a dad who doesn't allow DS to do homework/study at weekend... DH firmly believes children should be outside ALWAYS... I don't think his view will change in a year.

Fleurdelise · 17/09/2017 17:27

Waffle I feel for Rara, I was a child who used to get psychosomatic stomach ache as I hated school for a few years and nobody believed me properly. People thought I was trying to fake a sickie when in fact I can still remember the pain. I don't remember when it went though.

I hope Rara gets over her worries.

se22 already exam dates for the autumn term? That's come around quick. Good luck!

drummers good to hear dd's teacher isn't talking rubbish, I was a bit baffled when she was praising her playing improvement. What I can measure and see though is the maturity and determination shown. Like there's new energy coming from her.

I envy you Kutik and drummers for meeting up, I want to be part of the clan Smile

Kutik73 · 17/09/2017 17:26

Oh wow, 17 homeworks already...? I'm so dreading to think of DS moving to secondary school...

Original poster
Wafflenose · 17/09/2017 17:18

Goo went to her CAT for a new academic year's introductory day. It's her 4th year. The group used to have around 36 children, nearly all teenagers, but it's all been re-structured. There were 15 of them today (12 boys and 3 girls!) aged 11-15, so that's a bit better. Most were guitar and drum players - very few orchestral instruments, so Goo was arm-twisted into playing various solos. She did it, and said it was better than she remembered! She now needs to get her geography homework done. There have been 17 homeworks given out during her past 7 school days, and this is number 17, hurrah!

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se22mother · 17/09/2017 16:16

Sympathy waffle. I hope it works out,

We have G4 violin in 3 weeks. The teacher says there is still work to be done on the pieces. Now I'm feeling apprehensive Confused

Kutik73 · 17/09/2017 15:51

Waffle, I feel for you and Rara. DS didn't have a good start last year, though we couldn't find what exactly happened. All we knew was he was not happy at school. All seems fine at the moment, though he doesn't tell me everything.

Kutik73 · 17/09/2017 15:33

drummers, so glad DS didn't talk much so managed to give you such positive impression! Grin It was such an honor to meet drummers family yesterday. I must confess I kept peeping minidrummers during the talk, checking if he was real! I felt like I met a celebrity. He was as delightful as I expected. Can't wait to see him on stage in real. We are also very happy with our choice. It was such a friendly and happy place. For those who are interested, apparently 52 children aged 7-18 yo entered this academic year.

Original poster
Wafflenose · 17/09/2017 12:17

I am not too worried about Goo. She will find her feet, and she'll be pushed eventually. She is a funny mixture... she's SO sensitive/ emotional and not very resilient in some ways, but very capable in everything that matters (apart from buttering her own bread, which she can't do yet) and I know there is a confident child under all that angst.

I am worried for Rara. She is terrified of going to school. We got her over the rough transition, and now a new fear has cropped up, as well as old ones resurfacing. Will email or speak to one of her teachers tomorrow.

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drummersmum · 17/09/2017 11:18

fleur I have a friend who's a pianist and she said the same. I observed the same jump after a holiday. She said the brain keeps processing the music even if you don't actually play it.

Fleurdelise · 17/09/2017 10:34

Poor Goo with the braces, she'll be grateful though that everything has been fixed when it is all over.

I am sure school matters will be sorted, it is a difficult year and it will take a while to fully settle, hang in there.

I am dreading year 7 with dd as she is already quiet and keeps her head down.

drummers JD sounds good and meeting Kutik and mini must have been fun.

Regarding dd she barely practised this summer, we had good intentions a few times but seeing that she only had one lesson during the holidays it was hard to keep her engaged. It's funny but she obviously needed the break as by the end of yesterday's lesson her piano teacher was praising her focus and effort and telling her how much her music Reading improved and her playing in the last few months. I said to her that I am a bit surprised as there was barely any practice and she said that she sees that a lot and sometimes you need a break for your brain to process what it has learnt.

drummersmum · 17/09/2017 09:23

loose glad to hear he's feeling better.
It sounds as if minifleur is really on form! And waffle don't worry too much, it's early days and Year 7 is about finding your place and yourself in the midst of so much change, new people and new environment. Soon she'll realize she's the queen on the party.
Jd started yesterday. Friendly place and I feel happy, reassured DS had chosen best for him. And I had a chance of meeting kutik and minikutik who so was delightful, smart and mature.
Ain't I lucky Grin

LooseAtTheSeams · 17/09/2017 09:05

Thanks Fleur! He seemed to be much better last night, leaving him to sleep it off this morning!
Poor Goo with the braces and homework. I suspect the teachers at school will have some strategies for encouraging her to put her hand up in class. I had the same issue but for a different reason with DS2 at the beginning of year 7 - he thought he was doing the right thing by being quiet and getting on with his work. He was most put out when the teachers told him he needed to contribute more in class.

Original poster
Wafflenose · 16/09/2017 20:48

We were going to get all the practive done today, but loads of homework going on, and lots of emotional drama. I have one so perfectionistic that she won't perform and won't put her hand up at all at the new school in case she is wrong. She is convinced everyone else is better than her. Lots of angst there. And just like that, within ten days of going back, the other one appears to be school phobic. I think everything else is going to have to take a back seat until I can get the pair of them sorted out a bit.

Goo had elastic bands and power chains added to her braces on Thursday. They will close her gaps in a matter of days, but she can hardly play the flute in any case.

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Fleurdelise · 16/09/2017 20:05

Hoping she'll be fine by March, her teacher says most of the knowledge is there but she just needs to realise it is.

We had a great first practice, she hasn't complained about the piano having so much to do suddenly, she's done it even if I stopped the scales half way but as she's out of routine I was worried she'll have a strop.

Clarinet practice also done.

Original poster
Wafflenose · 16/09/2017 17:42

I obviously meant THIRD time... having a bit of a weird day!

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Kutik73 · 16/09/2017 17:12

Fleur, I bought the Take Five book last year... But I bought it more for me so that I could be of any help when DS needed some support (so DS didn't use it). I had zero theory knowledge, so it was quite interesting at first (to get to know things), but then I was stuck somewhere in the middle, and..., the exam date came before I managed to understand fully and be useful for DS... Suppose it's because of my unfortunate brain as it has good reviews and people seem to understand perfectly...

Fleurdelise · 16/09/2017 16:53

Loose hope DS2 feels better soon.

Waffle I'm hoping to give her a some grounding and go through most of the stuff she needs to know but I've ordered the Eric Taylor's grade 4 and 5 theory plus the pink book, her piano teacher wants her to still go trough the grade 4&5 books quickly and then as we approach March (probably Jan/Feb) start doing past papers to identify any gaps.

She definitely wants the exam in March and I agree. She wants to have the grade 6 pieces chosen by Feb so she can do it in the summer term.

So there you go, no exams planned initially and suddenly we have two to work towards and that's without any clarinet plans, but I do have a feeling there will be something happening there also. Which means that we'll potentially have two exams same session again but they won't be the same day anymore.

Original poster
Wafflenose · 16/09/2017 16:37

I had a pupil who'd done that book by herself, with help from her parents. She failed Grade 5 twice and then came to me for some lessons to help her pass first time. It might be fine, but don't take the title at face value!

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Fleurdelise · 16/09/2017 16:32

DD has done some maths, then she read some music theory from this book, apparently it is really good (the book) less boring than the pink one, anybody used it? Now she's doing some music theory homework that her piano teacher assigned.

September Music Thread
LooseAtTheSeams · 16/09/2017 14:34

Fleur It sounds like the clarinet lesson went really well - totally normal to feel stressed before meeting a new teacher!
I do like 'Cool' and may choose to do it myself!
DS2 had a good string orchestra rehearsal this morning but is very full of cold, poor child. DS1 had a stomach bug in the week, though rallied valiantly, so we're back to school with a vengeance!

foundoutyet · 16/09/2017 13:28

dd sits so close to the piano when playing the recorder I am worried she drools on the piano keys...