Active discussions

Help protect children from gaming harms.

Take our survey

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Extra-curricular activities

Find advice on the best extra curricular activities in secondary schools and primary schools here.

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.

OP posts:
Thread gallery
7
Xennialish · 07/09/2017 21:04

52 timetabled hours of lessons, performance or tuition Confused

Xennialish · 07/09/2017 21:01

I keep looking at DD1's timetable too...4.5 timetabled hours for 3 different cello ensembles, plus 1hr lesson and only 2 hours scheduled practice. The only other time she has to practice is Saturday lunchtime because of all her chorister commitments....her sight reading will have to improve from good to outstanding I think!

Mistigri · 07/09/2017 19:54

I need to go and watch some videos by the sound of it!

Both mine are back to school properly now - DS on Monday and DD yesterday. DD has the timetable from hell - she has 37 hours of timetabled classes a week Shock, before allowing for homework. She already had a heavy timetable because of her bilingual option (three subjects taught entirely in Spanish), but this year she has also decided to take Latin as an extra.

Music starts next week - guitar classes for DD, DS and me, and piano (1.5hrs a week now) for DD. We have moved and now get a residents' discount at the conservatoire which means that I will be paying 200€ for piano lessons for the whole school year. Bargain!

waffle well done to Goo, that's amazing. My DS is starting German this year as a third foreign language (but English is his second MFL lol), I think he will enjoy it.

Fleurdelise · 07/09/2017 19:03

Thank you Raspberry and loose. She had to dig it out for the potential secondary school audition if she goes past the "noise test" as a friend of mine calls the MAT.

Back to normal routine as of next Friday, both piano and clarinet lessons are back, exciting to see how the new teacher will teach, now hopefully there won't be any clashes. Band starts on Tuesday but dd can't go as she has the MAT exam. Oh well....

LooseAtTheSeams · 07/09/2017 17:24

Love the new videos! Star to MiniFleur for her lovely playing and for sharing it with us!

raspberryrippleicecream · 07/09/2017 17:21

Thank you for the many lovely comments about DS2. Sadly it is all in the past and he is a tenor now, and I can't quite believe he has decided to stop singing lessons. He is still singing in the Cathedral Choir though.

I've also enjoyed Minifleur and Drummers thank you !!!!

Glad most people have started/returned to school successfully. Sorry Rara is having a hard time Waffle.

My two returned yesterday and are ok. Music hasn't really got going again yet.

Pradaqueen · 07/09/2017 15:02

Hello everyone! Settled miniprada into the new school so glad I am not the only one joining on page 7 having stupidly posted the last update on September 1st on the old thread 😂 Absolutely no time at the moment for practice and miniprada has a music scholars concert coming up so who knows what she'll play? 😱

Hope all the other year7 minis are doing well and also those ready for the madness of 11+!!!!!

Kutik73 · 07/09/2017 06:17

Waffle, thank you for the advice on flute. I did a quick research after dropping the question here, and thought Yamaha 211 secondhand would be the one. You confirmed my guess.

Thanks all for sharing how your DCs are balancing academic and music at secondary school. Although it seems manageable, it's also confirmed that DCs does get fair amount of homework. Some of DCs I know who go to different primary school get 1 hour homework daily already, and when you think how academic side gets weigh more at secondary school, it's very natural that they get more work.

All in all I was happy to have chosen the school known for less homework. The other school is giving three solid hours by now. DS would have to give up any music dreams.
This is exactly what I'm worried about. When we visited School A I was shocked by the strictness and heavy workload and instantly deleted the school from my list. For some reasons, I re-visited again and looked around properly and quite liked it. As we don't have many good options, the school looked shiny and I probably tried to forget about the first impression and suitability to DS's needs. I must re-think the whole thing again...

Schwanengesang · 07/09/2017 02:52

Would it be possible for someone to pm me the video channel url please? I'd love to see/hear all the performances.

AlexandraLeaving · 07/09/2017 00:34

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

drummersmum · 06/09/2017 22:46

I hope to have time to watch tomorrow. goo great start! loose hooray guitar. fleur txas and good luck with 6th form...snif...I am already getting in the mood.

Original poster
Wafflenose · 06/09/2017 22:22

Yes, trying to upload to Youtube, but phone is having difficulty. I'll persevere.

OP posts:
Fleurdelise · 06/09/2017 22:15

Waffle is it the one of FB? I'll go and watch it now, I think I was at work when it popped up and I could watch it.

Fleurdelise · 06/09/2017 22:14

Wow! MiniRaspberry! That's all I need to say!

Original poster
Wafflenose · 06/09/2017 22:14

Yes, the Yamaha. Traitor.

Actually, I do have one of her playing Twinkle Twinkle on the clarinet without a mouthpiece. She was doing made up fingering to help with the pitching. It's very bizarre.

OP posts:
Fleurdelise · 06/09/2017 22:09

Waffle which clarinet did you go for, was it the Yamaha?

Dd doesn't let me record her anymore as she plays really bad when I do so, she gets nervous and makes a lot of mistakes. So tonight I asked her to play and sat down and recorded without her knowledge, the sound is quite bad as I was too close to the piano but I couldn't move without drawing attention to what I am up to.

At the end she saw the video and asked me to share it Smile

Looking forward to hear Rara and Goo playing when they're ready.

Off to see Miniraspberry I must have missed that video.

Original poster
Wafflenose · 06/09/2017 21:54

Wowee, just caught up with the videos! Minifleur's was very competent and atmostpheric. Miniealing did a fab job, and I now need to get that piece! Drummers is SO cool, and MiniRaspberry is absolutely angelic and gorgeous. I recorded Rara last night, but she was tired and it wasn't good. New clarinet is coming in a few days, and she has two lovely cello pieces on the go (polishing an old one, and learning a new one) so I'll try again at the weekend if she's more cooperative.

OP posts:
Fleurdelise · 06/09/2017 21:39

Good to hear Goo had a great transition shame Rara didn't, hopefully she'll be better soon.

Went to upload dd's piece recorded tonight and found Drummersboy he is fantastic! I actually want to see him in concert so if there are any opportunities please let me know drummers.

Ironed all the shirts and trousers for the boy who's starting sixth form tomorrow. I feel so nostalgic...

LooseAtTheSeams · 06/09/2017 21:30

Fabulous start to Y7 for Goo! I'm impressed by the maths prize. I think she may have found her people! Poor Rara, it can be tough at primary (DS1 only really enjoyed the last 2 years for various reasons and 'enjoyed' might be a bit strong) but so pleased the cello lesson went well. She's done more practice than DS2 )but he has at least done some each week and there is a distinct improvement in the pieces.
Stringchild sounds like your DD is amazing as well!

stringchild · 06/09/2017 21:12

Glad everyone back into the swing of school so quickly! Yr 7 homework is a bit of a shock already - min 90mins per night across 3 subjects -and it really does seem to be that much eg two essays plus science research one night. We are tired and no music practice has been possible. I suspect we may need to put one instrument aside for a while if we are going to do either instrument justice. Youth and school orchestras and groups start next week - again will have to see how they fare. Still dd loving it at the moment...

Trumpetboysmum · 06/09/2017 20:57

Great news that Goo had a good start hopefully Rara's term will start to improve.

Original poster
Wafflenose · 06/09/2017 20:41

Glad this thread is bobbling along well. I barely have time to read it now I'm back at work, much less contribute. I'm now having to juggle three schools' worth of different start and end times, term dates, commitments etc. Goo and I are now up at 6.30. She has to leave at 7.50ish, but can go later once she gets into the swing. She loves the new school, finally has the odd academic peer, and there's a girl in her class who's also working on Grade 5 Piano. Goo is on the leaderboard for the most house points in her entire house (200 pupils) and also has the joint most for any of the Year 7s (240 pupils) so far. She won a prize in Maths yesterday. Go Goo!

Rara has had a terrible transition so far, and is being completely obnoxious. She behaved for her cello teacher and played like an angel though! Teacher was amazed that Rara had averaged out practising once every two days (if that)... she has seen a few kids today who haven't looked at the cello for 6-8 weeks, including one who's grown out of his cello without realising! LOL!

Kutik tell them to look out for a second hand Yamaha 211. Goo has just had to upgrade for Grade 8, but we bought her old flute second hand and it was a good one.

As for coping with everything... hmm, ask me again in a month. She's currently doing 15 minutes piano at 7.30am, and 15 minutes flute before bed, because that's all we can manage. There will be less dawdling to and from school eventually, which will save a lot of time.

Goo's language for the first 1/4 is German. She surprised herself by enjoying it. My aunt is English but has lived in Germany since 1980. If Goo sticks with it, they can email each other.

OP posts:
LooseAtTheSeams · 06/09/2017 19:37

DS2 loved his introductory guitar lesson so I have paid for the term. He is very happy! i am somewhat poorer!

craddock287 · 06/09/2017 18:41

Thank you all!! I've not been interested in grades...ad an adult, ensemble playing seems more important. However, I do like structure and something concrete to work towards. I sort of feel like g8 is a gateway. It feels like a beginning. But the intermediate is a benchmark. Validation by someone external to my learning process. I do loads of scales work- in fact, my scales are currently g8. (I did say I'm a bit odd!!).... So don't need an exam to help focus on scales. But pieces- think it would be brilliant. Very concrete . HAving thought about it, I think I shall look at easter. That gives plenty of time for prep and enjoyment. Again, thanks for comments.... Very helpful.

drummersmum · 06/09/2017 18:36

kutik i agree on homework info not always being consistent. However when DS started at his school I was told the work load was light in year7 and 8 and that was spot on. Meanwhile the nearby similar school was supposed to give one hour a day and that was spot on too. My experience is that as the years have progressed the homework has increased and it has become a major issue re individual practice. It may also have to do with playing in six school ensembles mind you! All in all I was happy to have chosen the shool known for less homework. The other school is giving three solid hours by now. DS would have to give up any music dreams.

Swipe left for the next trending thread