October Music Thread

Just caught up again so that was for both miniwaffles.
double sorry to hear. But nice to cheer yourself up with Matilda which yes it was fabulous.

Congrats on all the audition success!

Great audition news! We went to a lovely concert with the trondheim soloists last night, always nice with some inspiration 😉
Ds is playing piano in a house concert on tuesday and the girls are playing in a church concert on friday, so thats some extra practice motivation

Just remembered it’s miniNiggle’s audition day today! She sounds super talented (progressing like a lightning) so I’m sure she’ll wow the panel. I’m sending her good vibes!

Thanks Kutik and Mini

double sorry for your family's loss xxx
(PS Matilda is one of my favs!)

Double

Well done to Rara Waffle!

DD2 didn't make it to the workshop Kutik. My uncle passed away last week and I got back last night after a road trip of 1300 miles over 4 days to the north of Scotland and back with my sister, collecting my mum on the way. Having missed most of half term, we all went up to London to see Matilda this afternoon. Brilliant! Can't believe it has taken so long for us to go.

Well done to all those who have done the NCO auditions and good luck to those who are auditioning very soon!

The 3-day orchestra workshop finished today with a great concert at the end. It was his second time to do this workshop. The first one was in Feb and it was his very first orchestra experience (after only a couple of the NCO rehearsals so almost zero experience and certainly no concert at all). It was a totally new world to him and he enjoyed it so much that he cried on a bus feeling so sad it all ended. He really wanted to go back, so had an audition for the youth orchestra run by the same organisation and became a full member. Since then he attends their weekly rehearsal. So, he had no reason to cry this time, knowing he'll be there next week for the weekly rehearsal (different music though). He was all smiley and happy on way home.

He was also the partner of the concert master for the concert. He was the leader of the second violin at the last concert so he felt he was 'promoted'. Of course I was happy for him, but also it was convenient for me as I could see him very well. He is a baby one there so if he had been sitting behind someone I would have struggled to watch him!

Well done Rara😀

Waffle - dd says U12s/u13s sightreading was the same - last line was for Mains (she declined to do that!!); they told her the confusion was because there is a different set up for strings (last line is main and u13s). Who knows really but if you really have a strong preference I would drop them an email as may be harder to change when seats are full.

Well done Rara! That's great news - and well done to Goo on her fab audition!

Yay to Rara!!

Just wondering if your mini is at the workshop, Double?

Jaxx, a big welcome to the thread! Thank you for sharing your thoughts on the school choice. As you can see I am still thinking, and thinking, AND more thinking!

Every parent I spoke to whose DCs attend School A seems to be very happy with their choice. Seriously I haven't met any single one who has a serious concern. The audition was chaotic, so it did worry me how the school manages the daily requirements/demands. But parents (and DCs) seem to have accepted the imperfection (and no where is perfect anyway) as the positives the school can offer is much greater. That's my impression. I'm so glad your DS is thriving there (and G5 singing for such young age is impressive).

By the way, your DS didn't enter the school as a scholar, but you don't sound local. How did he manage to get a place? Sorry for being nosy, but this school is so famous for such a tight catchment!

School B offered a personal tour so I asked if it would be possible to arrange one BEFORE the closing date of the application. They came back and it's arranged as we requested. It's so tight timing-wise, so I feel very grateful that they actually troubled to make it. It's not an open day nor audition days, but a normal school day. I'm interested to know how we feel about the school then. I think we will know if it's for DS or not at the visit.

We are considering independent options too. A problem is DS doesn't want to go to a single sex school, this means many of good schools had to be crossed out. We have registered DS at two schools. We liked both schools very much before. But perhaps our memory is simply faded, but feeling less enthusiastic about them at the moment. Both are a great school though.

I like boarding schools for the reasons you mentioned (no daily journey involved!). But it's not our option at this stage. Unfortunately the selfish side of me knows I am not strong enough to let him go yet...

I was going to wait until November to introduce myself, but have decided to jump in early.

My son is 11 and has been playing the piano for just over 4 years and started to learn the alto sax in September. He decided to stop singing lessons at Easter after Grade 5, but will still sing in choirs. He is taking Grade 5 Theory in a couple of weeks with a view to taking Grade 6 piano next session.

Kutik - my son started at your school A in September (I read the soon to be deleted thread). He wasn't admitted as a Music Scholar, but was made one a few weeks in to term.

We rank towards the top of admissions criteria, which gave us real choices. I wanted a school which had great music, offered Latin and was within 45 minutes door to door. I saw a lot of schools - mainly private, School A and Mossbourne. School A was my second choice - I really liked the head and the general feel of the place, the knowledge-based curriculum suits the way he learns and I liked their discipline policies, which although strict were far more reasonable than those at Mossbourne.

Unfortunately, he mucked up the computer Maths test for our first choice - but it was probably for the best. Overall, I really like the school so far and the music is of a very high standard. I would check that the school offers enough Sport for your son - mine has is not sporty (ASD and Hypermobility), but I don't think there is as much emphasis on sport as there used to be - they do what they can, but it is expensive when you have to bus kids to external facilities.

I can't compare it to School B as that is too far West for us (It takes 40 minutes to School A, but is a simple journey).

If I were you I would also look at independent schools, possibly even boarding schools as they are hard to beat with extra-curriculum activities. Given you have two good state options, I would openly ask about scholarships as he is such an excellent all-rounder. There are still some meaningful scholarships out there and you son sounds like a strong contender.

Hello everyone, back from work trip. It has been exhausting and today is my recovery day. DS has been preparing for the comp and working on gcse history essay. My best friend is giving a piano concert tomorrow evening and I'm looking forward to that! mini jazz is so much fun, so liberating and they learn so much musicianship. misti does he also compose his stuff in the guitar like his sister?

Here you go, such a lucky girl! If she is in a place where she can get a appropriate help to learn jazz piano, why not? It will certainly make her musical journey even more colourful and the opportunity will be even widen! And she is still so young so she has many many years to enjoy the benefit!

kutik her new JD teacher seems very interested in the jazz side as well as classical and her previous teacher had said she thought it might be fun for her to do a grade or two of jazz, before there was even the grade 5 question

Mini, we didn't do the jazz grade 5 as we would have needed a teacher to go for the route. DS's music lessons were purely for practical, so neither of piano and violin lessons covered any extra. Theory seemed the most straightforward and do-able without a professional help. Basically that was only reason why we went for it, and I think DS would have chosen the jazz route if he had been given a choice. Having said that DS has benefited a lot from studying theory in many ways and he got straight into the more advanced musicianship class at JD due to the experience/knowledge, so on the whole it was a good route for him. I know one boy who opted for the jazz grade 5, and he seemed to be enjoying the process including the attention he got from his peers (a primary school age playing jazz was so cool ). If your DD is in a fortunate place where she can go for any route, then I think the jazz option would def be an interesting choice.

Loose kids are on their 2 week autumn break and during the first three days of the hols my would-be guitar hero literally played guitar from the time he woke up till about 10pm every day. So yesterday I made him go to Ikea with DH and today I've got him to put up some furniture ;) (he likes building stuff).

I love the Scarlatti (K149) but my chances of ever playing it at the proper speed are approximately zero.

Thank you! We've managed to get her slotted in for her trinity G3 piano in December so I think I'm going to suggest we swap one of the technical tests for aural as a bit of a bridging maybe. We will go shopping for some stuff! Thanks for the suggestions and experience.

loose go for it!!

Anyone here done the jazz grade 5 instead of theory? I'm wondering if it might be a more "her" option.

Misti we’ll see if I actually ever do this exam! Scarlatti is a very nice choice. I did one for grade 3, so a much easier one than yours, and very much enjoyed it. Got terrible mark in the exam compared to other pieces, mind you, as the examiner didn’t like my version - much to my teacher’s indignation as she really did! (In this case, my teacher was wrong!)
How is the guitar hero getting on? My would-be version is having a break from lessons this week but still practising in the front room (aargh!) but he did do his cello practice nicely yesterday so I’m tolerating it. He spent a lot more time on the computer than on his instruments, though, sadly.
I am tempted to pick up the guitar and dig out his grade one book and have a go once they’re all back at school...