October Music Thread

So very strong and fabulous of your boy, alexandra. Thank you for sharing the beautiful choices. It's a very thoughtful send off x

Alexandra, thank you so much for sharing your story. Your chosen music are all so beautiful. And your DS is such a brave boy. Your mum must've been very proud of her grandson.

alexandra all the music you mention is very moving. And knowing how exquisite your DS' playing is, your mum's funeral must've been so beautiful and, like you say, expressive of something which cannot be expressed with words only. Welcome back

Glad it all went well Alexandra. Your description just brought so much back to me about my dad's funeral in February, and you are right about music capturing mood and emotion. My mum had held onto her emotions and hadn't been able to cry until DD1, also 14, played Gabriel's Oboe. There's just something about that piece.

Alexandra - we missed you. Thank you for sharing the lovely music choices. You must be so very proud of your Boy!
I very much agree with you about the importance of music at these times. It does seem to express something that can’t be said in words.

Awww! Very happy returns MiniMini what a lovely and exhausting day!
I suspect she may sleep quite well tonight!
DS2 went to string ensemble and spent the rest of the day on the computer or playing guitar!
Finally done with grade 1 music theory papers. After half term he’s switching to learning by topic rather than ploughing through each grade.

Well my little 7year old is today in fact a little 8 year old! A very happy, blessed and tired out little girl who's had a day of 5 hours of music and 3 hours of dance & she's absolutely loved it. Her favourite things AND lots of cake, treats and cuddles! Not to mention new music & leotard, of course

Ah, double posting, sorry...

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on my dilemma. I am leaning towards School A now... If I am 100% sure that we def move in near future, then I would like to go for School B, but you never know what happens. Putting ourselves in a situation where we feel great deal of pressure to move in a limited time is not wise...

Actually I was always obsessed with distance when it came to school choice for DS as I suffered daily long journey when I was a child. Combined with DS preferring co-ed, we eliminated quite a lot of good choices from our lists in both private and state. 50 mins one way was no way for me. But here I am, considering a school which takes nearly 50 mins from ours! Strange...

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on my dilemma. I am leaning towards School A now... If I am 100% sure that we def move in near future, then I would like to go for School B, but you never know what happens. Putting ourselves in a situation where we feel great deal of pressure to move in a limited time is not wise...

Actually I was always obsessed with distance when it came to school choice for DS as I suffered daily long journey when I was a child. Combined with DS preferring co-ed, we eliminated quite a lot of good choices from our lists in both private and state. 50 mins one way was no way for me. But here I am, considering a school which takes nearly 50 mins from ours! Strange...

Kutik, distance would be a very important criteria for me. It's not the most important one of course - DD travelled over 2.5 hours a day for the last 2 years (equivalent of years 11 and 12) so she could do her chosen course. We have moved now and she's 10 mins walk from school. She has a life again, and she is so much happier. Unless there is an overwhelming reason to choose otherwise I would always go for the closest school.

Travelling time also eats into music practice time, and time for any other extracurricular activities.

For what I know of minikutik he seems a child who knows what he wants and he's very sensible. I would liaten to his instinct too.. the travel time is important for a musician. He will be staying late for concerts and rehearsals all the time. You will end up doing that drive more often than you can imagine now!

Kutik - at this point tlastbyear I let dd have a larger say; we were happy with all our options and so happy that she should influence too (did t do it before in case she fell in love with somewhere completley impossible!!). Her fav has turned out to be absolutely the right fit for her

Reread my post and my typo/english got worse than it already was, hopefully you could still see the points

Kutik, just to mention as your dc is sporty. We have ended up with a lot of late pick ups as dc are in all kind of afterschool matches etc.So with a choice of 1 hour or 15 min travek time, we are glad we took the 15 min option....Although if you only have 1 dc to pick up it may not be that much of a problem.
Is there a facebook webpage where you can see parents comments?

What a wonderful result Kutik, minikutik rocks! I would choose school B too as he is also sporty, he will benefit from the great facilities.

Niggle, Waffle: all the best to your audition next week!

We have guests staying for 10 days midterm so I have been going to 2 food stores already and usually I do online shopping. The good thing is I made my house become more presentable, hopefully it will last till the arrive tomorrow.

We have exam date for piano and mine is so not motivated. I told her just try her best tge next 4 weeks then no exam until summer term yr6(a year and a half away). To be fair she hasnt had piano exam for a year now and we need it as a small push for polushing technique and being a little more disciplined.

Niggle: we have had 2 lessons with the new teacher and all we have been doing was leaning the right arm to the wall so we wont move the upper right arm only the lower and the wrist, its boring and frustrated however its needed. We were given smth nice to play with the next 2 weeks no lessons as my teacher is on holiday.

Kutik look at it the other way, there is not a bad choice. He will do well whichever he goes to. Toss a coin and if you feel disappointed when it chooses the wrong one, that will tell you what the right one is.

We all want to do the best but when it comes down to a choice between two equally (or nearly so) good things you can get decision paralysis.

I'd go with "happy" over "stretched".

Niggle, what’s a quick learner your DD is! Sounds like she needs a longer session than half an hour.

Yes string, but I need to feel it’s ok to let School B go to put School A first on the list. Looking at the previous year’s records, DS has a good chance to get in School A. I’m tempted by School B’s well organised manner and proving track records.

We also need to think the distance. It takes 30-35mins to School A, whereas 45-50 mins to School B. We are thinking to move but difficult to say when so need to prepare for the long journey for a while.

Kutik - if you put A first and B second surely you get B if you don’t get A? So you know you have one or the other?

Niggle - wow what progress! I would imagine an hour would be beneficial to support the tech dev given how fast dc is moving? We certinaly found the move to an hour very much needed

School B is an old school with good track records and well respected, whereas School A is fairly new with lots of hope and expectation so can be risky.

Suppose School B is an obvious choice especially they seem to be keen on him which is a bonus. But I don’t know any parent at the school so can’t really hear any real voice. None of pupils went to the school from our primary school ( different borough).

I know some parents and dcs at School A. All they say is they are happy. It has a happy school atmosphere. I’m confident DS would be happy there too. My question is if he will be challenged and supported enough.

My dilemma seems to be endless...

Waffle has a point. And school B really value and want him. Even calling you to ask about his requirements! That does seem more attractive than a waiting list.