January Music Thread

Great news, mini! Massive admiration to miniTrumpet's great work ethic! And good luck to Loose's boy in the cello exam preparation! Gosh, DCs on this thread are astonishingly hard-working and diligent.

DS is currently taking his first 11+ exam. He is doing two schools and this is the one that DS is unlikely to get through. We discussed and accepted the situation and decided to treat it more of a mock for the other school, which helped remove the unpleasant pressure off. I was even excited when I saw a long queue at the school gate, all heading for the same exam.

I said to DS, 'isn't it quite exciting?!', and he replied 'not really, mum!'.

Year, of course, sorry, son. I got carried away with the unusual atmosphere... So I reminded myself to be quiet and serious and waved to say good-bye' to DS who was trotting into the building.

He must be doing the maths paper now. I'll have a quick cuppa then go back to the school to collect him...

Ha! DS2's teacher is keen for him to take cello G5 in March. That means I get to do my scales tyrant thing again (worked for piano, it can work for cello!) and then he can start learning some new pieces and think about theory a bit more. Piano won't be at least until July.
I don't think we're looking at grade 8 until sixth form!

Well done with the dance mini !! Hope you got to school on time - we are struggling here with the very dark mornings .
I'm sure the music will be ready for the festival it seems that here we only have time to really focus on things when they are imminent !! At the minute though that seems to be ds's school exams which aren't till next month but school seem to be piling on the pressure and ds isn't one to not care so I guess it's about me making sure he doesn't stress and work too hard ( but actually does revision that's useful) in the next couple of weeks

Hi ladies. I’m trying to catch up on the thread but we had a very manic last week of the holidays, very dance based although boot camp went well too. She spent last week trying out for a national dance modelling opportunity... and out of 1000 girls, she was the only little one to get it! So we are very delighted for her. They’ve got a photo shoot next month, the uks biggest dance convention in March and loads more stuff coming up.

Sunday was back to JD, which she was delighted about. She started new g5 clarinet work and was very pleased to crack a bit of theory she’d been struggling with.

We’ve got festival starting in ten days time and have established we are nowhere near ready.... argh! Today is the first day of back to school and I turned the alarm off by mistake. Not ideal!

Thanks for the tip for the sight reading book, was embaressed to find we actually have that but never opened it(had a big music sort over Christmas) so just need to get him to work systematically through it. He is very much of the launch right in school of thought for sight reading. DD 2 is going to her first wind band rehearsal tomorrow with her oboe - she will be the only one so hope she still enjoys it, she will have to get used to it though as no double reeds in the region as far as i know.

I think I've just decided to do G3 piano this summer too!! Just spent a happy hour picking out pieces And finding my way through...

Also enjoying youtubing all the other pieces mentioned

DD1 had orchestra rehearsals after dinner at her last residential, hard on the little ones!

She is working on Cello Sonata in C Major by Breval for a festival next month. Last year she played the Infant Paganini and I enjoyed listening to her practice that a lot more . After the festival she will concentrate on Bouree by Squire and she is also has eine kleine nachtmusik as a chamber piece. Listening to her playing that is funny though as even I know the tune to that but she keeps sounding like she has gone bonkers and forgotten it when she's not got the melody.

Waffle, DS likes the sound of cello, viola and harp. He also likes to try trombone and flute but simply because there are some tunes he wants to play on them. So year, he is prone to be more attracted to strings definitely.

found, Mollenhauer's Boy Paganini is a nice piece!

Thank you for replying. Dd doesn't mind either way!

found; I know all music residentials vary - the one DD has gone to for past 4 years in the summer definitely does sports (tennis, swimming, rounders), games etc for those not wishing to do music related activities after dinner. Your DD will hopefully find the right balance of music making vs down time...

use = used - not any more!

catkind, Walton Concerto is absolutely gorgeous!! Thank you for mentioning it here otherwise I would have never known the piece. I love both of your plans (short and long) and your DCs '. DS also use both Piano Adventures and Suzuki books for his piano and violin studies.

found, my DS used to be sporty rather than musical and having a super fit daddy he was so used to do lots of active stuff none-stop (his weekends was really crazy due to his mad daddy being in charge). One day I signed him up for 3 days music workshop. He had never done a full day music, let's alone 3 days!! So on way to the workshop, I told him he wouldn't need to go back next day if he didn't enjoy it. He was incredibly active at the time that I honestly thought he wouldn't cope without any physical output (such as running, jumping, falling, whatever). But he loved it. He was very sad on the last day. I was amazed! He returned to his usual wildness next day though.

Taggie, no DS hasn't played the Mozart E minor sonata. It's a beautiful piece! I assume it's one of the easiest sonatas written by Mozart but still it needs a high level of precision and accuracy as well as musicality and fluency. On top, Mozart wrote this sonata shortly after his mom passed away... DS can certainly have a go if the requirement is to play it at grade 7 standard as it was listed in the past. But I don't think DS can express the deep sorrow running underneath the beautiful melody yet. Too sublime me think!

Waffle, which one do you think comes more natural to Rara? I hear some people suit to certain instrument more than others. I just wonder if it's true and how it's obvious. DS expresses his interest in other instruments but I haven't let him touch them yet. I sometimes wonder if I am stopping him explore and find his instrument (he says he loves violin most but of course he would say so as he knows only piano and violin).

Oh Waffle! Rara and Moll sound like kindred spirits...

Dd planning to go on a music residential later this year. She isn't as heavily into music as some (well, most) of your dc and she is asking what people do in the evening?...."Just more music or other games" (she is someone who normally participates up to 15 hours of various sports and I can't see her sitting around for 5 days....).
She did a day with them and really liked it so therefore planning the longer course.

DS2 is playing the Mozart E minor sonata and Salut d'Amour (original E major version). He is also still working on the Bach Double and a bit of Corelli. He will play the Elgar and Corelli in a festival in a few weeks, then we can focus on the Mozart, which he loves, and the Bach, which is good for him

Kutik - has your DS played the Mozart E minor sonata? I think he would play it really well, although it wouldn't challenge him technically. DS2 is only just learning spiccato, so finds a couple of passages quite hard.

Hahaha drummers! I wish I could share this with her 😂

I know the scene de ballet ealing - great fun :) So much lovely music to choose from kutik!

I'm trying to learn some viola repertoire at the moment. I've been playing it for years in orchestras and chamber music but hardly any solo repertoire. I know a lot of violin repertoire, but didn't pick up viola till after I stopped having lessons. Long term plan: learn the Walton concerto. Short term plan: preparing for a little (but big for me) solo in the summer with one of my orchestras!

Kids' plan is simple as they're near beginners.
DD violin is doing suzuki books (although not with a suzuki teacher), so that'll keep her going for years. Currently tidying up one of the little Bach Minuets in book 1 for those that know them. Feels like real proper music!

Piano both DC have the same teacher and she does seem to be into exams, so I'm expecting a Prep Test for DD some time soon. I am quietly working through some Piano Adventures with DD on the side as the music from the teacher isn't challenging her yet. It's really boosted her music reading though, so I'm more than happy with what they're doing.

And DS is working towards gd 1 piano. After that I'm going to be asking for him to learn lots of easier music as the gd 1 has been a bit heavy for him (he likes the pieces though) and I really want him to sort out sight reading too.

Tuesday swim at 5:20 Showing you all ladies the true identity of miniealing

Ooh seeing all these lovely pieces being suggested is making me very itchy to get Noo started on something new! The last decent piece we did was Mollenhauer's Boy Paganini which she did for the NCO audition. Panto has really put the brakes on... can't wait for her next lesson, hopefully her teacher will have something good for her to get stuck into.

Oooh, Double! We had a similar problem before. DS performed the same pieces at several places for different purposes, and he had to play a shorter version for one place. We simply cut the repeating bits so it still sounded 'completed'. But I was worried if he would mix up and wrongly play a shorter version when he was supposed to play full.

I have already booked a play date at the end of January (all the exams would be done by then!). DS is so looking forward to it. Boys got some fab stuff (named games) on Christmas day so claim they MUST have a play date to test out each other's 'fab stuff'.