August Music Thread

Such a relief string child - after all his anguish about going it all went so much better than he feared. Was homesick, but manageably and loved his tutor and the social staff and was thrilled by what he learnt musically. He does find it rather gruelling but it was a real success this year. Phew!

Now I have to see if I can wrestle him off on his National Youth Orchestra trip.......

Michael - it was great wasn’t it?! Hope your dc had a good week (dd loved except the food....again!)

to Floot. Neighbour issues are always very tricky for musicians living in residential areas...

I was considering BAM, but got GEWA as Floot's recommended. It caters what DS needs. We love it.

Great to hear your girls are back to practice routine, folk. Still on holiday so things are very much rusty here...

Just heading home after the NCO Under 12s concert - the standard these children achieve always amazes me.

Some very thrilling trumpet solos in the American in Paris - might that have involved trumpetboy?

Phamously We got DD a violin case from Gear4Music.com it’s the Deluxe 4/4 violin hard foam case £59.99 so reasonably priced, room for music and rest, and has padded back pack straps. Would recommend.

Will do Waffle! We’re already on our way! I’m wearing a boring polo neck (and there is a pic of DS2 on the channel).

I have three dc that got through 11+. We only had a tutor in y5 and also used cgp books as extra.

Thank you for violin case advice. I think I actually need to buy two, so now struggling a bit to find two reasonably priced cases 😬

Thanks Taggie, she'll have 1 new song...I think it will be started in September. She doesn't know anything else suitable, so I'm hoping she'll have enough time to learn it.

Glad she'll get feedback as I've told her it's a learning experience...wouldn't be very rich if she doesn't know how to improve.

We are normally very structured with our practice, but it's been so busy we haven't had the motivation time. Planning to get it together next week

A few years off 11+ here, but we start working towards it September. Is everyone using a tutor...we are going to see if she can self study - and maybe bring in a tutor year 5 if it's all going to pots

Great that you got Noo and (especially) Moll going again, @folkmamma. Glad there weren’t too many tears! Are they having lessons over the summer?

We are taking the opportunity to get plenty of music in over the summer. It is going to be a busy term ahead, and so I want DS2 to have audition and concert pieces ready by September.

Slightly off topic, but Is anyone else preparing for 11+? I’m just starting with DS2. I teach maths for science at masters level, but I am completely baffled by some of the methods they use now! And I remember 11+ as mainly involving calculating the area of garden paths! It seems to have got much more rigorous... It’s going to be a tough 6 months .

Floot your neighbour sounds like you are not going to be able to appease her, so you need to focus on what's reasonable.

Our piano is in our quite small front room and it's on a rug, with an old duvet behind and over the top, because it sounds very loud in a relatively small space. House is detached, but I often play with the windows open in summer and the neighbours don't seem to mind.

Back to practice today after what feels like a loooong break! Noo not really done much structured practice since the week before Pro Corda. She had 10 intense days of playing on PC and then County Orchestra residential, but not her pieces or studies, and then we went away on holiday, so things were a little rusty!!! She kept her frustration in check though, and I think we both felt better for getting back to it (although her violin was rather grumpy!!!!)

Moll hasn't played her cello for ages either, but for wholly different reasons. She's been sooo challenging of late I didn't dare push the issue of practice!! But she was good today (and annoyingly fortunately her playing doesn't seem to have suffered for the break!)

We have a Gewa cello case - love it and so much lighter than other hard cases.

I normally lurk and have name changed a few times. I have a violinist, a trumpeter and a percussionist.

We have a Gewa Air case for the violin and it is quite literally bomb proof.

Wow - lots of recommendations for Gewa cases. Thank you.

Thanks so much for all the understanding responses.
We had already had the idea of talking to the council, and also the M.U for their advice. I'm going to try the duvet trick too, thanks. We have an oak floor in that room but have put the piano on a large carpet off cut to help deaden the sound but maybe a rug on the rest of the floor would help.
It's come as a shock as we have been neighbours for 18 years and always, always tried to be mindful of potential upsets. Over the years, they have made various ( some would say petty) complaints and requests and we've always bent over backwards to accommodate them, eg they complained our cat was going in their garden, so I bought and gave them some stuff to deter him from digging up their flower beds; we wanted to put trellis up on the front boundary but she said she was worried it would reduce light in her lounge, so we didn't put it up after all. When her husband was alive, his hobby was wild turning. He had a shed in the garden next to our boundary fence so that we'd hear chain saws and lathes going for hours and hours every day. We never once said a word about it, because we figured he had a right to oersue his hobbys.
That's what's so upsetting - the fact that she spoke to DH the way she did, after just one day of having the piano and knowing that we're not problem neighbours who don't care about anyone else.

I'm going to keep a record of every time we play, duration etc, just in case.

Sorry to hear that floot. Could you try to agree a time when you can play? The advice on consulting environmental health pre-emptively is excellent.

owln definitely a good idea to pick pieces your DD is secure with. We did not do that, and it was a super stressful experience, although DS2 did get in. This time round he is playing one piece he has already performed in a master class and another, he should be okay with, I think! You get the result and feedback several weeks later. They don’t say anything much in the audition.

Yeah i get it now

Oh goodness druid im suddenly very glad i live in the middle of nowhere! I was feeling a tad sorry for myself driving the girls 2 hours each way daily for a summer music course last week but at least we have no neighbours to complain about practise.....

Floot your neighbour sounds like someone who likes to complain. She is already complaining about 'potential' noise of the piano, not actual noise tells me she is being unreasonable not you. Seems you are being very patient and considerate.

Spoke to DD violin teacher, and she is happy to go ahead with NCO auditions - seems there is no longer a training orchestra, so she will audition for u10's. Not sure of pieces yet...possibly one of the gr4 from recent exam and a suzuki book 3 piece. Any advice gladly welcomed. DD is quite aware she is not likely to achieve the level they are looking for but no harm in audition experience. A friend has stressed to me that the level is high. Will there be feedback given at the audition as with festivals?

Found a piano teacher to trial in September for 2nd instrument...no piano yet though. We'll have to start with a digital as we don't have space for an acoustic.

Also suffering from lack of sleep as DD2 is teething and had high temp all night

phamously dd1 also has a gewa case - a luiteria one. It is fairly heavy but seems to be doing a good job of keeping the violin safe.

floot neighbour problems are a pain but you are not being unreasonable. Does your local environmental health have mouse guidelines you could refer to og your neighbour doesnt get over herself?

@Floottoot you are not the one being unreasonable here. She sounds like a grumpy cantankerous old bat that has nothing better to do. To me, this would be like waving red tag to a bull! But I'm guessing from the fact you have been so considerate thus far that you are keen to keep the peace. You are perfectly within your rights to own a piano and to make music in your own home - as long as it's within 'reasonable' hours (ie not bashing out a la Jamie Cullum at 2.30am....) then she's just going to have to get over it.

Buy a pretty card and a cake, politely explain your position and reassure her that you intend to be as considerate as you always have been, and then let her get over it x