November Music Thread

There were pianists on the general Pro Corda chamber music courses too. Really lovely environment for advanced younger children, they provide a real range of music making over the week.

Zee not on a weekly basis but procorda near Snape in Suffolk run piano courses in the holidays - wrong instruments for us but come highly recommend

Thanks trumpet and folk good to know other people are in the same boat! We also live in an area where it’s likely the teachers will know each other, although her current teacher doesn’t know anyone she can recommend so we will have to do our own research. I think we will just have to take our time...

Thank you Declansdaughter, trumpetboysmum and folkmamma, I agree an orchestral instrument would be so nice for him but he is completely fixated on piano and his teacher does not encourage a second instrument. Basically waiting for him to get good enough to do a bit of chamber music as a pianist but finding options for 10 year old pianists in general a bit limited. There was only one piano summer school i could find last year and it was all the way in Manchester so could only go for a few days. He loved every minute though so well worth it. CYM seemed like a great pre JD activity but they would want him to take piano there and not with anyone else and he already has a top notch conservatoire teacher whom we wouldn't want to lose. Does anyone know of any suitable places where he can do a bit of theory, musicianship etc on a weekend? Many thanks in advance.

Pretty easy @folkmamma . Go to your account and select a new user name. If it isn’t being used, it’s yours. Once you have claimed a user name, you can flip between names by typing your chosen name into the username box.

I change names because I am very identifiable on this thread, which is fine. I don’t post properly personal stuff (usually!). If I post something more personal, sensitive or confidential on a different thread, I use a different name so that people can’t go back and identify me in real life quite as easily. Unless they have an encyclopaedic knowledge of Riders characters, that is.

@TaggieOHara - how do you manage multiple usernames!? Is it easy to do?

Welcome @zeemama !!

@Lotsofmilkonesugar - it may be worth an email to a couple of the JD's you are interested in further down the line as many of their teachers travel in from elsewhere? They may be able to recommend someone who happens to be nearby. May also help with JD process later....

Currently sitting in my car in the dark while he has a lesson though

Hi Zee . It sounds like your ds is doing really well as others have said a second instrument where he can play with others could also be good.
Lotsofmilk we are in exactly the same position as you . Ds goes to a CAT centre locally to us as jds are quite a journey and he’s not yet old enough to do it by himself . Ds has recently switched teacher and I was so stressed out by it , and maybe put the decision off longer than I should . However in the end it was quite straightforward. I actually found his teacher in a music teachers directory but then remembered he had taught other trumpet players that ds knows at the CAT scheme . Ds was looking for something quite specific so that made it a bit more challenging. He had a trial lesson but it was clear from one lesson that this teacher was s good fit . He also asked his music teacher at school for advice - could your dd ask them ? If it hadn’t been a good match we would have just tried others , I was worried about upsetting people but as long as you are upfront I think it’s fine- it’s business ( and everyone knows everyone round here !!) though the new teacher lives an hour away which is a bit tricky but it’s working out ok

Thank you boy and knitting ! Yes, DD would love to do JD next year but we are 2 hours at least from London, I was thinking she could possibly go during sixth form when she could get a train on her own as I have other, younger DC...

Oops - used the wrong name. That was Taggie (although hopefully most of you might be up enough on Jilly Cooper references to guess!)

Welcome zee. Your DS is doing really well! And he sounds so keen!

I’m sure he would be well placed to get a music place in y6 as he would do well in the aptitude tests. is he interested in a second instrument? Perhaps something he could play in a group? As they get older, musical children like him get a huge amount out of chamber music and orchestra.

Or maybe you have enough music already to cope with

Lotsofmilk we had the same thing at about the same level and age. His teacher said that he needed a specialist in the instrument to take him further and as we were clueless in this area my husband chatted to someone who wasn't. He was given a couple of names, DS trooped off and had a lesson and they decided whether they were a good fit for each other. That was good for a few months until his teacher, who had packed in top flight playing for teaching and family, went back to playing. Round two of teacher/pupil auditions was rather like round one, trial period and mutual assessment.

Wouldn't option B be to audition for JD and start in September?

Ha ha, Zeemama, it is certainly a juggling act! I actually made DS join scouts so he was doing something non-musical! For me, it's really important to have other interests as well and make friends with lots of different children. Yes, music is horribly competitive and if that's your one and only thing then that can be really hard when you don't get that place you'd set your heart on.

Lotsofmilk, yes a trial lesson is a great idea. I would also be asking about track record especially at your DD's level. It's a very different game teaching beginners/early grades and teaching at Grade 8/Diploma level. If you can speak to any current pupils/parents even better. The NCO may be able to suggest suitable teachers local to you (although my DS's teacher is over an hour away but worth it as he is a world-class teacher so no need for JD). Happy hunting!

Hi everyone, I have found your past threads very interesting. I have a piano obsessed boy (just turned 10, started at age 6.5) who is about to take his gr5 piano exam and is very dedicated to practicing and playing 2-3 hours daily, sometimes more. Find it hard to balance practice/other kids/work at times and neither my husband nor I are musicians so can't always pick up on his mistakes. He is only in year 5 but we are already unsure about secondary schools as the ones my older kids attend have virtually no music. The more musical ones near us have very limited "music places" and pianists generally not useful to their orchestras etc. His teacher suggested applying to one of the Saturday London colleges when he is a bit older (in a year or so) and he is already totally set on that. Seems all very competitive though. Interested in how others navigate a healthy balance of music and life... :-)

Other than the recommended Yamaha YAS280 does anyone know of anything slightly lower price wise that could fit the bill as a good learner sax? We were looking at the Gear4Music selection which seem to be much cheaper than most other brands we can see - is this because they’re not suitable further on or will it do?

Then, excitingly, I have to shop about for my 9yo’s first instrument! She’s turning 10 at the beginning of December and has just started asking about the cello. She’s 134cm tall - do you think we should be looking at renting a half size?

I could really do with some advice from those of you who have fairly advanced DCs or especially teachers of advanced DCs. We had a chat with DDs teacher last week and she said she feels in the next year or so we need to find a more advanced teacher. DD is about to sit grade 8 and hopes to eventually go to JD and later conservatoire. She’s currently 13. Her teacher has been amazing, but DDs instrument is not her first study, she’s a general woodwind teacher.
I’m just wondering how this would work at this level. Do people usually have a trial lesson or two? Would you try a few local people, or would that be likely to cause upset?! It seems like a big responsibility to find the right person! Any advice or experiences gratefully received 🙂

I'm so glad mine wasn't a chorister now. She was very tempted and loves church/ choral music.
In the end it boiled down to logistics and there was no way we'd manage it.
Just looking at that and the others listed at the end is eye watering.
Saying that we revolved our whole family holiday around Opera for dd.

To be fair, it was 7 events (the divine offices) on one day, but you had to buy one ticket. DS’s choir sang two or three if I remember. It is here, in case you want to get your name down early for next year www.martinrandall.com/divine-office

Sounds like an amazing experience if you are very rich. There was a waiting list for tickets...

Mini - sounds really tough for your DD Perhaps she could sit out the too hard piece, and sit at the side, following along the music. She will learn a lot, including that not everyone is playing every note perfectly!

It can relate to the relative numbers of players and seats in the different groups too.

I was thinking watching DD play in a string group at the weekend, she looked rather out of things at times but she's right at the beginning of the learning curve as far as ensemble playing in general and that group in particular goes. Also cuuuuute! I'm not used to DD looking little, she's one of the tallest in her class.

£2000??? I complain at the £8 ticket when my kids play at LSO ST Lukes!!!

Thanks Catkind - maybe if they talk to her and tell her that will be alright if she doesn't play the whole thing, she will believe them. She's convinced everyone else is playing every single note perfectly - but that may just be her perception! There are some very talented children there though.

Slightly surprised there is nothing more middly for her - she started at the centre in September, and straight into this band was an eyeopener for her -her friend in the year above is much the same level on a different instrument and was put into the much easier Junior Winds which he is complaining is a doddle. Her teacher observed that she 'must have done hell of an audition to have been put there in the first place' - so at least she was comforted by that.