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November Music Thread

688 replies

Wafflenose · 30/10/2018 22:09

Welcome to all musicians/ parents of musicians, young and 'mature', beginners and advanced, plus everything in between. This is one of the nicest corners of Mumsnet and the music threads were started for my older daughter towards the beginning of her musical journey, 7 years ago. Everybody on the thread was a beginner once!

I have recently seen "we're not a musical family", "I'm not musical" on here quite a lot, and would like to gently challenge that... perhaps you may not have found the right instrument/ teacher yet, or have no desire to play, but I think that everyone is musical. It's not a special something that is limited to certain individuals, although of course everyone's aptitude and natural ceiling varies. I have had the pleasure of teaching almost 1000 people to read and play music now, ranging in age from 3 to 96 and incorporating a range of additional needs, and I think they all got something positive from their lessons! What our young musicians most need from us - whether we play ourselves or not - is lots of encouragement, time and space to practise, and of course the constant taxi service and financial support we give to their lessons and ensembles!

I have two DDs, Goo The Energy Conserver (flute and piano, lapsed recorder and picc player) who is pretty lazy and complacent at the moment and just wants to enjoy her life, and Rara The Awkward (clarinet, cello, recorder) who tries hard... when it suits her! We have nothing special lined up this term, but possibly piano and clarinet exams for next term. Goo claims she wants to dust off her recorders and theory books to get another couple of Grade 8s before she leaves school. I'll believe that when it happens.

Over to you.

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Owlm · 30/11/2018 15:56

Well done miniealing!

Hope you hear soon cant Cake

Lotsofmilkonesugar · 30/11/2018 14:59

Well done to mini ealing! 🌟

Crazygirlmama · 30/11/2018 14:38

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druidsong · 30/11/2018 14:15

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ZakStarkey · 30/11/2018 13:53

Hope you hear soon Can’t,
Well done mini Ealing!

Trumpetboysmum · 30/11/2018 13:53

Ealing that’s excellent news well done to your dd!!
Cantkeep I hope your ds hears soon, hopefully today so you can have a sort of relaxing weekend?

TaggieOHara · 30/11/2018 13:51

Congratulations Ealing! Star

Alsoplayspiccolo · 30/11/2018 13:26

That's absolutely fantastic, ealing, I hope she's very proud of her wonderful achievement. (less of the scraped....a distinction is a distinction, and brilliant at grade 8!).
Is she likely to want to carry on to the ARSM now, or is that it for exams?

ealingwestmum · 30/11/2018 13:09

Hoping cant receives good news about NBB today.

We got an unexpected early result here in G8 violin. Just scraped a distinction, I am so pleased for her, as the nerves these days seem to take over the reality of preparedness, as she was this time around even with her spinning plates.

hertsandessex · 30/11/2018 09:43

Good luck Knotaknitter. Had a friend go through this two years ago after taking a gap year to prepare - the nerve racking hell of three rejections and then the joy of acceptance at number 4. (She has since quit and realised not for her but that's another story!)

Knotaknitter · 30/11/2018 09:30

Can't No news is good news but even so I hope he gets an answer before the weekend.

TaggieOHara · 30/11/2018 09:20

fingers and toes crossed for NBB!!

LooseAtTheSeams · 30/11/2018 08:22

Good luck NBB!

druidsong · 30/11/2018 07:33

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Mendingfences · 30/11/2018 06:01

Hope today brings good news for NBB!

Lotsofmilkonesugar · 29/11/2018 21:09

Good luck to cant and NBB, that’s very tough when his friend has heard already... hopefully tomorrow will be the day 🤞

PancakeMum6 · 29/11/2018 20:44

Yes Taggie those are the videos that totally enthralled her! Along with one of a Paralympic swimmer who has a full prosthetic arm and plays the violin beautifully.

I’ve got her a quarter size violin but am going to take her to test out which length of bow works better once the prosthetic arrives (it’s a very similar design to Adrian Anantawan’s).

My older DD’s teacher (she learns through secondary school) is going to come to the house to teach her and is very excited about the challenge. I’m nervous but excited - she wistfully told me the other day that she’d ‘always wanted to make music but I don’t know how’.

TaggieOHara · 29/11/2018 20:23

What a fascinating question Pancake. A longer bow will be fine. The teacher should mark your DD’s middle of the bow, point and heel, according to the dimensions of her arm - as is common for all children when they are growing into a too big bow.

The middle is where her elbow would make a right angle and the point is as far as her arm can extend while keeping the bow parallel to the bridge. The heel will depend on the set up of the bow holding device.

I assume you have seen the videos of this chap prestigeonline.com/sg/people/-/meet-adrian-anantawan-canadas-one-armed-violinist/

Amazing talent!

Very best of luck. Let us know how she gets on.

PancakeMum6 · 29/11/2018 20:10

Hope your DS hears soon!! The wait must be agonising.

Another niche question here (sorry everyone!) - I’ve got a 7 year old with hearing aids and a birth defect that means she just has sort of half an arm (She has an elbow but not much after that). She’s moving in this weekend (bio sister of DDs 1, 2 and 3 - who are all adopted) and has been really interested in the violin so I’ve just ordered a custom made prosthetic tool that can be attached to a bow. However I wanted to know if getting a longer bow (which would make it easier for her, especially when starting) would impact the sound?

Wiifitmama · 29/11/2018 20:08

Ah! I thought it was some type of exam, or maybe a conservatoire that I didn't know about! It all makes much more sense now!

Ds3 through his audition this afternoon happy with how he did. Onwards to ds2 at grade 6 piano exam tomorrow.

cantkeepawayforever · 29/11/2018 20:04

Will find out by an e-mail to the boy saying 'Your UCAS Track has been upadted', though previous result (reserve offer from 2nd choice) has also come through by direct e-mailing of a letter to him.

cantkeepawayforever · 29/11/2018 20:03

NBB = NoseBleedBoy.

He had a somewhat exciting run-up to his Grade 8 Jazz clarinet (his Maths textbook looked like a prop from a horror movie...) and this thread kept me sane while we battled through the 'does he or does he not take the exam?' quandary.....

Alsoplayspiccolo · 29/11/2018 20:00

Oh, cant, the wait is excruciating! Will you hear by letter, or email?
Hopefully, tomorrow will be the day and it's good news - still got everything crossed for him.

Piano exam day for DS tomorrow. I'm resigned to thinking what will be, will be. Apart from losing my sister, DS has been ill all week with the horrendous cold that's been doing the rounds in our house for the last 3 weeks, and the dog's been in the best for an ultrasound today and has to go back for further investigations on Tuesday (possibly cancer), so I'll just be pleased if he does the exam and it isn't a complete disaster.

Wiifitmama · 29/11/2018 19:48

I am crossing fingers for all those waiting for results, but could someone tell me what NBB stands for? I am trying to keep up with this thread but there is so much I don't know!

cantkeepawayforever · 29/11/2018 19:29

He has agreed he will contact them on Monday if he doesn't hear anything - balance between seeming overly pushy and just needing to know and move on ...

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