November Music Thread

Trumpetboy totally agree - there should be a lot more available to all children in school. It has so many positive effects in all sorts of ways.

4strings - is it to do with where she learns her instruments? My dd is only allowed to play her second instrument in school, because her first instrument she only has lessons out of school (and isn't 'allowed' to have lessons in school because her Saturday centre doesn't permit). I can sort of see the logic - there are so many children to get through at concerts and they want to showcase their own teachers.

She finds it frustrating though, as she's much better on the other one and most people have no idea (and it means that people like the choir teacher don't see her as 'musical').

If it's not that, then yes, I can totally see how annoying that would be. Lots of opportunities out of school is the only thing I could suggest.

I guess we’re just really picky but it is because I’m convinced that music should have such an important place in all schools .
Even if it is mostly singing at primary school level there should be the opportunities for all to have a go and hopefully develop new skills and for those that work hard and have an aptitude for it to get the opportunity to develop their ( solo?) performance skills.
Way back when I taught in London I was always keen to let my budding young singers, dancers and actors take a bit of the limelight in school shows and why not they were good at it, enjoyed performing and it gave them something to feel proud of . That didn’t mean that I didn’t give everyone else a chance to have a go too ... and sometimes this meant that we discovered new talents too !!

Trumpet the downside was that the Christmas concert was very, very long! also, to be fair, it's not a big school by London standards.
The other side of the coin is that there isn't a lot of music at the secondary school for DS2 - they don't have an orchestra, for example, so his ensemble playing is outside school. However, the music teacher seems to be putting together a small group with him in it - but not for classical music. It would be nice if they didn't assume all the boys are just interested in electric guitars! Even though DS2 is quite keen on those as well...

It sounds like your dcs Primary school was great Loose .
In all fairness when ds was there they let him perform solos etc in assembly ( I don’t think he gave them much choice ) but there’s so little music going on he wasn’t really treading on anyone’s toes . Because dd sings/ acts in her spare time these are things that everyone can have a go at - which is great and I approve of them all developing these skills , but a set up where she was also encouraged to excel and not made to miss out on stuff because she’s giving others a chance would be nice !! ( Especially when those children then get chosen to sing the only solos and then sing flat or so quietly that no one can hear !! ) It’s not exactly encouraging for her . She sang an amazing solo at the end of the year last summer and the head seemed genuinely surprised about how good it was !!
But like others have said she does lots out of school instead and next year she should come into her own at high school where developing singing is a real strength.

Wow crazy - that's a very busy schedule. Hope you can have a good rest once it's all done. I feel as though I am crawling towards Christmas at the moment - but that's more to do with my own horrible workload [sigh]

It's odd how some schools don't manage things very well. The dcs' primary school was very good at both making sure everyone had a chance to perform but also making sure the best got a real chance to show what they could do. They would never have dictated which instrument a child could play in a concert- in fact several played more than one (DS2 was one of them).
Talking of concerts, I managed to scrounge a ticket to see DS1 last night playing with several school ensembles - I nearly missed out as tickets sold out unexpectedly quickly but they managed to squeeze a few more seats in - phew! It was a great evening!

waffle

Ds is now doing the other exam board !! But that means that his teacher is sorting out the exam accompanist etc so that’s fine by me and learning scales has never been a problem. Hope you have a new teacher for Goo

Crazy good luck to your dd - that’s a huge amount to take on and makes ds’s schedule look like a walk in the park!!
It’s so frustrating when teachers only work on pieces - I have always ended up testing scales doing aural test prep etc - luckily I think the new trumpet teacher is fairly “on it” and is working on it all with ds ( this makes the 3 hour round trip for his lessons worth it !!) Grade 8 in the spring here I think though I realised yesterday that we need to make the decision by the end of January which seems very close and as he’s changed teacher he has of course decided to learn 3 new pieces for the exam !! Oh well at least he’s learnt most of the syllabus which can only be a good thing

4strings - I have huge sympathy. I hate the mentality that all children must be treated equally that results in children being treated completely Unequally as god forbid we let them shine. So unfair and damaging.

We went to an open evening tonight at a 6th form for my ds2 (the very musical one). We are hoping he will get a "music scholarship" place there. It is a state school so the scholarship is not about fees but guarantees a place at what is a hugely oversubscribed school which we would be unlikely to get a place at otherwise. 30-50 applicants for 2-3 music places!! No pressure or anything! It seems the perfect fit for him and is really the only school I can find that I would send him to that has a strong music department. I have no plan B!

Dang it- messed up my name again. Sorry!

4strings - not much to add to everyone else’s excellent suggestions. for you and DD.

I might add though even at ds’s secondary school you don’t always get picked to play solo however good you are and ds’s school has lots of excellent musicians so if they always let them all play the concerts would be very very long !!
But if you are committed to music then your taking part in lots of ensembles is very much encouraged. I think what I’m saying is it’s just different at high school because hopefully there’s lots going on for the dcs to take part in even if it’s not solo playing ( and for ds this has been a really positive experience rather than being “the best” musician and sticking out as he did at primary school ) I hope it all works out for your dd from year 7

4strings sorry your dd is having to go through that. Just echoing what others have already said.. I’d find other performance opportunities for her outside school... otherwise year 7 is a good time to move schools.

4strings - we have some similar experiences at secondary school with violin. Even though the school is very musical overall opportunities for violin and strings more generally are relatively limited. As others have said I would try to focus on getting opportunities outside school with county groups, festivals, maybe JD, NCO etc. No harm in speaking to school (in a constructive way) but doubt it will make a huge difference.

Cross post here too - wise advice from the others too - maybe it’s not worth complaining but I can always be relied on to be “that mum” if I think things are out of order !!

4strings I remember you!! My dd has similar problems at her school - though not as bad as your dd’s experience. I would complain and say that it is damaging your dd’s self esteem . I have largely given up at dds school now but know that things will be much better at high school where you are actually valued for being good at stuff ! And it’s encouraged !! Good luck with the music school we have finally decided against it for ds but that’s because his high school is so good at encouraging him and it’s allowing him to discover other things too . If they weren’t so supportive I’m sure we would also be looking elsewhere

Cross post there!