Christmas and January Music Thread *Thread title edited by MNHQ*

AlexandraLeaving DS2 had fixed braces and for the first couple of days he couldn't play the clarinet at all. After a few days he started playing for a few minutes a day, gradually built up and was able to take an exam with the braces on.

DS2 did a couple of concerts at school last week. He finally made it to the first clarinets in both orchestra and band (some of you will remember how long he had to wait to get into the orchestra in the first place) and also played beautifully in a clarinet quartet. He is taking his Grade 8 in a couple of weeks.

I'm singing in two big carol concerts tomorrow (we hope to raise about £5K for charity) so of course I'm coming down with a cold & a sore throat. 😥
The concerts are often scheduled for the end of term, by which time I'm usually tired and run down.
(A few of you might remember the time I got pneumonia when I was meant to be singing in the Messiah with Laurence Cummings and the London Handel Festival Orchestra)

Next term we're singing Bernstein's Chichester Psalms (which I'm looking forward to).

Hi again, thanks waffle that seems better.
Niggle lovely to hear your update!
And wow crazy look forward to hearing the bassoon plan. Such a lovely sound when played well.
And good luck with all the exciting performances - specially wiifit's DS2 and folk's DD2 and waffle family and I'm sure I've missed some more super exciting ones.

DS has a first horn performance next week :) He auditioned to play in the school end of term concert, albeit I don't think he had much (any?) competition on brass. Good strategy auditioning that not piano! I'm actually quite nervous about it as he can sound pretty rough when not warmed up. He's unphased.

On the subject of concert wear, ended up getting DD an adult size 4 skirt which fits surprisingly nicely. She's 6! tall 6 but really quite skinny.

I’m a semi-professional singer and teacher and this is DS’s (8) first Christmas as a chorister so it’s all getting hectic here! Messiah tomorrow then 2 other concerts this week for me. 6 rehearsals and 5 services for DS this week plus school concert.
Having an early night in preparation but I wouldn’t have it any other way!

Thanks for another thread Waffle. We're off to London again tomorrow to see ds play in a brief informal concert at JD. Dedication to the cause or complete madness?!

Taggie have you tried River Island? Got my DS 26XL (36) some slim fit jeans so would be worth a look for trousers otherwise M&S do longer length slim fit trousers with adjustable hem (take them down immediately) and so fit well.

Ooh cant thank you! He was in next super skinny fit, but they don’t have right aspect ratio anymore!

Lovely to see you Nigglenotes Your DD and my DS2 are about the same stage/age, and I have often wondered about how she is getting on. We were on the 2018 Nco audition thread together. Fingers crossed they meet at U11s.

Always miss something! Good luck with the Bassoon Crazy! Dd stilll loves hers even if it’s back in second place at the moment.

Dd has new concert dress this term. Lovely new blouse but it has boobs and not quite the right shape!

Good luck nigglenotes for grade 7, that is amazing progress!

Good luck with the repairs Piccolo!

Petra, do you have more details of EYDO. That’s close enough and dd is a wind player, I’ll try looking it up.

Hi All,

Missed a lot, I know, but finally back in the land of the living, as our legal case was settled 3 weeks ago. Only took ten years. And I have to say, we deserve every penny. Hasn't really sunk in.

DD is still waiting to hear about NCO under 11s for violin like everyone else. Grade 7 next week. More nervous than previous exams, but it's only been 3 years since she first held a violin at the beginning of year 3.

Seen Trumpetboysmum a few times at NCO regionals, but otherwise have been just hoping to keep the show on the road until things were sorted.

Which they are. And I need to constantly remind myself that everything is okay now and I can relax just a little bit. This is proving to be not as easy as imagined.

Well done to se22's mini & good luck to folk's DD2!

piccolo - sounds stressful

So watch items like this like a hawk for occasional availability in 28 XL.

Taggie, DS needs 26/36, which are genuinely unobtainable...

Topman or Burton very, very occasionally offer a 28 XL in slim fit trousers, and because they are cut fairly slim anyway, they're OK for 26" waists without a belt AND braces.

Also, praise be for the fashion for turn-up chinos - an extra 3-4 cm of length absolutely free, if you just fold the turn-up down again!

Gosh Piccolo, what a terrible situation! I really hope it all gets sorted. DS2 keeps his melodeon in it's original case (it is 25 years old - long story!) which is a solid hard case. We did look at a more modern case as they are easier to carry but decided this offers the best protection.

Hats off to all of you with insane christmas schedules. Ours are nothing like that. End of term concerts for two of them and that is mostly it. Ds2 is at a very very big gig tonight - opening for a real folk musician on an album tour in a proper theatre (as against a folk club). I am sad I can't be there as I had to take ds3 to a different event, but ds1 and dh are there for him. One of them sent me a photo of the poster outside the theatre which advertises tonight's show and it actually has ds's name on it! (much smaller than the artist he is opening for of course, but still!). I am home now waiting for news about how it is all going.

Hullo all, thank you for the Christmassy thread waffle.

I feel as though we are crawling to the end of term here. I am exhausted and so are the DCs. Ensembles have now finished for the term and concerts done - except the school band which has 2 weeks left.

We've started prepping for a festival though so will need to concentrate on that over Christmas. Exam wise DS may be doing Grade 5 theory next session and DD will prob be doing Grade 5 recorder & possibly Grade 3 cello.

Ah - yet again we are living eachother’s lives. Empathy cant. And if any of you know a supplier of 26/34 trousers for DS1, let me know!

Praise be for the multipack of 5 black shirts we bought DS a couple of years ago....

One for every concert of the week...until the county youth orchestra classical one, where he will have to break out one of the multipack of 3 white shirts....

Main issue with trousers, as NBB combines a height and lack of width that trouser manufacturers believe no longer exist in combination. However, having struck lucky with the entire national stock of a particular size of slim black XXL trousers at the beginning of 6th form, he is now wearing them on every possible occasion (school, concerts, work...)

druid I don't know how they will manage! I have come to the conclusion after last weekend that I still pick up the pieces too much and that in the long run this won't do her any favours! In many ways she is pretty self-sufficient as she boards at school, but last weekend we had rather a marathon of Fri pm school pick up, travel to concert, stay in Travelodge on way to drop at JD the next morning, back home Sat eve eventually, then back to school Sun afternoon. When we got to Travelodge (and she finally put down her social diary phone) she came out with 'oh, by the way I haven't brought any socks, pants or pyjamas, I thought you would have those' and I did have them because I know what she is like!!!

My mum still deals with my clothes given half a chance, and I’m 44. So, you may well be in for the long haul, trumpet.

Knot I can only dream !! Though I think I will miss it when I’m finally redundant . And at this rate ds will never manage to sort himself out

Thanks for new thread waffle!

Hi everyone! Quick catch up while I wait for our first Christmassy event to start - the end of term show at the girls' theatre school. Only DD2 partaking this time as DD1 took a break this time because of everything else she has going on. She is excited to be watching little sister from the audience and will be getting stuck back in next term.

Tomorrow is a big day for DD2 as it's her first show of a 14 show run in her first professional theatre production. I will miss it as I will be at JD with DD1, but have seen bits already through chaperoning and I'm so proud of her!

DD1 has JD choir concert and final lesson of the term tomorrow. Then we will be watching the senior orchestra end of term concert which will be rather inspiring I think.