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

Happy New Year everyone! We have now got the musical cogs turning again - DS is practising again and we are zooming down to London tomorrow for an overnight stay so that DS can attend JD. We're coming straight back afterwards as he doesn't start school until Tuesday.

happy new year music folks

Happy 2019 everybody with a bit of help from Jacob Collier...

www.facebook.com/JCollierMusic/videos/2263616280584597/

Mine is a titch too! We bought the 3/4 but teacher is keeping her on the half a bit longer and she's desperate to use the 3/4!!!!

Thanks folkmama, useful to know and hopefully this will last her a while as she's a bit of a titch! x :)

I am feeling grateful that we don't have to fork out for a brass instrument. She plays the piano but less so, and we've got a good electronic one.

glorious, our acoustic piano is nicely sitting in the open plan family room. DS has Clavinova in his bedroom but always plays the one in the family room! The only time he touches Clavinova is probably at bedtime. You know, once you managed your child to have done shower, brushing teeth, in pjs and ready to sleep, then suddenly start chatting with mum, building LEGO, drawing or, making noise.

glorious Sun 30-Dec-18 20:39:55

Though at least other instrumentalists never have to play whatever ghastly instrument is knocking around...

Apart from percussionists - have to play whatever marimba is there for solo stuff and often bars are slightly different sizes depending on make. Imagine if piano bar size varied between make :) And for orchestral bit of pot luck sometimes on timpani etc. Drum kit also although can take own cymbals/snare which are the most important bits.

These days you can get a slim digital piano with decent enough quality so less issue for securing space. But yes, if you want acoustic, you need more than just space but good strength of the flooring to support it and also understanding neighbours...

Oh and you're completely right about the space to put a piano in catkind. There's a reason we've never lived in a flat! Or anywhere completely open plan, come to that.

True. It's just the early stages that seem comparatively good value

Though at least other instrumentalists never have to play whatever ghastly instrument is knocking around...

Pretty much any instrument you choose will sound good sizing up from 1/8 glorious. We only had standard factory made (stentor type thing) up to 1/4 but each felt like a big upgrade in sound 1/10 to 1/8 to 1/4. Slightly posher factory made 1/2 with naice strings is making me think I need to upgrade my own violin...

The cost of our reasonably decent piano was nothing to the cost of the space to have one at all.

Ha ha. Yes, you can start violin quite reasonably - most pianos would cost a lot more than a beginner's violin kit. It's also very doable to keep the whole cost under £1k all the way through to G8 and enjoy music making at uni and beyond. However, once you stepped in a bit of the serious zone, it's terribly astonishingly expensive. A bow alone can cost more than a brand new Yamaha grand. And more than just a regular service of tuning is needed to maintain good health. I assume it can get damaged more often than piano too, as you can't keep it in a safe place at home all the time...

Don't often have to take your piano to a concert to perform so can get away with a cheap one :)

As a pianist most violins sound relatively cheap to me (though admittedly it is possible to spend a lot on violins too) . I'm quite looking forward to when we need to size up from DD's 1/8th as when we got that she couldn't really play and therefore had no opinion. I appreciate it's a more stressful business with older offspring who take their music seriously (DD is only 5).

folk, is it 3/4? I think it's a great choice. As long as the player loves the sound that'll cater the needs well! DS's 3/4 was £650 or so and the bow was less than £100 but together they produced lovely sound and DS loved it. He got a new violin just before G8 (technically just a month before the exam), but he could have taken G8 with the 3/4 without problem. He's just outgrown the size. Well, the last few months of playing the 3/4, he preferred his teacher's and complained about the high pitches sound too thin on his small violin, but he could have survived easily with upgrading a bow or strings or adjusting the setting, sound post, etc.

Bostik, we have recently been through this! We had 3 on trial, our favourites from 3 different luthiers. One was £500, one £1500, one £2500. DD and teacher didn't know which was which. They were all good - DD liked £500, I liked £2500, teacher (very experienced conservatoire teacher) marginally preferred £1500 to £500 but when he found out the prices, told us to buy £500. Admittedly we were very lucky to find it - similar age/quality violins (1890's German) with other luthiers were at least £1000. It will do her through G8 at least before she needs a full size.

Good advice all round, thank you!
Hertsandessex good to know, thank you.
Taggie yes, we are considering 'part exchanging' when it comes to full size time...
Neleus we are trying out the two violins for a couple of weeks which will take us into term time - I'm sure she can try it out in the school hall. Great advice, I hadn't thought of it...
Thanks all :)

Also can you try the violins somewhere large like a school or church hall? You would like to have a violin that projects well in a concert setting. The sound the child can hear under the ear is also different from what the audience can hear. You or the teacher could help her see that by listening from distance or maybe record the sound and let her listen to the sounds away from the ear.

Bostik - it is very personal. DS2 hated the £3k violin he tried, but fell in love with the £600 one. And don’t underestimate the importance of a good bow. DS2 is about to upgrade to a 3/4 bow, although went to a 3/4 violin 6 months ago.

We havent put too much thought into the small sized instruments though, partly because we have negotiated part exchange/buy back deals, partly because we have been run off our feet busy. In fact we got more for the 1/2 than we paid for it (different dealer).

We will shop around more for the full size, which will not be in too long based on DS2’s growth rate!

Dealers and players value different things so higher price tag given by dealers doesn't always mean 'better' for players. I personally just focus on the sound and playability and pay little attention to the dealer's value for fractional violins as this way it's easier to find a decent violin that gives the learner/player great pleasure to play within limited budget and anyway soon a full sized violin would be needed.

When you are prepared to invest serious money then it's wise to try to find a violin with a good balance of both values of players and dealers as you cannot ignore the selling value unless you have unlimited financial resources.

£650 sounds totally fine for 3/4, but then I would say let the child choose with the teacher's assistance. At least the teacher could help the child stay away from disastrous choices but it'll be the child who should choose in the end. DS didn't pick the one his teacher initially approved and eventually found the one he's truly in love with (and later the teacher agreed with the choice ). The player has to love the sound.

We made the jump for my DD at about grade 6 from a bog standard Stentor Conservatoire to one costing about £1000 plus bow (albeit full size.) That has served her well through grade 8 and playing in some good orchestras and I imagine she will continue to use at university. Unless there is a huge difference between 650 and 1100 or money is not a big issue I would be tempted to go for the cheaper one and wait to spend more when ready for a full-size which will come along very quickly.

Thanks Zak I can't wait to see what the teacher says. So far it has been played all over the house (including the bathroom) because of 'different acoustics'!

There could be a huge difference or none at all..... let you child decide (with the teacher too) which one sounds/feels the best to them x

Our teacher did not check his spam folder which is where the result ended up so we had quite a delay in getting it. I had to prompt him twice and then he checked there. Just a word of warning!

Thanks ZakStarkey do you think there likely to be a significant difference between a violin approx £650 v £1100? The teacher will come and listen soon, which will make all the difference to our decision...