Autumn 2020 music thread

Waves to raspberry. Nice to hear about your DS2. No choir at my DS's school for now. DS isn't a chorister and he isn't particularly missing it so he's fine but I am sad. His instrumental lessons will stay online. He's gutted and feels discouraged.

Raspberry take a hankie. I was the waiting driver at a fully risk assessed socially distanced car park band practise last week and I cried in the car. It wasn't because of the sound but of what it represented. It was the first one in nearly six months and it was a sign that life is beginning to return to something that looks normal.

(Long time poster with multiple name changes, DS is 20 now and the extracurricular is now his higher education subject)

Waves to mrsriceball. I think I know who you are.

Brilliant news today that DS2's Cathedral Choir restarts next week, with first Evensong in a couple of weeks. Not been so excited since DS started as a Chorister nine years ago!

Just to pop in to say hello to everyone. NC and rarely posted in the previous thread but used to be a regular. I can recognise many of you.

I have a boy who plays the violin. We had a seriously quiet summer musically. No plan at all for the new term, and indeed, for the whole academic year, so the quietness may continue for I don't know how long! hopefully we'll have some exciting moments along the way though.

Well done to (not so) mini swarskid
We've now restarted lessons on all instruments and teachers all seem happy with the summers practise, which is good. Ds har followed dd2s lead and added instrument number 3......

Huge well done and very best wishes to you both as you make plans for a new adventure. I'm seriously impressed with her commitment to music. She will go far!

Dinasaurinmybelly her A level grades mean that she is going to her first choice university to study music and maths....but she feels that her grade 8’s were hard earned, but her AAB at A level were due to being lucky enough to go to an outstanding comprehensive school..::

That is an incredible achievement Swarskid2184!
How amazing that your DD made something positive out of what could have been a very anxious period for her. I hope the A-level outcome was also good and that she has exciting plans for next year now.

The ‘adapted’ exams were certainly an experience! Trinity a far better one than ABRSM- which was very stressful....not helped by poor admin and appalling instructions! Certainly tested my tech skills to the limit!

I am very proud of DD(18). She was due to do her singing grade 8 (Trinity) on 17 March- cancelled 24 hours before. Plan was to do grade 8 piano and grade 8 theory in summer term and then grade 8 saxophone in autumn. Well covid meant no A levels, so she threw herself into her music- continued lessons on Zoom and has managed to achieve 3 grade 8 exams in a period of 5 weeks! Merit in Sax and piano and a distinction (96%) in singing

thirdfiddle I honestly think she maybe more of a viola player. She's hardly touched the (very nice) violin since she got the (ropey) viola. It's clearly more tiring but she loves the sound.

Anyone thinking of taking the ABRSM's online theory papers might want to check Twitter today before they do so. My dd2 got through her exam but my GOODNESS what a shambles...and no real apology.

Hi everyone, I used to post sometimes here but changed my name slightly.

DD1 plays violin and DS plays viola and violin. DD2 is still a preschooler and I just started teaching her violin by myself.

DS starts same JD with DD from September. Sadly JD is mainly online in this term.

DD1 starts piano at her secondary school. I am a bit worried that her teacher is a guitarist and piano is her third or fourth instrumentbut it is face to face lesson, so I hope it will work for her.

So hard to motivate them when the fun stuff is not back yet. Hopefully the guidelines will change soon. My DD s bassoon teacher said it's time to think about a full size one for her which will be exciting, I imagine the change from mini will be a bit tricky. Everything is still shut down here and online only so it may be a while before we can get one. I think she will love it though, low notes are her favourite.

Hello all! Yes, tricky times for music making. We are struggling on with online lessons and dd2 takes the theory exam tomorrow. I am equally worried by her lack of ability to remember the stuff she needs and by the technology. Suspect she won’t pass... so we are seeing it as a mock for november. She could have passed in June but lockdown has done for her mind and I can’t help much.

A new term looms. Dd2 starts secondary at her sister’s school, which is nearby, so that’s good. Waiting to see if there’s a cello space for her there. Dd1 goes into year 9 and has picked GCSE music.

She also became fed up with the local music service and did a late audition to her sister’s centre for advanced training on viola which she picked up in lockdown. No-one was more surprised than she when they gave her a place and after dithering she accepted on the last day of term. Guess it will be online to start with but she’s used to that with violin.

So new starts here, but not enough practice. So hard to motivate at the moment, for us all.

Welcome to the thread lynette
We didnt have much issue with practise over the summer in terms of amount but the quality wasnt neccessarily brilliant - lots of play myself a concert and not much technical stuff, so it's a bit like technical boot camp right now. Lots of duets got played and new stuff explored though so thats a big plus

Not a lot of practice over the holidays but then there usually isn't. Dc did some online workshops which kept her going for a bit. Not sure yet what is happening with lessons. Is considering doing the performance exams to avoid aural tests..

Good luck to DD1 doesanybody. (I recognise you too!).

Not music but poor DS2 spent hours yesterday trying to book his driving test. He got as far as the check out before it crashed. It's down now until Wednesday

I don't think I've posted in a music thread before! DDs flute teacher abandoned online lessons as she found them too difficult and doesn't wasn't to go back to teaching flute, but is offering theory lessons. I've found another teacher who is doing online teaching (and will be offering lessons from her house to those who want it) DD had abandoned practicing over the summer, so a lesson with a new teacher who told her she needed to do a lot of work if she wants to be entered into the exam in the Autumn was the wake up call she needed!

Hi everyone! Name changer here but have been a regular on these threads although not so much lately.

I wish I could say my two have thrown themselves into practice and found solace in their instruments throughout lockdown... but bumbling along is probably more accurate! 😆

Zoom lessons haven't been a hit. But both have in the main coped, except for youngest DD on cello, which just didn't work on zoom for her. Fortunately teacher was happy to do socially distanced lessons in the garden for DD until we were allowed back in houses again. Otherwise I think we would have had a forced break..

DD1 is off to specialist school in 2 weeks time! A big change but she can't wait. And will be delighted to get back to in-person lessons and some chamber music even if big ensembles are off the cards for a while.

They've both also benefitted from a Pro Corda chamber music course and DD1 is heading back there next week for a second course concentrating on solo repertoire. Leiston Abbey is home from home for her, and the chamber music course definitely gave her her bounce back!

Of course, we've also lost out on some fabulous things that were lined up for this year which has been hard. But I guess it means we appreciate things all the more now.

Hope everyone is faring ok x

Grade five theory this term has to be done as hopefully grade 6 piano next year. Lockdown had seen DD go from about grade 6 ish on oboe to tackling what I realised on looking them up was some grade7 and 8 pieces, she has worked hard. Hope there are some fun things this year to look forward to.