Autumn 21 music thread

Might not need to be long but knee length or more is good for when they're sitting.. We bought an asda adjustable waist about six years too big when it had to be below the knee! I've also made plain long black several times when it's had to be floor length

Also - dd needs a black skirt for a concert next month. Don’t think it needs to be long though (much as she would like it to be!). Do people just generally buy black school skirts to wear?

mini I feel your pain! I too have a dd who is a bit of a “joiner” and we’ve had tears over clubs etc this term. She already goes and picks up a packed lunch at break time on one day as she has clubs for the entirety of the lunch break so no time to eat and is doing maths Olympiad team work at the weekends as it clashes with drama! She’s had to stop debating and classics club this year but still only has one before school and one lunchtime free as all others are booked. Three lots of music lessons, two choirs, two orchestras, two maths clubs, drama, piano quartet and other things too even before we figure in out of school things like dance, sport and guides! She’s in year 8 at the moment so academics aren’t too demanding but I suspect we’ve got some tough decisions to make in the future.
mini like your dd mine is not going to want to do music as a career (currently swerving between classics and chemistry/maths!) but she does love it so much.

That's great that they are so supportive. DD2 is not specialist school material I don't think- also she currently wishes to be a family or employment lawyer when she grows up!

I'm just hoping she manages not to cry all over the flute teacher - she's terrified of her (she doesn't teach DD2 who of course learns her first study at saturday school, and is trenchant in her dislike of the debatemate/flute group clash). Flute group is very easy for her in school so it's not like it's some massive musical loss, she just wants to be involved in school music.

Our school has been ok and she even got her "fun period" subject changed from art to extra music so she could practice more in school time as she thought it was a better use of her time. They didn't bat an eyelid, so she's happy. Frustratingly they won't let her take music early to give more time higher up the school for audition prep etc, when they are dead keen for early presentation in other subjects. I think she would happily do music all week and one day of school too! The nearest specialist day school would mean days of 7-6 out of the house probably so not really feasible.

I think we probably praised her big sister a lot for the debate success (she's not a confident child and it really has been the making of her) so maybe DD2 feels it is inherently more 'valuable' to do debate. So partly our fault maybe as well as the teacher.. and partly for this particular school the debate team holds a cachet that musicians do not. Hopefully DD2 will feel she has made the right decision.

So far no one seems to have told my kids too much music (thankfully.....) although we're fairly academically relaxed. The talent program did ask dd2 how she thougjt it would work with high school and homework..... she said she was pretty clever and she couldnt see school work getting in the way.....

Oh dear - not the school "too much music talk". My DD was told to give up piano in Year 9 as it took too much time and she needed to focus on the "more important" academic work. Even when I spelled out in words of one syllable that she wanted to go to conservatoire and her rivals for a place were probably in China practicing 6+ hours a day to her one school were incredibly difficult and all I heard for the next 2 years was "less music practice". It was such a relief when she went specialist for 6th form.

Gonna be honest, I would not have taken it well a teacher saying that to my child! "I think it would be a good activity for you" is totally reasonable, but the comment about the music crosses a line, to me. That's manipulative and not their call.

Flipside, perhaps the CYM piccolo in time may feel even better than the school one

(also, my DC is at music school, so there's no such thing as too much to us and although they are carefully supervised by school to make sure they have a balance of activities alongside music, music comes first). It's OK for them to make priorities, and for them to decide where those priorities lie.

I do love the expertise on this thread! Blessed instrument and all its accessories....

Thanks all - will investigate cover...BUT WHY would you not make a waterproof case? This is the UK...

Sad dd2 is slinking into school today to return school piccolo. Desperately wants to have it. Desperately wants to be in the flute group. Also desperately wants to be in the debate club that runs at the same time (her sister is in the school team and they are the national debatemate champions so it is quite a thing in school).

The teacher in charge of debate says DD2 'does too much music' and should debate instead - presumably thinks she has also inherited her parents' 'argumentative tendencies'.

The flute teacher says she can't have the piccolo unless she plays it in after school flute group. The debate teacher won (she's an actual teacher not a peri and DD2 is in awe of her).

Sigh. CYM says she can have a piccolo, but she's just got used to this one! She wants a Harry Potter style time turner, I think...

My bassoonist has a waterproof cover for the case. It folds up very small and lives in the case. First case didn't have one and I made it myself. Second case it came with the case but they're sold individually too. I definitely recommend having one x

You can actually get waterproof rain covers for about £30 - Howarths have them x

Oh dear, I'll dig out the spray before orchestra, thanks for the warning!

@horseymum I don’t want to worry you but that is the bag dd2 has too. I’m going to spray it with the waterproofing stuff we do the tent with? Might improve things?

@mini that is a worry. We have a council bassoon with a tom and will gig bag. Have never been anywhere with it so that thought hadn't crossed my mind. Hopefully it is waterproof although I think the bassoon is plastic so may be more robust. All the bits are definitely a faff. ( And expensive. A bent bit of metal tube, that's £300 odd pounds to replace, a bit of leather with a cup on the end, £50, some bits of cane wired together, £15 a pop) Her teachers advice was make friends with a cellist who packs up quickly so that if you are on a course, they can keep you a space in the lunch queue!! She does take an inordinately long time to put it away. I would happily prod around the keys on my flute but never attempted it with the bassoon. Although her teacher took a lighter to a key she bent so they must be fairly robust!

Manuelandviolin, DD1 just uses a school viola (her violin is better) but she's at nothing like a serious standard so the fact that it has the school name written on it in Tippex isn't such a concern - though definitely uncool.

This week in her strings group there were two violas and 30 violins. Would have been a huge improvement, except there were also two viola parts so DD1 was on her own again! However, she did get to go to a viola sight-reading class for those looking to switch and look like the star. Good for her confidence at least.

We had the wettest saturday school day ever, got accosted by an excited contrabassoonist in M&S on the way home, who was clearly thrilled to see a young girl with a bassoon on her back browsing the Percy Pigs section, returned home and swiftly realised DD2's bassoon case is NOT waterproof. Oh god. It is currently spending some time in my office with me and a dehumidifier. It is the only instrument that actually frightens me - i always tell DD2 it has more accessories than her barbies used to have. Fingers crossed it recovers.

@londonmummy1966 apparently he’s got 3 recording slots booked. Along with the rest of his timetable that’s plenty for a brass player!

Hello Mendingfences. It wasn't the first time DS mentioned other instruments but I always managed to dodge the request! But he brought back the viola one day and now he plays it in an ensemble and also an orchestra!

londonmummy1966 thanks for the information about the Benslow. Luckily he can use the current one for free until he leaves the school (if he wants). My concern is after that. If he becomes too keen, at some point we need to consider buying it. And now we are trying to buy a violin bow and can't think of caring other instrumental shopping... I think string instruments are generally costly, both to buy and to maintain. So the thought of owning two string instruments don't excite me... I know some people happily manage to own and maintain multiple instruments though.

@Siriusmuggle - mine is living her best life. She did Junior Guildhall until 6th form and came home buzzing every Saturday complaining that she'd rather do Guildhall Mon - Fri and school just on Saturdays. RCM seniors seems to be JD writ large so she is absolutely loving it. Halls are painfully expensive though! Having said that the Londons do have more funds for scholarships and are more generous so it can cancel out a bit.

In retrospect I think not being allowed too many takes was probably a good thing in that it didn't waste too much time - DD knows someone who did a dozen recordings and then sat and agonised for hours over which one to post.

@londonmummy1966 I suspect his school will be the same. I just hope he gets some non London offers. Or any offers 🤣. How is yours finding it?

@manuelandviolin - I'd ask if they have one that they can lend him at least for the time being. If it looks like being a thing then you could ask Benslow if they could lend you one benslowmusic-ils.org/index.asp?PageID=1
We do need to encourage our violas!

@minisnowballs - so sorry to hear she was put off - perhaps by the summer she will be ready to try again. If the choir's at CYM then I'm pretty sure your daughter will have been put in one that she can handle as we found they were more likely to underestimate than over estimate singing ability.

@Siriusmuggle good luck. Tell him not to be over-perfectionist about the recordings -- DD's school only allowed two takes as they had so many to do and hers was far from perfect but she still got in!

Hi Manuel it seems like some kids just can't help adding new instruments. Dd1 has been solidly focussed on violin with a little side helping of piano but the other 2, i've got to the point that I almost dread someone letting near another instrument.....Luckily the brass ones are supplied free from the band 👍

Just found a new thread! I have a 14 yr old violinist DS who also plays piano (only when he remembers...). He's just started playing viola in an ensemble without lessons this term. He seems to be enjoying the experience so far, which is great but part of me is hoping he won't become too keen and just stick to violin as I, or rather my bank account, really don't want to face another expensive shopping... And now he's talking about taking up the fourth instrument...

@londonmummy1966, the quartets at CYM were so far above DD1's pay scale that she used to cry afterwards - but then she did have to do them online. She's refused to do quartets this year - I'm hoping that the other stuff in person will get her confidence back. She loves the afternoon folk group as she plays brilliantly by ear - on both viola and violin - and understands folk better, so I'm hoping that will make her feel more at home.

With DD2, we are having a sudden conversion to singing, it would appear. She did a quick aural prep session with her Head of Department last term for an exam, sung back a melody and now has been catapulted into some terrifying afternoon singing classes where everyone else sounds like they should be on the London stage and people talk about 'protecting her voice'.

We can't really afford any more individual lessons for her, so I'm trying to convince the head of singing that the 25 minute shared singing ones at school will do for now. Gah. Keeps you on your toes, this stuff.