Autumn 22 music thread

how old is she? if you're going to buy one, i'd investigate wood certainly. it will likely sound much better. i played as a child, did all grades etc, and i think i moved to a nice wood clarinet around grade 5. at g5+, its worth investing to get the sound quality, so if she is making fast progress i don't see the harm in doing the switch sooner. saves a second purchase down the line. and i don't recall ever maintaing my nice wooden one 🤔

He really enjoyed the contextual studies ensemble session on Friday. He was “jamming” with students from a range of courses from pop & jazz to classical.

Fingers crossed @Comefromaway

You may remember he really struggled with his online recorded auditions back in January/February. He did a much, much better in person audition at his 2nd choice in March. I felt at the time that his recorded audition did not reflect his ability and musicianship.

After the first practical ensemble band workshop the tutor was asking him lots of questions about his experience/things he had done etc so we think maybe they have noticed.

He is going to see how things go on Monday when his next band session is and speak to them.

Oh surely he should ask - they'll probably be thrilled he wants to push himself - sounds like he's really gone for it and is definitely ready. Even if he wasn't or there wasn't space I'm sure they'll let him down gently!

So after the first week Ds says he has been given the best piano teacher ever!

But he thinks he might be on the wrong course. He applied for Foundation year and certainly this time last year he was a much lower standard player. But something clicked from March onwards, the catalyst was NYMT & also starting to work as a band with a particular group and he has progressed massively. He doesn’t want to appear big headed but his new piano teacher also asked him why he applied to Foundation.

Ds doesn’t know whether to ask about moving up to Year 1 of the degree.

Welcome to bassoon club Tonic. There's a lot of it about on here! DD started at 10 on a mini - switched to a short-reach at 11. She's tiny - and now 13. Still can't quite use it with the palm grippy thing. So you might have a while if he's little.

Hope he enjoys it - it took a while for DD to stop sounding like a goose!

Dh was going to enter ds's friend for Grade 3 as a half way point but I pointed out the expense and that you can now do a timed, practice exam online that gives you a result so he is going to set him that instead under exam conditions, then just go straight for the Grade 5

The only issue you might find is that he outgrows the instrument musically before he's ready for the full size instrument physically. The mini bassoon is lovely but doesn't quite have the full range of notes. The music service might have a short reach bassoon ( full size but some keys extended to make it less of a stretch) which would bridge the gap.

Thanks @thirdfiddle gje actually really really enjoys theory at the moment and it's really good for his confidence, so I think we'll probably give the first couple a go then not bother with any others apart from 5. He's already aiming for that because his Dad never passed so couldn't carry on his ABRSM grades! He's a competitive soul 😂

One of the conditions of the free term was that we committed to a term that we'd cover, so he'll definitely be playing until Easter. Hire is through the council music service which I'm very grateful for, I couldn't believe the cost when I saw how expensive they are to buy! He's playing a Howarth mini bassoon, he's pretty slight for his age as he's short and skinny so I think he'll probably need that for a good while. I'm really hoping he wants to carry on, I got so much out of playing with others as a teenager. And yes, we're emphasising the VERY CAREFUL assembly /disassembly!

Thanks for the welcome 😊

Another one here with limited theory exams. DS just did grade 5, DD has done 3 as she wanted to after doing the course at her music centre. DD is younger though and so thought that it might help her confidence re grade 5.

DS did a couple of classes (actually 2) and wizzed through the grade 1 and 2 books and then went straight to 5, DD more likely to be stressed by that so taking a slower route.

I think either is fine, but taking all the grades is a really expensive route.

Yes, I don't know anyone who has done more than just grade 5 theory. Elder dd might do grade 8 at the end of JD but they are too expensive. You also don't need to do all the practical exams either. Far too expensive and for many, it actually detracts from learning. Obviously they should still do scales/ aural etc as they go along.

Bassoons should rule the world ( well if my dd had the choice!) 12 weeks will give him plenty of time to progress and hopefully decide he wants to carry on. Is it a mini bassoon/ tenoroon? If he likes that, the big one is even better! They are fiddly to put together and it's easy for keys to get bent so do take care. They are insanely expensive though so only carry on if you can get free/ cheap loan/ hire! He will always be in demand in ensembles though.

Can I come join the bassoon chat? DS (8) has just had his first lesson at school as a part of a council project - he's got 12 weeks of free lessons and free hire for the term. On day 2 and he can actually play three quite nice sounding notes! I was not expecting how difficult it is to assemble though, thankfully they had thorough tuition at school.

He's also restarting piano with a new teacher after a bit of a confidence crisis, aiming for grade 1 piano and probably grade 1 and 2 theory this year as he's very mathematically minded. Recorder starts next week after school and he finds out on Friday whether he's got into choir. All in all its going to be a noisy house! Thank god his sister is too young for anything apart from signing Let It Go...

We had two consecutive day exams with the same examiner too - annoyingly DD had grade five aural the first day and got 18/18, second day was grade four aural and 14/18. Just the way it goes some days I suppose.

Older dd did two grade 7 s on consecutive days in march. It wasn't particularly meant to be like that but she said it was fine, was in the zone. Got the same mark for aural both days. The examiner did welcome her back but they have to do it all anyway. She said she got different things but I imagine it's automated which ones they do. It was hard work but it concentrated it in one part of the year. I wouldn't want to for grade 8 due to shear volume of scales though.

I just found it amusing that DD had to do the G5 aural twice - did much better on it the first time...

@QueenMabby mine don't have any social media so I have to show them stuff if I want to. Anna Lapwood also big on Bach so probably good to have a look at- I think she's pretty inspiring especially for younger players

@northerngoldilocks - thank you. She doesn't have much in the way of social media but I might try and find some to show her. She's more of a Bach girl herself!

@minisnowballs I did suggest, tongue in cheek, that we go for maximum efficiency, do them back to back and she wouldn't even have to leave the room. However, even I can see that's a bad plan 😂 I think we'll go for singing first, if possible, and then she'll have headspace to focus on viola and hopefully the boost of having done well with the singing when she does the second exam.

Viola is much more functional for her. She sings because she can't not, she's focused and driven and grabs every possible opportunity to learn and to perform. She's learning viola to have a second instrument and she wants to do that well. She likes it, and likes that it's unusual, but she won't join an ensemble, or perform, and she is only doing exams because her teacher has told her to.

She's planning on doing Lamda as well. I assume because my purpose in life is to haemorrhage money on these things? (Also does 2x dance and wants to do more and does a few other bits and bobs)

I remember back in the day dh did his Grade 8 singing and Grade 6 tuba on the same day!!

@NotEvenSlightlyReasonable my only advice is not to try to do the two on the same day. DD2 did her grade 5 singing and cello two hours apart. Poured her heart into preparing the singing because it was her first one, and worked on her grade 4 lamda duologue, which was the same week. Didn't do half as much work on the cello as she should have done.

Result? Distinction for lamda, merit for singing, pass for cello. One stressed mum who is determined she'll never be allowed to do them all at once again! She has agreed to skip lamda this term...

Love that your DD is doing viola - my DD1 plays (though she won't touch an exam on it!)

Ah yes, exams! DD had reluctantly agreed to do a viola exam this year, and was told by her teacher that she's missed her moment for G1 so it will need to be G2, serves her right for attempting to duck it 😂. Scheduled it for the Easter round as it won't clash with anything. Then her singing teacher moved G4 singing from the planned summer slot to Easter, so now she'll do both at Easter.

My concern is that she'll work her socks off for singing and put no effort into viola, but fingers crossed I'm wrong. I have to say that listening to the practice noises, I'm not convinced of her readiness for G2 viola but I assume her teacher knows what she's doing so we're going along with it. Should make for an interesting Easter!

I think dd will have enough on bassoon this year so won't be fussed about an exam. I don't think she would find the practical muscianship any easier but trinity might be an option, good suggestion. A couple of festivals to prepare for though. Do any of yours do the rotary Young Musician? The local rounds are fairly low key, ours is still on video. It does get more serious if they progress. It's a nice gentle way to do a competition, gives them something to aim for. Other dd is working towards grade 8 but no rush. The piano pieces take ages to learn and she's working her way through a selection before narrowing it down and her lesson is only 30 minutes so she is making steady progress.