Autumn 22 music thread

DS has his first JD Symphony orchestra concert of the year, and his first as principal flute, tonight and is beside himself with excitement. He is definitely hoping to be a professional musician and is already checking out orchestra vacancies even though he's only 15! Only pesky school, sixth form and Conservatoire to get through first...

Ooo @minisnowballs - a ceilidh band! That sounds fantastic! V interesting. How lovely for your dd. I bet she'll have a wonderful time with that.

We had our school's first big concert of the year this week. Seven of the large ensembles with a good mix of classic and jazz music.

Dd spent a good proportion of the time working out how many of the older ones have to leave before she can get into the top level close harmony group!

A busy couple of weeks coming up with another (informal) concert this week and our big Christmas Carol service on the horizon too. Dd is auditioning for the "Once in Royal David's City" solo so fingers crossed and watch this space!!

On the amateur vs professional discussion, I spent my childhood playing instruments, in bands and orchestras, doing music exams, narrowly missed getting into music school aged 11 then finally ended up at university studying Biochemistry and went into Pharma. I don't regret one moment of music learning though!

also looking forward to hearing @herbaceous - exciting stuff.

This week much excitement here with auditions for the school musical and a winter concert, while there's a new school ceilidh band to make DD1 very happy too (she plays folk by ear). Given the school had almost no music clubs last year it is impressive how quickly they can turn things around.

Thanks @herbaceous - really looking forward to watching it.

How exciting!

Ooh go on then. Here it is. And yes - I'm on there! For about half a second, thankfully.

fb.watch/g-m1_eTQQv/

I can't find the Facebook trailer. Please share! Will definitely watch it.

Brilliant, will definitely be watching.

Oooh, are you one of the parents accompanying their child?!

There's a web page now! www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001fq6f

And a trailer on Facebook, but not sure whether I should share that, for some reason...

I am! All I can reveal is that Aled Jones is really lovely. But Kate Botley is a bit annoying.

@herbaceous Oooo I'll be watching. I bet you are dying to talk about it!

@Alakazam8 we have just upgraded DD's clarinet from a B12 buffet to an E13 buffet. She did her grade 4 last year on the B12 and it was fine. It had a lovely tone (I thought) but the new one is a whole new level. I was going to hold out until after the grade 5, but I bit the bullet when she left it at school over half term and couldn't practice. It was probably my most expensive panic buy ever! 😅

Thanks for that @herbaceous - was just thinking of you and your ds the other day wondering what the air date was!

I think my dd may be aiming for oxbridge too but not sure any university offers classics with chemistry! 🤣

Hello again all.

Interesting about the amateur/professional thing. I think DS has such a talent (but then I guess I would!) that it would be a shame not to do it as a profession. To find something you love and are good at is something many people never find, and if you can make money at it then bingo. But it's the 'if you can make money' bit that's the problem!

DS's plan is to get a choral or organ scholarship to Oxford, then become a Labour prime minister. At which point his singing, organ, piano, French Horn, viola and uke may have to go on pause!

For those of a singing bent, we have a date for screening of the semi final. of Young Chorister of the Year - 11.35, BBC1, 27 November!

I really love the level of effort and support and enthusiasm (and money!) that you all put into encouraging children with music as a hobby. It's where I'm at, and I get a lot of raised eyebrows and "aren't you just wasting your time/ money when she won't end up doing it for a living?" but you all get it... she will be an adult with memories of a childhood spent working hard at something she loved, performing, gaining skills that will be useful whatever she does, and with an immensely portable hobby that will let her meet people and make friends. And if she does end up trying to do it professionally it will cost me a lot more for a lot longer so fingers crossed she doesn't!

also team amateur. we took advantage of a very long lockdown (living overseas) to progress music at home, as frankly there wasn't too much else to do, and i had the skills to be able to support them myself (being a very average amateur myself).

The children have progressed faster than expected – 10yo DD now preparing for g7 violin / g4 harp, and 9yo DS grade 6 cello, both at JD and with DS looking at music scholarships for 11+ entry.

its very hard to know how they will want to prioritise music once at secondary school - my aim for them was to get them to a stage of playing where music would feel a natural part of their lives (albeit not prominent) and they could join and enjoy ensembles as a hobby. which really reflects my own musical journey.

DS is a music specialist, but I can’t imagine him doing it professionally - I think he is more drawn to the sciences, which is fine by me.

He does love music though and I’m sure it will always be a big part of his life. He loves to play and has often said he can’t imagine not doing so.

@Comefromaway could have written exactly the same here for dd!

Hi, my dd did southwest music school for three years. First year foundation, second year PDP, third year Core. The organisers were lovely and it was great in principle as it encouraged lots of cross-genre work. Unfortunately my dd didn't really ever get into it and she never really clicked with her mentor, who I actually found quite negative in the end although the relationship started out more positively. (I have to say there are lots of very good mentors at the school.) I think they offer music GCSE and A-level too and a composing course. Feel free to pm me if you want.

Dd1 is not planning a career in music, although she is still pretty serious with her violin. Dd2 is still pushing forward with multiple instruments but no plans to make music a career. They are both at a jd equivalent type program. DS identifies himself as a drummer but has no career plans at all as yet, but he's only 12....

So definitely team amateur here too

Also team amateur here.

Dd adores music and does an awful lot of it (including an introduction to the organ this week - will it never end??!) but academically her love of languages and science will be where she focuses come university time.

She loves the social side of music though so is likely to join orchestras, chamber groups and choirs where she can.

For ds music is his life. He is autistic so does tend to hyper focus but once he found music, nothing else mattered. So he cannot imagine doing anything else for a living.

Literally no idea. I have two dds. The older one is amateur if anything - she doesn't do a lot of practice, sensibly picked up the viola as it gives her opportunities and I hope - if and when she goes to university - she'll think of music as a way to find nice friends and get her out of her 'bubble' of people. Ditto once she is working - singing in choirs has always been part of how I relax and find new social circles - I think orchestras may be like that for her.

We thought the same for DD2 who has had the same opportunities as her sister. However, she spends more and more of her time on music so we have to face the fact that it gives her something nothing else does. Whether she takes it further a job or something she does for fun is another matter. Certainly there are lots of people who know a lot more about music and children than I do who think she could do something with it as a career, but we always tell her that this does not mean that she has to! Lockdown certainly brought it home to her that it wasn't the most stable of options - her teachers had a miserable time!