Autumn 22 music thread

DS (13) and DD (12) are equally talented, but to put it simply, DD has more things she would rather be doing! Another who wants to be a writer.

DS has other interests too, but since starting secondary school, the time he chooses to put into music has increased a lot. It's definitely contributing to his social life - lots of ensembles! He has started to talk about music becoming his career, but he is still so young, this could change. His principal instrument is alto Sax (working on Grade 8), then singing (Grade 6), piano (Grade 6, self-taught), and he stopped violin 18 months ago at Grade 5.

DD is Grade 6 on flute and Grade 4 on violin, but unless the opportunities at secondary school start to have some effect on her enthusiasm for it, I can see her opting out soon, which would be a shame but no point if they aren't enjoying it. She definitely doesn't see it as a potential career. She likes being good at it and enjoys performing in recitals, but isn't enthusiastic about lessons or practice!

@horseymum the advice is definitely a thing for me. Neither DH not I have a clue about how to go about developing DD's interests, so I lean on friends and teachers and online advice... I tend towards researching opportunities, offering them and then facilitating the ones she wants to take up. Periodically I'll hit one of her teachers with a "if she were to want to take this seriously, what should we be doing now to make that possible?" but I've learned loads from these threads.

Finding the right instrument is a big thing. Ds tried violin, singing and guitar before finally settling on piano. Many would have not let him try another after giving up one.

Well for us we have a mixture -oldest ds- talented but just likes his instrument as relaxation, hopefully will continue as an adult in a modest way if he has access to a piano. Dd 2 only became seriously into her music about age 11, now wants to be a professional. Dd3 - good but doesn't want to be a professional, will hopefully continue as an amateur adult. They all started at the start though, their interest just developed. I like the thread as most of my rl friends aren't that interested so it's nice to share and hear what others are up to, as well as maybe offer some advice as we've been there. I also think if more parents got support, more kids would stick at their instrument ( or find the right one for them). So many parents say ' I'm not musical, I can't help' when there is stuff they could do. Free lessons isn't the magic wand to keeping kids engaged with music, parents having some support and confidence around it is. I'd love it if more kids enjoyed playing for longer, whatever that looks like, whether it's exams, strumming a guitar in their room or playing in a concert.

I think threads like these will be skewed towards having more of the serious musician parents on here because it is those parents who need the advice, maybe they haven't heard of JD before and someone suggested it or they though, hang on my kid seems to be quite talented, what can I do to support them.

But out of those some will want it as a career but others will simply want a great hobby etc

Being curious here! There's clearly a lot of really talented, hardworking and skilled young musicians represented on this thread. Are there plans or expectations that those children will go on to have a career in music/ performing arts in some way or do you expect that they will always have it in their life as a hobby, as a way of meeting likeminded people?

For my DD, who isn't at anything like the level many of the kids represented here are, I suspect it will be the latter. We're trying to give her the training to do it professionally if that's what she wants, and if she's good enough, but I think security and a steady income will win our for her!

Forgot to say, squeaks are often the result of the reed not being tightly seated on the mouthpiece. What type of ligature does she use? I much prefer the leather ones like Rovner to the metal ones since they secure the whole stock of the reed rather than just having two strips across it. One tip is to press the bottom of the mouthpiece against the fleshy part of your palm and suck the air out of the mouthpiece. That helps seat the reed. The mouthpiece should maintain a vacuum for a second then the reed tip will release with a pop. If she's still getting squeaks after that then it's more likely to be a key issue or a pad not closing properly.

@Alakazam8 my clarinet teacher always recommended the Vandoren 5RV Lyre mouthpiece as an upgrade. She could always try it out in a shop and maybe a few others to see if it makes much difference.

@Alakazam8 Disclaimer - my dds are double Reed not clarinet but almost all issues with sound production are reed-related for them. Or water in the keys. Might see if either of those are the issue first? Is it time to use a harder reed or have teacher adjust it? I know nothing about clarinet reeds and they may be much less temperamental but both dds teachers adjust their reeds when new and sometimes after a wee while playing too.

@Nearlyneverready aha! I find the french horn the most mysterious of all instruments... but this is because I am not at all musical...very cool though. Thank you for stopping me panicking over our inadequacies.

Does anyone have any insight into the South West Music School? Particularly the foundation course? Considering applying for my dd next year but there isnt loads of info or reviews online.

To use technical language - the springy clips on a French horn. They broke during lockdown, so it was the best I could do!

Hi everyone, dd is going to do G4 on clarinet in March. She has a good buffet clarinet but wondering if we should/could upgrade her mouthpiece or leave it as it is? She plays well but has occasional squeaks with the mouthpiece she has now.

Now intrigued as to what instrument you can mend with a hair elastic @Nearlyneverready ... Not sure one would work on any of dd's. The top of DDs bassoon has some dodgy gluing...and the entire instrument constantly sticks together. At her taster day the bassoon teacher commented that 'we have short reaches here - you don't have to bring THAT'....The flute does need replacing, hence no new case - but she's in the process of changing teachers so now doesn't seem like the time.

Re piano parts - last one dispatched today. Fingers crossed it turns up. She's got her teacher's original for one of the others with very, very detailed and ancient notes on it. I'm hoping it's not too valuable to her as I'd be scared to lose it.

I'm paranoid about not losing piano parts as I'm on a fb group where all the tutors are constantly asking for copies of piano parts as their pupils have lost them. If I send them into school or if they are ever going out of dds sight, they only get a copy/ shared on ipad and the original for the final performance.
Dds bassoon is held together with an Allan key and blutak, noone has commented ( out loud!)

I sent DS to a music scholarship audition at 11+ and forgot to take the piano part for his flute pieces. Thankfully they were lovely about it and let him play unaccompanied. They offered him a music exhibition too so I don't think it mattered. Basically my take-away is that they're only interested in hearing them play, not necessarily what they turn up with! But also, probably best to remember the piano part if possible!

This made me smile! DS went to his taster day with an instrument that I had ‘mended’ with hair elastics 😆 They lasted a month or so, and he had spares in his case. The school didn’t bat an eyelid - it was me that was shambolic rather that him. They only cared about how he played!

Glad to see others got more concerts than last year. I'm sure I'll be moaning about fitting everything in but it is so lovely to have things back up and running properly.

Aw, I don't really have wise words, just been through this with three kids, and see friends doing it too. If you can find some other performance opportunities, that can be fun to bridge the time between exams. Maybe you have a music festival nearby? You can often do fun or competitive classes, at most levels. Great opportunity to play in front of an audience.

a huge thank you to @horseymum @northerngoldilocks @QueenMabby @OneLovelySister @thirdfiddle Very wise words indeed and Im very grateful. I will have another chat with flute teacher and also my son. He is keen to move on to Grade 3 rather than sit the Grade 2. He enjoys flute a lot and thank you for holding my hand with this!

@LoveBlueCheese also coming on to say I wouldn't worry too much about skipping some of the earlier grades, though can understand that you'd prefer him to get something out of the way pre 11+.

We had something similar for DS in that he started learning at school in year 3 - then covid hit in year 4 before he could sit any exams. He worked through each syllabus for grade 3 and 4 but covid meant that he didn't sit them, so ended up doing grade 5 as the first exam on the flute. He also swapped teachers in the middle of it (twice) which slowed down getting to actually take grade 5. I was keen for him to do that one as he'd not done any accompanied exams (just a couple of piano in the past) and so thought it best that he didn't start with grade 6 plus.

I think you are wise though to be thinking about 11+ and not adding music exams into that mix. We ended up with DS doing it after school stuff was sorted in year 6.

Thanks all - sorted it - rung ABRSM and the music she doesn't even need yet is holding up the music she does (but why do they not warn people about this!) and so they'll now send the one she needs in 24 hours.... Thanks for recommendations for next time for a somewhat better service!

Ha! I wrote that so slowly that @LoveBlueCheese had plenty of excellent advice before I was even off the blocks.

Hello everyone, I try to keep up with the termly music thread(s) - love reading about what all the musical DC are up to! - but never seem to be able to find time to post.

Just wanted to pop in to offer our experience to @LoveBlueCheese. DD started flute in Y3 in January 2018, did Grade 1 (just managed a merit) in Y4 in April 2019, and was ready and due to do Grade 2 in spring 2020. For obvious reasons that didn’t work out so she moved on to G3 pieces and did the exam in November 2020 (she got a distinction, which was a bit of a surprise tbh, but perhaps attributable to having a lot of enforced time at home that year and parental help and generous marking on the day). DD is not especially musically gifted, but is competent enough and works hard.

The Grade 2 to 3 step didn’t seem huge - I’ve just run your situation by her and she’s confident your DS will be fine.

As a parent, I do think there’s something to be said for undertaking a low-stakes exam experience, if money’s not an issue.