Spring 23 music thread

Oh @northerngoldilocks you tried to suggest something sensible?? HOW DARE YOU??!! 🤣
I've been known to run and hide if dd is having a "tricky" practice.
Definitely agree with separating practice into two parts, the "stop and correct" part and the "full run through just keep going" part. Not that I ever suggest that at the time though - I've learned my lesson there!! 😳

@northerngoldilocks Hopefully that was just a one off bad day and everything is back on track.
Lol my DS also hates small section practice. Every time he makes an error he goes back to the beginning and makes the same error again. He says he knows there is an error but does t make the effort to correct it unless I "threaten" we'll practice on that bar only! Then he will correct it next time (still from the beginning 🤣).

I don't know what's so difficult for them to practice just the bit you tend to go wrong - it seems very logical and much more efficient to me. And that's how I'd practice if I needed to.

But thanks @horseymum will try those things if it goes wrong again. Both my kids particularly reluctant to work on small sections - or just don't hear the errors. Need to get her to record and listen back as seems to be a better route to hearing it.

Thankfully this morning before school was much much better so hopefully just a random glitch! The pieces are pretty much there but she needs to control the speed across the board and remember dynamics and do lots of slow metronome run throughs to ensure the articulation is super crisp. Basically last night she would rather have been reading 'Land of Stories' for the 100th time than playing the piano and it showed...

So tricky when that happens. We try to distinguish between types of practice. There's play through to identify what needs working on ( put a star above bars), do small sections on their own slowly/ with metronome/ hands separately or whatever helps, and ' carry on regardless to get to the end for stamina/ not give up attitude '. Probably don't do that too often as it reinforces wrong bits but do have to do it a bit as otherwise they are always stopping. Hope the nerves don't get too frayed!

So today it seems like we've hit the inevitable and predictable 'all the pieces going wrong' stage pre exam. Whilst I know that this always seems to happen, was particularly grumpy about the fact she mangled each piece once and carried on without attempting to fix anything and 'might' have pointed this out.. Probably going to have to tread carefully tomorrow and remind myself that she's only little and being grumpy helps no one etc. On the bright side - 5 weeks to the exam so time to fix things!

Try ‘Music Hubs’ as a search instead. Full
list is here: https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/MusicEducationHubs

There is overlap with county music services but you may find something different.

Just keep listening out. Where we used to live, there was a county music service (great for woodwind, instrument hire, jazz, beginners and the big county-wide groups) and a music charity running very similar services almost entirely for strings, and you had to be ‘in the system’ to be aware of both.

Definitely worth trying the neighbouring county too @Teapotkitten - and just getting in touch with the department and seeing what they suggest with regards to school @northerngoldilocks is right, it is a bit of a lottery though - our LA is ..okish - one of the neighbouring ones absolutely amazing though and if there are spaces you can join that one.

I'll have another look on the website but I couldn't see anything other than the ones done through schools when I had a good look before.

They don't seem to have any kind of music centre or Saturday schools, but the website is a bit of a maze so I'll try contacting them directly if I don't get anywhere with the school.

We're on the border with another county too so I might see if theirs is any better, if we're allowed to access it!

The annoying thing about Saturday music via a local council is the variability of it. Our London borough is useless- hopeless admin, really oversubscribed and badly publicised and seemingly minimal opportunity, whereas the two neighbouring boroughs have amazing music services with lots of ensemble opps for kids who don't necessarily have LA lessons. I requested lessons for both of mine and it took 4 years to be offered a space (funnily enough had made alternative provision by then).

Hopefully others are better and there is a way to find lessons with an LA provider as they are much cheaper if you go for the small group option, which might be fine to start with, though at some point you will need private lessons and then it's ££.

DD just got timetable info for Sept at her (non LA) Sat music centre and will be doing 1 hour piano which in addition to her 1 hour violin lesson privately plus ensembles and holiday orchestras makes the whole thing pretty pricey!

Second minisnowball, our violin teacher told us about the Saturday music service and I applied on the website. The school had nothing to do with it at all!
Hope you find one way or another to give your DS the best opportunities possible!

I meant exactly!

Absolutely @Teapotkitten most local music services can be accessed without going through the school. Our DDs used to do a Saturday council music centre and you just applied by email. The school didn't even know I don't think..

Third fiddle - exacting! When do I learn to relax?!!

@Teapotkitten I'm so sorry to hear that your DS is missing out on orchestral music. We are lucky that there's a local music service Saturday school near us. We just pay a fixed membership and get to play in as many group lessons orchestras as we like and capable of. Is there such a local or council run service like you?
Hope you hear from your school soon.

@chickentikkasalad I certainly think so but I'm biased hehe! It's wonderful that your DS is getting to be part of an orchestra and is enjoying it! It's so lovely watching your child do something they're passionate about.

That said, I'm feeling pretty frustrated at the moment. I've approached our school about getting involved with the county music service in the hopes we can get some lessons that we can afford on an orchestral instrument through that, but they've not got back to me yet. I'm not sure how we can do it otherwise, hearing about all these groups makes me feel bad about how much he's missing out on. I guess he's still fairly young, but I don't know how much better our local secondary schools will be. Think I need to win the lottery or something!

Thank you! He said sometimes he was a bit too quick. But that's part of the learning! I think he's ready and it was the right decision to move him up now.

That's great news. Glad he's back to enjoying it, hopefully it will be a good experience for him.

Super happy to report that DS came out of his rehearsal with a big smile on his face today. 2nd time with the bigger group they're mostly teenagers. They learned a new song so everyone was sight reading. So obviously he can cope when everyone starts at the same time. The first rehearsal he joined in with a song when everyone else has practiced a few times. That's why he couldn't keep up! We'r both hugely relieved!

@Teapotkitten that's amazing how your DS is naturally talented at timing. That's one hurdle over and the most hurdle in our experience. You might have got a very special child there!

@northerngoldilocks Our piano teacher said the same thing about boys and girls and how he has to hold the violin so he can't faff as well! But the teachers are also very different. Violin teacher is much more loving and nurturing and DS listens better. Piano teacher also lovely and encouraging but more strict and DS just rebels more!
The collective words from all his teachers including drumming teacher is that he's good rhythms when he focuses, he just doesn't like the long notes and the rests without me reminding him anyway. He gets it when I remind him but keeps forgetting. I think there's a patience issue...

Hmm... There may be some who don't need to focus on it... I was confused when DS's piano teacher asked us both when I collected him after a lesson how he was counting, because he doesn't. Her question makes more sense now!
I don't know how he times it, he just does, and he's very good at it! DH keeps suggesting we should get him a drum kit but I'm not up for that!!

@chickentikkasalad some kids are definitely better at it than others, but not sure that there are any who don't need to focus on it. Anecdotally in my non statistical sample size of 1 girl and 1 boy, girls are better at counting (the piano teacher said this was his experience too with young beginners) but they all get better with training.

On the focus thing re piano, DS used to try to chat to the teacher whilst playing whereas on flute he obviously couldn't. I think there is something about how on piano they don't have to hold the instrument and so it allows them to faff about more! Some of it might be teacher too. DDs new amazing teacher (the one who is sadly moving) is so intense in lessons that there is no time to think of anything else!