Spring 23 music thread

My youngest is applying to NYO inspire this year, and middle one to the full orchestra. ( Just for experience as she's unlikely to get in this time but who knows! Her teacher thinks any audition is good practice). Also got a school concert, several JD ones, a competition and a grade 8. Oh and normal school exams, going to be a busy term!

I bet tuba will be in great demand, they can't get a junior tuba at my dds JD, they gave to draft in a senior.

I've just got an email from NCO saying auditions for 2024 are now open. Has anyone else got a child who is thinking of auditioning? My DD is 10 and plays tuba and fancies trying out for it.

I've always firmly swerved getting involved, taking a view that it's nice to have opportunities and the fact they allowed piano at all is unusual. However, I might try asking if she could possibly play a whole piece but only once next time as it's just a better experience both for her and anyone listening. It's just background music whilst the classes come in rather than any kind of performance really.

She also told me that before they play they have to do a run through with a 'music mentor' (pupils from the year above who learn instruments in school) and the music mentors have to make 'helpful comments and suggestions as to how they could improve' - the one who watched her play suggested playing the semi quavers in the last bar 'faster'. Thankfully she just said 'no' (she was playing a Bach Sinfonia so the different threads of the music being even is sort of the point) - the other kid plays recorder so understandable not to have input but the whole process is bizarre.

@northerngoldilocks - that's frustrating (the forgotten book) and UTTERLY BIZARRE (the performance rules)! Sounds like some very non-musical people setting the perameters.

DD's choir leader is stepping down at the end of this half term which is really sad. She's a lovely lady but nearing retirement so i think is dialling down of her voluntary roles. The good news is that her own singing teacher is taking over so it should be an easy transition.

Dd is going to her first opera in a week or so. School have organised a trip and she's very excited.

I think that the difficulty with wind instruments is the lack of smaller sizes (although there are the smaller plastic versions mentioned upthread) so really recorder is a more sensible starting point until they've grown enough to play the full size instruments. Teeth aren't as much of an issue for woodwind as brass I think but can throw some kids off - 2 of the children in my son's group flute lesson at school stopped being able to make a sound when they lost teeth! For 4 year old's ukulele, recorder or a string instrument are the obvious choices and if strings maybe hiring as they keep needing different sizes! Perhaps first look for a children's choir alongside their piano and add another instrument when they're a bit older if they're particularly interested in woodwind or brass. DS started flute in year 3 (so age 7) and even then he was a bit small not to have horrible posture on it. His new flute teacher in year 6 spent about a term teaching him not to put the flute on his shoulder before bringing it to his mouth so it definitely brought with it bad habits to correct later!

DD did her piano performance in assembly - as predicted she was allowed to play just over a page of a 3 page piece but then played it twice - so again, why she couldn't play it once in total is baffling. Her friend was telling me that the other kids playing played for longer time, just fewer notes so they do just look at the length of the piece rather than how long it takes to play! To add to the irritation she's left the book in school and its now closed until Wednesday and she has a piano lesson tomorrow. Thankfully have managed to source all three pieces either in other books we own or the copy she used for a previous school performance so will be ok!

I teach recorder, my pupil has never screeched! But she is 7 not 4! I think it might be abit of a stretch on the fingers for a four year old. ( You can get smaller sizes but the fingerings produce different notes, and it's quite high and piercing!) You do get nice small string instruments, I don't think brass is usually started that young although the pbone and ptrumpet are plastic and lightweight. I don't know about the teeth, brass experts would know better. At the risk of being a broken record, mini bassoon is fab, can start about 7, it's lightweight and not a big finger stretch. But expensive and needs carefully looked after.There are plastic clarinets and flutes called toot and dood I think, they might start with recorder fingering, can't remember. I don't know any teacher who uses them as schools generally just start them on the full size instrument aged 9/10.
I would probably suggest singing and general musicianship. My DD didn't start an instrument until 7 and is doing fine. Was doing plenty of singing at school and church though and did Jo jingles etc.

My 5yo has started with recorder and loves it. Loads of fun and easy to make her own tunes, start writing down music etc

It's not my thread HockeyJockey! Post away!

Re instrument, what about a ukulele? They're small, and simple, and could lead on to guitar. Or a recorder, if you can stand the screeching.

@Hockeyjockey are there any general musicianship or Kodaly classes in your area? DS goes to these and gets lots out of them. Kodaly is based on singing. The programme he is on has them doing 2 years of Kodaly and Dalcroze (music through movement) and then they get an instrument in year 2 (so at about 6). It seems like a really sensible approach to me. 4/5 is still really young and though DS is bright, musical and keen he still loses concentration pretty quickly and is quite tired out by school.

so sorry @herbaceous - I don’t post much on here and may have inadvertently posted on your post (I have no idea - so tech inept!!) apologies if so

Thank you so much @SweetforOrchestra !
I was trying to avoid strings but not entirely sure why! Maybe we will rethink! Other option is voice - but i’m not entirely sure what you’d do with a 4yo - no one in the family is a singer, as such so it’s completely new!

@herbaceous thank you for sharing that - he’s a lovely boy as well as a fantastic singer - no wonder you are so proud!

@northerngoldilocks I agree completely with the recordings! I’ve been teaching DS piano and some days isn’t too keen. If I suggest recording a performance he is suddenly desperate to play it perfectly and will persist until he does.

@Hockeyjockey no direct experience here (my DS has just turned 5 so similar age) but I’d suggest recorder if you want a wind instrument, or strings (because they come in small sizes). I’m a brass player and ideally the second teeth are in before starting; I think that’s the case with many woodwind too. Recorder doesn’t need much puff or a special embouchure- the only limiting factor is whether she can stretch to cover the holes yet.

Lovely to have so many quality recordings too @herbaceous, will be so nice to look back on.

On a linked point - for those of you with younger children, I find it a lovely thing to be able to look back on the little clips I've recorded of both my kids playing when they were little as it allows them to really appreciate how much they've improved - we also do it with new pieces- record the first week and then record at points after which helps them to see progress if it's feeling like hard work! I have footage of DD age 4 hiding underneath the piano and refusing to get out- it's a miracle she made any progress at all really but definitely fun to look back at!

What a voice herbaceous! No wonder you're proud!!!

Instrument for a 4year old.

Hello! Hope it’s okay to capitalise on the collective knowledge of this group - I was wondering if anyone’s children started learning an instrument at circa 4yo and, if what instrument they learnt/are learning. My youngest daughter is 4
and is really enjoying playing the piano at the moment (so she’ll keep learning this) but she is also desperate to learn another instrument too (for background info — her - much older - sister plays multiple instruments but didn’t start this little so i’m not sure what do! ).

Any ideas on what would be good for a 4yo….?

is it possible to do a woodwind/brass instrument at that age….?

Thank you! 🎶

I've had a couple of wines, so am in full brag mode.

Here is his YouTube channel!

https://www.youtube.com/@sambrophymusic4546/videos

Wow herbaceous what a star!

DD has had an invitation to NYO inspire orchestra in July, has anyone else? She's absolutely thrilled!

This is true - its just that she changed teachers in September and now he's leaving so will need to change again. Its just one of those things but its a shame as he was great and she had made so much progress with him.

Also - re the insane school thing - yes exactly! It gets really boring hearing the same section for the second and third time too so its super confusing. There is also the other side that they seem to judge length by 'number of pages / notes on a page' but it can take some of the beginner woodwind or guitar players longer to get through a couple of lines than for DD to play a whole piece so really there's no explanation other than 'this is our rule'. On the other hand, its all good performance experience, and I'm quite surprised she's being allowed to play piano at all as they generally only allow instruments they teach in school (and piano is not one of those).

That does sound a very odd system! Why not just play the piece, next person plays theirs, etc.

I’m sure changing teachers will be fine. Any change will address different issues with playing, and any incompatibility will take a while to show and even longer to matter!

@SweetforOrchestra perhaps he's just tired with starting school . Its fairly exhausting for them at that age. Provided he's still enjoying singing at his Guildhall classes its probably fine.

@herbaceous that must be so hard as a chorister to be wondering when your voice will change - sounds like he has lots of other stuff going on though to focus on as well.

My ongoing piano teacher ups and downs continue. DD still waiting to hear who else the Sat music centre will suggest for her and then need to do a trial lesson with them to see if its a good fit. She has the rest of the term to decide though and will hopefully take her exam before her current teacher leaves. DS has a new piano teacher though at his Sat centre and I sat in on the first lesson and he was excellent. Will take them a bit of time to get used to each other but he picked up so much of what generally annoys me about DS's playing in the first 10 mins so its a good start! Just hoping that next year I don't have to change any music teachers for either of them.

DD is playing the piano in assembly at school tomorrow - they have a system where they let them perform whilst the classes come in which is lovely. Sadly they also have lots of slightly strange rules about how much they're allowed to play (and never a full piece), yet then bafflingly will let them play the same section multiple times but swapping with the others playing between goes. I do love that they have the opportunity though, but just wish they could play from start to finish as its also an important aspect of performance - eg you get one go, you do your best and if nothing else, start and finish well!

DS loved a karaoke machine at that age!

He is now 13. Stopped being a cathedral chorister last July, brief moment of stardom on BBC chorister competition in Nov/Dec, and now 'just' sings in a church choir on Sundays, a brilliant youth choir in the city, and school choir. Oh, and in productions.

A lot of the music is at school. He got a hefty music scholarship to our local Quaker school, and they've scooped him up and put him to work. He does a piano trio, brass group, orchestra, senior choir, junior choir, barbershop quartet and renaissance singing group! Plus lessons in piano, French horn and viola. And was Gavroche in the school's Les Mis.

Outside school he is in an orchestra, as well as the choirs. And the plays!

Good job he doesn't want to do sport or anything else...

Wow @herbaceous well done to your DS for all of that! I’m amazed he’s fitting it all in! How old is he? I’m not surprised you’re feeling emotional about his voice breaking!

Linked to the singing, I wonder if anyone has any advice/been through similar. My DS is tiny still (just turned 5). He used to sing constantly from as soon as he could talk but since he started school in September he’s stopped doing it. I don’t know why - maybe a bit of self consciousness? It is making me really sad! He goes to Guildhall kindergarten and sings beautifully in his classes but I wondered if anyone had ideas for how I could encourage him to sing again at home. Or is this just a phase that will pass?