Spring 23 music thread

Great news @Comefromaway - he must be really pleased.

@QueenMabby i suspect no tuckbox, alas...I think it's less midnight feasts and more early morning practice. Still, it will be something quite, quite new to us all - so that's exciting.

Eek @minisnowballs - how very exciting for mini-mini! Hope there's not too long a list of things she needs. The Enid blyton in me wants to know if she gets a tuck box!

We are blissfully exam free this term (musically anyway. Dd still has two graded dance exams to do!).

There have been a couple of fantastic concerts recently with dd getting to play a rather lovely Steinway model D concert grand which sounded beautiful.

Good news for ds. He has been offered a place on the NYMT Creative Mentoring scheme as Assistant MD for one of their shows in the summer.

that's fabulous, congrats! DD has her g7 violin with Trinity on Sunday, we are both desperate for it to be done and out of the way - at least (for me) until next term when DS has his g7!

Brill news worriedmum!!

That’s brilliant news @Worriedmum42 - congrats to her!

Thanks
She was the last exam of the day and got her results there and then!
Very pleased and her hard work paid off with a distinction!

I completely understand! The one nearest to us is within travelling distance, but I suspect it would be hard to do each day with all of the additional concerts and so on. I completely understand about the slippery slope...we've been to one instrument day only, and it's now firmly on DD's radar!!

Sadly not @georgedawes - it's a very long way away and Saturday school is required as part of it - she'll be home every three weekends or so - though some of the other schools are weekly boarding (and much closer, but typically that wasn't what she wanted).

If yours is interested there are open days etc at all of them where you can learn all about it - but beware, it is a slippery slope - we only went to find out what opportunities there might be for Sixth Form and now look...

How amazing minisnowballs! Will she stay at home? My DD is talking about it too, but we don't fully understand what it'll be like or if the right thing for her. What a fantastic opportunity, you must be so proud!

We always found morning practice a good shout, although never seems to happen these days now the teenage years are approaching!!!

Thanks all. @SweetforOrchestra she's 13 (will be 14 when she goes) - yes, a big change. She has a very nice life here in London with us, but i think we all know that if she wants to pursue this stuff - even for a few years - she needs a bit (a lot) more help than we can give.

We've done our best to choose the one that won't narrow her options too much and that seems to fit her character best... now we just have to see what happens.

In terms of music practice, she always does some in the am before school and some the pm - but at 4 I think he'll just be knackered after school won't he? Great that he's happy for Mum to teach him!

@horseymum it’s a temporary measure until we get him a teacher - can completely see the benefits of a third party!

That’s good to know re practice. We both work full time so I was wondering how it would work when both kids are learning instrument(s) as atm it’s hard enough fitting in one for one child!

@SweetforOrchestra well done teaching your own, mine never listen to me! At primary, always one practice before school, once they started another instrument, other one before tea. At secondary, I let them choose, with a wee reminder eg you've got time before tea/swimming/bed etc.

Well done @minisnowballs! very exciting for your DD. I have lots of friends who went to specialist music school and they all had an absolute blast.

How old is she? I can totally imagine the apprehension on your part too - big change for everyone!

My little one is still enjoying piano lessons from me. We’ve started doing practice in the morning rather than evening as he’s much less tired. What time do others fit in their practice? He’s still only 4 so not able to do it by himself yet.

Well done to your DD @minisnowballs, that sounds amazing.

Best of luck to her minisnowballs

That’s great news @minisnowballs I’m sure she’ll love it.

How exciting @minisnowballs what a big change to family life. I'm sure she'll have a great time.

When we changed teachers for middle DD it was easy as she was going to JD. For youngest DD, I'd like to change one teacher but it's a bit difficult as it's a friend. This teacher is great for ds, but doesn't really push DD. She is thinking about moving house will will provide a natural break. I think you just need to say that you want to try a different approach or similar. They won't be offended.

Good luck to her! everyone says trinity is really quick so hopefully you'll know in no time.

Our news is that DD2 has finally decided that she will take her place at specialist music school in September (cue repicking all of her GCSES and lots of soul-searching from us about how we're going to cope without her). She's so much more relaxed now she's made the decision -here's hoping it's the right one for her.

Thanks - grade 5 she did ABRSM and then hers was picked for auditing so took a couple of weeks.

Trinity are usually really quick- sometimes even the same day.

Hello, I'm not new to Mumsnet but don't think I've posted here before.
My dd plays cello and has grade 6 exam tomorrow- does anyone know how long for results with Trinity?
Thank you

Oh you are all my people and understand!! Unfortunately will have to be a direct email or conversation as not through a music centre. It's awkward because she started learning with this teacher, but now she's playing at a much higher level, it's not quite working out. It's the right thing to do I think, but definitely awkward!!

We changed private teachers at the beginning of the school year. It helped that we moved from lessons in our house to Sat music school -we just said that we were looking to consolidate all lessons onto a Saturday and to tie in with ensembles etc. The piano teacher was fine about it, he'd taught both DC for a long time and think that we'd got to a point where it was good to switch.

we've had a (relatively awkward) teacher changeover recently.

DD2 wasn't getting what she needed with her flute teacher, and in this case we had to go through the head of department. We went with 'a different style and perspective is needed'...

It wasn't easy - but it was totally the right decision - she's making far more progress now and is much more confident. If there's a head of department, or head of music at school to go through that might make it easier - harder if not. Good luck!