Autumn 23 Music chat

... meaning that I've been trying to use it as a valuable lesson about loyalty, etc!

Crikey - that's an amazing standard at year 8! How 'seriously' does she have to take piano? Enough to keep her technique up, or more? That would be the obvious one to concentrate on less, I'd have thought.

Mixed bag of fortunes here. On plus side, DS was invited back to play French Horn in a very good local grown-ups chamber orchestra, so now is in the 'network'. He's also got a scholar's concert coming up at school, so is polishing. up one of his diploma piano pieces. Should be an amazing concert - be good to hear the other music scholars!

On the down side, he auditioned to be The Beast in a local kids theatre company production of Beauty and the Beast. But he didn't even get a part! Merely 'ensemble'! After a bit of thespy cloak swishing, we rationalised it by realisiing they mainly give principal roles to the kids that have been going for years, and put in the hard yards. No reflection on his worth - he usually gets principal or supporting roles.

My DD (year 8) is currently trying to juggle 3 instruments for the last year and a bit - violin, piano and organ. It leaves little time for anything else tbh. She studies violin and organs at JD and piano locally. Violin and organ are joint first studies - working at diploma level. She’s also going to be taking ARSM piano at some point this year so time will have to be found for this too… Dropping an instrument has been mentioned but it’s an impossible choice for her at this stage still - loves playing in NCO so violin has to stay, loves the organ and been told she needs to keep piano going if going to take the organ seriously.

@Iwilltrytobepositive I juggled three instruments through my GCSE and A level years: piano and clarinet at high level and also bass guitar which didn't have levels back then as there were no graded exams. It was challenging. I couldn't practice all three instruments every day so I had a rota of two each day. Over time, different instruments have come to the forefront. In hindsight it would have been better to pick one primary instrument and let the other two take a backseat. Of course, since then I've also taken up the saxophone and I have even less time to practice now.

@Iwilltrytobepositive my DD was in this position for ages (same instruments). It was eventually resolved when she applied for a conservatoire junior department and they basically told her piano was her first study and cello second. How old is your DD? Are they looking at junior departments or applying to conservatoire as it is usually possible to get a consultation which might indicate the way to go?

It is a good combination though as piano can be a bit lonely unless she can find some chamber groups. Even now at conservatoire mine finds her cello background helpful (if only to annoy the cellists she plays with by being able to play their part as well as her own....)

Yes northern that's what I'm hoping too! It's only 3 days and they've already said he doesn't have to stay over as he's so young. However by then he'll be a bit older (he's only doing the summer course) and hopefully he'd be more than ready. Who doesn't want to stay and hang around with people that share the same interests and passion!!

Think thats a really good idea @chickentikkasalad , hopefully he totally won't need you at all, but its a nice intro to the residential and the main thing at this stage is that its fun. He's really little so it doesn't need to be stressful for him. Bet he has a blast and you wonder why you bothered staying over, but that would be a good result!

Thank you Mini and third. Yes he's quite chuffed and very excited. I'm sure he'll love it! We're going to book a hotel to stay nearby just in case he can't manage the residential bit. He's never done a sleepover so don't know how that'll go. Hoping this will be motivating enough for him to give it a try! He's generally quite confident just still very clingy to me at nighttime

@chickentikkasalad huge congrats to your DS - hope he loves it.

@Iwilltrytobepositive how old is DD? I have a daughter with two instruments at basically the same level - nothing like as sensible as your daughter with cello and piano though - she's a flautist /bassoonist.

To be honest for her it's a constant problem... applied for music school on one instrument, got told the other was her first study. Wrangling over how much time she can spend on each and consantly being asked if she can please just make her mind up. She's 14, and finds it all a bit tricky!

But cello and piano sounds like it will work, one for orchestra and one for not - and I'm sure one is fuelling progress on the other? Lots of the children at DD's school have very high level piano as well as something else. Sounds like she's doing really well!

Chickentikkasalad, that's great news for your DS. Bet he will love it.

Iwilltry I think we have a few multi-instrumentalists on here. It does get harder as they get more advanced and the practice expectations increase! At a lower level than your DD but as far as I can tell mine are kind of similar on their instruments. It's harder to level their piano as they haven't been doing exams for a while, and some sorts of music they're better at than others.

Certainly know adult musicians who are extremely proficient on more than one instrument, both on pro side and good amateur side. And some who have a whole collection, why stop at 2?

@Iwilltrytobepositive sorry I don't have anything experience to share my DS is too young and he only loves the violin. Just wanted to say how talented your DD is and how passionate she is towards music! Well done to her!

Are you referring to the orchestra pieces or general pieces? We don't know which pieces they'll play at the orchestra yet as only got the offer today. For his general learning he doesn't tend to listen to them just picks up a piece and play the notes. He does tend to look at the footnotes to read about the story of the piece though. Maybe we should introduce more listening to get the feel and help with the tuning. Once he's heard an adult playing a piece his tuning is generally much better. Listening on YouTube doesn't seem to have the same effect for some reason. Unfortunately my violin playing is not good enough to demonstrate intonation as I struggle myself .

Hello - not really asking for advice but interested if anyone else has the experience with having two instruments at similar level? DD is studying for both grade 8s - in piano and cello. She seems to veer between prefering one or the other. I don't have friends with kids who seem to have a double instrument passion in her youth orchestra group. Anyone else here? Do some people just keep up a lifelong passion for 2 instruments? I played both too but dropped cello after grade 5 so impressed she is going full blast still on them.

Interestingly her cello playing is very passionate and I think has the edge whilst on the piano she is much more precise and technical - she is almost like a different musican/personality depending on the instrument. She also records herself playing one part so she can play with herself if that makes sense. Her cello teacher has just given her the Chopin cello sonata to learn both parts with.

She's been invited to debut a new composition in a chamber group with a pianist, and is lead cello in the country orchestra now. Piano is more moving into competitions.

Thank you @QueenMabby we did have much hope when he was on the reserved list. It's nice that it actually worked out. He worked so hard for the audition recording and it's paying off! It's given him a massive confidence boost as he's been struggling with tuning since changing to the bigger size violin.

@chickentikkasalad - congratulations to your ds. That's a fantastic achievement! Well done.

Just got the email - DS got a place in the NYSO! He was reserved but a place came up for the summer course so he's in!! Really looking forward to it...

@se22mother I'm truly impressed yours would do both! That's a lot of playing!

LSSO clashes too much for DD to have auditioned - plus the winter concert is after she's back at school - so she's gone for the LYWB instead. No guarantee she'd have got in anyway.

The cynic in me wonders whether DD2 enjoyed SLYO more this time because she's at private school (albeit specialist) and fits in better because she knows how to 'be'. Perhaps she's just grown up - she didn't like 2 as much and was nervous about this one.

Another for team SLYO here - state school so missed a day but school gave permission easily so that was good. I think though its a fair point that there are fewer and fewer local state school kids the higher up the orchestras you go (though DD is in 3 and even that is fairly indi school heavy). One of the issues is the minimum standard, most kids who learn in junior school get to about grade 1 or 2 by the end, so needing to be grade 6 minimum on woodwind before you can join is a bit of a challenge. Its easier for strings players to get involved.

The concerts were fantastic - DD did well considering how little she'd played over the past month, but watching her she's definitely still 'protecting her wrist, whether consciously or not in terms of her bowing being more cautious / smaller! Hopefully once it fully stops hurting she'll stop with that.

My dd also did slyo . Had to miss school to go to the concert day. Is also doing Lsso. I do think we are lucky to live in a city with so many musical courses

@SweetforOrchestra fingers crossed. Sure they will get through.... though appreciate it must be weird not knowing what happens in class. Not sure anyone would have picked my DD as remotely musical at that age - she used to leave the room screaming every time anyone played a clarinet!

Just checking in - lovely to hear about all the music making going on!

My little DC will find out at the end of this term whether they get to progress to the brass or string training programmes at Guildhall and if so on which instrument. It’s based on assessments done by the Kodaly and Dalcroze teachers this year. DC is extremely musical but also quite shy. Parents don’t sit in on the classes so I have no idea how he is doing/how much he participates so it could go either way. Thankfully DC is completely oblivious to the assessment process.

I took DS to an audition at Guildhall recently (not actually for Guildhall but for the LYWB, they were just using the venue). They had ear plugs on the reception desk in a big jar and each of the practice rooms had a chart showing what db level different instrument / ensembles would be and when hearing damage was a risk, so think that the higher level music schools are really "on it". Its school music where there is much less focus but perhaps also because its a much smaller component of their day.

I got DS some 'loop' earplugs - the ones that claim to reduce by 15db. They might not be 'the best' but he does like them and wears them now which is a massive improvement on previous ones i've bought him which have remained unused. I mainly want him to wear them in school orchestra as he often ends up sitting right in front of the brass section and it can be quite loud.

Glad the concerts went well, Pollyanna8844 and minisnowballs.
A flautist friend of mine has recently made the decision to leave her job in one of the London orchestras, because she now has to wear a hearing aid in her right ear, as a result of many years say next to the piccolo player.
It's a real concern, so very positive that youth orchestras are taking serious steps to address it.
DH has a percussion colleague who wears hearing aids in both ears for the same reason - you can imagine how much of an extra problem noise is in an orchestra pit.

I'm never quite sure with exams as I think the peris negotiate between themselves to try and avoid overloading the children, but I think it will be G8 singing this term for DD - she is quite keen to finish it now and get started on the diploma - if not, summer term. Potentially a G6 clarinet this term too.

G6 cello in summer term. Piano has been on the back burner as DD's teacher has just had a baby and she is just restarting lessons this week - she has been practising some G8 pieces, but she has had to be nudged to practise - exam probably not until autumn I would say as simply a bit too much on and she has to fit in a LAMDA exam in May too. Exhausting!