Autumn 23 Music chat

Sorry I meant your DD @Bunnycat101...

Congratulations to your DS @Bunnycat101! It's hard to even go in the exam room after a meltdown. She did very well to hold her nervous and still passed the exam! It's all part of the experience so perhaps feeling the stress sooner is not a bad thing - she has plenty of time to learn how to deal with it before things that really matters!

@thirdfiddle yes I was very nervous with the violin under chair too! Better not do that next time . It was a shame he couldn't enjoy it as much but not a big deal. I'll think of a different plan next time...

@herbaceous that sounds like too many instruments so think it's sensible that viola goes. DD2 has given up cello for similar reasons - however is still playing it in a church service on sunday. I hope she'll cope as she's not touched it all term as it lives here and she doesn't. Funnily enough they don't wish to replace it with bassoon in a small band!

@Bunnycat101 Congrats to your DD - I think music exams are nervewracking at any age. Tell her she's getting the nerves out of the way early and she'll be cool as a cucumber by GCSEs because she'll be more used to it! She's done really well.

We have had a musical few days. Saw our ward in the school concert on Thursday. Super proud of her - she had never seen a cello until she came to live with us in Sept, so has done really well to play in an ensemble and looked like she knew exactly what she was doing. Very odd concert though - music department very depleted (was DD2's old school and DD1 is in the joint sixth form). Hoping it gets better soon.

Then DD1's CYM concert on Saturday which was joyous and she actually looked like she knew what she was doing in Symphony (new one on us), and straight down to DD2's school play and then advent service the next day. They were epic, and it was amazing to hang out with her. But she is exhausted. Just Symphony concert to go on Wednesday and some kind of house singing, and a badly timed masterclass - and she can come home. She really really needs to sleep. When I left her last night though they were having some kind of slightly frantic curry night in house, which didn't look very relaxing though lots of fun.

Ah well done bunnycat's DD! It's a funny one for littles, some just don't feel the nerves yet and breeze through, but it's a big ask if they do! Clearly well prepared if she can pass regardless of wobbles. And now another time she'll know what to expect.
And aw chickentikka, poor DS. Maybe have a plan in case next time, could he attract teacher's attention for tuning help? Takes nerve at any age to keep tuning till you're happy when everyone else has finished. Instruments on floors make me nervous too, NCO Projects did it for a body percussion type piece.

My 7yo did her g1 exam on Friday and got a pass (110). She had a major meltdown before going in and I wasn’t sure if she’d do it so pleased she went through with it and got the pass but can also tell the nerves really got to her and her pieces were getting worse the closer we got to the exam. I’ve had some good advice on here about just having some fun for a bit and taking a while to develop her skills with a broader range of pieces. I’m glad it’s done though.

@thirdfiddle it does look very much like he's wandered to the wrong ensemble lol. After the play he told his teacher his D string was off tune so he didn't want to play it out loud. He felt quite sorry for himself. I think it got bumped when he grabbed the violin from under his chair after ukulele before heading to the string orchestra. Next time we got to think more carefully about the procedure. I offered to hold his violin but the ukulele teacher insisted to keep it under his chair 😬.
He loves the percussion teacher he's super cool I think he'll enjoy the percussion lessons. I'm dreading the thought of having drum kit at home though. We have a tiny electric table top one and I'll refuse to buy a real drum kit for the sake of hubby who hates loud noises.

Thanks @thirdfiddle - I'm going to see what her violin teacher thinks. DD was originally going to do this exam in the summer but I didn't want it to clash with piano, so pushed back to Christmas and now will be spring. It's grade 5, so doesn't have to be sat, but she's never done a violin exam before so thought it would be best if she did it before going any further. She's done 1,5 and 7 on piano but no experience on accompanied exams.

Her wrist is ok but she can't play RH piano and isn't doing any violin practice but did do strings ensemble on sat (apparently ok as long as she doesn't extend her arm much!)

herbaceous, how lovely you got to join in and play and sing too! I don't know how he manages as many instruments as he currently does, so can certainly see viola might have to go, much as I love the instrument. He's already doing service to the rare instrument club with horn so I don't think he needs to feel too guilty!

School Christmas concert for us this week, one carol service and a little out of school concert too. Can't believe the end of this term has come so quickly.

Or you could just drop it northern, unless it's actually grade 8 or something - any other grade will be moved on from in a year or two anyway. It sounds a bit dispiriting to have to dust it off again a term later. Main thing she's done the work and you and teacher know she was up to standard. What a pain though! Hope the soreness is passing now.

chickentikka well done your DS! Percussion sounds fun.

I remember a similar stage with DD when she first joined music centre. She took a few concerts to catch up with how the whole stage management bit worked, so she would look very much like she'd wandered into the wrong ensemble until they actually started playing. While she still has an age gap, she's now tall enough she doesn't stand out. And at the ripe old age of 11 probably one of the more experienced players. I do think covid has left some odd gaps - not in a sinister way, just people couldn't have lessons and never picked up again unless they were super committed in the first place.

Have to confess to be totally confused about whose DCs do what instruments and where... We need a pinned list or something! Or is that just me...

We are immersed in usual end of term concert frenzy. School grand concert on Thursday, in which I was the bassoon section of school orchestra! Great fun. DS in orchestra, brass group, and three choirs. Barbershop quartet brought the house down. Carols by candlelight yesterday, with me in parents choir. More concerts next weekend, and various services including Christmas Eve and Christmas Day beckon.

DS in quandary about dropping viola lessons. He's only been doing it just over a year, and has just done grade 2, so fairly fast progress. But as he also learns piano and french horn at school, and music lessons can't be during school lesson time now that he's in year 10, he's thinking of dropping viola for singing lessons, especially as he's back into musical theatre in a big way. He could be a brilliant singer very quickly, but only an adequate viola player. But he feels bad for the viola!

Had a hectic concert this morning at our local music hub. DS did percussion ( tambourine), ukulele and the intermediate string orchestra. He's so small I can literally just about see the top of his hair behind the music stand 🤣. He was sharing the music stand with a tall teenager so I guess that's the best they could do to accommodate both of them. Hilarious!
I've signed him up for some 1:1 percussion lessons next term so can't wait!

The syllabus that she did ends this year but there is another year of overlap so plenty of time thankfully. Will get her violin teacher to move on with some new music and then just keep these pieces going on the side.

@northerngoldilocks Poor girl when she's worked so hard. She can take the violin next term i assume (syllabus doesn't end yet,does it?) - but I get that it's gutting for her when she's put in all that time. You can't control when they're going to randomly injure themselves at all - in DD's case, walking down the street, last time!

@northerngoldilocks so sorry about your DD's injury. Hope she has a speedy recovery!

Thanks all. She's ok. Her wrist is sore and she was upset tonight as the realisation re how much work she had put in and how she can't do her exam now has hit home. She tried both instruments and for now neither is an option!

I've had to point out that she can do the violin exam next time and play in the next music concert on piano too. It will all be ok, it's just one of those things. It's funny cos I was worried that signing her up to play hockey was a bad decision, but she managed to injure herself playing 'it' in the playground- basically you just can't control this stuff!

Oh no @northerngoldilocks ! Hope she recovers soon!

Hi, i was wondering if anyone had any views (good or bad) on the pro corda primary age summer residential? Thanks!

Oh no! That is a shame for her.

Oh @northerngoldilocks that's a shame. Hope your dd is ok and not too shaken up by it.

We're nearly done with music now this term. We've had three concerts already and dd just has the chapel services to sing at left.

Just as we are coming up to the busiest period for concerts and her violin exam DD has fallen at school and injured her wrist. Its not broken but is very sore so the Dr said to treat it as though it is fractured as likely that there is bruising on the bones. She has a splint to wear for 2 weeks 😥 Think it definitely rules out her piano Solo on Sat night and pretty sure that her violin exam is a no go too.

Have asked if her solo can be moved to the second concert the week later to give it more time to possibly be ok but suspect it won't be even with another week given the piece she's playing and no idea whether she'll be able to play in the 2 strings groups she's in either both of which have concerts in the next 7-10 days.

On the bright side, should be ok by Xmas and able to go to holiday orchestra the week after!

@Alsoplayspiccolo I think we need to find out how much of the total surprise everything seems to be is down to DD and her inability to manage all the school systems and how much is down to the school's comms with her.

Tutor has been very helpful in sorting her out this week - but dd definitely wanted to handle it alone (until it went wrong). If she'd been at home she would have been able to help her at least a bit - feeling very far away right now. I have at least got her to do some rehearsals with pianist before masterclass - I don't think she'd realised she could before her first one.

She is certainly getting MANY opportunities. Can't argue with that- i'll try to help her to reframe it.

Congratulations to your DD, horseymum, that's lovely news.

Oh, dear, minisnowballs, that's a lot to ask of anyone. I don't think she needs to stress about the performance class - there's not a huge amount to be gained by doing it if she hasn't actually got a performance-ready piece, so it was probably more about being seen to be giving her an opportunity to play IYKWIM.
Re the masterclass - they do seem to be dropped in our of the blue! DS did 2 last year with less than a week's notice. It's that old issue again...communication. Pretty sure the musicians giving the classes just be booked weeks in advance!
Tell DD not to stress - it might help her feel better if she can see them as opportunities being given to her, rather than obligations/duty.

Congratulations to your DD @horseymum - that's great news