Spring /Summer 24 - Music thread

Argh! Dd has her g4 singing exam tomorrow and has developed a sore throat and a dry cough! It's not bad and she doesn't feel poorly or anything (it might be hay fever related as she does get trouble with this) but...timing!

I've given her honey and lemon to drink. Should I be doing anything else?

@yodaforpresident I think she's getting through it by not going to any actual lessons. Which is a bit of a worry in year 10, but we'll regroup and see where she's at in the hols.

Goodness that sounds full on @minisnowballs - she will need the summer break after that!

@Alwaysplayspicc @londonmummy1966 @minisnowballs It does sound fantastic and so glad you’re children have had/having such a positive experience. It caused some division between my husband and I as we both went to boarding school and didn’t have overly positive experiences so he is very against it full stop. I’m more open to the idea if DS really wants to go but he seems pretty content with his current set up and has some pretty inspiring teachers in his camp so he is very lucky in that regard. It’s just very challenging juggling it all in a non-specialist school where no provision is made in the timetable. He’s quite a young 14 year old in terms of his maturity (he’s an April birthday) and doesn’t have any aspirations for a career in music currently, mainly because he doesn’t think he’ll make any money 😂 So I guess we’ll see whether there’s a shift in his aspirations over the next 12 months or so.
Thankfully he has had a much better practice today - I sense the grade 8 fear has finally kicked in!

@amr78 I think Sixth Form is probably a great entry point for nearly all kids. When we went to see the school, Sixth Form was what we were looking at really, if anything, but because DD2 was not at a school with really any music or attending a high-level JD, the HoD was pretty clear it was 'now or never' for her.

Now she's there, I can see that Year 12 would not have given her enough time to get the most benefit from the place given her starting points. She wasn't rubbish or anything before - but it has been a step change in terms of practice expectations, ensembles etc. As we come to the end of the year I can't quite believe how much she's changed and improved.

The school isn't perfect - but what school is - but we are on balance pleased she's there.

@amr78 - my DD went to that school for sixth form. Best thing we did for her - she went from a stressed out mess who was bullied by her teachers for spending too much time on her music to a very happy conservatoire student.

amr78, my DS is at the same school. He went in year 12 and has just finished A levels.
He moved from another cathedral school where he was a music scholar and had the same juggle as you describe, with lots of school music, county youth orchestra, junior conservatoire etc.

He's really enjoyed his time there, despite some pretty major issues, and has particularly loved the boarding side of things.
As parents, it's taken some getting used to not having him at home but he feels it's been the best learning and life experience he could have had.

@minisnowballs glad she’s loving it but imagine it must take some adjusting to as a family. We’re in the South West so your DD’s school is our nearest specialist music school but sadly not close enough for it to work as a day pupil. DS has been to a couple of summer residentials there and the head of woodwind has been very keen for him to audition. May possibly be something we revisit for sixth form if DS shows any inkling of wanting to take his music further but he’s not really sure at the moment.

@amr78 - well, it's been a rollercoaster of a year (she started at the beginning of Y10 in September) but she absolutely adores it. Coming from a state comp with little music (though an excellent saturday school) it is a culture shock, but she's adjusted, gets amazing opportunities - not just on her main instrument, and it is hard to imagine her anywhere else now. Sad for us as she's in the South West and we're in London, and it is flipping miles away, but worth it to see her so happy.

@minisnowballs how is your daughter finding specialist music school? We briefly entertained the idea but DS really happy at his current school. We’re also very fortunate that we have excellent music provision locally. However, it’s proving increasingly challenging to fit all of his musical commitments in. He’s a music scholar so a lot is expected of him but he also has county orchestra and an evening school for ensemble playing. His clarinet and sax tuition also happens outside of school. Think something will have to give in September when he starts year 10.

@amr78 that does sound like a stressful run up. Fingers crossed. Don't think I'd ever realised what a flashpoint music practice could be for us (I'm not musical and little help) until it all abruptly stopped when DD2 went to specialist boarding school. Apparently she actually listens to the graduate music assistants as well as her teachers - and even to the older girls who also play her instruments - so I don't have to worry unless she's home for the hols.

@northerngoldilocks @minisnowballs thank you for your advice 🙏🏻 I definitely do need to learn to leave him to it - still work in progress on my part! It’s been a challenging few weeks as his teacher had to have major surgery at short notice so he’s been having lessons on zoom with his previous teacher who moved overseas. I think it’s predominantly pre-exam gremlins and lapses in concentration because he’s had two of the pieces at performance standard since April when he played them in a competition so he’s really quite fed up with them now. Thankfully he resolved his reed debacle this afternoon which hampered his final run through with his accompanist earlier today. He does seem to able to rise to the occasion under pressure so fingers crossed for the big day. Looking forward to a few months without music exams!

Ha @amr78. That is great progress! I also have a 14 year old woodwind player. She certainly doesn't take any advice from me on music (or anything, sadly) - I've learned to just leave her to it in the main.

The two pieces of advice she did accept from me were a) record yourself and listen back in the last few days so you can see where mistakes are and b) structure your practice with a timer so you're covering everything.

Good luck to him though - they always seem to fall apart a bit just before the exam I think - but I think the examiner knows on the day if they prepared themselves properly.

Hello I’m new to this thread. My 14 year old DS is sitting his gr8 clarinet a week today. He seems rather relaxed about it. I, on the other hand am finding it quite stressful - the closer he gets to the exam, the more mistakes he seems to make and it tends to be things that haven’t previously been an issue 😩 I used to do a lot of music at school and although I no longer play, I still have a musical ear. However, my suggestions for improvement are generally not welcomed 😆 I’m trying to maintain perspective as it’s only 12 months since he passed his grade 6 with distinction and he’s made such amazing progress. Any tips for navigating there final few days would be much appreciated!

@northerngoldilocks We got 4 bows on approval from Caswells a couple of months ago on DD’s cello teacher’s recommendation and they were great. DD enjoyed trying them out with her teacher. They were all in the same price bracket but we didn’t disclose the prices so as not to be influenced either way!

@Compsearch DD has done the Benedetti Sessions and really enjoyed them. They were a good focus for practice too as she didn’t want to show up unprepared!

@Compsearch my kid is a horn player currently at conservatoire and hoping to make a living out of it. We'll see how it turns out.

Trumpet is a bit easier because you can’t/aren’t expected to do 4+ hours practice a day (as many string players and pianists do), so it is easier to balance with demands of a uni degree ime (I play the horn and did similar - im not a musician now as wanted to earn more money in the end!).

University then conservatoire postgrad is a common route and if she’s not 100% on what she wants then it would probably give more options later on. But if she knows she wants to perform and is set on that she may as well go to conservatoire from the start (in my opinion anyway!).

Also worth knowing that uni degrees are usually 3 years and conservatoire 4, so worth considering in terms of costs.

Trumpet. She's quite academic, and sings too. Thank you, I appreciate the advice

@Advent0range conservatoire v university route are quite different - worth reading up about it and perhaps talking to her current teacher.

I went to both and have loads of uni friends who are professional classical musicians and also lots of conservatoire friends who are now doing other things so in the long run I don’t think makes huge amount of difference but some paths will be easier for one over the other. Also depends on instrument a bit due to practice time requirements - what does she play?

@Compsearch thank you. I know nothing about conservatoires, so was only thinking about universities - will have to do some research. I'd really like something that gives her backup alternative options - but that's just me being cautious!

The bow chat is quite scary - brass instruments are so simple (and cheap!!) compared to strings!

I managed to find DS an ensemble from September (local music hub bent their No under 7 rule!) and I think he might also be starting CYM on recorder if they’ve got space. He’s also doing the Benedetti Sessions in October - has anyone done that before? Looks like a really fun day.

@Advent0range is your DD thinking of conservatoire or university? Other than music I don’t think subject choice really matters at all.

Things to think about are probably workload (to allow enough time for practice) and/ or if she is thinking of uni then the specific courses might guide some choices (eg some offer interesting joint programmes with eg languages, some have modules on eg music tech where computer science might be useful, some unis prefer “hard/traditional” subjects etc etc).

Hi! Hope I can join in here. 3*musical kids.
Dd14 wants to make music her career. Any advice on A levels? Obviously music, and she likes history.

Wow that sounds hectic! Seems like she's thriving on it all though which must be lovely to see. Bet she'll crash come the summer holidays!

I think it's great she tries them out- I know DD1 preferred carbon fibre when she did, but was adamant she wouldn't before hand.

We're just on the way back from a trip down to DD2's concert, which was just lovely last night - one with lots of different ensembles and where she got to play flute as well as bassoon. Total terror though as the orchestra did Hall of the Mountain King which is held together by the bassoons to start with - she'd been doubling on bassoon 1, but then one of the bassoons dropped out with a week's notice so she had to learn the other part. I realised she had become a proper bassoonist when she was complaining to us earlier that she didn't have the right reed prepared for that (all they ever do is complain about small bits of cane)

Trying to keep her sane as we speed towards the end of term while she does symphony orchestra, an opera, a special performance because her bassoon teacher is leaving, a singing exam, her woodwind assessment and a couple of evensongs. She's grudgingly agreed to give up a flute ensemble for the next three weeks. Fingers crossed she's still standing at the end of it.