Spring /Summer 25 - Music thread

@Happydaysandhappysmiles a merit is great! What a shame if he is sad about it. DD2 only has two distinctions in her main instruments. Both are for grade 8. No-one will ever ask her about the others now.

I hate it when they beat themselves up over marks.

Big well done to him - 10 is so young too.

@northerngoldilocks thank you will do! Just sometimes these things say ‘grade 4’ when successfully applicants are grade 6 and above….

@achangeofnameisasgoodasarest i don’t 😂, he is sensible! A merit, he will be disappointed but it seems very harsh marks across the board. Doesn’t help much at the moment. Ten is pretty young to put it mildly but he has worked harder for this than any other exam. Such a pain!

were you accompanying @Happydaysandhappysmiles - you must have nerves of steel? My brother is a piano teacher, but can't bear to accompany his own kids.

Fingers crossed your DS gets what he hopes for and results are quick - and well done to him for getting through the exam!

Poor grade 5 child has a youth orchestra concert next weekend so the weekend off and then back to it 😢.

Grade 5 cello done today, so now waiting for results. I would have given him full marks for pieces last night and I am pretty tough but definitely not today 😢 and obviously I have no idea how the scales etc went. He didn’t come out bouncing and was definitely nervous going in (but he said that went when he started playing). Keep your fingers crossed, he will be disappointed not to get a distinction and he worked his socks off. Thankfully my bit was fine 😂 but I now need a few hours off (but sadly everything else needs to be crammed in before pick up!)

On a side note, next year my just 9 year old cellist will be well on the way to grade 5, good enough for NCO? Working at grade 4 now aged 8 but felt probably not good enough for this year?? I did NYO but never tried NCO.

Thanks for the Rodolfus advice. There aren't many pictures of the younger singers in concert clothes, but I think the 3/4 sleeves are a good idea - it will be the height of summer, after all. I'll keep an eye out on Vinted.

DD came out of her recorder exam smiling today. She's chosen to play one part of a duet as a solo for a concert in a couple of weeks (and won't listen to me on whether that's a good idea!) so I guess now is the time for her to practise that. I won't miss the exam pieces. Hope the consecutive exams go well, @Legoninjago1 .

@Londonmummy66 that looks excellent - jazz scales etc sound really useful. Will purchase! Thanks

@achangeofnameisasgoodasarest - this might work as its designed for Grade 3+. https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Play-Jazz-Saxophone-Bennett/dp/0571541402

Over here dd2 has finished GCSEs (hooray!) but music continues and the poor kid has her solo lunchtime concert the morning after her prom (and after party) … I hope she’s at least a bit sensible!

musicy parents who know about saxophones… anyone got any ideas how someone who was self teaching sax might move on when they’d finished abracadabra (which I think is about grade 3/4?). Dd2 can’t afford any more music lessons- and is enjoying teaching herself this one.

She already has grade 8 in flute and bassoon, and I realise describing sax as a kind of mashup of the two isn’t quite right but there is a crossover so she’s quite quick. But she wants to be able to do jazz… no idea how you self teach that!

any good books/tik toks/ YouTube channels?

…and yes re music stuff - choir tour done and now piano and clarinet exams on consecutive days for my DS2! Eek.

Hi @TreeAtMyWindow. Ah Rodolfus course sounds perfect for her. I’d say maybe follow them on instagram and look back through last year’s pictures and videos to see what they all wearing?

DD wore a 3/4 length revere collar blouse to Rodolfus so that it felt less like school uniform - I think we got them from M&S or John Lewis. Sadly, not going this year as it clashes with other things.

All finished for school music here with a cello exam last week, but summer music is just about to start 😁

Has anyone sent kids on the Rodolfus courses? My DD8 is going this summer. I felt so bad for her nearly-but-not-quite becoming a cathedral chorister that I agreed to it, even though it's a ridiculous amount of travel. I've just had the course info, and apparently she needs concert clothes: black trousers or below-the-knee skirt and white shirt. Which sounds very straightforward, but now I'm asking myself whether I have to buy a school-type shirt that will never be worn again, or can I get something with short/puff sleeves and/or couple of ruffles that she might be convinced is everyday wear? I'm generally not someone who worries too much about clothes, but I'm conscious she'll be a long way from home and will probably not want to be the odd one out.

Is everyone else caught in a mad rush of musical things stuffed into the last few weeks of term? DD has a school dance show the night before a recorder exam, just to make things interesting.

My DS applied for NCO twice and was unsuccessful both times, but went on to get into NYO, so there’s really no way of knowing what may happen!

Some years ago, mine auditioned for NCO just for audition experience. He ended up getting into Main Orchestra! He loved it and is still in touch with a lot of the friends he made there, some are at conservatoire with him. Conversely, he auditioned for NYO after the covid break and didn't get in. It's weird hoe it goes, but definitely worth going for- just be prepared to get accepted.

I know I've said this one before - so apologies for repetition. DD2 did projects in its very first year.She applied for the residential and didn't get that but was offered projects. She took the time off from Saturday school to do it.

DD2 was older than yours - would have been under 13 that year I think. She enjoyed it musically and the tutor she had on that course is now her main teacher... just a coincidence, but it certainly helped!

The next year she reauditioned for both Projects and Residential, and was surprised to get offered the main residential orchestra.

Trouble was she was so surprised in fact that she had to drop out altogether as she'd already booked a holiday at the time off the course and didn't want to miss it. That ended her NCO career as she was then too old the next year.

I'm still a little sad she didn't take the Main Orchestra place up as I hear the residentials are amazing and we do get the odd raised eyebrow even now for 'turned down the NCO'. If you apply for both projects and residential you only get one - so you can't turn down the residential place and take a projects one instead if you see what I mean.

So perhaps learn from my mistakes on that one and check all the dates before applying !

My youngest did projects this year - same situatiom re rearranging things, esp piano! It felt worth it tho. She made friends and had the best time. Incredible staff and tutors there and she really liked both conductors.

interested in auditioning for NCO too for DS but also a bit put off by having to miss Saturday music activities. If it’s only 2 weekends maybe it’s not too bad…

She’s actually quite nervous about the idea of a residential without knowing anyone so with her limited prep and an instrument she hasn’t played for that long (so not a backlog of pieces to rehash), I told her that I didn’t think there’s much danger of her getting the residential 😃. Would be interested to see if she gets Weekends, but that would mean missing her Sat morning music lessons/groups so we’ll see. Tbh we’re entering the process as having a focus to work towards rather than expecting to get anything out of it - and she’s totally ok with that - as she’s not done any grades in this instrument and if she gets positive feedback then that will be encouraging. She’d be the U12 bracket I think. Has your DD done NCO before?