Autumn / Winter 2025 Music

Well done @chickentikkasalad's DS. Luckily my DD is still working through her grade four theory book, so I'm not coming under pressure from her teachers.

@achangeofnameisasgoodasarest She's a school year too young for NYCGB, but it's one for the future, thanks.

I think I'll book an audition for NCCGB and see how inconvenient the timings are when I get them. Not that I have any idea when she'd fit in audition prep. She swore she was going to get up early this morning and do very quiet piano practice to make up for missing yesterday's, then she slept in so late that she didn't even have time to eat breakfast. I had to put her porridge in a flask for break time. She said she'll practise piano in her head during boring lessons!

thanks for the warning I’ll try to nip anything that might come in the bud 🤣.

I would avoid the harp at all costs (DD2 plays it). They are eyewatering even at a basic level once they get onto pedal instruments. Buying them secondhand is like buying a house (as in "we will pay you the asking price if you will agree to cancel all the viewings you have booked in - literally). Strings are guaranteed to go in pairs at crucial moments and a full set is hundreds of pounds. The trolley to move them is £500 and you need an estate car. Need I go on....

@chickentikkasalad- amazing result. Well done your ds!

Thank you all for the kind words. He loves theory anyway so I’m sure he will carry on this journey.
@Compsearchit’ll be great to get him started sooner than later so it’s not too cramped when he needs it (might be sooner than you think!).
He went to a trial for a new orchestra yesterday and absolutely loved it! His level is higher than what they needed but it’s a first time he played in a full orchestra so he was very excited all the way on the journey back home and told me he’s going to join! I wasn’t sure as the level is not that high but they had age related music and it sounded they had fun! He kept taking about the harp!

Congratulations @chickentikkasalad - fantastic result for someone so young!

I really need to get on it with the theory for DS…was hoping he’d pick more up by osmosis but hasn’t really happened yet.

His class has started learning violin at school (all 30 of them being taught at once in half an hour a week, for 1 term only…seems a total waste of time to me) and so he played for the first time for his classmates. Difficult to get much sense out of him but I think they were impressed and he really enjoyed it, so I hope it encourages him to do some more performances.

Congratulations @chickentikkasalad!

Well done to him

Brilliant news @chickentikkasalad hugely impressive

That's fantastic news @chickentikkasalad, a superb result for your DS!

finally got the g5 music theory result back - a distinction with 73 points!! DS will be thrilled when I tell him after school.
Had to ring them yesterday and the exam wasn’t actually closed properly. DS was sure he pressed the bottom and there was a dialog came up are you sure you want to close and he said yes. So it must have been a glitch in the system. Doesn’t matter now. Just to say surprisingly the call was quickly answered and the person on the phone was very friendly and knowledgeable, reassured me his answers were all still there and he closed it for him and result came next day. Can’t fault them! Very impressed!

@mustardrarebit so glad she's enjoying being back. DD2 is home for the weekend for orchestra so we've been catching up.

Sixth Form seems exciting, very very busy and everything clashes. I hadn't really realised that as well as there being clashes between music and academics there would be questions over commitment to academic music and performance music.

Should you be at Advanced Harmony or should you be rehearsing a Schubert Octet seems to be one of the questions DD2 is grappling with. She informs me that "MUM, I'll sort it"- so I am sitting on my hands. She's come home with a massive book of Bach Chorales. I am confused.

@FurForksSake welcome - sounds like lots going on at your house!

Good luck to those moving young adults to conservatoire and uni this week. We've already dropped DD1. She has, in a last minute decision, taken her viola. We will see.

Hello, hope everyone is excited for the new school year! My y8 DD was delighted to be back at Chets. I think she was missing her friends and fed up of younger siblings! She plays piano and sings. Fortunately, she was happy to practice over summer and started the new year with the 1st movement of a new piece well underway. Her first week back has been enjoyable and she's been made a 'mentor'. I'm not sure what this involves, but she seems very pleased to have been chosen. I hope she can maintain this level of motivation over the rest of the year.

Has anyone had a look at the new ABRSM Jazz performance exam syllabus for piano grades 6-8? My DS prefers jazz and similar styles so I thought it might be an option for him to do the grade 6 Jazz performance exam after his regular grade 6 practical exam, or even before. I feel that it’s a big jump between grades after 5 and the new Jazz exams might give him something to aim for in between.

@achangeofnameisasgoodasareststill no results but thanks for the sympathy. I think I’ll email on Monday given the weekend.

@TreeAtMyWindow could she do national youth choir auditions instead - I think they're online? She might be too young, I can't remember.

Now DD2 has picked up a saxophone I suspect our neighbours have some nostalgia for 8am bassoon - it is actually a surprisingly quiet instrument where beginner sax is foghorntastic...

@chickentikkasalad I hope they're through soon. Hate the waiting

@TreeAtMyWindowMy DS same age didn’t fancy residential when went away to string orchestra so yours is probably quite dedicated. I’ve saying no theory exam for ages then his teacher just get it done and over with. I guessed he’d have needed it at some point so just wanted to get it out of the way, not that he needed it in the near future. His violin teacher isn’t interested in an exam just yet.

As we're doing summaries, DD8 plays the recorder, bassoon and piano. I'm always super impressed by your young kids with a sheaf of certificates, mine has a lot of enthusiasm but isn't on that level. It would probably help if she would do focussed practice when she has the time, rather than when she feels like it (I'm sure the neighbours enjoyed the 8 am bassoon today).

I've just had an email saying that the National Children's Choir auditions are open. Feeling a bit torn - most of the auditions are on Saturdays in term time, so she'd probably have to miss music school. If it's super-competetive, it's probably not worth her and her sister missing a whole morning of music for it. On the other hand, she loved her residential choir course this summer, and you probably have to be a specific sort of person to want to go away from home and sing requiems.

@chickentikkasalad I feel for you, I've been saying 'no' to music theory exams because I don't need the stress in my life!

I booked it indeed.

Thank you. Good idea. My plan is to wait till tomorrow then email

It says pending