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Extra-curricular activities

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Original poster

YMOTY 2016

123 replies

NewLife4Me · 05/04/2016 14:40

Just to let you all know it starts this Friday with the Keyboard finalists.
Then the woodwind next time.

BBC4 7.30 pm.

If you have a budding young musician and you haven't seen the competition before, it can be very motivating for children and a must for older ones too, wanting to make music their career.

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LooseAtTheSeams · 09/04/2016 19:59

Totally agree about Julian! I did love the winner, and so modest as well and the youngest player was adorable and amazingly talented. Really looking forward to woodwind next Friday. I'm glad they're doing jazz again as well.

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NewLife4Me · 09/04/2016 22:34

Thank you so much waffle, for keeping mum.
There are a lot from dd school some who she plays with and she or nobody else knows any of the results as the dc aren't saying anything.
No announcements or special treatment etc, so it's lovely to have surprises.
Many Thanks

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drummersmum · 09/04/2016 22:43

I honestly think you're all being a bit hard on Julian. MY guess is this boy must have some autistic spectrum as I recognize his way of speaking which can be mistaken as snobbery or "distance". I already saw that he was special two years ago. This may have led to home ed rather tan him being special because of home ed. So no bad name there I think Newlife. They never mentioned his teacher and I wonder who teaches him. Two concert pianists I know said last night that for them Julian was the winner. My money was on Tomoka. Jackie was sweet and I was happy for him though.

Original poster
NewLife4Me · 09/04/2016 22:49

drummersmum

I hadn't considered this as don't know about the autistic spectrum, but agree I should have known better. Blush
I did say to family there could be a reason he was the way he was and shouldn't have taken the attitude I did, I'm quite ashamed really as it isn't normally me Thanks

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drummersmum · 09/04/2016 23:56

No problem. Like I said I was only guessing here and I should stop doing it now because he's someone else's child.

Musicmom1 · 13/04/2016 23:15

We finally got to watch tonight - wow they were all great; and what modesty from the two youngest - we really warmed to them. I thought either of those two might get it.

We saw an ex older school chum of dd's in the chets classroom which DD was excited about (she rather looks upto him as a wind player).

drummersmum · 15/04/2016 12:20

Looking forward to tonight. Waffle has certainly made it more exciting with talks of a possible woodwind overall winner...

CrotchetQuaverMinim · 15/04/2016 19:53

I wonder when they decide on the judges for each category final - it looks like they wait until after the category auditions, so that they know which instruments are taking part? Sometimes the instruments are similar enough that it might make less of a difference, but other times it must be helpful to have a judge who plays the specific instrument, and they do seem to make sure they have eg a recorder specialist if there's one in the woodwind cateogry final, or a harpist if there's a harpist in the string final, as there might be some quite unusual instrument-specific aspects to take account of.

How do they ensure the audience at the category finals doesn't publicise the winners? And presumably the semi-finals have already happened as well. I guess the competitors are told not to tell people, but it must be hard not to, and even harder to control whether the audience says anything.

Wafflenose · 15/04/2016 20:19

The category finals and semi final all took place in early March. We were all told not to say anything!

CrotchetQuaverMinim · 15/04/2016 20:25

yes, that's what I mean - it's all been decided already, must be very hard to monitor whether people tell or not. I guess asking you not to say anything is perhaps enough for a competition like this, but I do wonder whether loads of people do actually know already as the news must be out amongst family and friends

drummersmum · 15/04/2016 21:04

A deserving winner !

Musicmom1 · 15/04/2016 21:54

Ys. Thought so too, although we loved one of the flutes too.

Ddreally wants to go to the final now esp as her friend is already going. It's an NCO London rehearsal day so could just make it to the Barbican......

Wafflenose · 15/04/2016 22:25

We would love to go, but we're having Rara's birthday party that day!

LooseAtTheSeams · 16/04/2016 12:07

Caught up now and delighted with the result! A lovely performance and actually a really enjoyable final. I am very much looking forward to the percussion final next Friday.

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NewLife4Me · 16/04/2016 19:12

We have just watched it as was on school run Friday night.
Did I agree, an outstanding no, no, no,. Grin
I'm not sure who i'd have chosen, maybe recorder player, not sure.
The Phil Woods Sonata is a cross over between Classical and Jazz, Phil the Jazzer had the middle piece of the work swinging. This was strict on the beat all the way, not a delayed beat anywhere, and a case of Emperors new clothes for me.
She dressed the part and fooled even the Judges, but just my opinion Grin

I liked the rest of her performance and she seems a lovely enthusiastic girl, she played her heart out and the audience liked her.

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Original poster
NewLife4Me · 16/04/2016 19:17

crotchet

The teachers at the school know, obviously. dd house master told her he knew when she told him she'd seen the keyboard winner last week.
None of the children are told until after the televised episode, of course most watch it in the common room.
She said it's strange to see them round school after they've been on tv. Grin
So as far as her school goes it's kept quiet, there's been several now and nobody knows, we are now looking forward to Brass as one of her ensemble members is in that one.

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drummersmum · 16/04/2016 19:52

Maybe NewLife, but Jess was the one that kept my eyes open all the way. I have a problem with flutes. They put me to sleep. Recorder was v good.

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NewLife4Me · 16/04/2016 20:05

Ha Ha, I usually have problems with recorders but I thought she did a great job, the flautists were all good too. Certainly wouldn't want to have been a judge.
I know what you mean about sleepy flautists though Grin

I don't know why there weren't any clarinets, oboes or bassoons.
I know they aren't popular instruments but surely there are some around at this level.

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Wafflenose · 16/04/2016 20:30

Lots of clarinets, oboes and bassoons auditioned, but just didn't get to the last 5. Jess has a very good younger sister coming through.

I wanted to like the recorder player best - this didn't really come across on the edited TV version, but she was very nervous, fidgetty, and didn't seem to settle well that day. However, her piece with the loop machine was out of this world live!

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NewLife4Me · 16/04/2016 22:46

My dd liked the recorder player, because of the loop, and the sax player. But obviously wanted girls from her school to play well too.

I think Jess was very confident and I liked the first one, I think I was put off because I've heard he Phil Woods Sonata so many times with far better, and more realistic interpretations.
I bet I'll prefer her other pieces, as she started of with quite easy (for this comp) pieces, grade 7 and 8, iirc.

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Icouldbeknitting · 17/04/2016 12:51

We usually watch from the start but haven't this year. Things have been crazily busy and tv viewing is bottom of the to do list. This year we don't have any investment in the brass category; in previous years DS has been in an ensemble with one or two of the players, one year we knew a judge but this time around there are no familiar faces.

(Nope - not true. I've just been and looked and one of the judges has been a passenger in my car)

drummersmum · 19/04/2016 19:40

Won't be able to watch percussion final this Friday (DS: "Noooooooooooo!!") but we will definitely catch it Saturday night.
Woodwind final was all girls, percussion is all boys.

LooseAtTheSeams · 23/04/2016 07:50

drummersmum Not giving anything away about the percussion final except to say DS1 and I loved it and agreed with the judges' decision. And I think we have another contender for overall winner. Would be really interested to hear what you think about it.
I was amused by the end when they showed a clip from next week's brass final. I think there are some exuberant characters coming up!

drummersmum · 23/04/2016 15:31

Thanks for the discretion! I will report.

drummersmum · 23/04/2016 22:54

OK, this was incredible. What a final. DS loved every minute. What these young men were doing is so so difficult. And yes, I agree Loose. Even though every one was a worthy contender, the winner stood out because of his musicality.

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