July Music and Musicians Thread

[Wafflenose]

Welcome to wet July (well it's wet here) and a new thread. This is the place where we can talk about all things musical, like music lessons, exams, practice and new instruments. I am a music teacher (woodwind) and have two daughters. Goo is 10 and her first instrument is recorder, although on paper, flute has now caught up. She plays flute in NCO Under 11s, has just received the difficult bits she's meant to work on, so is finally cracking on with sorting out her piccolo. She started piano lessons at Easter and is going fast, currently playing Grade 3 pieces, and working through the Grade 2 sight reading and Dozen a Day books. Rara is 8 and far less keen - we are still currently trying to figure out what she really enjoys so that we can encourage her. But for now, she's learning the recorder and cello, and is between Grade 2 and 3 on both.

Goo did her flute exam on June 23rd, and now won't have any until at least March, or next June if I can push for that. Rara will probably do Grade 3 Recorder at Christmas. I have had a quiet exam term for my pupils - 7 altogether. 4 are already safely through (3 merits and a distinction), we are awaiting results for a Grade 6 Theory, and I have a couple of clarinettists still to go on Monday.

We went to Ludovico Einaudi performance today and we were paralysed until its finished and my daughter said, is it already a break mom. Its felt like 10 mins. No actually the whole 1.5hr gone in a tick, it was the end, there wasnt a break. It was amazing, we were truly barbarians.
Misti: so sweet to hear about your daughter and glad she got back to her relationship. I met my husband when I was 18 and he was my 1st boyfriend(I was a nerd, I studied maths, no-one was interested in me:)). Similar to Only, I cant imagine there is a day my daughters would kiss anyone but me.

We also later went a Latern festival and watched a Taiko performance(Japanese traditional drums), it was quite opposite from the afternoon show, the beats on the ground shoke us all up

I've just had both DH and DS away for a week, the difference in my grocery bill was amazing. It was a really relaxing week for me, only myself to feed, fewer dishes to wash and the house stayed tidy. I had to go and clap at a couple of concerts but my duties as audience weren't all that taxing.

howabout DD favours magnets these days but pegs are very much cheaper. DH bought a carrier bag full for a fiver this week, there were pegs for all of the summer school players about five times over. He gave them to me when he got back, I suspect that I'm supposed to keep them safely and produce them again next year.

Green my husband was my first boyfriend too, I was 18 and he was 24. This weekend, we celebrate (murmer) years married, and (murmer + 4) years together!

Waffle, we share quite alot similarity, I have the feeling my second child is very similar to Rara. We just celebrated our ++ yrs anniversary last week too(we got married on the same day that we first went out)

We tried to do that too! We started going out on August 2nd, and got married on the closest available date - July 31st.

And my dh was my first boyfriend too
What a strange place to discover you are not alone :)

Only/Waffle:

Greenleave, to add to that - I am into maths too

Eek - that is an eerie coincidence about boyfriends - applies to me, too! However, I am a literature/history person and not a mathematician! Green so glad you had a lovely music day and jealous of you seeing the Japanese drummers - we saw them last year at Wimbledon theatre, assuming it's the same group.
It is very quiet in the house this morning, I am the only one up apart from the cat. DS1 made a start on his letters of the alphabet art project. He hasn't finished A yet but he is using album titles as the main theme. Only another 25 1/2 to go before the end of the holidays - too much discussion of albums and not enough actual artwork so far!

Wow that's a coincidence. I wonder what the percentage is in the population.
DS was not my first boyfriend. But he was the first mensch after a long line of scumbags. And the first who could play Beethoven

Loose: , its near Wayne Bridge and very funnily it was a Japanese festival although the artist performer were mostly English
Drummer: , at least you were better than me you had someone interested in you before hahaha.

We are participating in a bbcprom family event now, its great fun!

Do we want a new thread for August, or might this one last, in view of the fact that people are likely to be on holiday, and nobody has music exams looming at the moment?

Think we'll maybe just use this one up waffle? Good news here! G5 piano is in the bag! Very pleased for miniprada although for a child with a prodigious memory the aural result was shocking. She refuses to sing up and hates it. Got a merit though. Maybe we'll try the playing back on the keyboard moving forward?!! So relieved after the netball incident. Taking her out of sports for next term. She does 6hrs of ballet a week so she's not unfit plus less likely to break something there!!

Green I am not going to tell DS1 we missed a Japanese festival. He is going to meet a Japanese teacher later today as he'd like to learn the language. Not sure how long this enthusiasm will last as we have to trek to her but am prepared to give it a go.
Prada fabulous news! Well done to MiniPrada!

Well done miniprada.

We have less than stellar aural performances too. The strategy we are adopting for it is: Learn all the stuff about musical styles properly rather than just winging it. Reading the notes from the staff is easier to learn to do so practising singing various intervals. Get used to the sound of their own voice a bit better but accept that this is 3 or 4 marks which will always be hostage to fortune.

Don't think I've told you all that DS has passed his grade 8 trumpet!
(heard yesterday)
So guess that's quite an achievement at 14 and especially with getting into BSA too.
I think I'm slightly disappointed he didn't get a merit what with it being the last grade, and think he could possibly have gone in for it slightly later after a bit more focus on all those scales, because he played the pieces very nicely and the scales let him down a bit.
But mostly I'm very proud and pleasantly surprised to have a budding musician on my hands. Although DH and I both love music neither of us took music very far ourselves.
It's a bit of a new world for us so this thread very helpful and supportive.

Pradaqueen and JugglingFromHereToThere well done to your dc!

Prada - yes, perhaps she can play back? This is what dd did on her gr4 violin. The aural books app I am so in love with :) works for both - singing and playing back which is good. I think dd was better with playing back-when singing she constantly missed one note

prada and juggling that's fabulous, you can have a good summer now.

Brilliant juggling.

Congratulations Juggling, both on the G8 and the audition too.

Congratulations to everyone else who has had results, it's not that I don't care about you as well, it's just that I am so far behind now on this thread that I have given up.

Thanks all

Thanks all! Concentrating on audition pieces for violin and start G6 piano tomorrow as she won't skip G6 on piano as it is her weaker instrument.

Greenleave: I'm guessing your dd will start learning some of Ludovico Einaudi's pieces soon dd1, who isn't that into playing piano, learned Primavera earlier this year.

Green - v jealous of the Einaudi concert. Miniprada wants to learn one of his pieces for the school music evening next year.