September Music and Musicians Thread

[Wafflenose]

Hello to all musicians and parents of musicians, both old and new, beginners and advanced! Feel free to share whatever you like, and ask away about anything to do with music, exams, concerts, repertoire, practice, etc.

We are all heading back to school and work this coming Monday. My daughters Goo (10) and Rara (8) will be going into Year 6 and Year 4 respectively. Goo plays the recorder, flute and piano (just took up piano in April) and I have slapped a ban on exams for about a year - she has been doing too many. Rara plays the recorder and cello, and will be doing whole class brass lessons during Year 4. She's taking Grade 3 Recorder this term, and is about two-thirds of the way through the Grade 1 Theory book, doing it in her own sweet time and bloody annoying unique way. Goo's main project will be NCO and county auditions... not that she's busting a gut currently!

Both myself and my husband are short and wearing glasses (so go figure that we are hoping our children will be better looking). Which means what ever way so my children could sleep as long as possible and have good eyesight are our priority. Our 8 yrs old usually is up at 7.30 however till the time she comes to the kitchen for breakfast its could be past 8.00 something so after breakfast it always a race to school. She has been going to bed at 8.30pm daily so I hope that is enough sleep. However which means no practice in the morning and only max 1hour with me in the evening. We brought her for an eye check recently and she is slightly short sighted left eye -0.25 and right eye -0.5. We made a decision for her not to wear the glasses yet but I could see the day is coming as she is a book worm

Our optician said you can read as much as you like as long as you have enough light. I'm clinging on to that, since DH and I are both short-sighted too, and DC are bookworms too ... We installed bright bedside lamps ...

green glasses are sexy.

Hello - very tentative wave ! I gave enjoyed reading what everyone's dc are up to . I'm not sure I should be posting in here yet as my dd is 6 and been learning the violin for a year. Progress is not rapid but bless her she tries. She has only missed 3 days practice in a year took her violin on holiday and practiced in Christmas day age 5 - all initiated by her. I spent my school days immersed in orchestras and choirs and it was so very important to me that I would love her to enjoy it too. Violin seems technically hard to learn though compared to my clarinet - there are so many things to remember ! Any tips for keeping going when it's tough for little ones ? Esp as my 4 year old is desparate to learn too !

didi Your DD sounds very dedicated! Missed 3 days in a year! I'm afraid I can't give any tips. My DC are terrible at practising ...

Drummer: you are being kind, thank you
Never: I was told so too however have been restricting her reading time to day time only and only in the sofa in the library room where there is guaranteed daylight during the day, I have someone who finished the adventure of Huckleberry Finn in nearly a week!

Didiplanthis: we only started when mine is 6.5 and already on piano for 2 yrs or so, however I remember Only's daughter started early. I plan for my second to start on violin first and early(say 5) then piano around 6yrs old. Sorry not being very helpful. I remember my daughter made very little or no progress when she had group lesson at school and I didnt sit down with her during her practice. Then I started sitting down with her and we switched to our current teacher and she has been improving. Compare to piano she finds violin is much more challenging however the benefit of playing with her friends in the school Orchestra has been helping her to keep going. We are joining another Orchestra from this term so hopefully she will learn from the other little violinists too.

Green I have terrible eyesight but my DCs are fine and are bookworms! Glasses are certainly much cooler than they were when I was a kid.
DCs are back to school tomorrow. DS1 has a drum lesson after school, bass guitar on Wednesday and theory on Friday. Just had my piano lesson and plan is to take grade 4 exam in spring, work on pieces and grade 4 theory this term, then hopefully polish everything for the exam! I could push for Christmas but I suspect this term is going to be hectic and I don't need the stress!
Didi your DD sounds brilliant! She obviously really loves her violin!

She is very determined and dedicated to anything and everything she does - this has pros and cons. She has been moved from group to individual lessons to get more 1:1 and I supervise every practice. She only does 5-10 mins a day but without fail. It just seems to much for the little brain to take in - position, bow distribution/speed/angle, slide , finger placement , counting , notes - I just had to put the right fingers down and blow !

Didi what a dedicated little girl you have there! Well done to her! DD wanted to give up piano only 6 months after starting stating it was too hard. I was going to accept it but my FIL is a musician and asked me to stick at it for a while longer. I gave DD a milestone, if she keeps at it for another year and she still hates it she can give it up. She has now played for 3 years and she wouldn't even think about giving up.

Mine is a bookworm too, no eye sight issues, she could read for hours though, often we find her asleep with the book on her chest.

DD started school today and DS is back tomorrow. We started our daily schedule (30 min maths, 20 min Verbal reasoning) and were faced with some resistance. It takes a bit until it becomes routine. Music practice is fine though, she does her hour without complaining.

Didiplanthis welcome! Ds2 is 5 and is also learning violin, so we are in the same boat. What books do you use? Is it a traditional method or Suzuki?
Both of mine started before 5 (so, technically at 4yo) and I remember it was really hard for dd, but it became easier after about 9 months. The key was to practice 10-15 mins but regularly. It does not seem that hard with ds but I cannot see him progressing quickly, he is slower than dd.

Greenleave oh, that book! Loved it when I was a child!

LooseAtTheSeams mine start school tomorrow too-cannot wait!

Only: I havent read that book, I have my kindle with me everyday however I cant catchup with her reading (maybe mainly because I am on mumsnet every free time thats why ha ha ha)

Didiplanthis I would not worry that it is too much to take in - some children just do it naturally and from what I know some children actually need that sort of stimulation and thrive on it. I always look at the workload this way-if child looks happy and does not have tantrums after than it is probably the right amount of work for them. If she enjoys it-why not? To be honest, when my dd was 5yo she was more keen on her practicing than now and she used to spend up to not saying not to shock mumsnetters hours on piano and violin - just because she wanted to. It is sooo difficult to make her practice now , so I would just keep the momentum going if your dd is so dedicated

Greenleave I found out that some books are not that exciting to read when one is an adult, I think I should try and read it again after I am done with my current list of books to read.
I am a bit envious about all your little bookworms - mine loves books-she is stuck to bookshelves in the library or bookshops, but in her mind-she does not love it and would not read it routinely as a spare time. (sigh) You cannot have it all, can you?

As for bad eyesight, seem playing outside is the only thing that has shown to have some benefit. Looking into the distance, outside rather than inside because of light outside.

I too have terrible eyesight. The 2 DC who are bookworms are fine. DS2 who is not needs glasses.

Only music, you don't want too much reading. In the car, then complain of feeling sick. When eating, on the toilet, walking to school

green DS loved the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn! But he didn't enjoy so much Tom Sawyer. Mysteries!

green DS loved the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn! But he didn't love so much Tom Sawyer. Wait...maybe it was the other way around

The second avatar of my post is the answer to the mystery: I have started to forget his childhood

exampanic you described me in my childhood! I find it weird that my child is not like me but like her father :)

Drummer: did you mean this one ha ha ha(I havent read it either and I have someone who has read it twice)
I didnt have a very enthusiastic reader in reception someone who only loves making crafts/arts/drawing then I started reading with her 5 mins daily first then 10 then 15 then someone beg me read with her while I am giving my breasts to second one for the whole maternity leave then never stops since. I invest in books, most of books I buy if there is a hardcover option then for sure I buy hardcover, I have a budget for books everymonth still and I make sure I spend it. Recently I bought about 10 books from a charity shop on high street which 50p each and she still reads them and enjoys them no less

Greenleave, where do you keep them all???
I really struggle with books-we have sooo many! Storage is a huge issue - book cupboards occupy two full walls in my house. I try to buy electronic copies for myself wherever I can but children's books should be in paper of course.... And not all books have electronic versions too... I mainly buy books in charity shops (we have a very good charity bookshop in out town), or used books on amazon-quite often you pay 1p for the book and 2.80 for delivery :))

Exampanic: yes, playing outdoor is the best, totally agree
Only: no you cant have everything, she might develop her love for it later though, then we might moan about no practice
Drummers: thats so true, I nearly forgot the terrible screeching we had at grade 1 as if it wasnt too bad at all, I have a big gap between my two children and sometimes I couldnt remember what my elder was like when she was at my younger daughter age