October Music and Musicians Thread

[Wafflenose]

I thought I would start a new thread, as September's is looking unlikely to last for another month.

The music threads are open to all musicians and parents of musicians, no matter what their age or level might be. We have quite a few kids on here who are very serious about music, and plenty who do it as one of many hobbies.

For anyone who's new, I am a teacher of woodwind, and mum to two girls. Goo (10) plays the flute and recorder to a similar level (Grade 7 on both), and started the piano in April - she won't be doing exams on that. She is hardworking, committed, highly strung, and a stubborn little madam. Rara is 8 and far more laid back. She is taking Grade 3 Recorder this term, is a little behind that on the cello, and just this week started learning the clarinet. I don't suppose she will carry on with three instruments in the long term, but we'll wait and see which she loves!

So glad disorganisedmummy you found the experience great. Russell is just ace. No pressure at all. We also ended up with a 3/4 French mid 19thc violin. It has made an amazing difference to miniprada's enjoyment and performance of the violin. Did you give Russell your budget before you started? I found that actually by not knowing the price it meant we chose the one that sounded the best. He was clear with miniprada though that all 7 we had to choose from were all 'within mummy's budget' so that took any pressure off her. Then we went to the tummy tea shop opposite for a lovely lunch after she'd had a tour of his wonderful shop (which I agree looks like part of diagon alley). He will also post out bows to try on approval if you need to change. Wonderful to see a shop that works on trust.

I hope your DS enjoys his new violin disorganisedmummy! I am jealous, DD doesn't play violin but I would love an antique type instrument in the house. I don't believe it works the same with pianos, well I am sure you can refurbish a very old one, but not sure it would make sense.

DD practised the way her teacher asked her yesterday with me reminding her of course and I have to say it is bloody hard work. She has to literally take it note by note, first one louder, then softer, then matching the level of the first one then a crescendo and so on, I feel for her as it is hard, she can already play the piece and put a lot of dynamics and phrasing in but as she'll perform it in the festival her teacher wants it perfect. They even discuss how it feels, what would the composer like it to be interpreted as, gosh I feel it is all beyond me.

Hi all, got behind on the thread again but great to read about everyone's adventures. We have tried to have a music catch up half term but tbh ds didn't do nearly as much as he could have. He did two hours of ensembles this morning though so that helped a lot and is definitely getting better at the ensemble playing thing. Interesting reading about the mds scholarships - I didn't know they were available for JDs etc.

Fleur that does sound tough - MiniFleur is amazing to be doing this so young, well done to her and for you!
Loved hearing about the violin trip Disorganisedmummy and despite not being able to play violin I am very envious! It sounds like your DS had a lovely time in a really wonderful shop.
I managed a catch-up piano lesson this morning and had to play my contrary scales over three octaves as my teacher believes this is good in the long run. We also did some sight reading and worked on my third piece, which is now hands together up to the middle, trickiest bit, so I should have the whole thing sorted out soon. I'll have a stab at the exam in March, I think, and press on regardless of the result!

I love hearing about your progress, Loose. Good luck with your exam!

I also enjoyed hearing about the shopping trip to the Ollivander's of the music world! We are currently looking around for a free or cheap piano - we found one which someone was giving away, but the lady got nasty, rude and wouldn't let us pop round to try it, so I gave her the heave-ho. We have a good digital at the moment, so it's not urgent. Something else will come up.

Disorganisedmommy - we love that shop when we stay with friends in Woodbridge, even though we are not a violin :) Hope he enjoys it - we found upgrading the instrument was a massive catalyst for a playing/improvement spurt. We are on the upsize plan with Stringers - it works brilliantly and means they have an interest in keeping the instrument working well; they couriered us a string recently when one snapped the day before a festival, at no charge :)

Loose - dare i say i told you so re the 3/4 cello being a very temporary interlude :)

Waffle

How rude are some people!? I bought a fab white baby grand challen on eBay and it was fab. Chap let us try it though

Stringchild I was very grateful for the advice! Saved no end of hassle! At some point we're resigned to having to go cello shopping as DS2 is pretty keen but I have made very good use of the music service's hire cupboard with a series of cellos!
Waffle thank you! But I am shocked that someone would be rude to you just for wanting to try the piano - their loss, though, I suppose and I hope you find a good one soon.

Waffle have you tried freecycle? There are some very good pianos coming up for free on there from time to time. You can also post a "wanted" add there and when somebody has one available they can contact you.

Loose thank you, I'll keep updating here hopefully DD will engage with this level of detail. Good luck with the March exam, I'm sure you'll do very well!

Oh and gumtree has a free area I can see quite a few good pianos there

www.gumtree.com/freebies/uk/piano

Stringchild-ds has barely put his violin down all day!! He is definitely a lot more engaged with practising although I've said he must play some fun/favourite pieces and not just for us on audition pieces especially as we don't have a date yet.
He's planning on doing Vivaldi's violin concerto in A minor and the theme from Ladies in Lavender though for some reason that is sounding very screechy at the mo. Anyone have any experience of these pieces.
We look round Guildhall next Saturday 5th. I am both terrified and excited for him. Terrified in case they say that he's not good enough (which is entirely possible) but not sure he will take that very well. I'm going to have to prepare him for that.

Hi everyone again... I am giving up to keep up with this thread but will try hard to keep up with the next one :)
Anyway, one more of my silly questions....
How do you feel about music teachers praising your dc? Do you take it as a fair view of dc's abilities or take it with a pinch of salt?

Disorganisedmummy- miniprada has just done the first movement of vivaldi's concerto in g major. Main points to concentrate on with Vivaldi are the short bows and rhythm.

Only- miniprada's violin teacher is Russian and gives out praise only when due. Dishes out rollickings as often. Piano teacher very soft. Guess which one she is able to manipulate with tears or 'I'm so very tired sobs'...

Only I take the piano teacher's praise serious as she has been with her for three years, she proves she means what she says by the efforts outside DD's lessons (various texts mid week to remind her to do some stuff, texts to ask me what do I think of a certain plan such as a festival or an exam timeline, calling randomly to tell us of a new repertoire idea, having a development plan for her, you can see she spends a lot of time thinking of the next steps for DD) and also the way she talks to her, she'd say stuff like "I expect this and that from you because you really have a talent for music". She can be really strict and also fun, she really knows how to handle DD.

I take DD's clarinet teacher's praise with a pinch of salt at this point in time, I feel she is the type of teacher that over praises (nothing wrong with it, just her teaching style) so she would say stuff like "wow that is great, you're doing fantastic" but I believe that is just a way to encourage her students.

Oh and also the piano teacher is also quite strict with her teaching plans, she adheres to the usual "an exam a year for the average abilities student", she doesn't agree with skipping exams, she only has three students (DD and another 2) that she is pushing quite hard considering they have potential. Being with her for three years already I could see the change from "oh it takes around 2 years to get to grade 1 and then another 3-4 years to get to grade 5, no point in skipping or pushing" to "she has a musical ear so I want her to skip grades, play a vast amount of repertoire, I would like her to audition for a music school" etc.

I think we've been lucky with teachers who are encouraging but focus on what needs to be done. I'd be suspicious of unnecessary gushing!
That said, DS2's hearing of criticism can be somewhat selective...

Pradaqueen - to Russian teacher - been there, done that :)
Fleurdelise - love your piano teacher!

What I noticed with some of our teachers- they praise dd, which ok, I like that , and then I show them the videos of some of my friends' musical dc, who are very good as far as I know. And our teachers don't look impressed! And this worries me! Feels like they feel obliged to praise (and yes, their praise goes beyond "wow that is great, you're doing fantastic").
I guess it takes more to assess a child than just watching an occasional video, but I was wondering....

We're very,very lucky with our teacher. She has just the right amount of praise and "telling off" when needed. She is a pro violinist who has an incredible reputation locally-her word is gospel. She told us that ds has perfect pitch and that he is gifted and that we should look at any of the Junior conservatoires. She knows exactly how to get ds to do what he needs to do which considering his Aspergers is a miracle in itself. She understands him completely and even though he can be very aloof with some people,she can see his talent. I feel I need her to live with us at the mo to keep him in check with his practising!!

Also,she tailors her lessons for each child. So ds did grade 1 and then said he didn't want to do anymore and she was fine with that and she has pushed him in other ways.

only maybe he DCs in the video are not as musical? Just joking, I think as a teacher it is very hard to asses something in one video, if the DC is fantastic he/she could have learnt by rote the entire piece, or if the piece is just being learnt then it isn't polished and it sounds a bit rubbish.

Thanks, all. I am not actively looking for a piano - I love the one we've got, it's as good as digitals get, the kids like recording things, and I can turn it off at the wall when I've had enough of them! The piano teacher is mainly looking on our behalf... she's the one pushing for it! Goo has only been learning for six months, so the piano we have won't have caused her any permanent damage or anything. I am going to have to keep hold of this piano though, and squeeze it into our bedroom or something!

Russian teacher here and we have never heard about her ability. The only time he was impressed when we forwarded him her theory results. He said: that is an achievement. That style suits us well so far. The recent violin teacher said "she learns new things real fast".

Our piano teacher is a realist. She seems impressed with what Goo has done so far, and often says she can really get into the music with her, and discuss it how she usually would with a 13/14 year old who'd been learning for years. However, each week she makes it clear that there is much work to be done, and much to improve. Flute teacher is OTT in her praise, so I take it with a pinch of salt. However, she can tell that Goo's ego constantly needs massaging - she genuinely believes she's not very good. I get sick of having to reassure her about everything, EVERY single day. But then she is a highly strung drama queen, and starting to hit puberty now, to boot.

Waffle I don't think she'd get any damage anyway, there are people getting to grade 8 on digitals so unless you really want to I don't think there is a huge need of an acoustic one.

I think it is going to get to the point where her teacher will issue us with an ultimatum - acoustic or no lessons. Seriously! So we have said fine, please can she help us find one? I am vaguely looking out, but not exactly busting a gut!