November Music Thread

[Wafflenose]

Let's have a new thread for November... I'm not sure if the old one will last long enough. This is a place to talk about music lessons, practice, exams and anything to do with learning instruments/ singing. We have beginners and advanced players of all ages.

I am mum to two girls - Goo (newly 11) - Flute, Recorder and Piano, and Rara (8) - Cello, Recorder, and one month of Clarinet so far. She won't put the clarinet down, so I think we've found The One.

Thank you for your kind thoughts ladies!

Alexandra you are so brave! I would never be able to do that!

Evening....,
So, I know there's Jazz piano grades, are there any jazz drums graded exams, if not are there any books suitable for a gr2 drummer that are jazz?
Any ideas Loose or Drummersmum, or anyone else?
Thanks

Gosh fleur - completely forgot to say - how's the patient today?

She's better, much better today but we won't risk it so she won't do her sport today, only music.

Oh poor Fleur and minifleur - you must both be shattered. Stomach bugs can be very scary!
Alexandra - complete and utter respect to you - that is amazingly brave and I could never do it!
Waffle - poor Goo, that sounds very painful. Hope the bruising is getting better - and maybe a little pause in games for a while?
PaulWeller I don't know of jazz drum exams but I will see if DS1 has any vaguely suitable books!
DS1 did his G6 bass exam yesterday and then sauntered off to a birthday party ignoring my texts asking how it went! When I eventually managed to lure him home he said he thought it mostly went well and he didn't have an attack of nerves this time!
DS2 clearly projected his deep loathing of his latest piano piece all too clearly in his last lesson as his teacher breezily said let's put it to one side and do something from the grade 4 book. He can now pretty much play The Happy Farmer hands separately after one lesson and I can tell he's itching to put hands together! He needs to slow down a bit! He's really making me look bad!

hope injuries and sicknesses continue to mend!

Yesterday we took DD2 to try out flutes at a specialist flute shop, the guy that runs it is a professional flautist with a tiny but impressively stocked flute shop. So she tried a few, and the Christmas present is now purchased

Loose great to hear the grade 6 exam went well!

Mending new instrument for Christmas! I bet DD will be excited.

Anybody knows how much a accompanist charges for an exam? DD's piano teacher won't charge us and I wonder how much would somebody charge, I may make an overpayment next time we pay for piano.

Fleur Our accompanist charges between £25-£35 (I can't remember) and he is worth his weight in gold.

I went to the Yamaha shop in central London yesterday to buy some sheet music and had a good ogle at the flutes (at least nobody is doing the French horn here), the electronic violins and cellos (ugly), the clavinova (really not for me) and the marimbas ().

I WANT A MARIMBA!!!

Thank you NeverEver I may get her a special present or make an overpayment, I just fear the overpayment may be taken the wrong way.

And do get yourself a marimba!

I used to make a small charge for accompanying, but now just provide it as part of the service, as does Goo's flute teacher. If you had to pay a professional accompanist, I would expect to pay something approaching the exam fee, for a proper rehearsal, a quick run-through on the day, and the exam itself.

It's not going well here - the only thing Goo can play at the moment is the piano (with one hand, so lots of scales), I had a minor car accident on Thursday night and am now poorly too. Rara and DH have colds, but Rara can definitely do some practice... once she finishes her book.

Mendingfences

Could I please be cheeky and ask how much the flutes were...? My DD is currently preparing for her grade 4, and is using a 30 year old hand me down Yamaha 211. I've been told her current flute is a "workhorse" and we've been regularly servicing / repairing it - so it will last her until grade 5, but not beyond that as it's not very refined, shall we say! I've also been told she needs a silver head next time.

I know nothing about flutes... am not in the slightest bit musical, so have been guided by the flute shop which seems to suggest her next flute will be in the £700 - 1k mark, depending on the flute she chooses, but that she should try the flutes out and see which one suits her best. However, on another Mumsnet thread, I was told that I could get a grade 6+ flute for £400 and that £800 was ridiculous. I did ask where from, but they never responded.

So sorry for the long post - but I don't want to be talked into buying a more expensive flute than DD actually needs. However, I don't want to waste money by buying something that won't last. DD wants to do GCSE music, and possibly A level. It's got to take her to grade 8.

So, can I get a silver headed flute for £400 like the Mumsnet poster told me I could... or am I looking at £800 like the flute shop said....?

Thanks

Oh no Waffle!

Gosh I now realise what a service DD's piano teacher is providing us with. She has spent 30 min already to practice together with no charge, had a lot of input on the shape of the pieces and how to play it together the best. She's also coming to the exam just for her also and rescheduling/cancelling other lessons she has at that time. All without charge. I think I'll buy her a consistent Christmas/thank you present!

Forgot to add in the complication...

DD2 also learns flute and is currently on an even older Yamaha 21. Her split E mechanism has broken and cannot be repaired.

Our plan is to buy DD1 a new flute and to give DD2 DD1s flute. So if we can get the flute cheaper, we will buy it sooner, so we can upgrade DD2s flute sooner.

But DD1 wants to start Saxophone next year, so we will need to buy her a Sax. (Hiring looks really expensive and false economy, so would prefer to buy rather than hire - but happy to buy second hand!) Again, the music shop said it was false economy to buy her the cheapest Sax as she would outgrow it too quickly... so we're looking at £400 - £500 for a Sax. Don't want to spend 1.5k on musical instruments at the same time, so will need to juggle...

So when will DD2 start needing her split e mechanism (her flute teacher has said we should replace her flute at that point)?

But if I can get it cheaper, that would be fab!
Hope that makes sense!

Waffle I do hope you're ok. poorly doesn't sound good and I'm sure even a minor accident can leave you shaken up.
Alexandra I am starting to think the boys are living a double life! Sightings of DS1 are fairly sporadic except when he wants food!
Flutes - I'm really not an expert on this but when DS1 used to play I got him a flute around grade 3 level that was intended to see him through the grades. His teacher helped us find it. My budget was £500 and he tried a couple of new yamahas and a second-hand Pearl. He chose the Pearl, which cost £450. I discovered afterwards from the shop that the owner had asked £900, which was about right, but needed cash quickly so had halved the price for a quick sale. This is a long-winded way of saying it's well worth looking at a second-hand one. I'm glad I didn't pay more as he gave up lessons at grade 4!
Pm me if interested in the abandoned Pearl!

Hope you are ok Waffle!

Practice going relatively well here, two pieces sounding really nice, speeded up a bit and the detail added in the last couple of weeks. The last piece not going as well, she says it sounds better at school so who knows, but she is getting very frustrated at not being able to practice the bits of it she wants to work on because it "all sounds rubbish"

She's now trying to teach herself an F sharp on the bassoon so she can play her first scale.

Hope you are ok Waffle!

Wanted to tell Alex that you are so brave, well done!

I always pay more to my teacher, he usually comes for an hour rehearsal then we travel to the exam centre together, it's usually less than 2hr and I still give him £100( his rate is £50/hr). He never asks for it though, we just never talk about rate. Many days he stays longer in the lessons than he should so I am still much appreciated. We are revising scales every day. Looking back, the only thing I wish I should have started earlier was scales. 2 months are enough with the pieces but scales are a lot. We are very determined though, we must nail these scales, there are reasons why they are required!

Re-Xmas present, I will think more about it this year, he travels a lot on tube/train so I might get him a Thermos cup which keeps drinks hot and the one doesn't leak. I see him wearing the scarfs we gave him last year in every of our lessons on cold days and I feel good, that two scarfs were only present that we ever gave him though.

Oh waffle sending lots of mending vibes your way.

Altik- were not in the uk so im not sure prices will be very helpful, we ended up with a trevor james privilige, which Even dh was convinced sounded a good cut above the others she tried. Of course it was the most expensive she tried ....

hello all, sorry to hear about all the illness and your accident Waffle hope you are on the mend soon.

Have found flute, but as dh has been playing Gershwin in some orchestras recently, dd has decided she needs picallo too, flute it's a 211 if that means anything to anyone. I'm told it's good enough if you only need to be able to make a noise
Dh is working hard atm and received a 5 min standing ovation at London Jazz Festival the other night 40 chorus's iirc. Have gone from proud mum to proud wife now.

So many concerts coming up and looks like dd has finally broken into the solo voice performances, so she's in them all apparently.
I wish they would let us record though, it doesn't seem fair. I appreciate why though, although plenty other schools allow it.

Paul

I wouldn't bother about separating Jazz and Classical at this age and stage honestly. The techniques are the same for both and I'm pretty sure a good standard on classical is expected before going onto jazz.

Hi Gillybeanz, she's on a bit of a quest after seeing some jazz drumming during an open day. She's been looking on YouTube and didn't want her to pick up any bad habits to start with. I'll ask her old drum teacher, he was very into jazz. 😀
But yes, she's has ages to learn it anyway. She's doing rock school drums at the moment. But will maybe look at Abrsm/Trinity books for drum kits.
Thanks x

Just been watching marimba's on Youtube; we live in a terrace and I have a feeling my neighbours would kill me if we acquired one of those!

altik that sounds like bad news for that old Yamaha. Is it worth phoning round a few other repair shops to see if it really is terminal?

One of the reasons I went for a 211 was that I understood I could get a better headjoint fitted to it when the time comes (I was hoping it would do her comfortably to grade V...assuming she sticks at it).

I hope the waffle family recover from the wars. They've put the ice rinks out around here ....aaagh!