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December Music Thread

604 replies

Wafflenose · 01/12/2016 10:00

A new thread for December! Musicians and parents of musicians of ALL ages and standards are very welcome! I do try to keep up with the threads, but am struggling to remember who plays what sometimes. Might it be helpful to have a different thread where we could list them all (for people that want to?)

I am Waffle, teacher of woodwind, and mum to Goo (11) - flute, recorder and piano, and Rara (8) cello, recorder and clarinet. Rara has her Grade 3 Recorder exam on Monday, and I have quite a few other pupils entered, but no other exams for us this term. Goo has had a crap time recently, with a wrist injury, mangled fingers and now new braces, so I've pretty much written off any musical progress this term. We have the music festival at the end of January, so maybe she'll be all healed and ready to move forwards in time for that!

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drummersmum · 27/12/2016 14:21

welcome ineedmore and mumoftwo.
Hope everyone is enjoying the break.
Prada I know what you mean. I only hosted once but was dead by the end of the day. Parents have just flown back home and I am enjoying the peace while DS studies all the percussion parts on the score of Mahler's 5th for his RFH concert in April. Such amazing music. Of course not everyone (exception being PaulWeller Grin ) has timpani home so DS has to prepare mostly mentally and with his practice pad.
He had his special 90 min lesson with his chosen drummer (birthday present) the other day, was so inspired he disappeared in the loft for two hours to drum more when we got home. It's so important for them to have access to all kinds of teachers and inspiring figures. I strongly recommend doing something like this everyone!
Piano practice is... irregular is the word these days Confused There's just no time!!!!

LooseAtTheSeams · 27/12/2016 19:19

Fantastic birthday present drummersmum!
Thankfully no hosting here so Christmas has been quite relaxed. I am definitely getting better at scales so Christmas practice must be paying off!

Fleurdelise · 27/12/2016 20:25

Welcome ineed and mumoftwo! I hope you'll stay with us.

We had a few great days, Christmas Eve spent with my side of the family exchanging presents and having too much food, Christmas Day only with the in laws and Boxing Day with DH's extended family. Great time and atmosphere.

DD didn't do any music practice for about a week but it was a deserved break, she is now back to her instruments and you can see it all felt refreshing and enthusiasm was up.

She is now spending time with her other love, building Lego, got a couple of sets and she loves it.

Trumpetboysmum · 27/12/2016 20:36

Welcome ineed and mumoftwo Smile

Ineedmorepatience · 27/12/2016 20:45

Thanks for the welcome Smile

LooseAtTheSeams · 28/12/2016 11:45

Phew! DS1 has passed G5 theory! Just, mind you, but that's a hurdle cleared. No exams on the horizon for dcs at least until the Summer so can definitely relax a bit!Smile

ealingwestmum · 28/12/2016 12:18

Fantastic news loose!

Trumpetboysmum · 28/12/2016 13:29

Great news Loose

TheSecondOfHerName · 28/12/2016 14:33

That's good news Loose

drummersmum · 28/12/2016 23:13

Happy news Loose, congrats to DS1

Fleurdelise · 29/12/2016 12:13

Great news loose well done to your DS!

AlexandraLeaving · 29/12/2016 16:40

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Paulweller11 · 29/12/2016 20:38

Wow cool bday present Drummersmum.
Who was it?

Greenleave · 29/12/2016 22:09

Great news Loose!

LooseAtTheSeams · 30/12/2016 01:18

Thanks all, glad that one is over with! Hope all the concerts are going well. We just have one in late January, otherwise lessons start up again next week and we'll be back to the usual routines.

Mistigri · 31/12/2016 10:41

Loose well done to your DS!

We have to finally tackle theory this year so DD can complete her "second cycle" of the French system (which is well overdue as she's working on more advanced repertoire now). Given her timetable it may require some private lessons as she can't attend the conservatoire classes.

She has just about finished the Schubert impromptu (sounds amazing) and is working on a Debussy arabesque that seems quite easy.

drummersmum I think it was you that kindly suggested some modern piano pieces for DD, like an idiot I have lost the references. Any chance you could repost? Im glad your DS enjoyed his special drum lesson, sounds amazing! DD has three days with a professional to organise (payment in kind for the Yaël Naim concert) but not sure when we can fit this in :-/

Hope everyone has had a great holiday period. We've all been sick, bit rubbish :-/ but everyone is now over it except me.

Pradaqueen · 31/12/2016 14:02

Well done mini loose! Fab result.

Fleurdelise · 01/01/2017 11:43

Happy New Year everyone! All tired in this house, I am taking advantage of the two remaining off days to get back into a routine, that includes the music practice and academics stuff routine also.

LooseAtTheSeams · 01/01/2017 12:04

Happy new year to all! All here rather late in getting up this morning.
Mistigri do hope you are feeling much better now!

Fleur you are a better woman than I am! I predict next couple of days in this household will see last-minute homework and nagging! To be fair, dcs are looking forward to their music lessons again and I, too, have work to catch up on. I have a new class on Thursday and so far the lesson plan is entirely in my head! Once I get home from inlaws I need to plan my week including the all-important piano practice. Smile

raspberryrippleicecream · 01/01/2017 13:14

Happy New Year!

Yay Loose. Great news.

DS2 recovered pretty quickly at Christmas, and no-one else was ill so all fine.

Currently heading up to London for an event for DS2 on Tuesday. We also have him some organ lessons for Christmas, which he was absolutely thrilled with. Just need to sort out the logistics now.

raspberryrippleicecream · 01/01/2017 14:50

Rapidly an overheated Cathedral is showing off! Definitely not a problem in ours.

drummersmum · 01/01/2017 16:18

A very happy new year to you all!
mistigri do you mean this post by me?:
Re her third piano piece, DS is now playing a XX century piece by Finnish composer Heino Kaski called "Nacht am Seestrand": www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-8KSqkzOoQ It's very lirical and gives a lot of opportunity for expression. The only thing is that it may not be very contrasted with the other two if she wishes to add contrast.
Kavalvesky's Prelude op38 n.2 would be a huge contrast and a showy pieces for a finale, it's considered Grade7 (this link will take you straight to min 1:55 when the n.2 prelude starts: you.tube/swAvXjk13Yk?t=115

disorganisedmummy · 02/01/2017 17:52

Hi everyone. Happy New year. Hope you all had a good Christmas.

Huge congrats to your ds Loose. That's a big milestone/hurdle for anyone to get over.

Drummersmum, how would you go about buying a lesson with a chosen violinist for example as ds is a violinist? I'm intrigued. Ds is in need of some inspiration or divine intervention of some sort. I'm hoping for some (yet more) advice from you all if possible.

Hopefully you will remember that ds had a pre audition assessment with the Head Of Junior Strings at Guildhall about a month ago. The upshot of which is that we're told ds is definitely gifted particularly aurally and could be exceptional but needs to up his practise to around an hour a day. We have been told to apply on the 5th Jan when the applications open and ask for a late audition i.e. early summer to allow for the increased practice. They may well then offer him a place. The HoS particularly wanted his boss the Head of Junior Guildhall to hear him. So that's all good however in the month since ds had a couple of weeks of very disciplined practice of 45 mins a day broken down into a 20 min and 25 min session. He has an app on his iPad to record this and he said how much he loved doing it and how good he felt and in his words "I am now on the road to Guildhall". Since he broke up on 16th Dec he has done very little if any other than picking it up most days for a quick blast. We've tried to say to him that if he wants to go to Guildhall which he does desperately then he needs to do this very disciplined practice but he can't seem to understand. He then said he would like to leave it a year but he still needs t do that practise. I'm wondering if it's an emotional maturity thing (he's 10 and a half).
I'm not sure whether to just leave him to it and let him take responsibility or tell him we won't pay for his lessons/orchestra fees and the like unless he pulls his finger out.

Can anyone advise/help?

onlymusic · 02/01/2017 19:20

Happy New Year everyone!
Virtually no practice in this household since beginning of December Shock - feels like I am not a mother to my own children Grin. Need to get back on track now...
Good news disorganisedmummy. Btw, I have heard that some schools like Guildhall do "pre-audition" - sort of test drive of child's musical abilities and chances to get to the school. Does anyone know anything about it? Would be interesting thing to do.

disorganisedmummy, regarding getting into school vs not getting into school. I believe we, as parents, have to help our children and even push them at times a bit. Your ds may have some anxiety about the whole thing and his reluctance to practice may something to do with it. He is still too young to make such a major decision and take responsibility for it. The other problem is that if entrance is postponed for an year he may need to go through different requirements, say he is grade 5 now which is ok for 10-11yo (I don't remember what grade he is), but for 11-12 yo they may want him to be grade 6 or above. I don't know, I am just speculating. On the other hand, if he does not get in this year he will become familiar with the entry procedure and it will be easier to repeat it next year.

drummersmum · 02/01/2017 19:29

disorganised most people are contactable my email. Some are contactable on Twitter! Some have their own websites, or are contactable through their agents. Most good players do teach in some form or another in one of the conservatories or specialist schools and that's a good way to get in contact with them. There are a thousand ways if you really want to ask someone for a lesson, although not all of them will be willing.