February Music Thread

[Wafflenose]

Overdue again, this time due to our local music festival. I put in 32 entries, and am now finished for this year, but haven't had a lot of sleep recently!

I am a teacher of woodwind - mostly recorder and clarinet at the moment - and have two DDs. Goo (short for Kajagoogoo in case anyone was wondering - and no, that isn't her actual name!!) is 11 and plays the flute, recorder and piano. Rara is 8 and plays the cello, recorder and clarinet. We are heading towards a half size cello soon, and I think we might have found a suitable one. We're going to try it out this weekend.

The girls have been entered for Grade 7 Flute and Grade 1 Clarinet this term, and I am really regretting it, as they are so under-prepared. But hopefully after a slightly quieter weekend, we can all get back on track.

Please jump right in, ask questions, moan about practice/ scales/ attitude, tell us about your DCs or your own learning... and new members/ beginners are always welcome!

Kutik73 - thank you :)

EnormousTiger, wow! what a journey! And what a family!

stringchild, sorry, what is it about floaty skirts? seems like I missed it....or kutik?

Kutik kindly gave some great advice re long concert skirts/cellos 😀

It's been lovely. I am trying to get the twins to sing with me in the school Messiah this term (I am in the parents' choir which sings with the boys) but so far not succeeded. It would be their last chance. We did it together when they were at their primary school last and sang treble.

I do have a very small grandchild so I suspect she might be doing some music by the time she is six or 7. Perhaps she could come here some weekends and I could help with her music practice.

I think children get so much out of the music which is not just music, if you see what I mean. it's sticking at something, practising and doing well. It is sometimes just having a nice one to one relationship with an adult music teacher when perhaps they just feel one of a crowd at school. It may be they mostly end up doing sport as one of my daughters did whch is fine but they still remember it (at almost 30 she was asked about the cello in her latest law interview actually as the interviewer was an amateur cellist and she has grade 8 so it helped the conversation and she got the job which I suppose if cultural or social capital which the Sutton Trust speaks about helping young people get jobs etc - not that she plays the cello at all now, sadly).

Oh definitely Enormous Tiger they get so much from music that isn't just music related. Whatever my ds ends up doing (and my dd) I know that his involvement in music has helped to make him resilient, confident and able to make relationships with a wide variety of people

Oh definitely Enormous Tiger they get so much from music that isn't just music related. Whatever my ds ends up doing (and my dd) I know that his involvement in music has helped to make him resilient, confident and able to make relationships with a wide variety of people

EnormousTiger Great story. :)

I stopped playing when I left home but have started again soon as I could afford a proper piano. It's the BEST THING EVER.

EnormousTiger, lovely to hear your family's musical history - recharge for when your grandchild is ready

I thank my parents for it too. My mother could never afford to learn the piano as a child but paid for us to learn out of school.

My mother was in the choir at teacher training college and in fact they used to ask her to give the note to start a piece, as like my brother and I she must have had perfect pitch which can be a nuisance - in fact if you have to transpose music down it's a nuisance to have it. I found recordings of her singing just at home on a tape cassette even in her 50s which are pretty good.

My father used to play the guitar and sing (self taught - his father left school at 12 and no money for music lessons ) in pubs as a student. Every night they both sang us to sleep after bed time stories when we were little. My school didn't even have a choir so when I went to university and there was one it was amazing. I wrote to my piano teacher after she moved cities and at university as she lived near by she took me to a few concerts. I didn't like to tell her I didn't like those afternoon concerts with old ladies but I went a few times and it was very kind of her. After she died her daughter in law wrote and said even when she was too old to read they read my Christmas letter to her and she liked it which was very kind of them to say so even if it were not true. She was a Christian Scientists which always fascinated my siblings and I as children as it meant she could never have medical attention, no pills etc. She must have lived to over 90 actually so did not do her much harm.

Never, yes lovely to hear people going bcak to it. I feel the same with those of my older children who don't play their instrument any more. It is there to go back to. In fact my daughter said not to get rid of her clarinet even now.

EnormousTiger, what's a journey and what's a story - beautiful.

I need to think about clothes for Goo's competition later this month. The other girls will probably wear dresses. Goo has a couple, but won't wear them - her wardrobe consists of leggings, jeans, T shirts and hoodies.

We are terrible with formal or semi-formal wear. DC's clothes are either school clothes or t-shirts and shorts/trousers with holes in them ... Two years ago we had to dash out to H&M just to get a not-t-shirt-but-not-school-uniform for a recital for DS1. I'm hoping that would do for DS2 this year.

Are there rules around festival wear? DD has a couple of formal dresses and she wants to wear those (classes on different days) but now I wonder if it should be shirt and skirt?

I have no idea where to start with Goo. It doesn't help that she's 5'1" and weighs 6 stone - we will now struggle to find any kids' clothes long enough in the leg and small enough around the middle, but she's also nowhere near a ladies' size 6.

Boys are so easy. Last time ds had to wear white shirt with a tie and black trousers. He wore school white shit and tie, so all I had to buy was black trousers. He needs to wear black shirt and trousers next week. I just bought black shirt so he is wearing it with the black trousers he wore last time. He wears school black leather shoes for all the concert!

Wafflenose, can't you search online for size 4? But I guess easy to say it. Even for just a simple black shirt I had to return, change supplier then exchange again until I finally got the one that fits perfectly. They are always too short, too baggy and so on when I follow the age suggested.

People wear all sorts at our Festival, including school uniform, but the organisers have been encouraging a 'smart' look.

Thank you ladies! As it doesn't say anything on the festival page about dress code DD will wear the dresses she wants to.

I'm not sure about ladies' clothes at all TBH, as she doesn't really have any shape yet. She has a nice vaugely lacy jumper that isn't at all see-through, so I think that might be OK if I can find a smartish pair of trousers in an age 13 or so.