March Music Thread

[Wafflenose]

Here you are - a new thread for March! I can't believe we are now up to 700+ posts each month. Thank you all.

I am Waffle, Mum to two girls. I have Goo (11), short for Kajagoogoo, which is 'short' for Kaj, which means... well, that would be telling! Her younger sister is Rara (8) - Rara is what she used to call herself when she was learning to speak. Goo plays the flute, recorder and piano. Rara plays the cello, recorder and clarinet. We have Grade 7 Flute and Grade 1 Clarinet booked for the end of this month. I think we might have Grade 3 Cello and Grade 4 Piano coming up next term. Goo is off to secondary in a few months, and I really don't know if she will ever manage to fit in her last couple of recorder exams. I'm all for saving money though.

I will try my best to read everything and follow this month. Last month's thread moved so fast!!

Never, sorry, my thoughts are ahead of me :). I think soloist piano teachers are as rare as snowy winters in this country. Of course some accompanists are very good (they may work with professional musicians) but there may be some who just got grade 8 and accompany local children. See what I mean?

Dd's piano teacher is playing with an orchestra (violin) and does some exclusive piano recitals to limited audience with her mentor. Now that Gilly mentioned it I also remembered dd's piano teacher has her own teacher who is/was a professional pianist to mentor her and stretch her even further. I am really happy with that as I know she's not smug thinking there's nothing to improve, she's always looking for improvement.

She also talks about dd with her mentor which I take as a compliment, she tells her what dd is playing or if she wants advice, apparently she's impressed with dd's repertoire.

The clarinet teacher is still young, under 35 I'd say, but her enthusiasm is amazing. She teaches in a school and privately. She is very good I'd say but not a professional performer.

We're lucky.

only Where did you get the impression from?? Love that though! No he is not a star student. He has never taken part in festival (in fact I don't know the existence of such event). He doesn't get top places (of what?). He got distinctions for all the exams he took but he has taken only three in his life and they were for piano. He hasn't done any exam for violin. So while he has some paper to prove his ability in piano at least, he has nothing for violin, yet he thinks he will be a good violinist. He will certainly be a winner in a competition of being optimist!

Waffle

I have only just seen your post about the jd's.
iirc they attract the same funding as dd school, income is taken into account and an allowance given for other dependant children you have.
I'm not sure how it works for Saturday jd, but well worth checking out if you or she wanted to go down this route.

Fleurdelise, don't mention your piano teacher, it makes me want to cry
Kutik, you didn't convince me . I think he is a star student but you are too shy to admit it . Unlike me . Honestly, it is very easy to spot star students form the descriptions of children in this thread.

only I won't try to convince you any further as it's nice to leave it as it is. Although if my descriptions made you think like that, I must be more careful with my words! Just remember I'm a mum with rosy glasses so take half of what I say!

We are all like that Kutik :) But I think I can read between the lines whether it is played up or down played :). (Remember? I am vain )

Since we discussed money playing the important part in music, and Nicola B was named as a violinist from a wealthy family, I would name Midori Goto as opposed to the one from a wealthy family. Her parents were actually very wealthy however she didn't get much support financially when she started taking violin seriously as her mum separated from her wealthy husband in order to make a move to US (to let Midori attend Juilliard). They struggled for living constantly. I'm not sure how famous she is in UK. But for those who has never heard her name, she is famous for her now legendary performance of Leonard Bernstein's Serenade at Tanglewood. Sorry bad film but couldn't find anything in English.

Green, DS10 did Grade-2 Piano last Nov with 93/100 ( LCM)and no talk of any exams has been initiated by teacher. We are in India where western music education is not that great/fast so I keep taking cues from this group and recommend books to teacher. Nothing satisfied kind here so doesn't participate much and DS is not that musical, its just that I try my best that he does practice everyday but due to exams( monthly kind) and then half yearly, we miss practice for weeks together. I hope u understand now why I don't share much here.

Mom17: I am sorry, completely forgot this is a public forum. Will take a picture of the books and send to you. She has just finished the "To kill a Mocking bird" last night and I was told there was a boy dressing in a walking ham costume and he couldnt see, the mad man that everyone is scared named Boo(or something funny similar) and he turns out a really nice person. The other day she asked me what is "coloured boy" then I have to explain to her about American history, about race and people from different background(we are Asian however with very fair skin and dark brown hair live in a London area that all of our neighbors are white/English and I dont think I have seen any "coloured" children in her school, although I dont come to her school often and if its a must then I usually run in and out.

We had a

Kutik, but this is different... Money count here, in the UK, once child is in Jilliard (how they get their is a different matter) different rules apply (teacher name, etc).Btw, I once looked at julliard admissions-interesting...

Mom17 how exciting! I was watching a movie about India-it is so interesting, totally different universe!

Green, we are in a white town but in Catholic school-so majority of local foreigners esp with different skin color are at out school. I told my dd about racism some time ago-she was totally shocked! I was really pleased with her reaction-it is very different from my childhood which was about 30+ years ago, I am sooo glad my children grow in a different reality. I have few old books where it was still ok to use 'negro' term (old edition of Mary Poppins for example, they changed it now)

Only I can put you in touch with our teacher providing you fancy a house move.

Kutik your DS has been told by his teacher if I remember right that he should apply for JD. That makes him a star pupil in his eyes by my book.

OnlyMusic: R u talking about "Lion" movie ? India is very diverse from very educated to illiterate and from very poor to super rich. We are lucky that we fall into middle group, both me and hubby in software field and putting up in software hub of India so life is cosmo here with all the good facilities as lots of people are returned from abroad and have good exposure.

Fleurdelise, I am sure you would help and I am gradually approaching this idea . The only problem is- I have to figure out what I am going to do with our violin teacher. Perhaps he may agree to move too?

Only our piano teacher is a violin teacher too.

Thanks gilly! DS1 swears he knew nothing! First we heard was when they asked if we could take some of the drums. DS1 says the piece is very hard and not perfect yet so he is not entirely thrilled that they're doing it so soon but I think it'll be a good experience for him. Also to be fair, his criticisms of previous performances have been of tiny things that the audience never notices - let's hope the judges don't either! The senior string group is going as well so I've told DS2 to listen and learn!
Waffle that sounds tough. Music teachers definitely aren't paid enough.

Midori won a full scholarship at Julliard so there was no fee to pay however they still had to keep up their living. Midori's mother would buy a burger from McDonald's for Midori, and she boiled broccolis for herself as she couldn't afford to buy two burgers...

loose sorry you'll miss it - can DH do some filming for you?

Fleurdelise His star pupil (if there is any such) was advised to apply for Menuhin. But really, this 'star thing' doesn't bother me. My ds is a shining star in my eyes whatever he does (yes I love my mega rosy glasses)!

Loose: you might be presented with a medal :). Its a shame that none of the competition allows video recording anymore as I would love to show my parents and family abroad or rewatch it later.

We are not ready with Rondino, why she chose such a tough piece...!!!awggg!

Green dd chose summertime for her grade 5 piece on piano and it is really hard, to the extent where her teacher needs to adapt it due to stretches. Following that she put her foot down and chose the A piece herself (the teacher) to a more approachable one seeing she has two very hard ones.

Loose good luck to your DS, shame you'll miss it but some things cannot be helped.

Really interesting Reading about peoples different situations and challenges. Our challenge is basically living in the middle of no where. Nice scenery but its a long way to anywhere and when you lose the local option its difficult to find an alternative.

That said so far the kids have had really good teachers and the temporary violin teacher is very experienced as well as playing professionally in the symphony orchestra. Turns out he taught my husbands cousin when she was young! Havent met him yet and still have nothing in place for after the summer but we're still working on it. .......