July Music Thread

[Wafflenose]

I was celebrating the end of a VERY busy week with a glass of and realised it's now just past midnight, and therefore July! Have a new thread!

The music threads are for ALL musicians, young and old, beginners and advanced, and every style of music!

I have two DDs, Goo (11) who is currently stropping and eye-rolling her way through her last few weeks at primary school, and Rara (9) who is funny and creative. Goo is working towards Grade 8 Flute, and has been playing the piano for just over a year. She is refusing to take any exams or perform on it though. Rara has her Grade 3 Cello exam coming up soon, and is just moving beyond Grade 2 Clarinet now. Both played the recorder from age 3/4 and got to a really good level, but other than helping out with my school groups, they don't really play any more - they are particularly obsessed with the flute and clarinet.

I am a teacher of woodwind - currently about 80 recorder pupils (many group taught) in two schools, plus two private flute pupils and six private clarinet pupils.

Oh good ds hasn't got that far yet I'll shall download them tomorrow then he can listen on his long coach journey!!

I like your school Mini, it sounds like the teachers make a big effort to make music part of school life. Emboldened, I asked our head yesterday if there could be more (any!) music, even a choir and monthly concerts. Apparently there is no time, and it would be to the detriment of other school interests (wracking my brain to figure out what these are). Then she kind of made me feel quite selfish, as it could only be for DD's benefit, because clearly in her assessment no other children might be interested. I got a "look" suggesting someone has to think about the bigger picture. One of their big school things is the environment, so lots of assembly time on that. Quite useful for having a recycling monitor at home.

I don't know how you get county music services to assist each child at their level. If they are group lessons they go at the speed of group generally and if you have passed that level, the only option seems to be private. DD spent two terms in Y3 with the group, but they had just moved to 1/2 finger and she was doing grade 2. There is no differentiation because the teacher said it isn't possible. I don't understand this as a teacher is expected to teach to different levels for a class of 30, and the violin class was 8.

Packed for her first orchestral residential tomorrow - a four hour drive with packed up air conditioning, so hoping it is not hot. At 9, DD has never been away before.

Niggle I'm sure she will have a great time. I'm always the one asking awkward questions at school about how much music they are being offered ds was reallly lucky as one of the music service teachers a couple of years ago insisted that he had a lesson by himself but once he got to high school ds had to have private lessons as there just wasn't the space on the high school timetable for him to have even 20 minutes on his own . Private lessons have seen him make an amazing amount of progress but we have been lucky that certain teachers have been happy to stick their necks out and not insist on sticking to the rules. I guess if they are all playing at once in a group lesson it helps if they are all roughly at the same level which is why they have to move forward as a group, but some teachers are more creative than others in meeting the needs of the individual too

Would it be okay to take her favourite bear, or would this not be a good idea?

Frozen in indecision.

Hello everybody

DS is heading off to the Scottish equivalent of NYO on a Scottish island on Monday. This is very likely to be his final time. He is my younger DC and just left school, so my time of school/youth music concerts is almost at an end. Btw, NYOScotland takes young people up to the age of 25! Sometimes conservatoire students take part which is fabulous for all the younger ones. Two years ago they went to China!

The end of june had three last-ever concerts; JD, school (state specialist school within a state school) which was amazing - DS only did one year there unlike his DS who left three years ago. I had forgotten how talented they all are and it was so lovely to see the leavers for the first time in three years, now all very accomplished and sophisticated. And his school from Scottish equivalent of Y7 to Y12. It felt very strange for him to sit in the audience watching his friends. The HT mentioned him in the list of leavers, even though he actually left last year, which was very nice of him. His old school concerts are great fun. There's a lovely atmosphere and a vast number of different groups.

So many impressive DCs on this thread and sensible DMs. Have a lovely summer everyone. Scottish schools broke up at the end of june - we have to break then otherwise we'd get no holiday sun.

Take her bear! Definitely! He'll be a lovely ice-breaker.

Very best of luck to her. My DD was 9 when she went on her first residential orchestra course too. I hope your DD has a great time.

niggle my girl is a little younger at 7 but I know if she gets into NCO she'll be taking her fav softie as she still has him every night tight in her arm. We attach a tag to his ankle with a phone number in case he's lost!

Niggle - def take the bear :) i hope she has a lovely lovely time - its such a super setting, very homely - the concert will be fab x

Niggle ds is going on his first high school trip on Monday and even I asked him if he wanted to take his favourite bear of course he said no !! But this will be the first school trip that he had gone on without it ( he's 12!!) of course she should take it

I came on here to find the July thread and there are nearly 400 posts already!

DD has her Grade 4 flute exam tomorrow. She has been playing the pieces for slightly too long now, and has developed a tendency to rush them and make careless errors.

DS2's braces came off in April and his teeth look lovely. He has a Grade 6 clarinet exam in 10 days. For 5 of those days he will be away on a GCSE field trip with school, and cannot take his clarinet. On the optimistic side, he has worked diligently on his preparation for this exam.

We got purple patches a handful of days ago. Goo has learnt them, except one which is unplayable (her teacher can't play it either, and I have no hope) and a few need speeding up a bit now. She was playing a concerto and quite a few other big pieces before that... they have now gone out the window, probably until September!!

Mini if my little pupil gets in, I'll instruct them to look out for each other, and look after each other. She's nowhere near as far along as yours though... 9 years old, been learning almost 18 months, and coming into Grade 2 now. One of my other pupils got into nationals last year, and has now given up!! Nothing to do with me, I hasten to add.

Goo is supposed to be going on a residential trip with her new class in November. It clashes with the South Westerlies concert. I have spoken to the school, who say I can collect her myself, two hours early. I also contacted NCO, who said it's fine if she arrives late for the rehearsal. So I think we can manage both. I love the new school and the NCO!

Thanks for that goo hopefully ds isn't the only one who hasn't had the music - maybe none of the trumpets have ? Strange but I've emailed nco anyway just to check and he's away now until next weekend so no time to practice . He will be very annoyed if the others have had the music though I had just totally forgotten about it this week but we definitely haven't had it

The following will be a self-pitying post. Please feel free to skip it as it is basically one giant moan.

I sing in a high standard (auditioned and then reauditioned regularly) choir. I love it. We have a big concert next weekend (tickets sold out even though they cost up to £60). Family & friends have bought tickets and I have been looking forward to it for months. The penultimate rehearsal is on Monday; it's the first one with the guest conductor so not attending means not singing in the concert.

At the beginning of this week, I was diagnosed with 'difficult' asthma and a possible chest infection. Inhalers, steroid tablets and 2 types of antibiotics later (not to mention the chest x-ray and all the blood tests) and I still have a constant wheeze, am breathless, and cannot sing without having a coughing fit.

If I am not well enough to sing, I think I might actually cry (something I only do about once every two or three years). I know my health is more important, and this is 'just' one concert, but I'm hoping that you guys would understand why.

Waffle - Goo has learnt them already!?! i am seriously impressed!!

String yes she has! She can sight read anything though. They are a similar standard to last year's (which took her ages, and teacher was in Australia which didn't help) but she is now substantially better. She had an hour on them with her teacher last night, but there wasn't much left to do - just speed up. She will be far from the best though, and is hoping to be on Flute 2 again.

Second sorry that you have been so poorly. Hopefully it will be under control soon. I've had asthma since I was 17 - I take a lot of medication to keep it under control, so not many people know. I do get 2-3 chest infections per year, so more than the norm, and have ended up on steroid tablets twice.

Fleurdelise good luck to your DD in the aptitude tests for the consortium secondary schools. I am quite relieved mine are past that.

Tip from DS2 (the only one of mine who qualified for a music place): the texture section of the listening test is tricky, especially differentiating between 2 and 3 notes. He said the chords are electronic tones produced by computer, and they sound different from a piano.

Good luck to your DD with her exam tomorrow Second.

Niggle our county music service is great. With both DC their teachers suggested individual lessons at the point where they were beyond the others in their groups. Initially those lessons were 20 mins, but again at the right point, they suggested going to 30 mins. In the term running up to DD2's latest exam, her teacher moved the lesson to a different day to allow more flexibility and in fact she taught her for the best part of an hour while it was charged as 30 mins. They each have a lesson at the music centre on one instrument, plus DD2 has guitar lessons at school through the music service and DD1 has sax lessons arranged through her school.
The ensemble opportunities through the music service are great too. DD1 does a swing band on sax and then both DC do a wind band and a double reed ensemble of just oboes and bassoons. Great arrangements in those so that there is a real balance of opportunities for both instruments rather than the bassoons providing the bass. This afternoon's end of term concert was a great showcase for what they do.

Thank you Wafflenose
I had a similar thing a couple of times last winter and also the winter before, but always after a cold, so I thought it was just a post-viral wheeze or bronchitis, and each time it cleared up after 2-3 weeks.

This one wasn't preceded by a cold, and isn't clearing up. Not being able to sing is making me frustrated & grumpy.

Second, asthma is pants. Mine is usually well controlled, but I have had the steroid tablets a couple of times, so I sympathise. Hope you feel better very soon. Could you attend the rehearsal, but not sing, so that you know how the guest conductor is directing? That way you would give yourself more time to recover, but would know what is expected come the concert.

Bear must go then! Thank you.

Thank you Doubleup

Could you attend the rehearsal, but not sing, so that you know how the guest conductor is directing?

I think this is going to be the way forward.

Niggle, DS is 10 but sleeps with FIVE softies every night - a giant white tiger, medium sized normal(?) tiger, two small chicks and a snake. Each has the most creative name - White Tiger, Tiger, Chick and Chikie, then Snake... He didn't take them on his school trip as they were (and still are) a big secret of his. But he asked me to take a good care of them while he was away (which I did)...

Second, I suffer from chest problems constantly. It's a pain. Hope you get better soon. to you.

Oh my God this thread moves fast!

Good luck for tomorrow drummers and TheSecond!

Nigglenotes are you talking about dd's school? It sounds like the same school. We had a head teacher who used to organise concerts but once she left the new head teacher cancelled them. When we had a curriculum meeting which the new head attended I have raised it asking if it was possible to reinstate it. There were kids of all abilities playing and all of them had private lessons, I even suggested we could do it to raise money for the school, we could sell the tickets at £2.

I've been told it takes away from the academic work . This is a school that has an outdoor playing session a day a week which basically means that during those hours they don't do any academic work. Which I am happy with but how come that doesn't take away from the academic work and having a concert does?

TheSecond thank you for your good wishes with the MAT, we bought 4 tests from an online website to practice, it is indeed synthesiser sound, that is the trickiest part which she's hit and miss, the best she got I think was 52 (if I remember right, it was impressive) and the worse 38 which is not great. Mostly she seems to score 46-48 so hopefully she'll have a good day on the 12 September.

Today we bought the grade 6 piano scales and sight reading books, I know that there are dcs more advanced on this thread but I still felt very proud that dd is not yet 10 and starting to work on grade 6. I wasn't expecting this when she started. Nor was I expecting her clarinet teacher to tell us today after the lesson she has grade 5 scales to practice this week.

Not that she'd take grade 6 piano and 5 clarinet any time soon, probably 2018 autumn depending on progress, she's not touching the actual exam pieces, but I still feel proud.