(Mostly) August Music Thread

[Wafflenose]

Here's a new thread for August, but we're starting it a few days early, because you lot have managed to be super chatty this month! I wonder if things will slow down in August due to people going away... maybe or maybe not?

I'm Waffle, a teacher of woodwind - mostly recorders and clarinet, but I have a couple of flutes currently, and teach saxophone, piano and theory when required. I am determined that the music threads should be open to ALL, including complete beginners and adult learners. It's a good place to discuss lessons, practice, concerts, exams and our generally hectic lives!

I have a DH who plays the guitar for pleasure (no lessons) and two girls. Goo is 11 and has her Grade 7 Flute (March 2017) and Grade 6 Recorder (December 2015 and now pretty much stopped ). She has been learning the piano for 15 months, is refusing to perform in any way, shape or form, but will probably take Grade 5 next year. Rara is 9 and has Grade 3 Cello (July 2017), Grade 3 Recorder (December 2016 and also ceased) and is working towards her Grade 3 Clarinet... probably next spring. Goo is off to NCO Under 12s on Sunday, and we need to pop out to get her some shoes and general supplies in a bit.

I have just realised that we will probably have Grade 8 Flute and Grade 3 Clarinet going on in the same session, Spring 2018. Oh dear! If Rara bothers with Grade 4 Cello, we'll probably have that at the same time as Grade 5 Piano, next summer. Double oh dear!

Waffle it's great, needs quite a lot of work - but I keep telling myself it's nothing we haven't done before !! Just need to settle in first and enjoy the new town it's been a crazy 2 weeks

Trumpet you are doing much better than us; 3 weeks to move and we have fallen off any plan we had.....now to get the sand out of every bit of clothing.....

string because of loads of "issues " in the run up to the purchase it all ended up happening very quickly ( I basically said we had to move last week because we have other plans this summer and I didn't want to ruin the dcs entire holiday with packing) so in the end I persuaded dh that it was a good idea to pay for packing - not cheap but the only way that moving could have happened last week. The new house has presented us with some unexpected surprises that will need sorting asap but fingers crossed we can take our time with the rest of the renovations !!
Good luck with your move

It's lovely that some of you managed to meet up! I'm glad the concerts were fab.

Waffle, that's always the way isn't it. The times when you want DC's to show a little of their magic and loveliness, they become mute automatons. Even if they were talking non stop 10 minutes before.

But when they just need to quiet while, for example, the plumber is explaining the large wet patch on the ceiling, they decide that is the moment they are auditioning for a West End musical and determine to show your poor guest how fabulous they are!

That is so true niggle especially if my dd

Hello all completely missed out on the last couple of months (!) of this thread through end-of-term-madness and a hideous chest infection. And then it moves on so fast! But I've really enjoyed catching up with August so I wanted to say hello.
I'm in north Northumberland - so a long way from London. DD goes to Sage Gateshead and has just passed G5 clarinet and G5 theory.

She is spending the Summer getting to know her new R13 clarinet and new mouthpiece. Any advice would be helpful! Or does she just need to keep playing? It was the right one for her when we tested them in the shop but think she's a bit bewildered by it being so different all at once.

When she was little, music was one thing that found stop her crying - so I sang a lot. Her favourite was edelweiss from Sound of Music😂

We used to listen to as big a variety of music as possible which seemed to really help her.
She would never have sat still enough for music lessons early on so I started her age 3 at Kinder Ballet. It was fab for rhythm and posture and self control and listening skills and all sorts like that. She still dances now age 13 and little brother went too. He's naturally musical as well and I think the dancing helped him too. (He's not so big on music as his big sister but he has a lovely singing voice.)

DD didn't really settle on a instrument until she started clarinet age 9 but she'd tried class violin and cornet at school and basic piano.

There- I've written enough for the whole month all in one go 😜

I like Moon Shadow also and it still works on me calming down.

Hi ACME me and dh grew up in Northumberland always makes me smile when anyone mentions it !!

Welcome ACME. I have an R13 and love it, although I didn't get mine until I was 19. I'd say little and often with practice for now - maybe with the old mouthpiece if you still have it?

Goo has come back down to earth with a bang. We've given her a chill-out day and are all trying to be nice to her, but she is crying in her room about not seeing some of her NCO friends again. She thinks they will forget about her. Of course we don't even know if she will get back in again, but if she does she will still have some of her friends and will make others easily. She takes everything so intensely.

We are thinking of getting DS2 a second hand E13.

We were lucky enough to get some grants from EMI music foundation, music matters and the community foundation towards the cost. We also bought through the local authority to save on VAT - it was a bit complicated and took ages but worth it in the end!

We've had three instruments through the local authority, they've been stellar from the start.

Went to see NYJO last night at Snape an absolute treat and one very happy ds

Hi everyone
Hope everyone's summer is going well. Lovely to hear about concerts.. so many talented minis!
Dd's 'summer of cracking scales'
is progressing surprisingly well. Once she knuckled under she realised she was in a much better place than she originally thought
She's a perfectionist so its painful for everyone in her vicinity if she doesn't get them right
Gcse music result in a few weeks (she's yr 9 so just did one ).. she's already obsessing about result.

Good luck minitrout. Glad the scales are going well

Hi acme !

trout my DD has been given a summer scales project too and is rather pleased with it! She's always liked scales but the additional joy a tick chart can bring is hilarious.

Happy little girly today - we got an email inviting her to perform in the celebration concert from her last festival. She's really chuffed

mini that's a great email to get, good of her.
trout glad scales are going OK and good luck re GCSE. We're collecting result for Spanish only...The real thing is next year
waffle I hope Goo's feeling better. Girls at her age go though an incredible emotional time re friendships. At DS' primary school they mixed the forms up for the last year. The girls were all in tears, it was the end of the world. And then it wasn't, of course. But it's nice to know she makes such good friends at NCO. It's the shared music!

Lullabies... The winners in this house at bedtime were "Summertime" and "Stay Awake" (from Mary Poppins). I sang to him at night till he was in year 8...

Hope everyone's enjoying some hols. It's so quiet without DS. We're on a work deadline, so not much mumsnetting for me.

I thought it would go quiet on here at some point. Various people are on holiday, and we are going camping tomorrow, for a few days.

Goo is feeling better thanks. We are keeping her busy. She had a friend round for the night, and they have now gone out. She will need to pack for camping this afternoon. She is an intense, emotional creature generally, but is also nearly 12 and hormonal.

Working at home today - weather is torrential and poor DS2 is on his sailing course! DS1 is hiding upstairs.
On the bright side I think the forecast is for better weather -especially important for camping! Hope it has a soothing effect on Goo, or at least is a good distraction.
Good luck with the music gcse. And Spanish! I got a couple of gcse music books - allegedly for DS1's revision. I have got them to myself for a bit, though, as they look quite interesting!

DS last primary exam result in. G6 music theory with distinction. 4 marks down comparing G5 three years ago. G8 violin 142 last term. Same marks as his G7 two years ago. －:)

drummers stay awake is still one of hours, and edelweiss. I remember singing edelweiss to her when she was days old, then when she first played it on her clarinet I cried!

waffle glad Goo is feeling better. Enjoy camping!

We are off to London from Friday. Proms workshop at the RAH on Saturday amongst other adventures.

Good luck to all waiting on GCSE results xxx

Wow, Better, those are amazing results!

Wow better fantastic results.

It is very wet here today. Hope it is dry for camping waffle