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Extra-curricular activities

Find advice on the best extra curricular activities in secondary schools and primary schools here.

Original poster

NCO 2018

991 replies

stringchild · 23/08/2017 19:07

The new annual thread for those interested and/or auditioning! Ask questions, update your news - lots of nco parents on board and those hoping to be :)

OP posts:
Doubleup · 09/10/2017 20:49

Good luck with tomorrow's auditions. DD2 still has 12 days, 2 accompanist sessions and 1, perhaps 2 lessons before her audition.

se22mother · 09/10/2017 21:10

Dd has asked me to enquire whether she needs to introduce her pieces? TIA

Original poster
stringchild · 09/10/2017 21:35

SE22- completely up to the dc; if they are relaxed doing so, why not but never had any pressure to. They may well ask anyway as a way of relaxing the child.

Folk - good luck :)

OP posts:
Wafflenose · 09/10/2017 22:40

Wow, this thread has really moved on since I last ventured inside! Good luck to MiniTrumpet and anyone else auditioning tomorrow.

SE22 no, not usually. She can if she wants to though! What pieces is she playing?

We have just over two weeks to go, which is absolutely fine. We are going away for three days, and getting back two days (only one full day) before, which is not so fine. Oh well! All the learning SHOULD be done by then, but we'll see.

Goo hasn't been working hard enough, and been told to try harder with her cadenza. She's finally decided to pull her finger out. All good. I fully expect her to be bandaged up nearer the time though! Shock

Doubleup · 10/10/2017 07:59

No sports and bubble wrap Waffle? Smile

se22mother · 10/10/2017 09:01

Waffle the g2 a1 Mozart - I am not going to try to spell it Confused and a more fun piece from a musical

Wafflenose · 10/10/2017 09:29

Sounds nice, se22. Rara used to play the Mozart piece and liked it, but never got the rhythm right!

Not much sport going on Doubleup - only PE lessons (badminton and hockey) so far, because netball season hasn't started. Goo has gone on a school trip to a farm today though. If one child is going to manage to injure themselves on a farm, it will be her. But hopefully not!!

Trumpetboysmum · 10/10/2017 11:52

Fingers crossed for no injuries we have turned up to the audition early ( I was worried about being late) but we are now sitting in the park as there's no where to wait !! Same place as last year but different set up ?!? Luckily it doesn't seem to have put ds off

bassclef · 10/10/2017 12:30

Good luck!

Nigglenotes · 10/10/2017 13:12

Good luck to Trumpetboy!

Trumpetboysmum · 10/10/2017 14:09

Thank you . All done now and he feels that it mostly went well . Although I think there was some confusion over the sight reading, . The people in the audition asked him to play to the end , but the steward had only asked him to prepare the first 3 lines . Ds stuck to his guns and played what he had been asked to work on , apparently the last bit was very high ( post grade 8) so he would have wanted to have a go at it first. Then in his unprepared piece they threw in a bit of transposition right in the middle of the piece- we weren't expecting that at all though ds said he could mostly do that . Hopefully none of this will disadvantage him though I would feel awful if he didn't get in because I hadn't understood the bit about sight transposition Hmm I've pinged off an email to NCO to explain the confusion over how much sight reading he was supposed to do - with time to prepare he would have been able to play it all annoyingly, hopefully if the steward got it wrong they will take it into account

folkmamma · 10/10/2017 17:40

Phew. Done. DD had a memory lapse in the first phrase of one piece (never happened before!!!!) but started again and really nailed it! I hope that shows strength of character... her other pieces went really well and even got a “beautiful” from the adjudicator, so we’ll take that! She seems happy with sight reading too, so we will see. Just desperate to get back in to Regionals, she’s had such an awesome time this year!

Trumpet- that’s a real shame about the quick study, I’m sure they will take the Steward error into account?? X

Doubleup · 10/10/2017 17:51

Trumpet and folkmamma - glad for you and your dc that it is all over for another year. Still get a few days ( and a few more strops, no doubt!) until DD2's one.

Trumpetboysmum · 10/10/2017 18:13

Thank you folk I'm sure they will and ds seems pretty chilled about it ( well for now anyway until the results come out Grin) glad it went well for your dd and I think they both deserve a pat on the back for showing strength of character and dealing with the unexpected. I think auditions etc are good for experiencing and coping with the unexpected ( as well as hopefully- fingers crossed being successful)

Original poster
stringchild · 10/10/2017 18:45

well done mini Folk and Trumpet - sounds they both did very well indeed; am sure NCO will make a note re mini-Trumpet's sight-reading

So Double - are you next?

OP posts:
Wafflenose · 10/10/2017 20:02

I'm glad things mostly went smoothly for both of them. Phew! I would have thought that playing to the end would be reserved for Main Orchestra, Trumpet. It's good that he was feeling confident enough to stand up for himself.

It's our NCO day in 15 days! We're away for a long weekend just beforehand, but hopefully the hard work will have been done by then.

Minimusiciansmama · 10/10/2017 20:38

Well done minitrumpet and minifolk.... 4 sleeps to go for us... she played beautifully this morning, threw a proper fit yesterday morning... I'm sure more of both will come between now and then!

Trumpetboysmum · 10/10/2017 20:58

Thank you waffle that's made me feel better and also glad that I emailed to remind them that he is only trying for under 13s. I think they did get confused as he was also asked to transpose and one of the other trumpets going for under 13s wasn't so I'm really not sure what's going on . Ds is now cross as he thinks it's unfair we shall see in December what was going on in their minds I suppose, hopefully the odd slip in the transposed part won't count against him if all of the under 13 group didn't have to do it anyway

gillybeanz · 10/10/2017 21:02

Just popping on to say good luck to you all tomorrow, or other audition dates. Thanks
Obviously not our thing, but know several who usually play.
it's a great opportunity for them.

Original poster
stringchild · 10/10/2017 21:04

Trumpet - its also quite possible that they are thinking him as a potential main orchestra player and wanted to see how he would fare with that. It does happen :)

OP posts:
Wafflenose · 10/10/2017 21:18

I wondered that too. It does sound like it might be the case, if the other Under 13s didn't have to do it. It would have been good if all the staff had agreed what he had to do though!

Original poster
stringchild · 10/10/2017 21:21

Waffle - they may have only decided once they heard him play? i think dd was asked if she was able to play on one year - i suspect she said no given her views on sight reading

OP posts:
Wafflenose · 10/10/2017 21:26

LOL @ "her views on sight reading"!! Grin I'd say it's Goo's favourite thing... possibly because she doesn't practise very much.

TaggieOHara · 10/10/2017 22:54

Very envious of those who have their auditions over and done with. DS2's would have been this week, but we moved it because he has two big choir things this week already.

Quick question... for warming up, can I go into the warm up room with him? I assume at some point, he will have to prepare his Quick study without me (which is fair enough of course!). I ask because I practice with DS and if I am not with him in the warm up, I will need to ensure he has an idea of what to do, so he isn't 'thrown'.

Also - how long do they get to warm up?

Thank you!

Trumpetboysmum · 11/10/2017 06:44

I think they get 10 minutes to warm up and 5 to look over the study. Not sure if parents can go into the practice room I stay as far away from ds as possible when he's getting ready for something like that Grin obviously some go in with their accompanist to have a run through. I'd phone and ask if no one else knows . Waffle and String we had wondered about ds being considered for the main orchestra though with all the changes this year I would think it unlikely . I guess we'll find out in December, more likely that he was just a bit unlucky with what he was asked to play ( and that I hadn't warned him that he might have to transpose)