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Extra-curricular activities

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

Original poster

October Music Thread

486 replies

Wafflenose · 01/10/2017 01:18

Hello, I just fell asleep in front of a very long film that DH wanted to watch, and woke up in October! I couldn't resist starting the new thread before going to sleep properly.

The monthly music threads are welcome to ALL, and we really like hearing from new contributors and beginner musicians. We have all levels on here. It's a good place to discuss instruments, lessons, practice, exams, auditions and anything else that you want to.

I am a teacher of recorder, clarinet, saxophone and flute, and have two daughters. Goo is 11 and plays the flute and piano. She is planning to do exams on both next year, but none just now because she's just started at the secondary school 2 miles down the road, which has a great reputation for music and sport, and is extremely academic. They study four languages in Year 7 - Goo has just finished her unit on German (by the end of three weeks, they could write three substantial paragraphs - I couldn't believe it!) and is now embarking on Mandarin.
She's thrown herself into choir, orchestra, steel band, flute group and the gym. Rara is 9 and has been playing the cello since the age of 5, and clarinet for a year. She enjoys both, but is happiest when she's reading or cutting up paper/ making things out of paper! Rara has plenty of free time because she attends the village school five minutes away, and hardly gets any homework.

Goo attends South West Music School, which is the nearest thing we have to a JD in the south west. Rara is just about to join! Not too much on musically this term (and not a lot of practice taking place, quite honestly) apart from auditioning for the NCO. Goo has been in it for the past three years, and is hoping for Under 12s. After a wobble about even auditioning, she seems quietly confident now.

OP posts:
drummersmum · 20/10/2017 22:26

minikutik you're a champion Star

Good luck everyone auditioning for NCO!

Kutik73 · 20/10/2017 22:59

Thanks drummers, suppose you know which school I’m talking about. Grin

Honestly, DS seems to be having his time recently. We got another result yesterday. DS sat a borough test which was a bit like IQ test (on the day he missed great part of jd). His score was the top 1%. Shock There is a part selective school in the borough and they take top 5% or so of the test. They also have a nice music dept. Unfortunately it’s too far away to consider for us so we won’t apply.

DS struggles with comprehension and also has horrible hand writing. So it was a real confident booster.

gillybeanz · 20/10/2017 23:08

Gosh, everybody's so busy
Mine has been mostly sleeping, eating, repeating since Tuesday. Grin
I can't keep up with you all, it's lovely to read about all the auditions and exam prep.
Mine is now mainly playing Baritone and singing Soprano, and the other is touring with a fish related thing.
There's a lovely concert coming up for dd and it looks like the night is going to be a sell out. Not sure if I could sit through it though and she wants us to go, it's dh B'day on the day and it would be like hell for us both.
I know that sounds bad, there's plenty performances we wouldn't miss for the world.

Trumpetboysmum · 21/10/2017 07:37

Why would it be awful gilly? Not your sort of music or too kany solos so awful to watch ( I know this feeling wellSmile)

Trumpetboysmum · 21/10/2017 07:37

That was supposed to say many

Trumpetboysmum · 21/10/2017 07:40

Good luck for the end of next week niggle I'm sure it will be fine. Usually just before an audition or something they hardly play the specific pieces in his lesson but there have been occasions where I have sat and listened to pieces being pulled apart just before something important. I will be sitting quietly stressing as I know how hard ds has already worked but he always sees these sessions as positive ( and we often have emergency lessons before important things too !!)

Kutik73 · 21/10/2017 09:32

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Nigglenotes · 21/10/2017 09:33

Glad we aren't the only ones Trumpet. Just dropped DD at half day auditions for county strings ensemble. One of the youngest at just turned ten, but it should be a good experience.

Kutik73 · 21/10/2017 09:40

I feel it’s too silly to turn down School B as it’s has such a good track record. School A is doing well but not as much as School B. However, School B has a reputation of being full on and I hear pressure to do well is very high, whereas School A is more relaxing. I saw happy rates of pupils - School A is the highest rate of over 90% in our area, and School B is just over 80% which is a bit lower than average, somehow it’s reflecting the rumours...

I have only 10 days to decide....

Kutik73 · 21/10/2017 09:43

Good luck to miniNiggle!

Nigglenotes · 21/10/2017 10:04

Kutik, can you talk to some parents at both schools. Those whose opinions you trust?

It was unrealistic of me to think that DD could get by on one 1/2 hour lesson per week. Especially considering that exactly two years ago now she was playing open strings and did grade one 18 months ago. She is playing g5/g6 pieces. She is good but needs more input than I can really afford right now. Emergency lessons covers the guilt somewhat..

Although her teacher wouldn't be coming to accompany her for NCO if she didn't think DD had a chance, I think!

Original poster
Wafflenose · 21/10/2017 10:05

Good luck MiniNiggle, and good luck deciding, Kutik... I would personally just go with School B and enjoy knowing that it's done and dusted, without several more months of stress.

OP posts:
Nigglenotes · 21/10/2017 10:22

Waffle has a point. And school B really value and want him. Even calling you to ask about his requirements! That does seem more attractive than a waiting list.

Kutik73 · 21/10/2017 10:38

School B is an old school with good track records and well respected, whereas School A is fairly new with lots of hope and expectation so can be risky.

Suppose School B is an obvious choice especially they seem to be keen on him which is a bonus. But I don’t know any parent at the school so can’t really hear any real voice. None of pupils went to the school from our primary school ( different borough).

I know some parents and dcs at School A. All they say is they are happy. It has a happy school atmosphere. I’m confident DS would be happy there too. My question is if he will be challenged and supported enough.

My dilemma seems to be endless...

stringchild · 21/10/2017 11:19

Kutik - if you put A first and B second surely you get B if you don’t get A? So you know you have one or the other?

Niggle - wow what progress! I would imagine an hour would be beneficial to support the tech dev given how fast dc is moving? We certinaly found the move to an hour very much needed

Kutik73 · 21/10/2017 11:32

Yes string, but I need to feel it’s ok to let School B go to put School A first on the list. Looking at the previous year’s records, DS has a good chance to get in School A. I’m tempted by School B’s well organised manner and proving track records.

We also need to think the distance. It takes 30-35mins to School A, whereas 45-50 mins to School B. We are thinking to move but difficult to say when so need to prepare for the long journey for a while.

Kutik73 · 21/10/2017 11:35

Niggle, what’s a quick learner your DD is! Sounds like she needs a longer session than half an hour.

Icouldbeknitting · 21/10/2017 11:50

Kutik look at it the other way, there is not a bad choice. He will do well whichever he goes to. Toss a coin and if you feel disappointed when it chooses the wrong one, that will tell you what the right one is.

We all want to do the best but when it comes down to a choice between two equally (or nearly so) good things you can get decision paralysis.

I'd go with "happy" over "stretched".

Greenleave · 21/10/2017 12:48

What a wonderful result Kutik, minikutik rocks! I would choose school B too as he is also sporty, he will benefit from the great facilities.

Niggle, Waffle: all the best to your audition next week!

We have guests staying for 10 days midterm so I have been going to 2 food stores already and usually I do online shopping. The good thing is I made my house become more presentable, hopefully it will last till the arrive tomorrow.

We have exam date for piano and mine is so not motivated. I told her just try her best tge next 4 weeks then no exam until summer term yr6(a year and a half away). To be fair she hasnt had piano exam for a year now and we need it as a small push for polushing technique and being a little more disciplined.

Niggle: we have had 2 lessons with the new teacher and all we have been doing was leaning the right arm to the wall so we wont move the upper right arm only the lower and the wrist, its boring and frustrated however its needed. We were given smth nice to play with the next 2 weeks no lessons as my teacher is on holiday.

foundoutyet · 21/10/2017 12:50

Kutik, just to mention as your dc is sporty. We have ended up with a lot of late pick ups as dc are in all kind of afterschool matches etc.So with a choice of 1 hour or 15 min travek time, we are glad we took the 15 min option....Although if you only have 1 dc to pick up it may not be that much of a problem.
Is there a facebook webpage where you can see parents comments?

Greenleave · 21/10/2017 13:18

Reread my post and my typo/english got worse than it already was, hopefully you could still see the points

stringchild · 21/10/2017 13:19

Kutik - at this point tlastbyear I let dd have a larger say; we were happy with all our options and so happy that she should influence too (did t do it before in case she fell in love with somewhere completley impossible!!). Her fav has turned out to be absolutely the right fit for her

drummersmum · 21/10/2017 15:38

For what I know of minikutik he seems a child who knows what he wants and he's very sensible. I would liaten to his instinct too.. the travel time is important for a musician. He will be staying late for concerts and rehearsals all the time. You will end up doing that drive more often than you can imagine now!

Mistigri · 21/10/2017 17:01

Kutik, distance would be a very important criteria for me. It's not the most important one of course - DD travelled over 2.5 hours a day for the last 2 years (equivalent of years 11 and 12) so she could do her chosen course. We have moved now and she's 10 mins walk from school. She has a life again, and she is so much happier. Unless there is an overwhelming reason to choose otherwise I would always go for the closest school.

Travelling time also eats into music practice time, and time for any other extracurricular activities.

Kutik73 · 21/10/2017 17:37

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on my dilemma. I am leaning towards School A now... If I am 100% sure that we def move in near future, then I would like to go for School B, but you never know what happens. Putting ourselves in a situation where we feel great deal of pressure to move in a limited time is not wise...

Actually I was always obsessed with distance when it came to school choice for DS as I suffered daily long journey when I was a child. Combined with DS preferring co-ed, we eliminated quite a lot of good choices from our lists in both private and state. 50 mins one way was no way for me. But here I am, considering a school which takes nearly 50 mins from ours! Strange...

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