November Music Thread

[Wafflenose]

New month, new thread! This is a place for musicians and parents of musicians, from complete beginners to experienced and everything in between, to talk about everything to do with music! Previous threads have covered exams, practice, scales, instrument hire and purchase, theory, composition, aural woes, auditions, scholarship preparation and much more.

I started these threads when my 12 year old daughter Goo was 6 and preparing for Grade 1. I never thought we'd still be going, 6 years later! I appreciated all the advice I was given back then, and try to repay that when I can.

Goo plays the flute and piano (she has been learning the piano for 18 months but has yet to perform - ever) and has no exams lined up at the moment. I also have Rara who is 9, and working towards her third Grade 3, on the clarinet. The other two were on the cello and recorder. She's more interested in art and reading, and currently swims five times a week.

I am a teacher of woodwind, and Wednesday is my day from you-know-where... full-on from 6.30 am until 10 pm, and about to get worse!!

Wow, that sounds good Woolley. Maybe it's all given her extra motivation to do well.

It's always best when the determination is coming from the child. Great spirit, miniwoolley!

I have seen Goo and a wonderful little girl on the channel, such beautiful performances, there was also a little male violinist and his performance was amazing, so enthusiastic, miniGreen playing is such a barbarian to compare, it was a huge treat to watch them all, thank you!(although I am sorry I missed who was whom apart from Goo).

Woolley: we were told that it would be a surprise if she passes with her last violin exam. The night before we went to a lesson with a new teacher and she said we shouldnt sit the lesson the next day. She decided to still go for it at the end(while I thought she shouldnt and my husband and my piano teacher thought she should), well, she had a merit, her pieces marks werent too bad, her scales and aural were pass marks as usual. We were so glad that we did it to be honest, the feeling that we could move on.

We went to a piano concert tonight, we had front row seats and the usual jaws dropping.

Wanted to wish miniEaling the best of luck for G7 tomorrow, with that much of sport, violin and academic, she is such a warrior.

Its our turn next week here!

Definitely best when driven by the child - great attitude Miniwoolley!
Sad lack of cello practice this week and DS2 has a lesson today. He’s got homework to finish tonight but after that no excuses!

Cello lesson today and very little practice here too, Loose. Rara isn't quite well actually, but insisted on going to school.

Aww... hope Rara feels better soon. Brave girl!
DS1 missed all his music stuff last night due to a headache - not helped by 2 1/2 hours extra after school art activity although I gather it was very productive. He has bass guitar and drums tonight but I’m sure he’ll be fine!

Ds is also now in bed ill ( not at all surprising given his hectic weekend and he was already ill anyway) Another full on musical weekend to follow so hopefully he will be feeling better as it's a chamber weekend with 1 player a part !! I need to help him plan November better next year Hope mini Loose and Rara feel better soon and that mini Ealing has recovered enough to take grade 7 today . Good luck mini Ealing

Good luck to mini Ealing!

And get well soon to those with the purge

And the curse of autocorrect strikes again - lurgy rather than purge!

Purge? Should I be checking the DDs for this purge? What are the symptoms?

Good luck to miniEaling - grade 7, wow!

Good luck MiniEaling!

Good luck miniearlng!

You lovely lot, thank you. She's gone in today. It's a mad virus, headaches only last week, fever 36 hours over weekend, and TODAY the sore throat commences...but she's chosen to go in. Sorry folks with poorly DC if you too are experiencing the illness drip feed that this one appears to be.

I am waiting to see if she makes it through to 4.17pm slot without bailing!

Go miniwoolley, that's fighting spirit for you.

Ealing that's exactly what's wrong with ds fingers crossed that she makes it to the exam

The cold came suddenly didn't it. Sending good wishes to all those feeling poorly.
You can do it, miniealing.
And a medal of courage to miniwoolley.
We're choosing A levels here. Discussing the future. University courses. Career choices. I want to run and hide. Or travel back a few years. Compared to this choosing secondary school was a walk in the park.

Good luck, MiniEaling! Hope she feels better soon. Rara isn't 100%, but has gone to school. Wondering if she will make it to cello.

drummers, I think you can't compare choosing A levels and secondary schools because both are equally important for those who are at the stage so no comparison can be made. A tiny weeny thing for someone can be a big deal for others.

Having said that I understand it must be scary... But with your boy's determination and diligence, he will make it whatever he decides.

to everyone feeling poorly.

*Kutik - the thing about secondary schools is that there are just a few choices and still plenty of time to correct if things don't quite go to plan. It gets a bit more real come sixth form/university especially the big one of how much to put ones eggs in the music basket. Of course not final but if you decide to go for music college that is a huge decision.

That's very true. OK, that would make me run and hide. Sorry for my ignorance. to drummers and everyone who are going through the stage.

My friend called us the other day and asking for A-level choice. He works in oil trading and his elder daughter studying Chemistry in one of the top univ in the country, his son also has been privately educated from a top London school and he thinks our career choice might be better. We are so humble compare to them, I wanted to tell him that our job is so boring and repetitive, we dont love our job(neither hate it), we are still very junior and our pay is average compare to city pay, 10 yrs plus in our career and we still struggle. I then could only tell him to watch out for the current trend in high-tech, and still the fundamental ones are: engineering, Chemistry, Law, Finance. Eventually its the name of the Univ you went to counted, you can be trained for anything later and usually will have to do further professional courses once in the field, HR and employer are looking for top Univ students really. Unfortunately I have no idea about the humanity and Arts and Music and dont know anyone on that side so no idea.

Ha ha it's alright kutik. But the finality of the choices at 16, the doors you're closing, the consequences of your decisions, it's huge. For some it's easy. They know what they want and that thing is a well paid profession. Others are clearly very able at something and not interested/able at other things. For an all rounder, whose passion is a risk career wise, whose abilities could land him several well paid respected professions but his heart is telling him otherwise while society is telling him to play it safe... It's a mess. On top of that, the hours one needs to put into researching the different options is endless. Even if you opt for music, do you go to conservatoir or to a university music degree. A university music degree leaves more doors open and jobs open but is not sufficient if you want to be a top performer so then you need to do a masters at a conservatoir, increasing the already huge debt. And if you're going to end up going to conservatoir for an MA anyway, why not do a BA that opens other doors? But if you do a BA that's not music, can you keep up your music at a good level whilst studying a different subject at a competitive university? And if you go to conservatoir and want to leave a fire exit open into Law for example, will a conservatoir BMus be enough to consider a Law Conversion Course and gain Training at a firm to pay for your qualification? And what about all those combined degrees now being offered: Music & English, Music & History, Music & Physics...are they just half good? And how about posponing the agony of narrowing and going to the US to study a Liberal Arts degree knowing that US Colleges are super generous with bursaries and scholarships (huge amount from DS school have gone to US and Canada this year)? And if you have the grades to go to Oxford or Cambridge but choose to go somewhere else because of the course offered, is that a mistake - like green said, it's all about what university you went to?
I could go on and on, but that's it in a nutshell.

Drummers I feel you pain - we're a long way off from these decisions yet but I fear that we may be having very similar conversations in a few years time

Drummers - my head hurts just reading your post. Could say lots of things but the one immediate one is that I do know quite a few musicians who have studied music at university BUT they tend to be more jazz than classical and they have gone to universities where the level of music is very high (such as Oxford and Cambridge). In contrast I can't think of any classical percussionist who studied music at university although I'm sure one exists. As for a university music degree being good enough for other careers I wouldn't worry too much especially in this day and age where there is a lot more career flexibility. I know of someone who focused on music until late 20's then gave up and joined the civil service on the fast track scheme and is now in a very well-paid private sector job.

Thanks herts every bit of info really help
Thanks trumpet, sorry for ruining your afternoon and same to others... One should not be subjected to all this till the moment comes when you can't avoid any longer!
I've done little good work today, so much buzzing in my head. Oh well.