December Music Thread

[Wafflenose]

Have a new thread for December!

This is an ongoing chat group for musicians, parents of musicians and anyone interested in music. We talk about practice, scales, theory, instrument hire and purchase, concerts, exams, auditions and loads more. Newcomers and beginners are extra specially welcome - yes, a lot of us now have children who are getting quite advanced, but we all had beginners once. I started the conversation when my eldest was 6 and working towards Grade 1, and we now have learners of all ages and standards on here.

I am a teacher of woodwind, and have two daughters. Goo is 12 and in Year 7. She loves her new school, and has grown up fast since she started. The first few weeks were overwhelming and confusing. She loved the challenge of new subjects, new faces, lots of different sports, etc. Unfortunately, she is a poster child for complacency, is now finding it all very easy, and doing the bare minimum again, sigh. She extends this approach to music too, putting in a bit of effort at the last minute, and often making an eleventh hour bid to change piece for important performances. She is gregarious, intense and obsessed with her phone. Oops, I forgot to say, she plays the flute and piano. Grade 8 flute is pencilled in for some time next year (teacher is campaigning to wait until train tracks come off) and she hasn't performed on the piano or taken any exams yet.

Rara is 9, and a completely different kettle of fish. She likes music, but she likes reading, art and making things even more. She's talkative, eccentric and highly creative. I have no idea how her mind works. She is in Year 5 at the village primary, and couldn't really care less about academics. She plays the cello (working at an early Grade 4 level) and clarinet. Some of her clarinet pieces are Grade 4, but she is having some technical problems at the moment, mainly due to her size and incorrect placement of her fingers. So the next exam she does will probably be Grade 3.

Both girls are members of South West Music School (Rara starting next month) and both auditioned for the NCO. Goo was very pleased with herself, but Rara had an absolute disaster. She bounced back within a day though.

folk, hopefully doing South Easterlies again. Need to chat with her bassoon buddy's parents to check what they are planning to see if we can do lift shares again. Re. your cakes, there would never be an issue trying to persuade DD that she should eat more of them! Very yummy!

School is out for Christmas as of now for us, but I suspect little practice will be happening over the holidays as school exams loom in less than a month.

Congratulations and commiserations for NCO outcomes. I'm very glad that we decided to give it a miss with the stress of school exams but I guess that now dd will have no chance in future as the competition seems to get harder with age. She would have to up at least 2-3 grades on the clarinet in a year and that's not likely to happen. Bassoon pretty unlikely too!

We are still looking for an Easter music course if anyone knows of one.

I have been crazily busy so I could be off for the holiday from tomorrow till new year. Will have to catch up with everyone’s news tomorrow. We found out today that we only had a pass with our piano exam, the first pass for us however we deserved it. So much to do next year though.

But green she passed and that's fantastic well done to mini green a huge achievement
Ds hasn't done pro corda but I also have only heard good things about it
Good luck to all those who have to revise during the Xmas break I've finished today but my 2 have to go back for 2 days next week ( although I think ds is basically playing his trumpet for 2 days so he's happy)

Another triumph for MiniGreen! Just amazing! glad to hear your holidays are starting Green
DS2 had a good final piano lesson of the term and has some theory homework to keep him amused in the holidays!

High merit for G3 piano today. She's disappointed as she's never been below 90. The aural (her first time doing aural) cost her the distinction. But I've shown her that all her pieces and her technical tests were all distinction standard. Shes had a ridiculous week so is very tired and I would have liked more prep on the aural. But.... she got herself from g2 in July to G3 a term later. So that's pretty awesome. Try telling that to a perfectionist kid though....

Well done miniGreen and miniMini.

Well done MiniGreen and MiniMini!

Kids last concert of the year is tomorrow lunch time and i'm currently stuck in an airport in another country waiting for å delayed replacement for my cancelled flight. Og they hold the connection for us I'll be very happy, if not I'll be trying to argue for å very early flight in the morning.....

Mending good luck I hope you get there
Well done mini mini that's fantastic ! I'm guessing that that was a trinity exam as you found out the result today . I'm sure you have them but we found the aural books and cds really helpful for aural prep ( ds went right back to grade 4 / 5 for his grade 7 and then worked his way through the tests ) I often find myself doing this prep with him at home as there's never enough time in lessons

Well done on the exam results :).

I have a 12 year old cellist who started at 8 and I never suggested practice for more than 10 minutes who feels terribly behind her peers. I have tried to give up the self flagellation on this and anyway, I attempted to start my youngest at 6 and it didn’t work at all (although that brings with it guilt about choosing the wrong instrument!).

I think all these children going for it with the NCO auditions are so impressive, I’ve never put dd1 in for anything she wasn’t pretty much guaranteed to do well at which isn’t healthy! She has suggested herself entering a 14 and under (so unlikely to even be placed) festival class soon though so she is maybe developing a little bit of much needed self confidence.

Pro Corda has been a lovely experience for dd1 twice and they offer generous bursaries if you’re on a low income.

Moved across to here from the NCO 2018 thread.
My girl, 9, plays viola, flute and piano. It all came rather out of the blue after just starting on the Violin for fun. She switched to viola after turning up at her teachers house but forgetting her Violin. Had a go on her teachers viola and hasn’t looked back.
Flute just crept up on us and still early stages for piano.
She is working on G4 viola, G3 flute and just G1 piano and also G3 singing.
All advice about how to best help her would be gratefully received as it’s a whole new world for us as she has driven it all so far. I don’t want her to burn out but do want her to meet her potential.
Good to be on here and appreciate the input

Very well done to miniMIni & miniGreen!

drummers 's moan about Year 11 caught my attention. It may vary school to school, but in general, independent schools can be quite supportive and flexible to the talented pupils? Especially if those hold a scholarship? I suppose, in drummers' boy's case, it would be more of his choice as he sounds like a kind of person who tries his very best at everything he does so reducing school work for music is out of question. But what if someone like him (a music scholar) struggles to make time for his real passion (music) due to the heavy school work, would it be negotiable and schools are generally happy to offer more flexible, personalised approach? Or academic side still has to come first and foremost?

I think state schools are more rigid, so personalised approach is very much unlikely?

Meanwhile I am thinking of Mending. Poor you...! I hope you are alright and can make it in time.

Gosh - so much to catch up on! Well done miniGreen and miniMini! Fab results!

We have finally reached the end of DS2's chorister commitments until after Christmas (they don't sing Christmas services, thankfully). They worked so hard. I worked out that, in December, they have done well over 50 hours of rehearsals, concerts and services, on top of full time school.

They finished with a terrific performance of the Bach Christmas oratorio. The boys loved singing with the orchestra, especially the extremely virtuosic trumpet player ( at least 2 of them now want to start the trumpet).

I'm looking forward to getting going on some violin with DS2, but not until we have all had a proper rest!

Lovely to hear all the music news, nco is so competetive that Even the brilliant are not guarenteed anything. Im not going to make the concert, after delaying and delaying and delaying the flight they cancelled it.

Sorry for the grumpy messages, i should probably give a little introduction. I have 3 kids who are all musical, dd1 is 11 plays violin and started piano in the Autumn, plays violin in a talent program. Dd2 is 9, plays flute, and started the talent program in the Autumn, no second instrument yet but she's hankering after a double bass. Ds is 7 and plays drums and piano.

Mending, would thoroughly recommend double bass, I play and it's great fun. There are some passionate advocate s out there eg David Hayes at Wells. He runs lots of play days round the country and basses are a friendly lot!

Oh what a shame mending hope you get home soon . I'm not sure about private schools kutik but I'm not sure how flexible ds's school are going to be they just expect him to manage I think . (though they are very good at supporting him celebrating his achievements and letting him have time off and it isn't only the music staff who show an interest so that's nice). I have started to think ahead a bit and will be having another chat with them when we get to gcse options in the spring ( ds's school have a 3 year ks4) it's hard as they are measured on their pupils grades and progress not whether ds ends up at music college and playing principal trumpet for ... orchestra so we shall see . Ds ( probably like drummers ds) is very driven anyway and can't bear to do badly at anything- but this isn't always healthy. It might be that if ds really decides by year 11 that music is his thing that he just picks in his head which subjects he is going to try really hard in - he'd get at least passes in the other subjects with very little work - ultimately I think it's up to us and him as school will always need to encourage him to do his best in every subject and this really might not be possible

Just checking in to say well done to the exam successes. Such a pain at this time of year to have that extra stress !

Hope you are all having / had lovely Christmassy music things.

Apart from dh Xmas concert and cathedral service for school we haven't had any this year as youngest now at uni.

We are off to Australia today as a completely alternative Xmas leaving them at home😱😂. Youngest however has been invited back to cathedral so will get her fix of singing, friends , and going to the pub with the adults as she is now one 😂

to MiniMini - very well done on the exam!
It's much quieter on the music front here- something like a three-week gap in lessons and groups I think - so we're in a more fortunate position than drummers. However, the school holiday gives me just about enough time to build up the energy to nag about revision from January!

Very well done on all the exam successes. And sorry about the travel probs mending.

Limping on to the end of term here. The DCs are fine but I am absolutely shattered!

Horseymum to be fair i would be a lot more positive about the double bass if i had a hope in hell of finding a teacher even vaguely locally. We live in the middle of nowhere (rural Norway) and even violin is challenging (over 90 minutes drive each way....)

I understand the shattered feeling, but im counting this Christmas season as a success, assuming that dh gets all three kids to their concert today along with a flute then we have managed to get the right kids with the right instruments to the right place at the right time for the whole season. I think it's 8 concerts in 7 different venues....

to Mending. You have every right to be grumpy. I hate being held at airport.

they are measured on their pupils grades and progress not whether ds ends up at music college and playing principal trumpet for orchestra
I think Trumpet made a good point. The state secondary DS got a place is famous for their heavy academic work (5 homework daily, apparently) and I'm sure they are proud of their respectable results for academically non-selective school so I doubt they consider any flexible approach!

DS is also one of those who like to do well at everything he does, but not sure if he is as driven or realistic as some of yours. He often picks a challenge without thinking of the amount of the commitments required, or looks simply hoping to get the best results out of minimum effort.