January Music Thread

[Wafflenose]

Happy New Year!

This is the new thread for our continuing (6 year old) conversation about all things to do with music - lessons, exams, auditions, theory, scales, practice and whatever else you want to talk about.

I am Waffle, teacher of woodwind, amateur composer, and unpaid consultant watching and commenting on all sorts of woodwind videos that people send my way! I am mum to Goo 12, and Rara 9, who both play instruments, do South West Music School and NCO. Goo plays flute and piano, and has Grade 8 and Grade 5 pending for some time this year. Rara plays cello and clarinet - working within Grade 4 for both, but hasn't taken a clarinet exam since Grade 1, and wants to do Grade 3 this coming term. She's way behind with Theory, so it's theory boot camp again this week. We start back to school late (Jan 8th) so that's good.

With the hard bag vs soft bag, most 'beginner' cellos seem to be in soft bag here - these all belong to the music service so they must be happy enough with the protection they give. Dd1s violin has always had a hard case, and when we brought her full size we went for a pretty solid case, it's heavier but thats not really a problem. The bass is in a soft bag, dd2 probably wouldnt be able to carry anything heavier

2nd i know the baffled feeling- im a brass player and the kids play flute, violin, piano, drums and now double bass! I now need to purchase one of those non slip Black holes mentioned up thread and a stool/ chair- we've managed to rigg up a temporary solution with a tripp trapp chair with some extra height added.....

There are light-weight hard cases on the market. Some of them look like a soft case as it has fabric on the outside. But they are not cheap as folk pointed.

I don't think weight will be a big factor though, unless it's really really heavy. DS had a normal soft case up to 1/2, then got a wooden one covered with fabric for his 3/4. It was def much heavier than previous cases so I was not sure if it was a good choice. But you get used to it. We never take any notice how heavy his case is compared with some of his friends'. However it's violin. Perhaps for larger instruments it may make a difference so can be a big factor?

We always go for a hard case for a Noo's violin kutik! Far more prone to being flung around and damaged!!! The padded bag for the cello is pretty sturdy though, and for DD2 (who is only 7) a hard cello case would be too bulky I think... and probably overkill unless it's a very expensive instrument. However, when we have to invest in a full size cello, I'm going for full-on Kevlar!!! 😳

Mending, you can get double bass cases with wheels incorporated, or wheels that you add on with straps which I have, I would not be without them now, the other three basses in the orchestra have the incorporated wheels. I would love to get a gig bag with space for music for daughters oboe, but she is making do with an old laptop bag as the one I like is £60 which is a bit much just after buying the instrument which came in a perfectly good case!

Could we ask some advice please, Waffle?
What would you recommend for a tenor recorder for a biggish 10 year old? Wondering between the Aulos and Yamaha. DC has Yamaha in descant and treble. She has tried out the Yamaha (with keys) before but I read the aulos was more suitable for little hands?

Thank you so much for all the helpful cello advice everyone, I really appreciate it.

Unfortunately there are no half-sized cellos available on Ebay or Gumtree in our area or on that Elida site.

After thinking about it a bit more, we are going for a hire option for a few different reasons. If DD likes the cello and wants to continue, we will in all likelihood have to increase the size in a year tops. I take the points about set-up and I think the cheaper to buy cellos online will prob be a lower quality than the ones available to hire.

There's an instrument hire shop at the Barbican so am going to pay them a visit tomorrow if I can fit it in in between work meetings. According to their website they have a Primavera 100 half-size to hire for 55 pounds for 3 months so hopefully that will be ok to start with. I will ask them about case options and I will definitely be asking about rucksack straps!

The DCs are having their piano lessons this afternoon and then we are making a decision about whether to enter DD for Grade 2 this session or not as the deadline is next week...

Just been catching up on this thread. I think I need to make some scales cards up after scholarship auditions are done with - my son did say last summer term that he wanted to work towards grade 8s but has hardly played any scales since the summer holidays. Lucky-dip scales might just work for him.

As for a "scales boot camp" idea, actually that could really work for a lot I think. My sister and I didn't do any violin exams until grade 8, admittedly we were well up to standard at that point, but went to a teacher specifically to learn our scales (and studies that were required for our exam board), which we did over about a term I think. Subsequently he started a group scales class to prep others for grade 8.

Maybe I'll revise my scales properly while working through them with my son, and then try arranging a bootcamp and see if there is any interest!!

foundout a big 10 year old will be fine with either, and might even be able to play the keyless ones - NOT that I'd recommend it. We have both makes at work and I don't feel there's any difference. I started tenor as a teeny 9 year old, but am super bendy and stretchy. All of my Year 5s at my main work play descant, treble and tenor, and if they can't reach all the right hand notes, they play left hand only (or just down to E).

Others might have better knowledge on the recorder front but I run a group at my children's school and we have a variety of tenors from positively ancient Dolmetsch ones ( very heavy) to Aulos and Yamaha, I think all the 10 year olds have managed any of them, but a thumb rest seems to help. The only one we don't have is the keyless Aulos which I believe is the least stretch. We have Aulos ones with one and two keys, both are nice. However, one child did break the single key on one which is quite brittle plastic and probably not repairable. Glad to hear of other recorder enthusiasts, it is a desert here. Quite a few adults play, some fairly seriously but no young people.

Japanese I definitely would hire. I nearly bought a 3/4 for DS2 but he was growing so quickly I held off and carried on with a hire one. Good job I did because he needed a full sized cello in Year 7! That was the point where I finally bought one.
The 3/4 size we rented was a Stentor 2 and it was good - with better strings it definitely would have lasted through the grades.
We have a fibreglass case for school - it's good but a soft bag would be easier to carry!

I bought a 3/4 Stentor 2 for DD when she started lessons in Y7. I was told renting wasn't an option as the school didn't use music service teachers (though I've since found out it probably would have been an option). She stopped in Y9 and it's still in the loft. She did say this week she hadn't given up .......

Anyway, the Stentor was fine for DD. I bought a fabric covered harder case for it as it was travelling in by school bus every week, and the school music cupboard probably wasn't the gentlest environment. And stacked in our car we sometimes had cello, Bari sax, tuba, 2 trombones and a clarinet, so a more secure case was wiser. DD also said it stayed in tune better than being lifted in and out of the soft case.

2nd, well done!! It's scary beforehand, but it's satisfying as if you achieved something great, isn't it? I only did re-string DS's violin a couple of times. But I felt like I'd completed apprenticeship (certificated by youtube...).

I wrapped up tiny gifts and lined them up on the piano. DS picked one after each 11+ exam. He got a mini basketball set for the first exam, which he plays in the bathroom everyday ever since. He got an amiibo figure for the second exam. The last one is a new music book for violin which he can open this Wednesday after a music scholarship audition. They are a reward for his positive attitude to the challenges.

I haven't forgotten about myself neither. I've got a bottle in the fridge, which I am going to open this Wednesday. But DH said opening a bottle would be rather boring as a reward, and told me to go shopping and get something more exciting for myself. Really? Seriously?!

..... I got a new vacuum. Not a handbag nor shoes, but a vacuum!! Not sure if DH thinks it's any more exciting than a bottle....

A violin teacher friend recommended Pirastro to me over Dominant, they make some really good quality strings in little sizes now. Enjoy!

Just catching up! Regarding scales - as DS2 hasn't done any exams, we have never done exam scales as such. He plays all the keys (scale arpeggio, Dom 7th) going up in fourths, at a rate of about 3 a day. We did one octave for ages (years!), and Are now doing two and three octaves (one octave per bow). The main objective at his level, I think, is to develop a feel and ear for the different keys, which is why we stuck at one octave for so long. Essential for good intonation! It was pretty easy to stack the higher octaves on top once he was completely solid on the one octave finger patterns. Not sure what absrm require though... probably 3 octaves for everything. I'd definitely be up for scale boot camp! By the sound of it my approach to teaching scales is a bit idiosyncratic and not ideal for auditions and exams.

kutik sopranos well done on the string changing! I once put up DS2's bridge in his 1/8th size after he dropped it. My crowning achievement. Now he has quite a nice violin, I think I'll leave it to the professionals. You're right about the sense of achievement. Thank you youtube! I do think though that wind instruments are a whole new level of complex, with all their keys and valves!

Well done all the DC's on getting through auditions and entrance exams! Good luck to mini-Kutik and mini-Python!

Not much going on here music-wise. DS2 is going ahead with our local festival in a couple of weeks. We can just about get him to evensong, I reckon. He loves his two pieces, especially now that he has license to mess around with the rhythm in the Elgar (I said he had to be able to play it straight first!).

I second woodwind being tricky to fix - dd's oboe was gurgling today and her teacher calmly unsrewed various bits and sorted it - I wouldn't know where to start as recorder is pretty easy to sort gurgling out. She got asked to play in a music festival which is exciting after 4 months playing! It is miles away so really hope she enjoys the experience and isn't too daunted. Most of the other double reed players will be his pupils though so hopefully it will be friendly. Now changing mandolin strings is tricky, as a former classical guitarist i thought it would be easy to do DH's but it is very fiddly and wire strings really do hurt when they break and ping you!

to minihorsey for being invited to play in a festival just after 4 months of learning!

She is so excited in her own quiet way. She has done recorder for a couple of years so to be honest the oboe has been relatively easy for her to pick up as only the actual note production to work on as the fingering is very similar and she can read music, but am still proud of her. it will be nice for her to meet some other young oboe players as the only others she see are in the amatuer orchestra I play in, who are helpful and encouraging to her but not children.

We need a scales boot camp again. Dd did one over the holidays. Scales were good. Teacher was pleased. Dd clearly got complacent as tonight they were dire.

Finally got DD1's Grade 6 sax result after she sat it at the end of November - Distinction to match her oboe result last spring . She is very pleased. Apparently she got 20/21 for her sight reading!

DD2 has her last day of entrance tests tomorrow. We are all looking forward to it being over.