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Extra-curricular activities

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

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January Music Thread

634 replies

Wafflenose · 01/01/2018 00:21

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.

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folkmamma · 27/01/2018 16:32

Do they just allocate a teacher, or do you get trials?? What if it's not working, are they open to changes?? I really would not want the teacher we saw today, that would be a deal breaker! A shame as up until that point we all thought it was brilliant! Head heard her play and said 'I would certainly encourage you to put in an application' while nodding very positively.

Kutik73 · 27/01/2018 16:40

Another big well done to miniDouble. Has she got her first choice? We won't know the official result till February but we have already decided to go for the state option due to the financial issue. 10-20% reduction doesn't help us much. Luckily DS likes the school so no drama about it. Phew...

folk, we were asked to put preference prior to the course started so I suppose you can mention the name of the teacher you are unwilling? We didn't know any teacher so left them to decide.

Kutik73 · 27/01/2018 16:42

Thank you Waffle for sorting out the problem.

Trumpetboysmum · 27/01/2018 17:05

Glad most of the day was positive today folk . I have no idea what you do if you get a teacher that isn't right for you I guess you could ask to change . If we ever look at London jds how teachers are allocated etc will certainly be top of my list of questions . Ds would really be going because he needed a level of expertise that his current teacher felt that he couldn't provide . We have quite upfront chats about this , though ds is so fond of his lovely teacher I don't think he will ever want to leave his lessons with him . But I remember you saying that your current teacher might not be able to teach for much longer - difficult Hmm
Great news mini double Smile
Kutik big well done to you and your ds for surviving the school entrance exams/ auditions and great news that you have made a decision that you are all happy with ( and remember although not ideal things can change and a decision made now doesn't have to be till 18 - though nice if it can be)

folkmamma · 27/01/2018 18:27

I'm going to email them a few questions and then depending on the answers, we'll go for an audition and take it from there I think.. we can always say 'Thsnks, but no thanks' I guess!

Kutik73 · 27/01/2018 19:30

Thanks for your warm words Trumpet. Smile We sit right in the dark pocket where we can't apply for any financial support yet we are not wealthy enough to be confident with our financial ability to face up to the ever increasing school fees. We have to pay full fees for NCO, JD and all the other stuff DS does and enjoys. If our state option had been seriously dire, cutting down other activities to fund for the school fees would have been an option. But luckily I think we've managed to get the best state option for DS so we are happy with it -
at least for now. As you said, it's not a fixed deal, so we will re-consider our option when and as needed. Nevertheless, we are still pleased that we went through all the hustle as we would have felt 'unfinished' otherwise. So far, all the experience has been positive, so we have no loss nor regret. Smile

folk, what did it make you feel so no-no about the teacher? Was it the personality or teaching quality?

folkmamma · 27/01/2018 19:49

I feel a bit uncomfortable going into detail really.. let's just say the child was working on G8 pieces but there were technique issues that I wouldn't expect at that level. Not trying to blow our own trumpet, but Noo's bow arm, bow change and softness in her left hand / dexterity are much better developed and she's 'officially' 2 grades lower...

folkmamma · 27/01/2018 19:52

It wasn't the standard of the other child that bothered me, I'm just worried about Noo's technique slipping. We've been soooo lucky with teachers so far!

folkmamma · 27/01/2018 19:54

However we later saw a little girl in the finals of the concerto competition who had beautiful technique- I caught her after and got the name of her teacher, if we could get in with her I'd be very happy!

folkmamma · 27/01/2018 19:55

However we later saw a little girl in the finals of the concerto competition who had beautiful technique- I caught her after and got the name of her teacher, if we could get in with her I'd be very happy!

Paulweller11 · 27/01/2018 20:06

Folkmamma- just an idea....maybe the student having the lesson started in Sept with bad technical habits, she/he could be doing gr8 stuff, but still need things correcting? I’m guessing technique is harder to correct the older you are, and so maybe teacher is working on better technique with the student?
Of course, if they’ve been there a long time- well that’s a different story...

folkmamma · 27/01/2018 20:08

She'd been there for 4 years and with the teacher for much of that time...

Paulweller11 · 27/01/2018 20:30

Erm interesting.....

Kutik73 · 27/01/2018 20:59

Techniques are funny things though. DS's previous teacher was forever complaining about DS's bow hold yet his new teacher says no problem. His elbow was pointed by someone else also but again the current teacher says she is happy with it.

I chose to trust the teacher 100% so once checked her opinion never questioned afterwards. But supposed it would have been a different story if I had played the instrument therefore had knowledge of it (suppose you are a string player, folk?).

As you said you could always say 'thanks but no thanks'. So you can go ahead and see what happens?

folkmamma · 27/01/2018 21:03

You guessed it Kutik, I am indeed a string player 😘

LooseAtTheSeams · 27/01/2018 21:03

Yay! Well done MiniDouble StarStar and well done to Kutik for staying cool! It's a stressful time but sounds like a good outcome.

Floottoot · 27/01/2018 21:35

folk, my husband went to RWCMD, used to teach there and has worked for one of the orchestras here in Cardiff for 25 years...he'll probably be able to give you the low down on the JD and teachers etc, if you want to DM me.

folkmamma · 27/01/2018 21:40

That would be amazing!! Thanks Floot. Will DM tomorrow when I can get to computer... 😊

TaggieOHara · 27/01/2018 23:27

kutik don't discount school bursaries - even if your income is relatively high. Schools can be flexible, if they really want your DC. This is our experience.

You may be surprised by what they count as disposable income. Jd fees may be taken into account. I'd strongly advise a chat with the head, if you feel that one of the fee-paying schools is right for your family.

Xennialish · 28/01/2018 08:21

It must be wonderful to be able to spot things like that folkmamma. Dd has only ever had the one outside assessment really (one solitary festival class last year!) as she won’t take exams and the judge mentioned ‘evidence of good teaching’ and I always wondered what that meant. You were very on the ball to get the other teacher’s name.

Xennialish · 28/01/2018 08:22

In our case it was more a personality clash which I consider character building to just get on with Wink

Mendingfences · 28/01/2018 09:42

Technique can be tricky i think. Dd1 has previously had issues with bow hold, primarily as a result of hypermobile hands and fingers. As she has got bigger and stronger then it has all become 'fixable' and consequently is no longer an issue but i could imagine that there was a period where to an observer it could have looked liked poor teaching

folkmamma · 28/01/2018 10:02

That's a good point Mending I hadn't considered that. It could also have been that the child stiffened up because she was nervous of having us in there... Noo sometimes stiffens when she's nervous or concentrating really hard (they were bite learning, always a tricky time!). Perhaps I should relax and give it the benefit of doubt.

folkmamma · 28/01/2018 10:03

Bite learning!? NOTE learning 😂

folkmamma · 28/01/2018 10:12

Actually, there could have been any number of explanations. Maybe she was fresh out of plaster or something! I broke my arm twice as a kid and it can take a while to fully get your mojo back...