February Music Thread

[Wafflenose]

Have a new thread for February!

This is a place for our ongoing conversation about music, instruments, lessons, ensembles, scales, practice, exams, aural, theory and whatever else you'd like to talk about. Everyone is welcome - new and older members, beginners and advanced.

I have two daughters - Goo (12) flute and piano, in a bit of a slump at the moment, and Rara (9) cello, clarinet and recorder (yes, she's picked it up again) on a roll at the moment. I teach woodwind and have my own little clarinet group called the B Flat Blues, who don't rehearse together regularly, but played in a festival this week.

I also have quite a bit of news, mostly good, but am so tired that it will have to wait until tomorrow now. Hopefully it's worth waiting for (and before anyone asks, no, Goo didn't get the desire of her heart).

[Wafflenose]

Congratulations to those with pleasing school offers. I hope everybody else got what they wanted too.

Yes please, do add me.

About to start new thread.

[folkmamma]

Thanks all. Yes, huge relief! Feels like I've been obsessing over this for years 😂. The school we wanted was massively over subscribed for the first time last year due to bad OFSTEDs in neighbouring schools, so we suddenly had to move her to a feeder school as we are way out of catchment. Just glad it worked!

[se22mother]

Well done folk, must be a huge relief

[Kutik73]

Yay to minifolk! I remember you mentioning how much you would want the school for your DDs. Truly wonderful news.

We haven't got any news yet. I would be very surprised if DS didn't get his first choice though. The school has 19 specialist places which will be offered to those who scored the highest in the aptitude test and DS came 1st (we got the result in October). Yet part of me still wondering and worrying!

To be honest, we are discussing which violin to go for rather than which school to go for. Something is wrong here!

[folkmamma]

Hi violin you can only upload videos via the app, not from a computer.

[violinandpiano]

folkmamma, congrats.
I only can find “add photo & note”, can not upload a video.
All DC are playing at high level.

[TaggieOHara]

Yay folk - brilliant news! Keeping my fingers crossed for kutik and others waiting to hear about school allocations today!

[folkmamma]

Doing a happy dance here! We got the school we wanted, which means many happy years of making wonderful music in school for my girls. Plus the option to take GCSE and A Level music if they want to. Huge relief!

[TaggieOHara]

habsburg such wonderful playing! So exciting! You and stringchild are doing a great job of flying the flag for the woodwind! Hope that double and waffle and other woodwind families may find their way to the channel at some point

[se22mother]

Beautiful, Hapsburg

[hapsburg]

Thank you Folk! Love all the little string players, but I felt the woodwind section was rather under-represented so this is a start to re-dress the balance. It was just recorded on the voice memo thing on my phone so the piano is rather over-powering in places - it only really picks up one volume!

[folkmamma]

Love the recording Hapsburg!!!! What a talented girl you have!! And your technical skills far outweigh mine, adding the cute picture...

[folkmamma]

Hope the exams went well Japanese. Still awaiting our snow - a few promising flurries but it looks like tomorrow and Friday will be our snow days... eek!

Tricky practice with Noo this evening. Now that her audition is over we're back to concentrating on studies and note learning for the new pieces, which she never enjoys!! So lots of tears from her and lip biting from me, trying to keep 'that face' in check! 😂

[hapsburg]

Pushing my technical abilities, but have finally managed to get a small recording onto channel!! Lovely to hear some of the DC's, thanks everyone.

[Japanese]

I am sitting at the ABRSM central London testing centre waiting for DD and DS doing their theory exams.

More than 60 exam centres across the country cancelled their exam sessions today because of snow. I have been glued to the ABRSM website all day in between work meetings as they have been updating it throughout the day with new cancellations.

Anyway, we're here! Just a small matter of getting home again when they've finished. Now am glued to the TFL website instead!

[raspberryrippleicecream]

snow day here too. For me and DC. Three inches plus outside my door and its snowing again. My school is shut tomorrow already, think DCs school is likely to be as well as the catchment is very, very rural. We aren't but do live 10 miles away.

DS2 was going to do all sorts to catch up today but disappeared sledging with a friend this morning. DD has been cracking on with A level coursework, poor thing.

[Xennialish]

?zoe? No idea where that came from!

[Xennialish]

Just remembered I came on to say how much I have been enjoying the violin hunting thread. I’ve learnt so much and am sure I’ll return to it in a couple of years when we’re full size Zoe cello hunting.

[Xennialish]

Dd2 has just finished with the breval sonata (I think it’s book 4, so assuming the same one) and it comes alive with the accompaniment, felt like such a privilege to have her and her teacher play for me in the house, like I was in a novel! Sorry to hear about the bullying though. Rubbish having to send them off to school when they’re vulnerable.

[hapsburg]

DD has finally agreed to me uploading a little recording - only audio though, she says no one is allowed to see her!! Please could someone send me the link??

[Emerencealwayshopeful]

It’s Purim. Primo is going to school tomorrow as ‘fiddler on the roof’ and will be playing most of the songs from the musical. He’s been playing for 6 weeks.

Cello teacher is pleased with his braval sonata and thinks we need to find an accompanist soon to prepare for the audition to the local specialist music school. Child is now saying he’ll be done with book 4 by Easter and book 5 by July. What’s frustrating is that both goals are reachable if he just works for 20 minutes a day.

Secundus (flute) has been asked to move his thumb to the opposite extreme because trying to get it under the hand has become a battle. He went to bed tonight in a grump.

Girlchild is supposed to be playing a line from fiddler - if I were a rich man - for her class Friday. She’s dodging practice. Her working memory is 5th percentile, so everything new feels like a challenge. It’s hard to know whether to laugh or cry when she learns the low 2 on the E string for the first time, and can hear exactly when it is/is not the exact same note as the open G. Having a wonderful ear isn’t helping her to progress, and I know that’s harder for her than for me. New teacher is amazing. It’s officially 20 minutes but often closer to 45. Girlchild invents games, rules, excuses. Needs to pause to hug the dog (very cute black mini poodle). Anything to avoid trying something she isn’t sure of. I know we can get over the hump to the more difficult pieces in the second half of book one. I just might be certifiable before that happens.

And all this on top of some serious bullying and all round nastiness primo has been dealing with this week. I’m seriously considering buying another poodle and cancelling my life.

[drummersmum]

Thanks folk no my videos are all in my computer. I don't film with my phone and I don't have a tablet That explains it then.

[folkmamma]

Drummers are you uploading from a phone / tablet or computer?? the Help section says this:

Currently the video upload feature is only available via the app (i.e. not via the web). To upload a video using the app:

In the group album you want to add a video to select the icon to add content (Android: the icon in the top right-hand corner of the screen of a photo with a plus sign; iPhone/iPad: the blue button with the plus sign in the middle of the task bar at the bottom of the screen.) Then select the "Video" option when it asks you what you would like to share.

Video uploads have a time limit of 15 seconds, which you will be asked to trim after uploading (if the file you selected is too long).

At this point we do not support animated .gif files.

[folkmamma]

That's a pain! Let me investigate what format mine are in....