March Music Thread

[Wafflenose]

Welcome to the new thread for March! I am typing this from home rather than having to go to work - snow days all round. We currently have 1cm, but there are red warnings for wind and for snow later today, so it's going to be horrendous.

This is a place to talk about all things musical, whether you or your DCs are learning. We have lots of followers, from beginners to advanced, and everyone is welcome!

I am a teacher of recorder, clarinet, flute and saxophone, and have two DDs. Goo is 12 and having a fabulous time at secondary. She is Grade 8+ on the flute but not taking the exam until braces are off (and I think her teacher is holding out until she thinks Goo can get full marks or something) and around Grade 5 piano - no performances or exams yet and terrified of anyone hearing her, so that's getting to be a slight problem. Rara is 9 and between Grades 3 and 4 on both cello and clarinet. She's taking Grade 3 Clarinet this term so that when she goes off to the NCO in the summer, she doesn't have to tell other children that's she's only done Grade 1!

kutik hooray!! Well done to him! You may recall i said he would ace the exam... giving myself a pat in the back here although after hearing him it was an obvious prediction 😂

minimini? Did I miss?

Fantastic news Kutik !! Well done mini Kutik

Well done to minimusicianmama and Kutik's minis!

icouldbe, I am so sorry for your loss.

Thanks all. Her week keeps getting better.... she came first in the woodwind u11 section too. And they have asked her to close the festival on Thursday with an extra performance when they present her piano trophy.

JD reaudition coming up, though we don’t have a date despite it being “in the easter holidays”.... she’s also not had a clarinet lesson since February and won’t be having one until well after the audition. Unfortunately the teacher didn’t think to discuss the reaudition with her at all.... either to explain what happens or even what she’ll play. so I’m a little stressed. We are going to have an unofficial lesson with her old teacher in a bid to at least try choose some pieces.

In “me” news (sounding so self centred hahaha) I’ve been talked into playing my first ever solo in a summer festival in an adult beginners class.... I’m likely to regret this hahah! We’ve got a fantastic six hands piece under construction.

Yay, fantastic results kutik DS and mini DD!
Exam day for my littles. In a turnaround to usual form, DS is sounding solid and DD a bit wobbly. Eh well. I'm voting for one child at a time exams in future.

mimiMini is having a good week!

Do I remember you saying that she was wanting to play bassoon? How is that going? DD2 was given a full sized standard finger spacing bassoon on Monday to get used to the bigger spread. She has to be very precise on it as she has very slim fingers and needs to make sure she covers the holes fully. It’s a little bit of a challenge at the moment.....

Good luck to your minis catkind

Good luck catkind. Exam day here too.

mini what a super festival sucess and how encouraging for her

Good luck to catkind DCs and se22 DD today.

drummers, I love positive predictions because I can be so negative otherwise when I am worrying!

Yesterday I told DS the result expecting he would be jumping around. Instead his reaction was very calm and told me he was so thankful to daddy and mummy because he couldn't have done so well without right support given by us (daddy working hard to pay for lessons and beautiful instruments and mummy making sure of practice time between other commitments and taking DS to lessons and running around getting necessary materials - such detailed observation!).

To be honest I felt a bit emotional. He is getting a certificate for his piano exam, but I felt like I wanted to hand him a gold medal for what he said!

Good luck Catkind!
Kutik your DS is just adorable!

Kutik that is beautiful. What a lovely boy

Thanks Loose and se22. I hope it's not the calm before storm - the fearful teenage years is fast approaching...

Well done to miniKutik, excellent achievement at only 10; but such a thoughtful boy as well for saying all this!

Bless him kutik, how very grown up. Lovely that he appreciates you.

Exams all done here. They liked getting to play a grand piano, DD said it was very loud! No disasters but a few slips by the sounds of it. Looking forward to hearing some different music now! Next up preparing some ensemble pieces for the music festival in the summer, that should be fun.

how lovely Kutik! He is right - you are such a wonderfully supportive Mum. I hope you print out and keep your 4/4 violin thread for him to enjoy when he is older

That's really moving and sweet kutik . Please don't worry not every teenager turns Voldemort. I'm still waiting.
catkind glad they enjoyed the exam!

Drum roll please....
My favourite TV show is back! BBC Young Musician starts on Friday April 6, BBC4 7:30pm with the Strings final first.

Oh no forget that, shoot the messenger. I think it's only a radio preview... not sure.

We went to see the Strings final last weekend (I promised Rara two whole years ago that we would go) and it will indeed be televised on April 6th. I won't get to see any of it because we don't have a TV and can't watch iplayer either!!

I can't believe I forgot to post about it here actually! It's been a very busy week. We saw all kinds of famous people there, including Sheku!

How exciting Waffle . We have tickets for the final ( couldn't make the brass final as it's too far on a day I work ) slightly concerned that it will be v long and dd will wriggle ( plus a very long drive back late ) but excited too . Hoping to inspire Ds

Oh how cool to see it live waffle! And thank you for the April 6 confirmation.