April Music Thread

[Wafflenose]

Happy Easter! The sun is shining here (at the moment) so I'm hoping spring has finally arrived.

Here's a new thread for anyone who wants to talk about music lessons, exams, practice, concerts, aural, scales, theory, ensembles or anything else music related. Everyone is welcome, from beginners to advanced and also adult learners. I started these threads 6.5 years ago when I had a beginner myself. Her nickname is Goo, she is 12 and taking Grade 8 Flute next term. I think she's finally going to do her Grade 5 Piano in the autumn. When those are out of the way, she's thinking of taking up the recorder again and doing Grade 8 on that, because flute sort of took over and she never got around to it. Her sister Rara is 9, and is currently around Grade 4 on both Cello and Clarinet. She doesn't want to do any more exams for ages, so will probably do her grade 5s in a couple of years or so. Rara is a lapsed recorder player who will be performing on it next month, and she dabbles with piano, glock and accordion. Both girls do South West Music School, although I regularly go back on forth over whether this is still the best setting for Goo. We are pretty rural and hours away from any big cities.

Please can we all be extra careful to make sure that everyone is acknowledged and assisted where appropriate... I include myself in needing to make an effort, but I'm not around all day, every day. This is a lovely, calm, supportive corner of Mumsnet but I do receive a handful of messages from people who don't feel welcome because they or their children are less advanced, or they're not in a position to consider JD/ private school/ expensive instruments and feel left out, or they wonder if it's OK to post about certain instruments/ families. I did say I would try. Thank you all so much!

Thanks Mending and Trumpet. We truly did put lots of efforts into it. So I am just so glad with the outcome (and that it's finally over).

DS has got a new solo piece as well as lots music for string orchestra and youth orchestra. He is going to perform in a quartet at his very first festival next week also. After a loooong holiday (and excessive physical activities), he is ready to raise his game. Now he's got out of being a violin gypsy so no excuse!

Interested to know what pieces your DS is working on kutik if you're allowed to share! Like the cutting straight to the chase with grade 8. Sure he'll ace it, he already knows the setup from doing piano so it's not like it's completely new.

We've only watched the horn player from YM so far as I was out and DH forgot to put it on for the kids. (DD was actually in tears when she remembered, we don't do much iplayer so she didn't know about it!) We thought she was brilliant. DS gave me a learned discourse on how you make different notes on the horn from his grand experience of ... one trial lesson!

... which is our exciting news. Other quite exciting news is DD has a new 1/2 size violin, so there will shortly be two new instruments in the house.

CruCru there have definitely been advances on trumpet cases over the years. Gear4music sell a decent one at a good price although DD1 has moved on from that to something more compact. She also has opinions on the pTrumpet and about how to bath a trumpet - I can PM you the links to what she's written about them if you're interested?

We watched the brass final with DD1 of YM last night. Amazing playing but we were all impressed by the 15-yr-old French horn player and by the female trombonist. It brought up some interesting conversations about the schools attended by the finalists and the fact that some of them are attending schools that cost £32,000+ per year and attend a JD whilst others are at specialist schools and playing for 3-6 hours a day! I think only one of them goes to a state school.

The playing was phenomenal but it was helpful for DD1 to hear and read about how some of the players had started at 3, attended specialist school etc. as she has a tendency to think of herself as not being very good even though random people who've heard her playing will come and tell her she is.

DD1 almost couldn't decide who should win but called it correctly. I agreed with her choice.

Yes, DS knows the setup that helps. But he is not so used to play with accompanist and also he is not very advanced at description so features in aural could be challenging perhaps, and I am not sure if his scales are alright. He is a boy who had been put on one scale practice method until quite recently. All he was practising was g major, the end. On the other hand, I am not too worried about the pieces. I am not sure if he has the expected level of maturity and musical intelligence but at least he can play fine for my (unmusical) ears.

We haven't reached a firm decision on the pieces yet, cat. But he is starting learning Kabalevsky next week. There are quite a few fun pieces on the exam book too. DS fancies Obertass for example.

We are watching BBCYM brass tonight too. Can't wait! I had a go at cornet as a kid. No private lessons, just a school thing. I always wanted to be a boy when I was a kid and cornet pleased my boyish side.

French Horn player was great Trumpet...

I played the Kabalevsky at about your DS’s age kutik. It is a wise choice for children. Once you have the notes and the speed, it pretty much plays itself musically - unlike the Mozart concertos, which require more sophistication. Having said that, I’m sure mini-kutik would be quite capable of playing a Mozart concerto very well indeed

I will be interested to hear about how mini-Kutik finds the grade 8 list. DS2 might also progress from grade zero as well, in a year or so. The grade 7 list is dire, so I think we too will go straight for grade 8 when he is ready (I.e. not yet!).

In other news, DS2 has his first choir solo tomorrow. He is very blasé about it as they are trained to sing like soloists all the time, but I am nervous for him!

Taggie and folk how long before Pro Corda did you hear the final details? I'm not sure whether to chase.

I wait to watch the brass final with ds with interest SE !! I think your dd is a similar age and school background to ds and I'm sure it's going to raise some interesting discussions about schools choice - again !! He's now trying to fit in 2 hours of trumpet a night after school ( his choice mainly because he does lots of technical stuff and he's decided to take his jazz grade 5 on a whim this term but he still needs to do some work for it ) which is doable - just but he then ends up working very late if he has lots of homework . We just can't manage the specialist school fees so we will have to make it work for the next 3 years , but he starts his GCSES in September ( all 11 of them !?!) and I'm dreading it . I know that his priorities ( currently at least ) are music but he doesn't like to do badly at anything and so works hard too ( though not without grumbling !!) . The French horn player goes to state school I think - so she must have managed . It sounds like your dd is doing really well but it is hard when they maybe start a bit later and so feel like they are behind ( even though they are still so young) . I'm sure it will all work out one way or the other in the end

Yes please SE13Mummy! I must admit that I’m am a bit apprehensive about just dunking my trumpet in the bath but perhaps I need to be less woolly. I’ll check out the trumpet cases too.

Taggie, not sure if DS has the sophistication to play Mozart very well. I think as you pointed Kabalevsky would be a good choice at this stage. I don't enjoy listening to soulless performance so would rather like to wait till he gains more maturity before tacking things that would be out of his reach. Though it's up to the teacher and DS to decide. I have absolute faith in the teacher.

In fact DS may have never played Mozart on the violin. Not 100% sure. But can't think of any right away. He has done quite a few on the piano though and is currently working on k331 and absolutely loving it.

Good luck to tomorrow's solo performance mini Taggie!

I was really worried about the whole bathing the trumpet thing but it's fine - though we haven't bathed the new one yet . You only have to do it every 6 months or so - unless you play loads then you need to do it more , it's quite satisfying. We have lovely new bathrooms now so I'm still supervising Ds when he does it / just getting on with it myself !!

DS2 preferred the female trombonist and the trumpeter too, in fact he decided the trumpeter would get it.

We've had an exciting week, the new trombone arrived and sounds lovely. Looking forward to seeing what his teacher thinks next week. Very grateful for AIPS saving is a good chunk!

I've just been down to DS1's uni, to hear him playing in the band at the uni's musical. It was fab. Very few of the students do theatre studies. the rest of the performers and all of the band are studying physics, geography etc. It was an amazingly high standard

I really need to bath my cornet. It's a while since i've played it (been playing my flugel) but we,re 2 cornets down (out of 3!) for national day with outdoor marches to be played so i've been chucked the principal cornets music and told to get on with it i think the band is going to be a tad unbalanced with 2 cornets at the top end and 2 tubas at the bottom end but hopefully we'll manage to pull it off. Dd2 will join in with her flute so we've got something more at the top end......

i know nothing about p-trumpets but both DSs have pbones, for fun, which are great. They use brass mouth pieces with them.

DS2's was especially good last summer when he chipped a bone in his arm. After the first couple of weeks he was able to play the pbone, when the brass trombone was too heavy to lift. Meant that, among other things, he was able to play at a festival with his jazz group (camping kind not competition).

se we started hearing things about Pro Corda about 10days before the course, so quite tight! The music was very straightforward though so we only needed a few play throughs

When is your course?

While I’m on the topic, a few tips...

• they all have phones, which they are allowed to access a couple of times a day. This took me by surprise and DS2 ended up borrowing an old phone of DH’s
• most children bring some tuck and about £5-£10
• make sure your DD has an hour long practice routine written down if she isn’t used to practising herself
• a bit old fashioned, but you can write them letters (DS loved getting my letters!)

Sorry for the brain dump! But maybe it is useful for others who stumble on this thread!

Taggie thanks - that is very helpful. Course is at half term. The tips are very helpful. She has a phone and thanks for the suggestion of writing. Are they supposed to practice the scales and pieces etc that they are learning anyway or just Pro Corda stuff? She is very excited

At the primary course, they were just told to practice. They were (reasonably!) expected to know what to do. DS didn’t have a clue. I think he mainly bashed through the Pro Corda pieces at high speed, but he would have benefited from slow practice and scales!

CruCru, I've sent you a PM.

It's NCO day for some regionals. Safe journey for those who come from far away and a big thanks to those who's been baking this morning. Also, to Waffle if you are still unwell but are bringing your DDs in to the rehearsal. Happy music making day!

I've let the side down.... no cake today 😔

We'll be there. I'm sure there will be plenty of cake!

Thanks for the well wishes everyone. I have been signed off for 2.5 weeks and think it's not going to be enough because there are so many things going on, but some of them are improving.

Hope all the NCOers have a good day (and good cake) and hope your recovery continues waffle

DD has baked for the ‘bake off’ this morning at London jrs.

Minor crisis though as music is stuck in the post so doing what they did last time! Sounds much better than a month ago!

Wishing you a speedy recovery Waffle look after yourself

Yes, I hope you feel better soon Waffle.