September 2018 Music Thread

[folkmamma]

Hi all! Our lovely host Waffle is away at the moment and has asked me to start this months thread.

Here is a place for us to share stories, ask for advice, and generally support one another through our DCs (and in some cases our own!) musical journeys. All are very welcome, from the early beginners to the very advanced. Some people have been regular contributors for years, but we also have a lot of newcomers and love welcoming new contributors to the MN Music Thread team. I became aware of this group about 9 months ago via the NCO 2018 thread and I now spend more time here than on Facebook... .

Over here, I have Noo, just turned 11, violinist, violist and pianist. She is playing at aroud G7 standard on violin (first study) and is starting JD this month, eek!. Noo is also an associate member of NCO and this year joined the Pro Corda ensemble training programme, which she loves above all else! She is also very into musical theatre and regularly performs in professional and semi-professional shows - it is a challenge to juggle it all, but somehow we do. This month is a biggie for Noo as she starts secondary school as well as JD.

DD2 is Moll. 8yrs old and plays cello and piano. She is a very different kettle of fish to big sister - every bit as able, but some self esteem issues, together with a slightly quirky personality, mean her journey is not often quite so smooth (and mine completely turbulent!). Working towards G3 cello this term (although she doesn’t know it yet) and will go for a consultation at Noo’s JD sometime this term also.

I’m sure Waffle will drop in to update us on Goo, Rara and her own musical self once she gets back from holibobs.

Good luck to everyone with back to school, changes in school, new routines and audition prep! I predict September will be a busy month on the thread!

Over to you....

I adore his spirit (for trying to break the record) but don't really like the end result....

Truffle DS was offered a place at Wells and we loved the school & setting. It made for a very tough decision!

Patrick I don't know . Most trumpets aren't as expensive as string instruments though and most brass players ( professionals ) have an extensive collection !!
We didn't look round but I have to say Wells sounds amazing ( it's just a very very long way from East Anglia !!) but would probably have suited Ds well we did discuss looking round as a possibility but think we are going to stick with where he is - so far this year has been ok

Trumpetsboysmum - everywhere seems a very long way from large parts of East Anglia and I live on the edge of it :)

It seems brass is a bit like percussion. Expensive but you can basically kit yourself out, even as professional, for the price of a reasonable car. For strings it seems to more like the price of a decent house!

We are friends with the leader of an orchestra in Scandinavia. His violin was literally worth more than his house and he had to sell it to a charity and borrow it back when he got divorced.

Trumpet, have a look at the Assisted Instrument Purchase Scheme if your ds is at state school/academy. The school buys it and you pay the school the price without VAT as they can claim the VAT back. Some music services offer this too, but ours couldn't as it is a charitable trust.

Trumpet yes, others at JD seem to have multiple instruments. He's been made first trumpet in Classical Orch, which may force the issue. I'm going to ask the school about the help that's available, although due to previous investigation, I'm not hopeful. We wouldn't qualify for the VAT free scheme that applies to LA schools. Other schemes like EMI seem to require parents to be on the breadline before assistance can be given. Perhaps others on here can shed some more light on this?

Patrick The E/D trumpets come in at around the £3-4K mark, so yes it's an expensive business. Not much around used either, although I did manage to pick up a pristine Besson Sovereign Cornet for half price last year. ds told me that his young trumpet teacher at conservatoire last year had been through multiple 'Strads'. Gulp!

Herts Looks like we may have to sell the car then.

Littleladsdad.....it's ok you can send him up the chimney soon....oops I mean out gigging so he can pay some himself.

Yes I think they're all 3-4 k ish . We got Ds's bach strad for a very good price as it's not new . His teacher stumbled across it and bought it on the understanding that he would add it to his collection if it didn't suit Ds !! ( his teacher is lovely)
I would see what the teacher says though as for nco Ds was told he could bring an eflat but didn't have one so just played on the b flat ( it's good for the transposition skills and upper register playing !!)
we know he needs them eventually though, but his teacher is of the opinion that if they force too much high playing on these instruments too soon ( and young) they could give themselves hernias - so I'm going by what he says and waiting a bit . Hoping that a piccolo trumpet turns up for the nco winter concert though as the Mambo solo is very high ( and loud) and Ds plays it more reliably on a piccolo - not that I am rushing out to buy one . If they don't have one to lend him it will just be a bit quieter - there's a lot going on at that point in the piece anyway !!

Herts yes we bought his other trumpet using this scheme - I hadn't thought about using it for buying @ other" trumpets I might ask . Ds was able to have his because he plays in orchestras at the local LA arts centre

ealing that's exactly it, I think! He loves all his subjects - long may it last! I hope GCSEs aren't too much of a slog for your dd but it must be hard to juggle with swimming training and music. I know I was exhausted by the end of the exams - goodness knows how the dcs manage!

DD's hopefully starting brass next week, if she gets into the club.

I took my oboe today to the woodwind repairer recommended by Alexandra. He seemed like such a lovely man and the set-up he had there was just great. A lovely shed full of musical instruments looking out on to a beautiful garden.

All the boxes of different nails and screws so neatly labelled...it all reminded me of my grandad, who died 12 years ago, and I got quite emotional . I hope I hid it well enough and he didn't think some crazy woman had turned up to blub in his workshop.

DD's doing brass! 😆😆😆😆🎺🎺🎺🎺🎺🎺🎺🎺🎺🎺🎺

druid
Melting ((hug))
Philomena Yay!

Sign...

I bumped into a mum whose child used to be DS's classmate at primary school so we had a quick catch-up chat.

She asked me how DS was doing at new school so I said he was fine and happy. Then she started telling me that she knew it was a good decision for us to send him there and she was so pleased to hear DS was FINALLY happy. She continued how different DS was from NORMAL BOYS FOR HIS AGE and he would have been BULLIED BADLY if he had gone to a normal school. She said NO ONE would get him at a normal school because of DS's UNUSUAL musical involvement/commitment...

First of all, I wasn't aware DS was regarded as abnormal to her.... Secondly, DS likes footy and many other sports, plays lego and PS and so on, like her's and any other boy for his age... He wasn't a music mad at school because he wasn't all about music and had the same (and normal ) interests as other kids at school.

I am quite shocked at this point. Then I stupidly told her DS was totally happy for the first two weeks but he's been a bit wobbly this week due to homesickness. She then out of blue started some sort of criticism on our choice and hinted it's UNHEALTHY to send a young boy to such a place.... 'Totally out of real world, he'll be lost when he left the school', so she said....

I know I know I know, I have to get over prejudice and criticism like this but to be honest I felt battered a bit. Probably because I didn't expect it's coming so hadn't prepared myself to take it. She is not a bad person, just cannot see things beyond her own world (things can easily be 'abnormal' for her, and for her, boys should be all about sports...). But, I was and am a bit, . Also, DS was and is a happy child to me at primary school. Of course he would have ups and downs like everybody else, but in general he wasn't an odd ball and very much a normal healthy boy you see at any school.... Well that what I thought....

Sign... Sorry...

Patrick ignore her I'm sure she sort of meant well / didn't understand . I'm sure your ds is in the right place and with a grounded mum who thinks things through he'll be fine when he leaves too I'm sure your ds would also have been fine at a regular secondary school he sounds really well balanced ( just really good at the violin - which is great ) Ds's school is full of all sorts it's not huge but big enough to find others like you and those who want to spend all their time in the music ( or sports department ) at lunch etc are supported by the staff . I'm sure if your ds does at some point decide to change schools he'll find somewhere similar .
Druids

Philomena great news

You know this already but just ignore her. As per your last paragraph she is probably just stuck in her own little "normal" world.

Very well done to Philomena's DD!

Patrick - I know it's hard to just shrug off comments like that, especially as your DS is still settling in. But if I have learnt anything from the whole applying to secondary school thing is that parents will say anything to justify the choices and decisions they have made for their own children - even if that means denigrating those who have chosen different paths. It's quite exhausting. I am trying not to talk about schools at all with other parents I bump into from DD's Year 6.

But at least you're his mum. XH wasn't interested in playing football like all the other boys, he just wanted to watch bugs (he's an arachnologist). His mum used to say, "Why can't you go over the park and play football like the other boys."

poor patrick - that sounds awful. The woman sounds like a passive aggressive . It is easy to say 'pay no attention; you know your DS'. But that doesn't change the fact that such words hurt, and stick.

Be kind to yourself and enjoy your weekend time with your awesome DS and DH. You are all doing so well, adapting to a major life change and .