November Music Thread

[Wafflenose]

Welcome to all musicians/ parents of musicians, young and 'mature', beginners and advanced, plus everything in between. This is one of the nicest corners of Mumsnet and the music threads were started for my older daughter towards the beginning of her musical journey, 7 years ago. Everybody on the thread was a beginner once!

I have recently seen "we're not a musical family", "I'm not musical" on here quite a lot, and would like to gently challenge that... perhaps you may not have found the right instrument/ teacher yet, or have no desire to play, but I think that everyone is musical. It's not a special something that is limited to certain individuals, although of course everyone's aptitude and natural ceiling varies. I have had the pleasure of teaching almost 1000 people to read and play music now, ranging in age from 3 to 96 and incorporating a range of additional needs, and I think they all got something positive from their lessons! What our young musicians most need from us - whether we play ourselves or not - is lots of encouragement, time and space to practise, and of course the constant taxi service and financial support we give to their lessons and ensembles!

I have two DDs, Goo The Energy Conserver (flute and piano, lapsed recorder and picc player) who is pretty lazy and complacent at the moment and just wants to enjoy her life, and Rara The Awkward (clarinet, cello, recorder) who tries hard... when it suits her! We have nothing special lined up this term, but possibly piano and clarinet exams for next term. Goo claims she wants to dust off her recorders and theory books to get another couple of Grade 8s before she leaves school. I'll believe that when it happens.

Over to you.

We don't have a contract with DD's piano teacher - she doesn't advertise for pupils though, we got her through recommendation from a friend and she only has a very few private pupils outside teaching in school/ performing etc. We pay 3 or 4 lesson in advance and agree the dates for those lessons then, with anything that might interfere flagged asap.

It works well for us so far - 6 months in and we have had to rearrange once with plenty of notice, and she has a couple of times - again with plenty of notice (no lesson one week, and changing day another week) - I like the flexibility to be honest and we have enough of a good working relationship (I make sure I pay as soon as I get her bill) that it works for both of us.

We pay DS's viola teacher in cash every week. Have never had to cancel or rearrange a lesson (yet) from our side but his teacher has playing commitments so she occasionally has to rearrange.

DD's lessons are with a Sat music service. Again, we haven't had to cancel or rearrange yet but the teacher does quite frequently. The lessons get carried forward in that case to the following week, I think we have had about 7 or 8 carried forward over the course of a year.

Bugger all musical in JL except for a few strategically placed pianos and this advent calendar which was quite nice.

Thanks, Folk and onemouse.
I can see it from both sides - as a parent and a teacher. In the case of DS, he has piano lessons at school, blocks of 10 billed in advance, no refunds/make ups unless the teacher has to cancel/reschedule.
His cello lessons are more flexible because he has them privately and his teacher's orchestral work schedule is different every week. We work on a lesson by lesson basis, but if we ever cancelled a lesson outright , I'd offer to pay. Quite often, DS's teacher will teach for longer than the hour we've booked, and I'll always offer to pay extra. She always tries to refuse my offer as she says it's her choice to go over time, but I tell her to take it and use it to buy gin on the days DS is particularly challenging! 🤣

I think your set up sounds fine

That was meant for piccolo . If I ever had to cancel lessons I would never expect it to be rearranged or not pay for the lesson .

Thanks, Trumpet. Good to hear that.
When I introduced the contract, I made sure I explained the intent behind it to every parent and asked them to let me know if they had any questions or issues with it. They all had a copy to sign and return and another for their own records.
That's why it's come as a surprise that a parent has tried to argue it now, especially as I've done my best to accommodate her wishes.

On the John Lewis ad I saw the head of jazz at Guildhall suggest the notes played on the piano and sound don't tie up at the end. If true....oops....

piccolo I think your contract sounds fine. Only one of our kids’ teachers has a contract, we agree the dates and pay upfront for the term. We had to cancel one session recently (for 2 DCs) at short notice as my father in law was admitted to hospital. We still had to pay for the lesson, I wouldn’t have expected otherwise as it wasn’t the teacher’s fault. She didn’t offer an alternative date, but I didn’t ask. I think with the scenario you describe you’ve already offered an alternative which is more than fair 🙂

If I have a contract then I would expect to abide by its terms. That's what this comes down to, it's not that they objected when they first had a copy of it - that was the point when maybe you could have entered into a discussion over whether the contents were reasonable. They've had a copy of the contract, they agreed to the terms, end of story.

Phew! Glad people think I'm not being unreasonable. It's the hardest aspect of teaching for me - negotiating parents' expectations, whilst making sure my own interests aren't neglected. Not easy!

We don't have a contact with our teachers, the piano one is a friend and drops in a bill every four weeks which we pay straight away. We sometimes miss a lesson and don't usually reschedule unless just near something important. Oboe teacher is a professional musician so sometimes can't make the normal slot. Only reschedule if it suits both parties, usually just miss it. Pay by bank transfer straight after each lesson. I think we are ok customers! I can see a contract would be a good idea and would be happy with one, but neither have asked so far!

We have a variety of arrangements. From super flexible no contract and anyone (but usually teacher) can cancel at any time to pay by deadline for a term ahead. piccolo your arrangement sounds quite middling and very reasonable.

On the John Lewis ad I saw the head of jazz at Guildhall suggest the notes played on the piano and sound don't tie up at the end. If true....oops....
Oh yes, I noticed that too. Just watched again, think music is Bflat Eflat Bflat but child plays 3 white notes and the first two are only a third apart?

Yes he said next time they should ask him difference between black and white keys :) You would think if you spend a few million on an ad you might get that bit right.

The results are in from the DC's mammoth exam session last week...DS had a merit in his Grade 3 piano...DD had a merit in her Grade 4 piano, merit in Grade 3 treble and distinction in Grade 4 recorder. Am so relieved as 4 exams in one morning was so stressful. Plus DS's sight-reading wasn't the car crash I was afraid it was going to be!

Well done to them all Melting, fantastic news.

DS2 also commented that the piano notes visual and sound don't match in the JL ad!

Well done team @MeltingWax !!!

Well done to melting wax’s DCs !!

DS is very excited because it's JD open day tomorrow and he's taking his best buddy with him.

Well done to your dc for all their success Melting.

Melting, those are awesome results! What complete stars!

Melting brilliant results! Well done to your amazing dcs!

Well done melting family

Thanks so much everyone!

Well done Melting's DCs!

Nosebleed Boy on an infinitely delayed train back from audition....and his phone is out of charge....

at cant - the suspense must be terrible!

Oh no, cant!! How stressful for you.