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.

Lotsofmilk we had the same thing at about the same level and age. His teacher said that he needed a specialist in the instrument to take him further and as we were clueless in this area my husband chatted to someone who wasn't. He was given a couple of names, DS trooped off and had a lesson and they decided whether they were a good fit for each other. That was good for a few months until his teacher, who had packed in top flight playing for teaching and family, went back to playing. Round two of teacher/pupil auditions was rather like round one, trial period and mutual assessment.

Wouldn't option B be to audition for JD and start in September?

Welcome zee. Your DS is doing really well! And he sounds so keen!

I’m sure he would be well placed to get a music place in y6 as he would do well in the aptitude tests. is he interested in a second instrument? Perhaps something he could play in a group? As they get older, musical children like him get a huge amount out of chamber music and orchestra.

Or maybe you have enough music already to cope with

Oops - used the wrong name. That was Taggie (although hopefully most of you might be up enough on Jilly Cooper references to guess!)

Thank you boy and knitting ! Yes, DD would love to do JD next year but we are 2 hours at least from London, I was thinking she could possibly go during sixth form when she could get a train on her own as I have other, younger DC...

Hi Zee . It sounds like your ds is doing really well as others have said a second instrument where he can play with others could also be good.
Lotsofmilk we are in exactly the same position as you . Ds goes to a CAT centre locally to us as jds are quite a journey and he’s not yet old enough to do it by himself . Ds has recently switched teacher and I was so stressed out by it , and maybe put the decision off longer than I should . However in the end it was quite straightforward. I actually found his teacher in a music teachers directory but then remembered he had taught other trumpet players that ds knows at the CAT scheme . Ds was looking for something quite specific so that made it a bit more challenging. He had a trial lesson but it was clear from one lesson that this teacher was s good fit . He also asked his music teacher at school for advice - could your dd ask them ? If it hadn’t been a good match we would have just tried others , I was worried about upsetting people but as long as you are upfront I think it’s fine- it’s business ( and everyone knows everyone round here !!) though the new teacher lives an hour away which is a bit tricky but it’s working out ok

Currently sitting in my car in the dark while he has a lesson though

Welcome @zeemama !!

@Lotsofmilkonesugar - it may be worth an email to a couple of the JD's you are interested in further down the line as many of their teachers travel in from elsewhere? They may be able to recommend someone who happens to be nearby. May also help with JD process later....

@TaggieOHara - how do you manage multiple usernames!? Is it easy to do?

Pretty easy @folkmamma . Go to your account and select a new user name. If it isn’t being used, it’s yours. Once you have claimed a user name, you can flip between names by typing your chosen name into the username box.

I change names because I am very identifiable on this thread, which is fine. I don’t post properly personal stuff (usually!). If I post something more personal, sensitive or confidential on a different thread, I use a different name so that people can’t go back and identify me in real life quite as easily. Unless they have an encyclopaedic knowledge of Riders characters, that is.

Thank you Declansdaughter, trumpetboysmum and folkmamma, I agree an orchestral instrument would be so nice for him but he is completely fixated on piano and his teacher does not encourage a second instrument. Basically waiting for him to get good enough to do a bit of chamber music as a pianist but finding options for 10 year old pianists in general a bit limited. There was only one piano summer school i could find last year and it was all the way in Manchester so could only go for a few days. He loved every minute though so well worth it. CYM seemed like a great pre JD activity but they would want him to take piano there and not with anyone else and he already has a top notch conservatoire teacher whom we wouldn't want to lose. Does anyone know of any suitable places where he can do a bit of theory, musicianship etc on a weekend? Many thanks in advance.

Thanks trumpet and folk good to know other people are in the same boat! We also live in an area where it’s likely the teachers will know each other, although her current teacher doesn’t know anyone she can recommend so we will have to do our own research. I think we will just have to take our time...

Zee not on a weekly basis but procorda near Snape in Suffolk run piano courses in the holidays - wrong instruments for us but come highly recommend

There were pianists on the general Pro Corda chamber music courses too. Really lovely environment for advanced younger children, they provide a real range of music making over the week.

I thought I was the only one who can’t watch DS performing solos. I grind my teeth so much during his performance, it’s not enjoyable at all. I actually stopped him from entering more competitions because of my own anxiety. He also gets very stressed about it. On the other hand he probably needs to perform more, especially singing and violin, he hates doing solos in both. Piano is somewhat easier. Though we had a disastrous performance when he won a music competition and had to perform his piece again at the recital. He refused to play and then played terribly after lots of coaxing from a very stressed competition organiser. :(

Zeema - how about going to CYM and instead of piano taking up tuned percussion as a second instrument? My DS used to go to one and they encouraged pianists (well ones already grade 6 or so) to try tuned as obviously lots of overlap and gives them a chance to play with others in an ensemble. Might find that tuned perc also gives another perspective to his piano playing as well.

Taggie
I don't know who you were, I hate it when somebody on here does this even though I understand and do it myself.
If it isn't spelt out I'm useless.

Well, I think dd has finally forgiven us for not attending her concert. She's a strange one.
She used to hate me being there and would seriously make me sit at the back or behind a pillar. We had years of "Do you have to come"? Followed by "if you want to be there, Yes".
Only 4 weeks to go now and this weekend she finishes Thursday lunch so lovely long weekend for sleep and cuddles.
That is one of the benefits, I'm sure if she was at home we wouldn't have the closeness we do. We are both very stubborn, and she won't back down easily.

Romany your post made me smile . Dd and I are both stubborn and don't back down too - I think all our neighbours have noticed too... I tried to reduce her breaths (on clarinet) on a piece on Sunday night. Mutiny

I can’t say anything to ds either . I have totally given up making music suggestions now !! Tonight he was talking about his history homework I had to bite my tongue !! I’m sure it’s all fine and I never check his homework but I really could help him with this ( I studied history at uni ) but it’s his way or no way - even if I’m right !! He is so stubborn luckily he listens to his teachers ( they of course always have a valid point to make even if it’s the same one that I’ve made !!)
SE your comments about the neighbours made me smile - I think ours have noticed too !!

Sorry Romany - I didn't mean to be annoying. I should have been more clear. I meant that I have posted enough identifying details that people who know me in real life through musical activities, and who are regular mners, can work out who I am. It has happened twice. I don't mind this in the slightest. I don't post things here that I would not say openly during a whinge at the school gate - knowing that I might be overheard by teachers etc.

I rarely post anything interesting or scurrilous on other threads, but I do like to have a space where I can post anonymously, about my own health issues, for example. I change my name between musical threads, occasionally, to try to reduce cross referencing amongst musical types I know. I didn't tell many people that DS2 was auditioning for the NCO, for example, as it is up to him who he tells. He told everyone immediately once it was done (although not before) - so I don't mind posting openly about that here now.

I change my name from time to time but it's actually pointless as this thread would allow them all to be pieced together (if someone was bothered!) so Taggie has the right idea I think. It's a very small and inter-connected world.

Sorry for late reply, I couldn’t remember my log in info as just joined! @Druid, thanks but they don’t have a piano summer course at purcell (anymore) that would be ideal! FWIW just took our son for open day/play and he LOVED it but seems scary to apply..!? @Herts that is a good idea but they say you have to have played for a year snd he never did percussion.. looked into pro corda but 8 day residential seems like a long time, the 4 day piano course could be a better option, wrote them, thanks for the suggestion!

Today’s interesting discovery...trinity offer performance certificates at equivalent of g3/5/8 - no scales/aural/sight reading just performing. And you can do the exam as a group if you want!!!

Dd already planning her advanced recital (it’s a long way off)...she thinks this is a brilliant idea.

Petra - LCM also offer Leisure Play at all grade levels - repertoire chosen from their main exam syllabus, but none of the other trappings that go with the full-on grade exams. ABRSM offer a Performance Play, where you are "judged" by an examiner, but it's not pass/fail.