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.

Went to see Sheku play with the BBC Phil tonight- great concert- but oh my god....the amount of coughing after pieces- maybe a seasonal thing- but seriously ....even the kids thought it was overkill with the coughing

It was actually getting funny- from the amount of coughing

Hope your DS's audition prep goes well wiifit - sounds exciting!

Zak - hope you enjoyed the concert (coughing aside). We will be going to see Sheku play next month, DD is excited. She had to write about one of her heroes in English the other day and wrote about him .

Went to see DD play last night with the borough training orchestra in the borough's music service's gala concert. It was so much fun, I love watching so many youngsters up on the stage doing their thing and having a ball. There were some fab jazz groups and drummers. The leader of the borough youth orchestra (obviously an accomplished violinist) also played trumpet really well in a number of jazz ensembles. I thought that was pretty impressive!

Mine are laughing about the coughing too but only now that I have asked them. It must have been a capacity crowd, I have never seen that venue so full ever. And Sheku just rocked up and wandered around/ stood in the lobby with a few friends up until 20 mins before the concert, leading to a very awkward six foot circle round him that there wasn't really room for as people were all desperately coolly 'ignoring' him .

Swaying he did that at BBC Young Musician too - wandered around and sat ( in the row in front of us !!) for the first half with his siblings and friends . Very calm and collected - just the way he needs to be to manage it all I imagine

Oh were you there- damn didn’t see you

Thanks everyone for the well wishes for my son and his audition. I spoke to the music department who were fine about his older brother accompanying him on guitar so all is well! I have no concept of how he will do. He has never auditioned for anything but has been playing in ensembles for years and has no stage fright at all. He is right in the middle of the 8-12 age range but I imagine there will be some fantastically accomplished 12 year olds auditioning. Folk music is just so different to other types and I doubt they will have anyone else playing folk! We will see! Luckily he is not doing a grading this term so can fully devote his practise time to the audition.

That great news - good luck

ooh good luck to wii-folk! Glad someone is flying the folk flag

Thanks for the new thread. DD plays violin and piano. Grade 5 theory on Tuesday and piano exam in December, violin will be next year.
Being non musical I’ve learnt so much from these threads

Good luck to mini Wiifit!

I agree panda these threads are great, masses of information, and support and general nice sharing.

Good luck to mini wii in the competition, how lovely to be invited to enter.

Hello, I've looked at these threads for a while but been too shy to join in. There are lots of very accomplished families here: this is most definitely not us! My DS (9) has been playing the piano for just over 2 years. His teacher seems to think he's quite good. He got a distinction for grade 1 and a solid merit for grade 2 back in the summer (ABRSM). No plans for grade 3 yet as there are some things to sort technically before his teacher will consider it. He enjoys playing. Less so practising hard stuff (like correct fingering & sight reading 🙄).

I've decided to post today because I have a question that I expect someone will know the answer to. DS has also just started the cello via school and we've just hired an instrument from the music service. It's in a nice Tom & Will case but there are no straps so DS can't carry it on his back (which would be useful). There are loops for straps and I've just looked online for some and found Gewa ones. They look expensive! Would these be a good bet? I can't find any that are the same make as the case. Any advice gratefully received. I'm not a musician myself and whilst I have a bit of an idea about pianos, I'm clueless about string instruments and I'm quite intimidated by the responsibility. Thanks!

Hi kitty, I also have a 9 yr old pianist who's been learning a couple of years - mine only has grade 1 so sounds like your DS is doing great to me :) Gewa are very posh cases. While I'm sure their straps would be great, I imagine you could also find generic straps that would do the job fine. A few come up if I Google clip on shoulder strap or similar.

Hi there Kitty, I also have a 9-yr-old pianist DS who has been playing for 2 years. He also had a merit at Grade 2 in the summer. He is also a reluctant sight-reader . And a very reluctant scales-practicer. Basically, he gets obsessed with pieces he loves and plays them over and over to the point where I feel pity for the neighbours and has little interest in the other stuff which would help with technique.

Thanks for the welcoming responses! MeltingWax your DS sounds very similar to mine. He tends to play a lot by ear which is nice in a way but not conducive at all to confident sight reading and it's really quite painful getting him to do it because he finds it hard. He finds scales ok though thankfully.
catkind, thank you for the reassurance & advice. DH (utterly non musical & tone deaf) suggested the same but I wasn't sure. I'll take a look.
Thank you!

Yes to the playing by ear thing too. DS has come home from his lesson with a brand new piece and sat there trying to play it without opening his book. Impressive memory that he gets anywhere after one read through in the lesson but aaargh! I think possibly starting second instrument last term is starting to help a little. Going back to really simple pieces on a single line instrument has helped him move towards the idea of reading the notes. So hopefully cello will have the same effect!

Hi, Kitty - welcome!
Your DS sounds very able and musical!
My DS is a cellist and has a Gewa case. They are a very good brand and not cheap, so I'm not surprised the straps are expensive. I will say that DS's case straps have a special added extra wire, that means if the clip comes undone/breaks, the case won't crash to the floor. Not sure if that's the case with the ones you're looking at, but it might explain the price if so.

I have been woefully absent from the monthly threads and have also namechanged, to confuse matters.

Middle son plays the clarinet in three ensembles/orchestras (and sings in a choir). He is preparing to take his Grade 8 next month.

He has started A-level courses in four demanding subjects and is finding it challenging to fit in music practice and commitments with the increased study requirements of Y12.

Welcome kitty. DS2 is at about the same stage on the piano. Did his grade 2 in the summer. Goodness me - by the time he took the exam, I was sick of those pieces... did your DC’s play that wretched Prokofiev thing??

Quick question for folk and other violin parents... what is the best cheapish violin case (order of £100) for a 3/4 instrument? DS2’s case is falling to bits!

@TaggieOHara we have a Tom and Will one which is quite nice and more importantly, oblong 😂 although she is tapping us up for a cello case shaped one for Christmas which will be a full size case with a 3/4 size violin in....

Taggie- I would highly recommend a BAM case- quite heavy I find( although she walks to school with it- so possibly any case would be quite heavy, plus she has music in it- so makes it even heavier) - but absolutely solid!

This one

Hmm - putting a 3/4 in a full size case might be a good option if we are going to make an investment.

Both of those look great. DS2 has a thing for oblong cases, and needs something robust for the purposes of surviving the weekly rigours of the school locker room (jointly purposed for wrestling/football/storing valuable instruments). We have extensive insurance, but I’d rather not have to use it!!

Thank you both!