Christmas and January Music Thread *Thread title edited by MNHQ*

[Wafflenose]

Hi all,
Here's a new thread for the festive period - possibly including a bit of January if I'm away and unable to start another one in time. The old thread was making me nauseous.

I am a music teacher, so pretty busy athis the moment. I have just had results for 12 pupils' exams... 3 pass, 7 merit and 2 distinction. My DDs didn't do any this term, but have 9 concerts between them. Goo is 13 and plays the flute and piano. Rara is 10 and plays the cello and clarinet. What are you all up to musically?

So watch items like this like a hawk for occasional availability in 28 XL.

Well done to se22's mini & good luck to folk's DD2!

piccolo - sounds stressful

Hi All,

Missed a lot, I know, but finally back in the land of the living, as our legal case was settled 3 weeks ago. Only took ten years. And I have to say, we deserve every penny. Hasn't really sunk in.

DD is still waiting to hear about NCO under 11s for violin like everyone else. Grade 7 next week. More nervous than previous exams, but it's only been 3 years since she first held a violin at the beginning of year 3.

Seen Trumpetboysmum a few times at NCO regionals, but otherwise have been just hoping to keep the show on the road until things were sorted.

Which they are. And I need to constantly remind myself that everything is okay now and I can relax just a little bit. This is proving to be not as easy as imagined.

Good luck with the repairs Piccolo!

Petra, do you have more details of EYDO. That’s close enough and dd is a wind player, I’ll try looking it up.

Dd has new concert dress this term. Lovely new blouse but it has boobs and not quite the right shape!

Good luck nigglenotes for grade 7, that is amazing progress!

Always miss something! Good luck with the Bassoon Crazy! Dd stilll loves hers even if it’s back in second place at the moment.

Ooh cant thank you! He was in next super skinny fit, but they don’t have right aspect ratio anymore!

Lovely to see you Nigglenotes Your DD and my DS2 are about the same stage/age, and I have often wondered about how she is getting on. We were on the 2018 Nco audition thread together. Fingers crossed they meet at U11s.

Taggie have you tried River Island? Got my DS 26XL (36) some slim fit jeans so would be worth a look for trousers otherwise M&S do longer length slim fit trousers with adjustable hem (take them down immediately) and so fit well.

Thanks for another thread Waffle. We're off to London again tomorrow to see ds play in a brief informal concert at JD. Dedication to the cause or complete madness?!

I’m a semi-professional singer and teacher and this is DS’s (8) first Christmas as a chorister so it’s all getting hectic here! Messiah tomorrow then 2 other concerts this week for me. 6 rehearsals and 5 services for DS this week plus school concert.
Having an early night in preparation but I wouldn’t have it any other way!

Hi again, thanks waffle that seems better.
Niggle lovely to hear your update!
And wow crazy look forward to hearing the bassoon plan. Such a lovely sound when played well.
And good luck with all the exciting performances - specially wiifit's DS2 and folk's DD2 and waffle family and I'm sure I've missed some more super exciting ones.

DS has a first horn performance next week :) He auditioned to play in the school end of term concert, albeit I don't think he had much (any?) competition on brass. Good strategy auditioning that not piano! I'm actually quite nervous about it as he can sound pretty rough when not warmed up. He's unphased.

On the subject of concert wear, ended up getting DD an adult size 4 skirt which fits surprisingly nicely. She's 6! tall 6 but really quite skinny.

DS2 did a couple of concerts at school last week. He finally made it to the first clarinets in both orchestra and band (some of you will remember how long he had to wait to get into the orchestra in the first place) and also played beautifully in a clarinet quartet. He is taking his Grade 8 in a couple of weeks.

I'm singing in two big carol concerts tomorrow (we hope to raise about £5K for charity) so of course I'm coming down with a cold & a sore throat. 😥
The concerts are often scheduled for the end of term, by which time I'm usually tired and run down.
(A few of you might remember the time I got pneumonia when I was meant to be singing in the Messiah with Laurence Cummings and the London Handel Festival Orchestra)

Next term we're singing Bernstein's Chichester Psalms (which I'm looking forward to).

AlexandraLeaving DS2 had fixed braces and for the first couple of days he couldn't play the clarinet at all. After a few days he started playing for a few minutes a day, gradually built up and was able to take an exam with the braces on.

Sorry for keeping everyone in suspense - my phone battery died in the middle of the crisis!
Finally home!
We got to DS 's school, only to find his coach hasn't made it back from the rehearsal on the other side of the city. So, by the time he finally made it back, the school car park exodus was in full swing - it's a one way, join in turn system which took us half an hour to get in and out of. We eventual!y got to the string shop 5 minutes after they should have closed! Luckily, they had one full size hire cello that had been returned today, so we left his cello for repair and took that.
One of the teachers at school said he thought the gingerbread coming off was due to weather/ temperature change, but the expert at the shop said it was almost certainly through the case moving around in the coach hold, so he's going to have to check the cello over thoroughly, and the case ( a Gewa Air). He suggested any damage should be covered by the school insurance, which would be good.

The concert was absolutely fab. The standard at DS's school (independent, cathedral school) is really high, but they cater for all abilities and a wide variety of styles, so it was a lovely evening.
I may have had a large gin in the interval, to calm my nerves!

Gingerbread??????? Finger board!!!! (Love how autocorrect has gone christmassy!)

Love the Christmassy autocorrect too!! It sounds like quite a night...

Loving the gingerbread! (Although my autocorrect wanted to turn that into fingerboard! )

Crazy I will have a look and see if I can find the details for a reed maker that we used to get reeds from in the early days. 3 years ago they were only £4 each - as opposed to £20 each for the ones she has now. Great to hear she will be playing bassoon!

Phew piccolo! That was quite an adventure! Hope the gingerbread repair isn’t too awkward.

Thanks for all the trouser tips, everyone! It is a challenge when one of your DCs totally changes shape in the space of a few months.

Thank you Waffle for the new thread.

I'm glad all ended well with the cello piccolo. DS has just started the cello and we've hired one from the music service. I'm paranoid that it's going to get damaged going to & from school. If he carries on with the cello and ends up in an ensemble I can see that I'm going to have to do some serious work on my nerves!