Autumn term 2019 music thread

[thirdfiddle]

September is looming, the old thread is getting full - I think it's time for a new music thread. This is a support thread for parents of children who are into music or indeed just thinking about giving it a try.

Perplexed about starting the piano? Experimenting with ensembles? Concerned about college applications? All welcome here. Huge thanks to those lending their expertise and sage advice and particularly wafflenose for starting the threads.

So, new school year, what's new with your mini musicians?

Sorry we are london! Might be worth contacting local brass bands and see if any of their members have ones to sell.. or order several from John packer and send them back

Yep, we're in a small town so fewer choices than London! But we are brass band territory so there will be something. Otherwise, road trip time! Thanks for your help.

Have a look for kids bands too...it’s fab for confidence and sight reading!!!

The local brass band may have a beginner's band or know of one, round here they will lend an instrument (and insure it) to registered players.

Try eBay and Gumtree for a second one. Recommend Yamaha YCR 2330 for a beginner cornet - I’ve bought previously for around £140. And Yamahas keep their resale value.

second hand one

That;s a great price for a second hand Yamaha. I've not seen any that cheap, I'll keep a closer eye on ebay and see what comes up.

That cornet was from Gumtree not eBay I think, and was the old YCR2330 not Mark II

Could I ask for your expert opinion. I order a book from a website which offered the owest price. It has come vback looking to me to be a black and white photocopy. I emailed the company who said "it is a genuine copy from the main supplier. It is published by a very small publisher which is why it looks a bit amateur."
On the ABSRMS shop website (and amazon) it has at least a pinkish colour shop.abrsm.org/shop/prod/Ball-Christopher-A-Summer-Day-for-Treble-Recorder/2045007 .
I am worried that when dc takes it with her to the exam itself, the examiner will not be happy. Should I just risk it or buy it through ABRSM??

Hello! I mainly lurk but did post sporadically in the previous thread. I have two dcs, one non-musical and one musical.
DD is 10 (yr 6) and plays piano and cello. She has lessons for both at school. She did her g3 piano in the summer and is skipping g4 and moving to g5 although currently just playing some reportoire for fun. With cello again we’re skipping a grade to give her a break and not doing g2 but doing g3 instead. Her cello teacher was aiming for Christmas but she has a v busy term so I suggested to her she might like to wait until Easter instead - so we’re doing that.
We’ve applied for a music scholarship for the senior school of the local indie so fingers crossed. I’m not expecting her to get one but she may get an instrument award which would mean free lessons.
She also plays piano duets, is in a chamber music trio (her on the piano and a violinist and a clarinet) and sings in two school choirs so she’s pretty busy!
Lovely to hear about everyone else’s dcs and what they get up to - especially the older ones as it gives me a good heads up about what to expect!

hopeless maybe print out the email and take it to exam in case of query? Or alternatively could you email publisher and get confirmation from them that genuine copies look like that? In the unlikely event someone was doing something dodgy I'm sure they'd want to know. I've certainly had official copies of things that look like photocopies before, for orchestral music sometimes direct from publisher photocopied including someone else's odd bowings and scribblings. I wouldn't order another copy I don't think, what if it comes back looking exactly the same?

Queenmabby, hi, I remember you :) Brilliant that she's getting involved in group playing, that can be hard to come by for pianists.

New term going well so far here. DS liked his wind band, looks like it's really going to challenge him. DD also likes her new string group which is so far more chamber music than orchestra - hoping a few more people turn up next week... And she's also taking part in two different inter-school things this term, one playing and one singing. Opposite end of the spectrum with 100s of children involved!

Good idea Thirdfiddle. Found the publisher's contact online and have sent them an email!

Hi hopeless children,
Quite a few recorder music pieces I have bought look like they have been run off a photocopier; I guess there isn’t the demand to have them printed in larger runs.

Hi everyone I have 2 children learning music. One plays wind instruments, the other plays the violin and spends a lot of time messing about on the piano.

I just had a look at the new Abrsm syllabus for violin. It seems to have a romance by Shostakovich in list b.. is this the same Gadfly one which was in list b for grade 5 in the previous syllabus?

If so, is it usual that they would upgrade a piece like that?

My dd would not consider doing it again anyway! Just curious.

There seem to be a few repeats from previous syllabus, now they are offering 10 choices for each list. Do you think it would be ok to use the Abrsm published book for the previous syllabus in the exam room? They quote Black Eyes and Ladies in Lavender as being published in different volumes and don’t mention the out of date Abrsm book. I would like her to choose from more than just 3 for each list.

I can’t remember who was on here earlier talking about how difficult it Can be to pick exam music, but I commiserate!

Sorry my previous message didn’t make much sense... I meant to say I was looking at the new syllabus for grade 6 violin... and it looks like a previous piece from grade 5 has been included.

Not sure Thistly - There are several different variants of Gadfly, with the most difficult having some nasty double stop passages that are grade 8 or harder.

DS2 learnt several pieces on the grade 8 list before making his final choice a couple of months before the exam. I’d definitely recommend that. The right choices only became obvious after he has played them, if you see what I mean.

We are in the same exam pieces choosing period. Dds oboe teacher is getting her to play 2 or 3 for each list and will choose nearer the time. Not so easy to do that with piano though. My main stress is the date as we are away on holiday so need it to be near the end, so wish you could book an actual week at least instead of just a preferred one.

Lovely to hear everyone’s news, sounds like a busy term all round! Just wondering if anyone is off to the NYOinspire day tomorrow? I’m taking DD and DS1 this time, DS1 is going for the first time and quite excited 🙂

Lots we are going tomorrow. Looks like it should be a great day.

Hey everyone! I paid the fee yesterday for DS to do Grade 2 violin this December. I love his teacher dearly but she's so scatty when it comes to 'proper' communication. I've been asking for ages when the deadline is for getting the forms in - she emailed to send me the forms. Deadline is Monday!!! Cue huge running about trying to get over to the music faculty to pay the fee. At least it's done. Now for all the practising and confidence boosting in prep for the exam!

Anyone got any advice about how long their child played a 3/4 size violin? He's ready for one and we can't decide whether to hire or buy. He's almost 10 now and quite tall, if he's going to get two years out of it it's worth us buying.

Enjoy Inspire Boys and Lots. It was a bit too far for us, Leeds the last few years was better.

DS2 has a place for the London days, given as they cancelled the July day. Not sure at present if that's feasible either!

Next year's days seem instrument specific so that will definitely rule us out. But he's had a great time at Inspire over 3 years (including 3 residentials) so we are very grateful.

Hi Zelda,
My dd used a 3/4 for less than a year, from age 11 to age 12. BUt she grew 10 cm in that year.
I think children grow at different rates, so really hard to judge.

Thanks for the comments about gadfly, Taggie . That makes sense.

She’s not in a hurry so I guess she can take her time over the process of deciding, and learn a few of the pieces.

Dd used a 3/4 for å couple of years but she was probably well overdue a size up.

Zelda where are you? I think we have a 3/4 sitting around we could lend you...will go and have a look...

Hi all. Could anyone recommend a collapsible stool please? Ideally light weight and can be carried as a backpack? It's for ds who is playing the mini bass. Thank you very much.

No idea about stools but very cool instrument to learn BBLY.