Spring 23 music thread

[thirdfiddle]

I saw some sunshine today so it's officially spring! Here's a new thread for all things musical.

With a nod to those who started the series, well before my young folk picked up an instrument or I braved the vipers of MN. This little corner is for support only, and bragging about your young folk's musical achievements is positively encouraged.

How are things looking for new year? Anyone new want to join us for a chat? Any lurkers want to delurk? All welcome from pre beginners to music college and beyond.

Re pianos - the issue with some is that they become untuneable - @mumoffourminimes sounds like your piano tuner has given you good advice that yours will do for now - but imagine he's basing the assessment on how long it will be good for re how many more times he thinks it can be tuned reasonably. Buying pianos is one of those things where you can spend huge sums of cash but its not always necessary. Second hand piano stores where they refurb them are often a good bet - depending on where you are in the country someone might be able to recommend somewhere to go and look - but also given your DD has only just started out then the reprieve on your current piano will give her long enough to check the enthusiasm holds!

We have a Yamaha upright with silent feature - the silent feature really isn't used and not sure i would bother again - though if DD continues and starts to actually practice like she should for the grade level she's at, then we might be glad of it. I still haven't found the time in the evening to play like I thought i would when i bought it and for now I like to listen to DD and DS play so that I can add 'helpful comments'. I got it from somewhere where they focused on the 'voicing' not being too bright too so its not the case that all pianos from the same maker will sound the same - trying them out is really the best options - @Teapotkitten's approach is ideal, though I can imagine that letting a 7 year old decide is also a challenge.

lovely to hear about all these piano obsessives. The piano is the only instrument i understand, so obviously both of my daughters refused to play it - opting for weird and wonderful things I don't get at all instead. However, the younger one actually 'plays' it quite a lot for someone who has no lessons - working everything out by ear and then adding chords with the left is as far as she's got but she enjoys it.

We have the 1930s instrument I grew up with - it's not perfect but it is tuneable, and as it's not being used for anything serious I reckon that's fine.

@mumoffourminimes it is expensive isn't it! I couldn't believe the cost of lessons, eek! I have a DD in y1 but she's more into dancing to music than playing it so far, nice to know there's other parents being thrown in the deep end by their DC hehe!

Our budget for the piano was £1500, I'd originally thought to go digital but then realised to get a decent one of those new would cost as much if not more than a second hand acoustic and some of them only take you so far before you need another, from what I read.

Letting him choose was a bit of a gamble but his ear is better than mine and it turned out he prefers a brighter sound whereas I liked the more mellow ones so I'd probably have picked him something he'd have hated. It has the practice quietening felts/pedal but they're a bit useless, the felts probably need replacing as they're a bit tatty and worn out - the hammers are all in really good condition though so I think it's mostly been played with the felts down!

Ah thank you I'm loving all these insights!

Our piano he says was made pre-WW1 and I think he was trying to gauge what we wanted from it. He said its so old we might have to walk away from it. I appreciated his honesty and I just said i wanted something a 7 year old could practise on to start off with, nothing more and then he was happy to try to tune it on that basis. DH and I had agreed she needed a proper piano (not child's keyboard - I don't like the sound) to practise on and that could be anything until dd decided to take to it or not. I think he (the tuner) was shocked it was tunable tbh 🤣

Dd loves it regardless and I like the sound too.

We are midlands based if anyone has suggestions? but I'm guessing I'll have a few years before she gets to gd3/4 standard. Any ideas how long that would usually take? I'll have to start saving up..

Her teacher, she's really clicked with her, has said usually 2 years to gd1 standards but dd will likely take less time than that. Is it likely a gd/year after that?

Hi all, and welcome @Teapotkitten! We've emailed the music teacher and agreed that DS can rejoin school orchestra this term on his violin, so that's a good outcome despite him not being able to play in the concert. He does no end of ensembles, all on bassoon, so it will be really good for him to play his violin in an orchestra and boost those skills a bit.

@QueenMabby it's so tough with GCSE choices, isn't it? My DS is Y9 too, and he can fit in music by doing it outside the timetable but it's very early starts twice a week. When I was at school, my crappy comprehensive didn't offer GCSE music, which I was disappointed about at the time but actually quickly came round to being happy about because it separated out my music from my school work. I played clarinet in all kinds of regional and county things at that stage, and it was a real break from academic study knowing that it wasn't also a GCSE and/or A Level as well. Hopefully your DD will also find similar if that's what she ends up deciding.

@mumoffourminimes I'm midlands too, if I can figure out how I'll send you a message with the piano shop we went to, in case it's local to you!
Otherwise maybe your piano tuner would know some? The shop I went to gave me the number for a tuner he uses for the free first tuning, so yours might know about local piano shops?

Yes please would be good to have a recommendation

I'm a midlander too! Small world!

@PinkGrapefruitSorbet - dd is already doing one gcse off timetable which she'll take at the end of yr 10 and she just can't face another! She'll do further maths too giving her 12 in total ao even though the music should be a breeze I think it will just be one too many.

We have an informal concert this week in which dd is laying the cello. She was having issues over the weekend on a slide to an harmonic so I'm hoping it goes ok in the real thing!

@QueenMabby Hope the cello performance goes well. It's lovely when they get these opportunities. I heard a teacher say recently you only get better at the craft of performing by... actually performing, so the more the better. We are lucky at the JD ( junior department of conservation, a Saturday school for any new folks!), DD can apply to play in as many Saturday concerts as she likes. She did one at the weekend and it was the best shed played, which was a real confidence boost ahead of a couple of competitions.
I love a harmonic on the double bass, you know it will be in tune! I also have a tiny pencil mark for one position, it helps me but probably a bad habit!
Nice to see some more new fks! On the piano front, we went for a clavinova when we couldn't keep our old piano in tune but she especially would love a baby grand! Maybe one day.

@PinkGrapefruitSorbet great news re the orchestra - having some time playing violin will probably be nice as if you're a bassoon player you never normally get an option to play anything else as they're so in demand!

@mumoffourminimes on the grade progression - 1 a year is a kind of standard rule of thumb but in reality it really differs from child to child - obviously a lot of it depends on how much practice they do! I think that the early grades are often pushed through more quickly - also bear in mind they don't actually have to sit all of them, whereas once it gets above say grade 5 or so then one a year might be more reasonable. Also worth flagging now that if the route they go is ABRSM they need grade 5 theory to progress beyond grade 5 practical. DD did grade 1 piano in March 2020 and then Grade 5 in November 2021. She's now stuck until she passes grade 5 theory (and is dragging her heels on this) but her teacher wants her to sit Grade 7 once she's done that hopefully in the summer or winter sitting of 2023. She didn't sit anything between Grade 1 and Grade 5 but this was probably more of a result of Covid restrictions than anything else. She's still young though so am in no rush for her to sit more exams, she has plenty of time except that her Grade 7 pieces overlap period runs out at the end of this year so if she doesn't sit before then she'll have to learn new pieces!

Thanks @northerngoldilocks that's interesting. How old is your dd? And does the same teacher teach the theory?

We are just at the start of things, I bought dd's prep test book today. I would like her to try the exam process and have some recognition for her development/efforts. She's a worrier though so I won't push exams if it's too much for her.

She's 9 (year 5). She just switched piano teachers in sept and now he's at the sat music school where she also does theory and choir and ensembles.

Yes @PinkGrapefruitSorbet great news - good you've got some resolution. My dd gets fed up of having to play bassoon all the time in things (because there are a billion flautists) and he might feel the same -probably be a nice break.

Any clarinetists around at all.
Dd has dropped hers from the case and I think has damaged the actual body of the clarinet itself. It’s the worst possible time as she has an exam in a month and away with orchestra at Easter, also a performance in a week. Im worried about how much it will cost.
Has anyone had similar happen, or knows if it will be an entirely new clarinet or if you can get replacement parts. Hers is a buffet -campion? I think.

Oh no @Alakazam8 . As an interim measure could she borrow one from school / local music service. Do you have a repairer nearby? I know one in SE London if any help?

@northerngoldilocks thanks, we have a repair shop close by luckily. Ironically it was serviced and the mouthpiece replaced a month or so ago!
that’s a good idea- I will see if she can borrow one temporarily to tide her over.

Has anyone got any experience of applying for a JD bursary , specifically at RNCM? I was shocked at the level of fees.

This is for a predominantly self taught year 7 child from a deprived area who started formal lessons once a fortnight at school and is working towards grade 7 classical. He started teaching himself using a kiddy keyboard during lockdown. Got frustrated then his parents bought him a cheap digital piano about a year ago.

His music teacher at school is thinking RNCM would push him, current school piano teacher can’t increase frequency of lessons. They both agree he needs a higher level teacher and to be pushed.

Im involved becsuse a friend who worked at his primary school recommended him as a recipient of my fund but I’ve got about £700 to contribute, not £4,000 odd

He started formal lessons last September.

There used to be means tested funding at JRNCM - in fact this seems to say that there still is

www.gov.uk/music-dance-scheme

I have applied for a few different grants, with occasional success ( but not many) I just googled grants for young musicians etc and got a few. They might have more success with more local ones eg Rotary or wind farms/ tips, both of which usually have small grant funds. There are some which state the level of income to be considered ( often well under £30k)

Ok, so they have MDS, now that is more in my comfort zone having had a ballet school dd.

their own website just said limited bursaries.

Does everyone accepted get assessed for MDS or do they have a limited number?

I believe there are a limited number but it's not a small number. I think there are more at Yorkshire Young Musicians though, that's held in Leeds on Sundays, is that in reach?

No, Leeds would be out of the question. Manchester is about 45 minutes away by train.

Eek alakazam, hope it doesn't prove too expensive a misadventure.

Re grade progression, I'm slightly wondering if we live in a musical backwater now. A grade a year is fast progress here, most of the beginner pianists go a lot slower. But mumoffour if she's going to be fast about grade 1, she may continue to be fast, better get saving. That's brilliant you're learning to read music too!