Spring /Summer 24 - Music thread

[northerngoldilocks]

The old thread was filling up, so here's a new one to talk about music activities. Come and talk about music lessons, choosing instruments, exams, auditions, specialist schools, orchestras or whatever other music activities are going on. Everyone is welcome, from those with total beginners to those whose children are studying music at advanced levels. Ask for advice or share successes or struggles. There's loads of experience across a wide variety of instruments too(though bassoon's are weirdly popular on here - you'd think that every second child plays one!).

Congratulations @GeneralMusings DD for Grade 8 merit - that's fantastic.

DS did his Gr7 the same day but we don't have results back yet. Am obsessively checking the ABRSM dashboard despite knowing that they'll go to the music school first and then they'll release to parents, but this knowledge is obviously not stopping me checking 'just in case'. DS goes on a school residential on Monday so would be lovely if we found out before (provided he's passed!).

Hope everyone else waiting for results is okay and people have got some good news!!

Flutes - my daughter has a 211. Should I be soon looking at something "better". What's a good upgrade from here?

(! Not that we can nec afford it. I just want to know the next thing!)

@GeneralMusings dd2 upgraded to a Muramatsu just before her grade 8. She absolutely loves it- it has a b foot, which everyone at her school seems to have - and most of them have that, or an Altus. Some of the very ‘special’ specialists have something far pricier but dd is unlikely to need anything more than this. Because she was at state school when we bought it she got the VAT off which made a huge difference to the price- which was still eye watering. She had a 211 before- they are fine flutes but everyone I spoke with seemed to agree that grade 8 was pretty much their limit.

Thankyou mini that's really helpful :). I will do some looking!

DS just moved on from a Yamaha 211 too. He went for an Altus A9. His flute teacher said his Yamaha was fine and definitely not urgent to change but that usually around grade 8 would suggest changing. I figured if that was the case he might as well have it earlier so he got it before Grade7. We also got via the APS as he's at state school and plays in the orchestra / ensemble which helped but it's still quite a significant investment. At least flutes are cheaper than strings!

Joining in with the exam news my 7yo did her grade 2 piano. It was a bit of a speculative exam booking as she wasn't really ready but I planned to use the free cancellation if necessary. She decided to go for it and worked so hard the last few weeks. It would have been better a month later but she'd have got bored with the pieces over the summer waiting for the next session. Found out this morning she scraped a merit! - Nowhere near where other children on this thread are but I love that she enjoys it and works hard (even though her primary is a music desert)

Massive congratulations to @NimbleFox DD! Merit is a great result and love her dedication! She'll do well with that attitude.

Wahooo well done!! My daughter hadn't taken any grades at 7. That's really impressive 😍.

I've looked at the flute recommendations.. And it's likely she'll have to stay with her flute for a few more years and save up herself for uni. There's some reconditioned ones but I don't think it's in the budget right now!

We haven't done any exams this term but will do one piano grade 2 in September on a private visit and one grade 5 violin possibly Nov/Dec term. He has recently changed violin teacher. He changed to the one he was temporarily with his first teacher was off sick. But unfortunately now his first teacher has moved away and can't teach him at all. It seemed a natural move to this teacher. DS has responded very well with the totally different teaching method so far. Hopefully it's a good move. Second teacher is a much more qualified professional but very strict for DS who is only 7 but he's happy to take up the challenge so I guess it might be alright. His techniques have improved dramatically over just a few weeks but I hope he doesn't lose the confidence or style of his play. But I haven't got a choice as in the little town we live in there are not many violin teachers. He was just awarded the most improved senior strings at our musical centre's annual award. Everyone was shocked to see a 7yo receiving a senior but it was based on the level not the age .

Worth asking if Benslow have anything they could lend you. http://benslowmusic.org/index.asp?pageid=2989

Congrats to your DD on her exam result @GeneralMusings - that's a fantastic achievement. Congratulations too to @NimbleFox's DD - a merit is still a merit! Fingers crossed to @northerngoldilocks's DS.

It has been a hectic few weeks including an emotional Leaver's Day at DD's school where she sang a very beautiful Laudate Dominum. She seems ready to move on to senior school but I do wonder how she will get on, given she has been with the same music teachers for six years in one case and five in another. We have had a week off since school finished - I love all the music but everyone was exhausted. Starting to ramp up again as we have a weekend of rehearsals for youth opera this week and a self-tape for BYMT to do.

@GeneralMusings - the Benslow recommendation above is a good option if they have anything. I do also think though that your DD has done brilliantly with her existing flute and so she might be fine on that for the orchestral playing she's doing for a while so it doesn't necessarily sound that you need to hugely worry about it.

My DS's flute teacher said that the Yamaha 211/212 are really decent flutes that will take them up to Grade 8 and that the 'step up' options just wouldn't be a noticeable difference, so if we were to upgrade would need to be the level beyond that for it to be worth it. She was also at pains to note that he really didn't 'need' a new flute, but if we wanted to buy one it would be nice. He's only 13 and probably has a fair few years of learning before uni to go and his Yamaha really needed a service so i didn't want to pay out for that and a new flute - but i do accept that comparative cost wise the service vs new flute feels excessive!

@yodaforpresident end of term sounds good - we are still limping onwards here and STILL no exam result for DS - though I'm definitely more concerned about that than he is. He's now away on a school trip until Thursday so regardless of when it comes out he won't find out before he gets back!

Thankyou northern that's really helpful 😊.

@yodaforpresident congrats to her for finishing - that must feel odd after so long.

No music was done here for the first week. DD2 has now taken the flute out of its case at least - I think she's worried by the slightly menacing comment on her school report "with more time on her hands over the summer I have no doubt DD2 will be able to complete all the studies, pieces and ARSM repertoire that I have set".

Flute teacher not that keen on playing 'second fiddle' to the bassoon in term time I think ... certainly there's some very detailed summer practice notes for her, while the bassoon is much more 'have a nice rest'...!

I've dropped mine off for his final county youth orchestra residential today-he's 20 so will be too old next time. He's been in the county ensembles since year 6 so it's been a long time.

Oh and if we have any horn players here- Chet's are offering two fully funded horn places at their summer school.

Lovely to hear exam results, every level is an achievement. Full steam ahead here with preparation for summer courses. And of course another trip to the repairer. I really just need to start a direct debit I think! I did ask if a full service would be cheaper than a pad or a screw here and there but he said definitely not. I think he can cope with a bassoon a small part at a time but couldn't face doing everything!

@minisnowballs thank you - I think she is going to find it strange, especially for the singing as they got on so well, but hopefully she settles in quickly.

I feel your pain about conflicting instruments, we had this with cello and clarinet. The cello teacher was not happy about clarinet being taken up and made that very clear to DD. It was a very fine balancing act!

@yodaforpresident the conflicting instrument thing is tricky. The bassoon holds all the trump cards for DD2 as the money she receives from the UK government that allows her to be at music school is all predicated on her performance on that one instrument. No-one ever judges her on her flute performance or singing at all. At least it makes everything very clear.

@yodaforpresident is your DD's new school one that lots of her current classmates will go to? My DS went to one where he was the only child from his primary and then moved during year 7 to one where loads of his primary friends were - pros and cons to each really and he was settling in really well at the first one despite not having friends go with him.

Still no flute exam mark here - think that given the Sat centre is now closed for summer we are just caught in that bit where they'll have been released but we have to wait 7 more days for them to auto release to candidate dashboards. Wish ABRSM had an option on entering them that they could select to just release straight to candidate which they could use when they're not going to be in to release them. I guess the 7 days is so that teachers can review and appeal if required, but if no one is looking at them it doesn't make any sense. DS is on a school residential trip until tomorrow anyway so doubt he's worrying about it - but i'd really like them to be out now!

DD had the first night her school production for the end of year 6 last night - was really lovely, though the random selection of instruments they have in the band was as challenging as ever. They started well and thought they'd improved, but definitely a bit in the middle where i wondered if they were playing the same music - it sorts itself out by the end, they should really just cut the middle bit, its just too hard for them. Still, only need to listen to it maybe 3 more times... I was however very pleased yesterday though that in direct contrast to her junior school with the masses of rules about when she is or isn't allowed to play based on where she has lessons, secondary are really enthusiastic about her and have said she can play in the school production band in the first term. Hopefully it will be the start of much more inclusive music for her.

@minisnowballs that's totally understandable. It just created a bit of an awkward atmosphere for DD, not helped by the fact that she wasn't allowed to play cello for her music scholarship as they had a two instrument limit and clarinet was chosen because she has made such amazing progress on it.

@northerngoldilocks it is a big form of ~ 180 children and five of them are from DD's old school which I think is okay. She has already met some of the other new joiners at various events and has made some brand new friendships, which she seems very pleased about. There were definitely some clique issues in her old school so I think we are all looking forward to a fresh start where she can focus on her music and new subjects.

That seems very unreasonable from your Saturday centre - they know that children are waiting on those results and they can't spare a half hour to login and send them out? That's really positive about your DD - schools do seem to make such ridiculous rules for themselves sometimes. It's good to see they are so keen on music - DD's old school became very sport focused while we were there.

Can I ask for some opinions please? DD has a 10 year old piano student who took her first ever exam (Grade 1) last week at school. She was quite upset and a bit thrown as the examiner didn't ask for her third piece. After the aural tests her pupil told the examiner she hadn't been asked for her third piece and the examiner was apparently quite cross and told her off when she played it (which meant that the piece didn't go well...). DD thinks she should tell the mother to raise this with the head of music at the school and suggest that this is referred back to the ABRSM as this isn't a great way to behave with young and nervous candidates (pupil is very tall for her age but it was a primary school so they should know how young they are and it was a Grade 1).

What do you all think?

I think that's dreadful to be honest and a formal complaint should be put in.

My understanding is that they record all the exams now on the ipad so if should be easy for ABRSM to investigate. I think that the info is only held for a short time though so if complaining should do it quickly. Find it hard to understand how the examiner could not notice they had only heard 2 pieces!!