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!).

There is a colourstrings in Greenwich https://www.facebook.com/p/Colourstrings-Early-Years-Music-classes-South-London-100054629341400/

We are waiting on Chetham's audition outcome. My nails are going to be non-existent in a couple of weeks!

Good luck @mustardrarebit! what age is your dc and what do they play?

So I emailed the local music hub (Newham) last night and they’ve said DS can’t attend any classes (other than their age 2-7 family fun band…) until he’s 7, so a year from now. Really disappointing! I feel like I’ve massively dropped the ball in not signing him up for CYM last year as it seems like that is the only option across London for what we are looking for (which is madness in itself).

That colourstrings link doesn’t look live @londonmummy1966 - last updated March 2023 - but I will send a message and see. I will also contact North London colour strings @CelloMumFlums but it looks from their website that you can’t get in unless you do their kindergarten programme. ☹️

Thanks! @Compsearch She's 11, plays piano and sings.
It's a shame there isn't better provision for what you need in London. That's a gap in the market!

If it is any help @Compsearch my dd2 didn't do any music at all until she was 7 (and then it was group state school flute lessons). She joined CYM in year 5 (so 9 years old) - and this was more than fine. She's mostly even fine at specialist school now, so I don't think lack of musicianship lessons have held her back.

How about something like the younger end of London Youth Choir or a local church choir to get some musical experience in?

Thank you @minisnowballs that is reassuring! I’m a brass player (went to conservatoire but don’t play professionally now) and I started at 9 in group classes at school and never really studied musicianship, so I know it’s not really necessary.

But I think (maybe string players can correct me!) this kind of training might be particularly helpful for string players where intonation is so tricky and adjustments are so much smaller. I also think DS is a little young to start learning actual music theory so thought this could be a good bridge.

If any music teachers in East London come across this there is a serious gap in the market!

PS the choir is a really good shout though. He’s in his school one but it’s little more than childcare 🤣. Will see if there is something local.

@Compsearch DD2 is woodwind so I'm afraid I don't know much about strings - DD1 plays the viola but not to any level you'd be impressed by! Thinking about what helped DD2 though I think it was just being in a very musical primary school, regularly going to church so hearing live music (not the type with a choir, but we realised she might be interested in music when she started harmonising and moving her hands up and down in relation to the pitches she was singing). Maybe a musicianship thing would have taught something different, but I'm hoping just having been surrounded by this stuff will have been enough.

@StuntNun yes, we had a performance result back from G6 piano in 23 hours last July.

@minisnowballs we’re going to Taylor Swift too! Haven’t asked for the afternoon off yet though…..

DD will be finished with academic scholarship today and that just leaves the music scholarship tomorrow here. We are all looking forward to a couple of days break!

@Compsearch - could you teach him to sing spending time focusing on pitch as well as fun and some clapping back rhythms? Having run a children's choir myself its actually quite tricky to do anything useful with that age group en masse as the reading ability is so varied which is why so many start at 7. Once he gets to year 3 London Children's Choir is amazing - I was invited to their last Albert Hall Concert and was blown away by the standard. Spending a bit of time on singing now should pay dividends when he's able to apply for Year 3 stuff.

There are a few theory books (former theory teacher here) that are suitable for very young children with colouring in and stickers etc and there are also lots of good ideas on this website https://www.myfunpianostudio.com/music-theory/music-theory-worksheets/

Thank you so much @londonmummy1966 that website looks brilliant. And actually makes complete sense re variability of reading ability. One of the reasons we waited until now to start lessons (he has been begging for years) was that we wanted his reading to be really fluent. I’m glad actually that we did wait as his attention span is still pretty short - can just about manage the 30 minute lessons but there are regular questions to his teacher about things he can see outside the window etc 🤣.

He really hates taking any kind of instruction from me or DH (I hope this is normal and not a reflection of our terrible parenting!!) but we can try our very best to make it fun.

You're welcome @Compsearch - mine won't learn from mummy or daddy either😂- not that we'd have much to teach them now anyway...... Does your DH read music? If so then you could try introducing music games for the family. DD has a snakes and ladders type game around music theory that I can email you if you pm me your email address. SHe has a couple of 6 year old piano puils who enjoy it.

Posting under my alternate name.

proud mum moment here. A bit different to the classical music most of your children do and also quite different to the musical theatre my son usually does but this is his band’s debut single if anyone would care to give it a listen.

https://spotify.link/L6FsGqSijJb

@AlexanderHamilton - for some reason I could only listen to about 30 seconds of it but what I could hear was epic! Well done your ds.

How exciting! Definitely right to be proud. A real single is a great step. I always think it's frustrating who gets to 'make it' though, so much about contacts. I've a friend who's a singer song writer. Definitely as good as Ed Sheeran but doesn't get the same breaks. I hope your son meets some of the right people to showcase his talents.

I'm excited that my DD is going to be playing in a chamber orchestra piece soon. She gets such great opportunities playing in a symphony orchestra at JD and in NYO, and enjoys the massive sound but actually rarely gets to play anything smaller so this will be a nice Study leave means lots of practice!

Hi all
infrequent poster on these boards but I love reading about everything!
DD is now 11 (how?!) and plays cello. She’s also getting into choir singing. She’d love to learn another instrument but we don’t have the funds atm - and the cello and choirs cost enough! She’s around grade 5 - plays higher grade pieces in ensembles but probably won’t take her grade 5 until around the middle of y7, if at all as don’t want to put too much stress on her with the shift to senior.
She would LOVE to do a residential course but they are so expensive - and those with the lower grade requirements (that she’d meet) don’t seem to come with as strong a potential of bursaries like at NCO/NYO - which I imagine she’d have no hope of getting into due to her grade.
Sometimes I regret not pushing her forward faster in her music but I tend to sit back and let it be driven by her - she clearly loves it judging by how many ensembles and choirs she joins (and I’d like to think she has potential - she was actually was offered a music scholarship at a boarding school nearby, that we had to turn down ironically because they couldn’t offer a large enough bursary alongside) but then again she seems to be so far behind everyone else who wants to do the same sort of things….
Will she be able to ‘catch up’ in future? Do I need to force her through or is going at her own pace okay…?!

It might be because you have to subscribe to Spotify or something. But thanks for listening. I know I’m biased but I really like it. The ending is epic!

They are hoping to use it as a tool to get more gigs. It is very hard as you say. There was a recent article in the Guardian about the costs involved for grassroots bands touring and how this often precludes the less affluent.

The ABRSM website has gone to Marking Completed. I am on TENTERHOOKS!

Completed should mean you can check past exams and see the result I thought? Isn't it visible in that section?

It says pending.

I think it was easier in a way when you had to wait for results in the post!

We are in the chorister trials process too! What kind of choir is your DC auditioning for? We're looking at a boarding chorister place so a lot to consider...

(New poster on this thread though lurked a while! Also NC'd as have friends at his current school who know my other username!)

Boom 139 out of 150 for grade 5 piano!

All that money for piano lessons was worth it lol!

@Pes0penguin please don't have regrets, it sounds like you have given her loads of great opportunities. Her own pace is definitely best. If there's something she wants to strive for, she might decide to up the practice etc but you don't want her to resent being pushed. NYO and nco are not the only great orchestra experiences. Only a handful of each instrument will get into NYO so don't be disheartened about that. For cello the competition will also be extremely high. No violins/cellos from our JD got in, it was all rarer instruments - horn, double bass, viola, oboe, bassoon. Although don't rule it out and definitely look at NYO inspire when old enough ( 13-18) grade 6+. I think that definitely helped my DD get in. It's also free. There are some great regional offerings too. In Scotland we have NYOS and NYos development, Scottish schools orchestra (non auditioned, grade 3-8) West of Scotland schools, Edinburgh youth etc. All these have great reputations, I'm sure there will be something suitable it just takes some digging. Maybe ask on here which area you are looking for. Some of the conservatoires and specialist schools will do summer courses too. With bursaries, you might find some external ones not offered by the orchestra. If you have a relatively low income they will be easier to find.