Autumn / Winter 24 - music thread

[northerngoldilocks]

Feels like time for a new thread for the new school year!

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.

My daughter loved her inspire day. Thanks all of you that encouraged us!

That's great news @GeneralMusings !

Fantastic

I think that @thirdfiddle makes a good point. DD might have still been on a 3/4 if it had been a better instrument. She's now almost 12 and the full sized looks a better fit rather than like she's playing a viola. She does have v long limbs though.

Yes it definitely depends on arm length.

And teacher preference. Suzuki teachers tend to like kids using smaller instruments for longer, I like them to move up as soon as they can for better sound! But I'm obsessed with good posture too.

Back to school and straight back into all the music here.

DD has a year 7 music concert at school next week where she auditioned to do a piano solo and got it so will need to do a bit of work on that piece. She's also playing a short piece on the violin in a duet with her friend who plays cello. Her school have also just announced their first school 'young musician' competition with rounds next week and the final the week after so she will enter that on piano too. I've also managed to convince DS to enter.

She's also got a spot in her Sat music centre Xmas concert for a piano solo and is also hoping to perform her piano duet too so there is loads for her to work on. I'm continually relieved that she's not doing grade 8 piano this term as well.

Yikes @northerngoldilocks that is full on! DD2 has gone back to school, straight into 'technical assessment', lunchtime solo concert and her first ever competition next week. Also, you know, GCSE mocks and an academic scholarship test for sixth form. Trying to keep an eye on her is tough when she's so far away!

The advantage for DD is that she doesn't really have much else to do - thankfully year 7 isn't so full on!

Hi everyone,
I'm new here- was looking for NCO info and found here. So much chat and info 😀

I've now looked up all the other music courses mentioned and NSSO sounds fab! Has anyone sent a younger child? I'm wondering what the pastoral care is like and whether my 8yr old would manage 4 nights away (especially if he gets no sleep!)
Thanks and nice to meet everyone

@StillAsleep welcome here. It's how I found this place too and I've learned so much since.
I might be wrong but I remember seeing NSSO somewhere that says it's for secondary school children. Hopefully somebody can correct me if that's the case!
If you have a young string player you could look at the National Youth String Orchestra. They start from 7 year old up and only does 2 nights away. My 7 year old managed one night last year 🤣. The pastoral team are superb!

Also look at Viva Strings if strings?

@chickentikkasalad and @chocolateisnecessary thanks very much, I've never heard of either.
I'll go and check them out

NSSO is for 8+ . Don't have any personal experience of it though

Yes just found it on the website that it is from age 8 and grade 3 upwards.
It must have been the English school orchestra that I was thinking about .
Good luck!

@chickentikkasalad did your DS leave early or had you planned that he would only do 1 night?

I think the residential courses are amazing but I don’t think DS or I are ready for multiple nights!

I bought him Fiddletime Christmas the other day (he started on Fiddletime Joggers and is now on Fiddletime Runners) and he could basically sightread it all (they are very easy!). It’s the first time he has played music that he already knows and he has been so excited by it. So we are getting We Three Kings and We Wish You a Merry Christmas at all hours of the day and night 🤣

DD did NSSO when she was 10 and loved it. As she hadn’t done many residential courses at that point due to Covid, we stayed in an Airbnb locally and she attended non-residentially. A few other younger ones did the same so maybe that could be an option…

@Compsearch we had always planned he would do only 1 night so we stayed in a hotel nearby. We went to pick him up before the 2nd night but he said he wanted to try one more night. Then at quite late in the night I got a phone call that he just couldn't get to sleep so I took him to the hotel to sleep. He went back in next morning to have breakfast with them.
I was surprised he wanted to try one more night as I thought he would be dying to come with me . The team were brilliant though. They understand that the residential bit is difficult for the younger ones and are happy for us to do whatever is the best for DS.
He is adamant he'll stay both nights next year though.

@Compsearch he's making great progress and more importantly he's enjoying music. Great sight reading too. Well done to your DS!

DS is on a 'slow practice' week in preparation for his grade 5 exam in a couple of weeks. Surprisingly he is quite on board with the idea and really enjoyed it. Surprised because he normally hates slow practices. He's now more mature and understands that quality of practice is much more important than the quality of it. His teacher assured him if he does practices only slowly this week. He'll be much better when he play normal speed afterwards. Hope it turns out true!

@Compsearch you are brave. I ban christmas at this stage - though it's mostly the muppets Christmas carol on very badly played piano around here! DD2 has a competition on Friday - it's the first time she's ever done one, or a festival (they just aren't things that really cross the radar of people like us normally, but her teacher has put her in).

However, the organiser has decided that all the children from her school have to compete against each other this year (apparently this is new) which makes the whole thin slightly pointless as she's now in a heat where she competes against most of the rest of the specialists in her year on various instruments (three of them on the flute- so thankful she's playing bassoon) and then only one goes through.

Maybe fairer on other local schools but I'm struggling to see the point, especially since I have to transport her despite the fact seven of them are going from school.

Ah I didn’t realise that staying in a hotel nearby would be an option! I will look into that for next year maybe - sounds like a really good compromise and great that the organisations are understanding!

@chickentikkasalad good to hear that practice maturity might kick in in the not too distant future - DS hates slow practice but it is so important.

@minisnowballs i thought I would have to give him a good run up to be ready in time for Xmas - but hadn’t appreciated that they would be so within his grasp already. I love traditional Christmas carols so am enjoying it…for now!

Competition sounds a bit silly - I can sort of see why they’ve done it like that but totally don’t understand the transport thing!

Christmas has started here too but only on piano. I just bought the 'Charlie Brown Christmas' book yesterday and DD is very keen to make a start on it. We all love it though so having her playing it will be hopefully a nice addition to the run up to Christmas. She probably doesn't need to have extra things to learn at the moment - but has obviously ignored all the thing she should be working on in favour of new Christmas music since it arrived!

We also had fiddle time Christmas after fiddle time joggers - its nice and straightforward and means that they can pretty much sight read as there isn't much point in having Christmas music that takes many weeks to learn!

@minisnowballs I remember when I was looking at competitions around that area I couldn't help laughing as nearly all places in less competitive categories were taken by the specialists. IIRC only the violinists were more mixed.

I guess it wouldn't work either way. Competing against other specialists schools or internationally would probably be a solution music wise, but perhaps a bit complicated politically (which school is "better" etc) or logistically. Brass students did compete abroad though as far as I can see on FB.

@minisnowballs I think I can guess the competition and interesting that this year the organisers have made the specialist music school entrants compete against each other in the heats. DS was entered but felt a bit disillusioned by his experiences at another competition earlier in the year which was open to musicians living or schooled in the South West counties. All 4 winners were at specialist music schools, 3 being from the same school so he felt like there wasn’t much point in competing in this one. How frustrating that you have to transport your DD to the competition when you live so far away, particularly as the school have several pupils entered.

DS has instead decided to enter the county youth orchestra concerto competition so has to audition next week, playing his movement of choice. The winner gets to play it with the orchestra in the spring concert next term. He seems to be a bit last minute studying the orchestral part but now learning when to keep my mouth firmly shut!

Yes, I can completely see it too @amr78 - and I always feel a bit embarrassed when I see the school social media posts about local competitions and wonder whether they should just ban the specialist schools to be fair as they always do far too well.

Up until last academic year DD was always ignoring these things because she was just at the local comp and everyone else was at private school and she felt she was the underdog. So it's a big change in perspective for us.

She hasn't, to be fair, got a chance against her classmates - but I love the fact she's going to have a go. Good luck to him with his concerto comp too.

sorry, on wrong thread!