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.

Gatecrashing the thread, but I wondered if I could pick your musical brains please? My child is just starting year 8 at a school that offers music and voice lessons. DC has shown some interest in singing before, but we haven't been able to sort lessons for various reasons. Would it be too late to start now? At this age, do you need to be quite talented? I think it could be helpful to DC in other ways as well as musical, because DC can get very nervous standing up in class, doing presentations or drama etc, and this might teach some techniques to help with that. E.g. breath control, nerves etc. What do you think?

Thanks @minisnowballs, yes he would miss the social side too. He's a very social boy too. He loved being around other musical kids at NYSO so can imagine he'll have a wonderful at the JDs. It'll be much more fun than the online class. I guess I have to try one term and see how he feels about it and go from there.

Hope your DD manage to sort out her timetables. Huge part of growing up and learning to be independent isnt it.

Thanks @minisnowballs . The school has an 'everyone welcome' choir, so that might be possible too.

My DD is starting singing lessons in year 7 @MujeresLibres - she's been doing different choirs over the last few years but this is the first time she's going to have actual singing lessons. I don't think year 8 is too late either - i have the same hopes re improving confidence too.

Hello all! Marking place. One day I'll compile a spreadsheet so I can keep track of whose offspring are playing what, and where!

DS here is entering year 11, and showing no sign of slowing down on the music front. Thankfully.

Probably doing grade 8 piano and diploma piano this term, as well as playing in his many orchestras and choirs. And doing the school production. And singing in is nascent rock band.

French horn keeps being in danger of falling in enthusiasm, but then he has a big orchestral course or similar to reinvigorate. Needs to do an exam - hasn't done a grade for a couple of years!

Bought him an accordion for his birthday, and have finally tracked down a book which I hope helps him get to grips with it.

@MujeresLibres - my dd started singing lessons at about the same age. She had been singing in a choir or two for a few years but year 8 is definitely not too late to start!

Dd has picked up 2 definite new chamber groups and one maybe so far this term. That makes 11 different lessons/rehearsals a week (12 if the maybe becomes a definite!). It's a good job she loves to be kept busy! Some of those will have to drop in the spring as we approach GCSEs. School musical will be on top of that with auditions happening next month.

She's entered three vocal categories for a local music festival before Christmas too so that will give her something else on her plate too.

Hope everyone else's dcs are settled into their new academic years.

@minisnowballs - your DD's week sounds very hectic! Hope she manages to sort out all her timetabling issues.

Thanks to all who responded to my post, food for thought.

Stumbling across this thread as it briefly popped up on my ""Active" list! What a delight to find, with great kids doing great things, and friendly support/advice.

My DS has just started back in Y13, and would really like to complete Grade 8 in both of his instruments before the revision/exam season. It's for personal satisfaction as he won't be continuing with formal music education at uni. One of his teachers has mentioned Performance Grades which I see mentioned upthread, and he can't see a downside other than the possible lack of technical groundwork for the next level, but that doesn't really apply to him. Any advice?

He was also a chorister for many years, and is part of a group based at his cathedral for male former-choristers. It's a lovely idea, but most of the teen lads have drifted away from it and it seems there might only be two of them this year. Or even just him.

Hi PhotoDad!

Ex-chorister mum here too. DS now year 11, and there seems a remarkable lack of catering for ex-choristers. They give four or five years of dedicated singing service, then are dropped like a hot brick. Boys in particular need nurturing as their voices change. Our cathedral has an ex-chorister invitation choir, but it only sings three times a year.

I think the National Youth Choir has a 'cambiata' choir for boys going through 'the change', but it seems something needed on a wider basis.

As for performance grades, DS did his piano G8 like that. I queried how 'prestigious' it was with his teacher, but he said 'would you expect a concert pianist to come on and do scales?'

It is challenging in its own right - four long pieces, one right after each other, all have to be perfect/good. So tests different skills...

@herbaceous Thank you! The Performance Grade 8 sounds great for DS, he's used to giving recitals thanks to a music-supporting school. Maybe it would be different if he wanted to continue on past the Grades, but he just wants to be able to play to a decent standard for fun and in groups. Although one of his instruments is classical guitar, he spends more time rehearsing with various short-lived bands on his "semi-acoustic" than on his nice Spanish-style instrument!

Completely agree on the hot brick treatment of boy choristers. It's good that the National Youth Choir has recognised that. Apparently very very few cathedrals offer "cambiata" groups; his is weekly, they rehearse and then go straight into evensong with the local university's choral scholars and a semi-pro back row. If he is the only lad this year, I'm not sure he'd want to continue.

@photodad and @herbaceous - it's such a shame your children don't get more singing ops as ex choristers. The school my dd2 is at (specialist music, but also cathedral) has a special programme for them - some end up as full
singing specialists as soon as they come out of the choir like my dd2's roommate, but others seem to do so later. They seem to do a lot of opera (full opera week at the end of summer), but also the chapel choir and chamber choir etc. In fact, I think DD2 feels a bit left out because she's never been a chorister and everyone else has!

DS is lucky, as he moved to a school on a music scholarship, and does lots of singing there. He's also in a couple of choirs outside school, and does musical theatre.

During covid the chorister school shut, and the choristers were taken on by another, v posh, private school. If they choose to stay on at said school, at greatly increased fees without the chorister bursary, they sing in the chapel choir, chamber choir, etc. But it's a big 'IF'!

I find it surprising and disappointing that the cathedral in question has nothing formal in place for its ex-choristers. The adult choir is entirely separate, and comprises either university scholars or professional singers.

In fact, one of his out-of-school choirs is doing a concert in November, starring a certain poet and an opera singer. The opera singer has asked DS to duet with him!

DC1 plays a woodwind instrument and guitar, DC2 plays a woodwind instrument and guitar, DC3 about to learn the accordion and DC4 on the waiting list for the chanter.

Senior orchestra starts again soon so evenings will be manic yet again 😫 been doing this for years now🙈

@herbaceous - ah, the ex choristers seem to get quite big discounts at DD2's place, which I guess helps. Not anything that would allow her to be at the school of course - only if you get specialist status can you get the government MDS funding that she relies on, and apparently not many singers get that below Sixth Form. Instead they are on something called a 'vocal programme' which sounds a bit pricey.

It all seems mindbogglingly complicated to me, so I'm glad she's not a first-study singer. Her singing teacher did say at parents evening that she could consider swapping to singing specialist if she wanted next year.

I hope she doesn't as it seems like a very hard and competitive road.

@minisnowballs I always thought that the pricing structure at your DD's school was complex - one of the reasons we favoured a different MDS school. I dreaded the possibility of DD falling in love with it then not being offered an MDS place. In fact it was deemed too far away so we never applied.

Completely agree @se22mother . We just told DD2 you must be offered MDS or you aren't going.... but they were pretty clear that not everyone gets it. I get the feeling it is all really hard to explain to parents as well, so I feel rather sorry for them as they run auditions etc.

Well done mini @minisnowballs! What a relief!

Dd is starting g8 cello this term and was very excited this week to see that she has been "promoted" to front desk in both the main orchestra and the string orchestra. Main orchestra now has about 10 cellos which seems a lot to me!

Chamber orchestra tomorrow so let's see if she'll manage three for three.

She's really loving being back in the thick of all the music at school and it's so lovely to see how enthusiastic and chatty she is when she comes home.

Great news, @minisnowballs!

DS is meant to be studying for A-levels, swotting for a Cambridge admissions test, and even maybe working towards Grade 8 x 2. But all I hear from his room are endless electric guitar riffs for a school battle-of-the-bands next week! Oh, to be 17.

Back from Benslow and DS got a very nice violin that he loves! He made the choice and it was the right choice - never knew a good violin makes so much difference! He's treating it his little baby and taking care of it really well. He'd carefully lay it on the table safely every time he has a rest from playing even just a min "just in case". I'm glad he's taking care of it because he never cares about anything else 🤣.

Oh, and am I the first person to have had to pay for an ABRSM certificate? £3. Totally annoying.... think if I had booked the week before we'd have had it for free, but I was obviously not convinced she'd get round to doing it at all.

@minisnowballs who knows how long it'll
last but he never cared for his other instruments as well at all. Always moving about/swinging with a his previous violin in his hand which scares me. At least he signed the piece of paper which says he'll take care of it I guess he'll have to 🤣.

He did a piano exam 2 days ago I guess it's not long till I'll be in the same position of having to pay £3 for the certificate - that's if he passes 🤣!