Autumn / Winter 2025 Music

[northerngoldilocks]

Time for a new thread in time for the new school term!

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.

How incredibly sad. Thoughts with wafflenose and her family.

How deeply sad and puts all things into perspective. I genuinely can't knit but hopefully some people are able to contribute.

🕯💐
I remember waffle coordinating these threads.

Oh that’s such terrible terrible news to hear! I’m lost for words but my thoughts are with the family…

It's lovely watching the wooly hugs thread progressing. MN community at its best, which is what these music threads have been over the years too.
You never know what's round the corner. It makes me value the joyful musical experiences our kids are accumulating all.the more. The amount Rara packed into her short years is astonishing. I'd followed the musical part of her achievements to some extent, but lovely to hear more about her other achievements and interests. A truly gifted young woman.
Please let's not stop talking about small musical happinesses in the face of tragedy. Anyone been doing NCO projects lately? DD's musical happiness this week - she met a cellist at an inter school event. They both have next to no fellow instrumentalists at their own schools and were touchingly happy to be able to talk music. Reminded me what NYO Inspire is for. Even for DD who has a great musical community outside school.

Well said @thirdfiddle.

DS did NCO weekend last weekend and what a great time he’s had! After the first day he was tired but so excited! My favourite moment was the dancing bit in the Mambo. The pure joy on his little face was irreplaceable. I was almost moved to tears watching him. They’re so good at making the music challenging enough but still very accessible and most importantly enjoyable. It was a long drive for us but well worth it!

@chickentikkasalad I'm so glad he had fun. I can see one of DD2's teachers on the NCO Projects pictures, which makes me smile as DD first met her on the very first Projects weekend.

Our exciting music news is that DD2 has a new (to her) bassoon. A charitable trust is buying it and lending it to her until she's 25 if she wants. She says it's true love and we are very grateful.

We have had a joyful weekend of music. Middle one played in a competition, then a concert. Youngest joined me in my amateur orchestra concert as emergency contrabassoon dep, after I scurried round procuring a three day loan of one. Thankfully it's the one she plays weekly anyway as they can be fickle beasts, with lots of idiosyncrasies in fingerings. She took it in her stride on two brief rehearsals.
Music really does help lift things and we are fortunate to be able to immersed in this. I'd love more children to have this joy.

Glad to hear that NCO projects was fun for your DS @chickentikkasalad - they all look to be having fun on the clips I've seen on social media.

@horseymum do you think contras / bassoons are the only instruments with non standard keys / fingerings - the more I learn about bassoon world the more I'm confused!

We've been having a bit of a mixed time for DD recently. She's done a couple of things with our local authority music service which have been frankly awful so have agreed never to sign her up for anything there again. Its a shame and things they run are so few and far between so i thought it was worth a try but totally understand why she has no appetite at all to do anything else.

Apart from that though - she's been getting lots of other good opportunities. The local holiday youth orchestra is playing one piece with a piano soloist in the summer so she's applied for that - though no idea how likely it is that she'd get to audition or do it. Waiting to see there but if not she'll play violin in it anyway.

She's also been asked by NCO if she would like to play piano on one of the pieces for the Easter residential - clearly the answer was a definite yes so that's really exciting for her! She's also playing the piano for the second act of the school musical which I think is after Easter and is also going to be playing a mix of piano and violin for the residential trip in the summer. Suddenly much more piano on the horizon!

Yeah, we were at the Midlands one. DD was sat behind a kid she’d competed against recently and they had a good old gossip which was lovely! She had the best time.

In the midst of festival prep and exam prep for child 2 (three different instruments in the festival and grade 5 cello the following week). Good news on the music scholarship front for another child too. After this we need a break! Interesting isn’t it, as we are in the grim element of pre exam practice I was musing that in the light of Waffle’s desperately sad news, we maybe do too much music and need to spend more time just relaxing as a family. Not sure our balance is quite right. Edited
to say that we have concerts for the next two weekends as well! Two for the non festival child and one possible for the festival child.

Musical joy here was a joint concert last night between DS's school jazz band and a band from an international school in Toronto.

The two groups met in the afternoon, rehearsed each other's music for a couple of hours, had dinner and lovely cross-cultural chat, then a fabulous and joy-filled concert to finish off. Warmed the cockles.

DS sang A Little Less Conversation, backed up by the jazz band. It was ACE.

Musical joy here is a show Ds worked on won an award last night.

Music happening here too. Dd played in a chamber concert at the weekend, has another concert on Wednesday (cello at both) then two informal piano concerts next week, along with evensong at a local cathedral. She has a solo apparently but hasn’t practised it yet!

Thank you for all the joy sharing. & So pleased to see another generation getting the NCO love, it's been DD's absolute favourite thing to do so far. They're generally good for a bit of choreography!

We are considering NCO (I presume for next year now). DD will be 10 at the end of the year. Good age to have a go or too young?

Definitely have a go. It’s so well pitched. My youngest started in year 4.

definitely have a go 👍- they have kids all ages starting from 8 :) and they all seem to be enjoying it!

Lovely to hear what everyone is up to! Nothing much to report here. DS has been really enjoying the music he’s playing at the moment (from grade 5 syllabus - thinking might be good for nco audition later this year, though equally they may be deluged with kids playing those pieces!), and (unusually for him) has been asking DH to play through them with him. He is incredibly lucky to have a pianist at home but up to now has not appreciated it!

@Compsearch, that sounds very impressive. Go for it and he’ll totally love it!

Thanks everyone, think we will then. Hopefully grade 5 will be well done and dusted by then (fingers crossed for next Friday) and she will be on the long path to grade 6, I gather it is a really big gap for cellists so expecting at least a year in between of all sorts of new technical stuff and rep etc.

For those who have done NCO weekends events already this year - did they hand out stickers for instrument cases?

They weren’t an item that could be ordered so assuming will be passed out on the residential but just wondering for this year?

Yes they did.

NYO applications are open for this year. Means you can see the excerpts and decide if you want to have a go. Applications close mid May but get a few extra days to put recordings in. Happy to answer any questions I'm able to as one child been in it for two years and other done inspire for four years. I know there are other parents on this thread too who can answer.

Having a bit of a nightmare here. I think we’re going to change teachers and it’s going to be very horrible. Current one putting DD under way too
much pressure, saying she needs to quit everything else - other instruments - or he’ll just teach her ‘for fun’. I feel v anxious about telling him, but she’s buckling under comments like that.