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.

Thank you all for the kind words. He loves theory anyway so I’m sure he will carry on this journey.
@Compsearchit’ll be great to get him started sooner than later so it’s not too cramped when he needs it (might be sooner than you think!).
He went to a trial for a new orchestra yesterday and absolutely loved it! His level is higher than what they needed but it’s a first time he played in a full orchestra so he was very excited all the way on the journey back home and told me he’s going to join! I wasn’t sure as the level is not that high but they had age related music and it sounded they had fun! He kept taking about the harp!

@chickentikkasalad- amazing result. Well done your ds!

I would avoid the harp at all costs (DD2 plays it). They are eyewatering even at a basic level once they get onto pedal instruments. Buying them secondhand is like buying a house (as in "we will pay you the asking price if you will agree to cancel all the viewings you have booked in - literally). Strings are guaranteed to go in pairs at crucial moments and a full set is hundreds of pounds. The trolley to move them is £500 and you need an estate car. Need I go on....

thanks for the warning I’ll try to nip anything that might come in the bud 🤣.

Congrats to your DS @chickentikkasalad!

Well done @chickentikkasalad's DS. Luckily my DD is still working through her grade four theory book, so I'm not coming under pressure from her teachers.

@achangeofnameisasgoodasarest She's a school year too young for NYCGB, but it's one for the future, thanks.

I think I'll book an audition for NCCGB and see how inconvenient the timings are when I get them. Not that I have any idea when she'd fit in audition prep. She swore she was going to get up early this morning and do very quiet piano practice to make up for missing yesterday's, then she slept in so late that she didn't even have time to eat breakfast. I had to put her porridge in a flask for break time. She said she'll practise piano in her head during boring lessons!

Love her attitude @TreeAtMyWindow - mine used to practice air piano in most of her lessons as far as I can gather and then swear blind to her teachers that she had no idea she was doing it....... I think a number of them were very relieved when she waltzed off to specialist school for 6th form!

There's not a lot to prep for an NYCGB audition@TreeAtMyWindow , she needs to pick a song that she can sing well unaccompanied, along with some sight singing and short aural questions eg. singing back a phrase. It only takes 15/20 minutes and they are very good with younger childer - DD auditioned when she was 9.

Could anyone advise on Alexander Technique - DD's school offer lessons in it but is it something that you do long-term or something else?

Just went through the calendar for the following months and music commitments are quite exhausting - I am trying not to be a bit fed up with all the ferrying around. In November there are local and London concerts, orchestra, and chamber group each week, extra rehearsals for two concerts plus two concerts, plus piano lessons and just found out place on piano mentoring scheme. Some weeks it is 4 evenings and most weekends, gulp!

Dilemma - new piano teacher is amazing and is very encouraging and pitched perfectly. Seems very on the ball, emailing me about prep for conservatoire, choosing repertoire now at beginning of Year 12 etc. Lessons extending from 1 hour to 1.5 as they are "having fun". She seems to skip out. Cello teacher and her, one year on, not gelling. Very lacklustre report, "doing very well etc" but damned by faint praise. Cello was always first instrument, last teacher she loved, and only stopped as he retired. New one is very blah about and gradually hearing less and less enthusiasm. Had had some masterclasses with lead cellist for a couple of the orchestras who had been very encouraging. Didn't pass audition for NYO and doesn't seem to be practising much at home (says is in school). I can't work out whether it is the teacher or her or a mixture of both.

Trouble is school head of music is friends with said teacher. And tbh there is probably limited choice locally. Old teacher also knows her (they all seem to know each other). I am wondering if I just let it work itself out or speak to one of them to ask for advice, if so which one? (Sorry this is a long post...)

We found individual Alexander and physio for musicians useful in our case, DD is hypermobile and plays three very different instruments, and the physio addressed her specific problems. She's been doing ballet for years and is very aware of her posture and muscle work which helps a bit with the violin (not with the finger joints though), but piano and brass are a different story and each has its own occupational hazards. For example, DD was sometimes in pain during long concerts as her brass instrument is still too heavy for her so she worked on changing arms position slightly.

A good teacher often corrects your posture and teaches you how to play without being too tense anyway, but for intermediate level pupils they focus on music more than on physical aspects of playing so it helps to have a separate lesson to target your tensions specifically. Also, music teachers do not necessary have in-depth knowledge of how medical conditions like hypermobility may affect playing and what to do with that.

I guess Alexander must be v v useful for singers as people are often quite tense around the jaws, neck and shoulders (I'm a neuroscientist and worked in body-oriented therapy and have seen it A LOT) and releasing this tension must be "opening" the voice, but we didn't do it for vocal studies so I've no personal experience.

We were doing it fortnightly during term time. I think ideally some physio exercises should become a life-long habit and body awareness is a good thing for anyone, not just musicians.

Not sure how it works in groups.

Thank you @Ubertomusic that’s really helpful. I think DD could definitely benefit from work on posture as she can look tense sometimes when playing.

Eek I just booked my DS in for his grade 5 Singing For Musical Theatre in December. He only did his grade 3 in March so it seems like quite a step up but he was adamant that he wanted to do it before Christmas. My youngest DS, on the other hand, has been playing the cornet for two years with absolutely no plans to do an exam at any point!

I'm sure he will be fine.

My ds is back at conservatoire for his final year. He really enjoyed yesterday so fingers crossed that continues. He was even enthusiastic about the academic/analysis module he has chosen this year.

I vaguely remember there was a discussion on bows on previous threads, with some shops suggestions, but I cannot find it now so I'd appreciate if someone points me in the right direction. DD needs a 3/4 violin bow, the violin is a decent French trade instrument set up by a Cremona luthier so it would be nice to find a good bow for it, but I don't really want to spend a fortune as it will only last a year at best. DD is playing ungraded pieces, roughly at diploma level, but her main objective for this year is improving her bow technique so again a decent bow is needed.

Thwaites is our usual shop but they only have full bows online atm (will double check anyway). I'm also looking at StringZone, is there any other good shops online, ideally those that could send bows on approval?

TA

@Ubertomusic Caswells Strings will send up to four bows at a time on approval. Lots of people say it's good to buy a bow for about 1/3 of the price of the instrument, to get a good quality match. Carbon fibre bows can be good value at that stage, my DC had good experience with Coda bows on 3/4 instruments.

We did the trial of bows via caswell. Call them up, tell them budget and any preferences and they will also suggest. DD tried CF and a wooden one and ultimately chose a CF one . Meant her violin teacher could also check her choice

Thank you @indigopotion and @northerngoldilocks !

We've used Stringzone in the past - they sent out a selection to try and then a second one when nothing was quite right. Could she get away with a full size bow as everyone who has seen DD2s carbondix prestige has been really impressed with it but it only comes as a full size. (She likes it so much she uses it for viola as well.) Otherwise I imagine Thwaites will have smaller bows in stock given the Purcell connection.

I think going up a bow size is hard @Londonmummy66- DD has generally gone up a violin size but kept the smaller bow for a while

It's not going well here. Mine is final year conservatoire. Applied foe professional expericence scheme with the orchestra he's always wanted to play with. The audition was a solo audition yesterday and a group workshop next week. He was really confident, had a great lesson the day before and played really well. They've told him they're not taking him forward, even to the pre booked workshop. This is unheard of for a final year and should be pretty much a shoe in. Last year he got to the last round. He's devastated as am I. He's asked for feeedback as has his tutor. But this was supposed to be the focus for his year and his way into the industry. I really don't know where we go from here. He's usually on the money with assessing how auditions went so it really doesn't add up- I've never heard him sound as pleased with an audition as he did yesterday.

I'm trying to figure out what would work, her teacher is on tour now and left no instructions, just said "get the bow asap" 😂

DD is petite, that's why she was still on 1/2 up until now, all her peers and even younger children have been on 3/4 or even full size for a year at least. I think we'll go and try full size in any shop, we're going to Thwaites anyway, it's only fractional sizes that are tricky to find so I'm looking everywhere.

Not sure what to do about pernambuco vs carbon either. DD needs to work out her muscles and joints in advance techniques, CF are lighter so presumably easier to work with but would that train her technique enough? Well established techniques are a different story but DD is not there yet. On the other hand, she's hypermobile so CF are less strain on the finger joints... Never had a CF before so no idea how it's going to work.

Decisions, decisions... I guess we're going to need a longer trial due to all those factors.

@Siriusmuggle oh gosh, what a huge blow. I hope the feedback is useful and makes some sense of it. Is there a fall back option?

There are others but not for this orchestra, they're blind auditions which he never does well in. A player in the year below has got through.

That's what DD is doing atm, playing 3/4 violin with 1/2 bow but the sound would really benefit from a bit more weight in the bow, and for some of her current pieces the 1/2 bow is just a little bit too short. Not a problem right now as she's not preparing a solo performance but will have to do it eventually for her assessment.