PDA

View Full Version : So much for buying a cello, cheap or otherwise.



sanantoniosooner
12/7/2007, 11:23 PM
If we don't come up with a plan "B", my son wont be playing much longer.

He's a freshman in HS this year and the director doesn't have half the talent or motivation of the director he had in middle school. We just sat through a Christmas production. In three years of middle school, we NEVER heard anything nearly as bad as this evening. The beginners in middle school were better than the JV and the intermediate in middle school were better than the varsity.

It was so full of suck and fail I don't know what to do. Most of the orchestra is freshman and sophomores because they all drop out by their junior year usually. My son would like to take private lessons, but I sure would like to find some way he could play with a large group, and not suck. He is actually pretty good and has made region. Not many do from this pitiful orchestra. Most are the beneficiaries of private lessons.

Mixer!
12/7/2007, 11:46 PM
Transfer him to a school with a better orchestra program?



Just spitballin' here. :pop:

sanantoniosooner
12/7/2007, 11:48 PM
Transfer him to a school with a better orchestra program?



Just spitballin' here. :pop:
Not easy to do. With his asthma, he has missed a fair amount of school and attendance is one of the things they look at when allowing a kid to transfer. It was something we attempted to do prior to even getting into high school.

olevetonahill
12/7/2007, 11:48 PM
What Mixer said . Or private Lessions
GHP where are you ?

GottaHavePride
12/8/2007, 12:01 AM
http://www.yosa.org/

Ask the school director about the San Antonio Youth Orchestras. If he doesn't know or isn't helpful, ask the middle school director you just came from.

Also, private lessons. Best bet? Call the office of the San Antonio Symphony: http://www.sasymphony.org/m_orchestra0607.php

Tell them you have a student in need of cello lessons and ask if they can give you a phone number of someone to contact. The people in the symphony will probably either be willing to teach him themselves or have a graduate student that can teach.

sanantoniosooner
12/8/2007, 12:07 AM
Will do.

The director where my son played previously took a position at UTSA, but his wife is now in charge at the old middle school.

olevetonahill
12/8/2007, 12:43 AM
Spek to GHP
I knew He had the answer !
Good Jorb

Soonrboy
12/8/2007, 11:04 AM
OU offers the Sooner Strings Project, which both my kids were involved with. I thinks its $75 a semester. They get private practice one time a week and then work with an orchestra on another day. although they had their concert last week and it the quality has fallen since someone new has taken it over.

I know you are in San Antonio, but sure that there are honor orchestras and other things around there. The boy plays cello in two other orchestras besides the school one. One is an honors orchestra and the others is Oklahoma Youth Symphony. Both are really decent. The honors one brings in outstanding guest conductors.

Mjcpr
12/8/2007, 11:16 AM
First thing, stop using the phrase "suck and fail".

King Crimson
12/8/2007, 11:22 AM
FWIW, as some young person who took piano lessons from a real concert pianist at OU inna day....I worked my *** off and i practiced. all we did was scales, chords, arpeggios...actually playing something was a reward. i ruled at Guilds. they were like toss offs.

she took another job in Atlanta and i started more lessons with some woman (name not necessary) who was sort of the best in Norman at the time. and i really lost interest because i didn't have to try....i was a kid and lazy and could sight read music. i regret that.

my point: keep your kid in music if you can and teaching is important.

Tulsa_Fireman
12/8/2007, 02:12 PM
This is kinda along the same lines...

I've been thinking REAL serious about getting my daughter into piano lessons. She turns 8 in January. Is there a good way of going about it, or is it as simple as finding someone, going with it, and letting it shake out to see if she likes it or not?

My family are all drummers. My brother is the only one that can come close to sight reading, and that's only percussion. And even that is only from high school and the Navy. So she's screwed as far as anything beyond even the most rudimentary help here at home. Suggestions, musical folks?

GottaHavePride
12/8/2007, 07:27 PM
This is kinda along the same lines...

I've been thinking REAL serious about getting my daughter into piano lessons. She turns 8 in January. Is there a good way of going about it, or is it as simple as finding someone, going with it, and letting it shake out to see if she likes it or not?

My family are all drummers. My brother is the only one that can come close to sight reading, and that's only percussion. And even that is only from high school and the Navy. So she's screwed as far as anything beyond even the most rudimentary help here at home. Suggestions, musical folks?

Find a teacher. Ask around, ask school music teachers, teachers at universities, and so on. Find a good teacher your daughter likes. Also, your daughter will need a piano at home to practice on. Playing once a week with the teacher isn't enough - she'll need to have one where she can play it every day. You can get away with an electronic keyboard for a while (provided it has good, properly weighted keys and a full 88-key keyboard) but it's SO much better to have a real piano. A lot of music stores sell used pianos that should be fine.

Oh, and start slow. Don't worry so much about how long she spends practicing; even 15 minutes a day is enough to see progress. And if every once in a while there's a busy day and she doesn't practice, don't freak out - you don't want her to feel like playing the piano is work - it should be fun.