Baboon boy was offered a place at the RCM today. Not sure if he'll go or not - that's a long story - but we are really pleased for him and obviously bursting to tell anyone who will understand.

Anyway there are lots of members on here that I need to thank but I know I will miss someone out so to all those who have/had kids at JD's I want to thank you for your PM's and posts. To the totally mad members on here that have made me giggle hard - you know who you all are you loonies! To the members who are that bit wiser than me (wouldn't be hard) and have been quite frank at times and hit a few nerves. And of course, to dear SueHM who has been fundamental in helping DS with his audition and his confidence.

And a thank you from Baboon boy who is thrilled that his silly, musical-hindrance of a mother has a place to vent/ask moronic music-realted questions, giving him some much needed breathing space !

Congratulations to your son

Hi MNW

Congratulations to you and your lad. You are obviously really chuffed, and so you should be. A lot of hard work, to say nothing of the stress, has paid off.

I've really loved reading all your posts - so please keep posting ...

Well done, again

well done, yippee, hurray

Yay!!!!

That's great news!!!!
Congratulations.

YAY! indeed! :-)

That's great news for you and your son. Congratulations. I'm sure you must feel so very proud.

Well done!!

You can't go now as there will be loads of things you still want to know

Seriously it's been nice having parental company as I was very much in the minority when I joined the forum.

Congratulations to your son. Hope he enjoys it if he decides to take up the offer.

But you are far more sensible than me though! In fact you probably fit into all three categories that I thanked!

What kerioboe said

*basks in reflected glory*

Well done NW junior, richly deserved, and I had almost nothing at all to do with it! (Bashing out a few accompaniments and providing moral support is my forte..)

Oh well done ALL of you! One of those "it's all worth it in the end" moments!

That's great. Really well done.

Congratulations to MNW son (I just CAN'T call him baboon boy, that's a Mum-only nickname if ever there was one).

Even if he doesn't take it up, it will be a great boost to his musical confidence.

What wonderful news Musicalnitwit. You must feel very proud of your son. Worth all the hard work and worry.

Well done to the little nitwit!

Thanks again for your kind comments. If he goes we'll drop grade 5 this term but I'm looking forward to hearing about everyone elses achievements.

Congratulations to both of you (and all of us)

Its a wonderful feeling when that offer letter arrives.

Well done to you, son and Sue HM. The journey continues

Congratulations. You must be a very proud parent!

Excellent news MNW! If he takes up the place I'll look forward to meeting you in September!

Congratulations to both of you, MNW. Stick around, though!

Marvellous.

well done to you both! That's fantastic news!!!

Fantastic news! Well done!

DS has just told me that he played his bassoon at the RCM with his cleaning rod inside as he forgot all about it!

Being rather naive re bassoons (amongst other instruments), what sort of sound did it make?
Or, maybe, he couldn't blow it???
My imagination is running riot ...

The noises my daughter was making earlier I'm not sure it would make much difference, in fact perhaps I should check what she has stuffed in her bassoon.

The woman said he was making lovely soft sounds which, at the time, surprised and pleased me greatly! It is a big brush, basically the width and most of the length of the fat middle section.

Daughter did this once on Flute when she was about your sons age. She had a massive panic thinking it was broken as no sound would come out

MNW - your posts are the highlight of my lunch break.

You folks do make me laugh (and, boy, do I need it, eh???)
Thanks so much

Son did this on euph too, because younger brother had stuffed a toy tractor and a couple of cars in there...

Have come to this post a bit late - but nevertheless congratulations all round.

And someone in my daughter's orchestra managed to get a tube of lipstick stuck inside her trumpet

That's what comes of letting girls play brass instruments!!

My elder daughter heard today that she has a place at Birmingham junior conservatoire for September.

She's delighted, particularly as she didn't feel the audition had gone very well due to nerves. (Said she was shaking so much the piano pedal was rattling!)

Congratulations! It's interesting that Forum parents tend to gravitate towards JDs.

Maybe because we are finding out about them here? Virtually all my "what you need to know as a non musical parent of a musical child" knowledge comes from this forum!

Mine too!!

Well - in my own case I'd have to omit the 'virtually.'

Can keep in the virtually in my case as my music teacher has been a great support. Of course, I now have three so I'll leave it all up to you to decide who it could be...you'd never guess!

A bit late - but Fantastic news for Young MNW

BTW I'd take the 'Virtually' out too

What is a JD exactly?!!!

You are hilarious and NWish as me!

JD is junior department of the music conservatoires. Whilst I'm on here there is a picture of the unmusical one on the RCM website which is rather ironic as I dragged him there one summer and he hated it!

http://www.rcm.ac.uk/Studying/Why+the+RCM/...ks+Summer+Music

Jack Daniels - good with Coke

Or the Junior Department of a Conservatoire - basically a very prestigious type of Saturday School for musos. You might want to consider it for Violason.

The MNW household is already competing against Violason on the grade 5 exam so stay away from the RCM!

Actually, I could do with a kindred spirit there as I feel so inadequate in these places!

I'm sure that you lot are speaking double dutch sometimes

Given that I am only just managing to keep my head above water at the moment, I think that I'd drown if I tried to think about Jack Daniels or any other kind of JD!!!!

Violason has been in the Isle of Wight for the week with school, so I doubt that the 2 lessons he has before the deadline for entry to G5 will be enough to convince his teacher that he can do it in July!! Ho hum it'll have to be Christmas then!!! Maybe I should have made him take Viola with him, I'm sure she'd have enjoyed the sun!!!

Dont post often
But must add my congrats to all who get their children into Jnr music schools , and also my thanks to all who post on this site , i dont know how i would have coped without reading these posts.
Yong son is in second term in Rwcmd , it is the highlight of his week.
I think few people outside of this site understand the difficulty of dealing with a "special child"....yes its rewarding as well , but it is so helpful reading of other peoples high and lows.
Again many thanks to all
Slarti