The Nice People Thread, No.16: A Universe of Niceness.

Cakeguts

I actually think that the riff raff thing with adult amateur orchestras might have a basis in truth. I have a nasty feeling though that for riff raff you read we don't want anyone who is not as good as someone who has taken grades because they might not be serious / or they just can't be any good because if they were they would have been good enough to take grades. I would put quite a lot of money on the second of these. I only wish they knew that because grades don't test ensemble playing there is no way that you can tell how someone will play a viola part from how many viola grades they have passed. On the other hand someone who plays the viola and has spent lots of fun time playing any sort of music with others in any sort of group but not bothered with exams will play the viola part really well even if they don't play all the notes.

Time for a viola joke.

Established string quartet requires 1st violin, 2nd violin and cello players.

Loanranger

Well, I don't agree at all about selecting out riff raff on basis of class.
I have very strong working class roots, dating back for generations and grew up in a small terraced house in a very downmarket town. My mother played the piano, grade 8 achieved.
None of our teachers discriminated against anyone in my family nor from the local council estates.
We sat the exams and passed those we were capable of passing based on ability not on some outmoded notion of an elite based on middle class values.
I have heard this before though and although it was not my experience I accept that some feel strongly that their teachers disliked their backgrounds and held them back on that basis. At this distance who knows anyway and in any case I got three sets of post-nominal letters. None for music though! I had piano lessons but lacked motivation and very probably musical talent.
Most interesting thing about my music lessons was that my young female teacher ran off with an unsuitable young man and I knew there was a whiff of scandal but was deemed too young to be let in on it.

vivatifosi

I think it depended on the school Loanranger. The school I went to wouldn't dream of doing that now, but the fact remains that it did nothing for me.

ivyleaf

I do feel that some pursuits are barred from many young people who might benefit from them or be talented, by reason of cost. School music lessons are just one example - they used to be free but now most schools have to charge for them.

Pyxis

ivyleaf wrote: »

I do feel that some pursuits are barred from many young people who might benefit from them or be talented, by reason of cost. School music lessons are just one example - they used to be free but now most schools have to charge for them.

Music, IMO, should be a priority expenditure. Tha health, well-being, and beneficial brain effects are well-known and well-documented. Why, oh why isn't it a priority? :mad:

LydiaJ

vivatifosi wrote: »

So true. I wanted to play the piano. My mum and her family played it well. My grandparents had a piano at their house that I used to learn on. I was refused lessons at school on the grounds that I did not have a piano at home.

Seriously, I lived on a council estate and went to school there. How many pianos do they think there were locally? I even tried to say that my grandparents had one and that I visited daily, but they still refused:(.

:eek: That's shocking! I mean, fair enough to say you can only learn if you have access to a piano on which to practise regularly, but it shouldn't matter whether it's in your own home or a place you go daily.

As far as the class discrimination at school thing goes... I imagine the people saying "this definitely went on in my school" and the people saying "no no - my school was completely meritocratic" may well both be right. It's hardly as though such class discrimination would be an official policy somewhere, and if individual teachers in particular schools chose to recommend some over others for reasons that were less than fair, then I suppose it's just that every profession has its bad apples.

DD loves music and has both singing and guitar lessons, having switched from piano a year ago, although I can hear her playing the piano as I'm typing this. DS, OTOH, is not interested in music. Both are into drama, though.

ivyleaf wrote: »

Lydia If you are planning to get new curtains as well, I came across some good advice which said that it's better to choose the new curtains first, because it's much easier to then find carpeting to go with the curtains, rather than buying the carpet first and then trying to find just the right curtaining.

Oh help! So I have to get all three balls in the air before I can catch any of them (meaning paint, carpet and curtains)? Thanks for warning me. I'll start looking into curtains then. Although actually I'm more bothered about the curtains being a good match to the accent in the cushions in the living room, and I'm quite happy with the dining room curtains and would rather not replace those if possible.

Anyway, I imagine the carpet/curtain matching thing is much more important if the curtains are full length. My windows have radiators under them, so I choose only to have sill-length curtains that don't stop the heat getting into the room once the curtains are closed. The separation should provide a bit of wiggle room in terms of getting a perfect match, shouldn't it?

silvercar

Pyxis wrote: »

Music, IMO, should be a priority expenditure. Tha health, well-being, and beneficial brain effects are well-known and well-documented. Why, oh why isn't it a priority? :mad:

Limited budgets.

Schools judged on league tables.

Maths, English, science etc deemed more important.

Abundance of private music teachers around - rather more than in the key subjects.

Pyxis

silvercar wrote: »

Limited budgets.

Schools judged on league tables.

Maths, English, science etc deemed more important.

Abundance of private music teachers around - rather more than in the key subjects.

Yes, but music has been shown to improve concentration in core subjects!

(Jumps up and down on soapbox)



(Soapbox breaks under the strain!)

Cakeguts

Pyxis wrote: »

Yes, but music has been shown to improve concentration in core subjects!

(Jumps up and down on soapbox)



(Soapbox breaks under the strain!)

You should see what it does to someone who has a mental illness. If everyone knew this I feel sure that they would want all children to have a go at playing something.

Pyxis

Cakeguts wrote: »

You should see what it does to someone who has a mental illness. If everyone knew this I feel sure that they would want all children to have a go at playing something.

I've seen what it can do for people with Alzheimer's and dementia. It's incredible.