My feed
Premium

Please
or
to access all these features

Find advice on the best extra curricular activities in secondary schools and primary schools here.

Extra-curricular activities

New Year Music and Musicians Thread

991 replies

Wafflenose · 04/01/2016 13:46

Morning all, and Happy New Year. I decided it was time for a new music thread too. I really enjoy hearing about what everyone (and their DCs) are up to each term, and it's great to hear from new posters too.

I have two DDs. Goo (10) - the child previously known as MiniWaffle. She's not very mini any more... she's 4'10" and catching up with me. Anyway, she plays the recorder, flute, piccolo and a bit of piano when it occurs to her. She is doing Grade 5 Theory and possibly Grade 5 Flute (if the new teacher deems her ready) this term. Next recorder exam will be Grade 7, but possibly not for about 18 months! Am hoping the new flute teacher will also do a bit of piano with her... we'll see.

And Rara (7) - previously known as BabyWaffle - plays the recorder and cello. I was thinking of putting her in for Grade 1 Theory, but she's not keen, so we'll wait. She is in the blissfully calm position of no exams this term - yay!

We all have the local music festival next month. I think Goo is doing 11 Classes, and Rara about 7 (plus possibly helping with some percussion parts). I have 27 groups, pairs and individuals entered, so am going to be busy for the next month or so.

OP posts:
Icouldbeknitting · 04/01/2016 15:05

Teacher agreed that DS(15 and he's a brass player) could start lessons two weeks late, he has mock GCSEs this week and next and I don't want to provide any excuse for lack of revision. His teachers think that he spends every waking hour chained to a music stand, the reality is that he tries very hard to spend every waking hour in front of a computer screen. If it comes to an inquest after the results then I don't want him to be able to use his music as a smokescreen.

I am giddy at the prospect of no music exams this year, not unless we're counting music GCSE anyway.

Waffle After this length of time I may have to transition with MiniGoo and BabyRara

Musicmom1 · 04/01/2016 16:13

Thank you Waffle and happy new year to all. DD (10) has G5 clarinet this term and G7 cello in the summer term. is a choirester (but with less commitments than many) and sings in the children's chorus in a nearby city. Have stopped singing lessons as does so much singing in great choirs. Piano is infrequent lessons for fun. We have had a break from exams for a while so this is a bit of a heavy re-introduction. Year 5 so will start pre-auditions for music scholarships in the summer term. But far more fun - local music festival in March 😀

Greenleave · 04/01/2016 19:55

Daughter(8) is learning grade 3 piano and grade 2 violin, piano test planned/paid for end of match, violin hasnt really gone anywhere so hopefull sometime in the summer. I am so happy now I dont have to sit with her piano practise as much, she sits down everytime she feels she likes it which is great-not the same as with violin as there wasnt any the whole Dec probably. However I am ok with it, its holiday monthe, do whatever you please!

raspberryrippleicecream · 04/01/2016 21:23

Happy New Year. Waffle will do my best to remember!

The raspberry household has two Grade 8s at the end of March, DD sax and DS1 tuba, before they settle down to GCSEs and A levels!

DS2 is blissfully Exam free this term. Hes skipping Grade 5 clarinet and wasnt quite ready for the school entry for Grade 6. Grade 7 piano wont be until autumn. And trombone is an exam free zone!

Main excitement for him is that his choir is recording a CD this term. Then its our music festival in March. I think he will end up with 6 individual entries and 3 groups. DD just does groups, but along with DS1 does one class 3 times with different groups!

This will be DS1s last festival which feels very sad.

Fleurdelise · 04/01/2016 22:49

Hello all! Happy New Year!

DD (8) is doing grade 8 piano this session so fingers crossed she'll be up to scratch till then as she still needs to polish two pieces and learn the last two lines of the third. Not sure if it is achievable. Any opinions?

Greenleave good luck to your DD also, what pieces has she chosen for grade 3 piano? Are all the pieces ready?

Fleurdelise · 04/01/2016 22:49

*grade 3 not 8 Grin

Greenleave · 05/01/2016 07:47

Fleurdelise: is your daughter taking the test this spring? I think it should be ok. Good luck to her too. Mine had her g2 done by end of Nov so only started g3 from beg of Dec however picked up very very quick(compare to years of learning pregrades then grade 1"). She is learning Stormy coast, Minuet and Jack is sad. She could play the whole first 2 songs but needs to perfect them so slowing down for now, learning half Jack is sad I think. I dont see grade 3 is a massive step up and I think we can skip it and jump to 4. I am still doing every grade(we even went for pregrade) though as hoping she learns the technique and have time to know/practise it. We are not very musical and I havent had any idea whether we have grades done for anything. For now music is only as an additional skill and for her to enjoy. I noticed a massive change in music taste in our household too as we are listening to classical music ALL THE TIME without even notice.

Fleurdelise · 05/01/2016 08:30

Green she is meant to do it in Feb/March session yes. She only started piano 2 and a half years ago and took grade 1 last March and the teacher decided to skip grade 2 as she progressed faster than expected.

DD is doing Stormy Coast, Jack is Sad (which is by far her favourite but she finds it pretty easy) and one of the alternatives, Haydn Allegretto in Eb major. The last one is the hardest as it has so many details. She plays the Allegretto and Jack is sad completely but need polishing, more dynamics/speed and on Stormy Coast she has two lines left to learn.

CoteDAzur · 05/01/2016 08:35

May I join you?

DD is in her 5th year of piano and DS (6) started harpsichord in September.

I play the piano every day and I'm starting harpsichord lessons this week at the kids' conservatory. First lesson: Couperin's L'Art de Toucher le Clavecin Smile

Enb76 · 05/01/2016 09:50

Can I join? I have a daughter in Y2 who plays recorder with school, piano with a private teacher and has a guitar that she plays with but is not learning. She'll be doing G1 piano at some point this half of the year but I think her teacher wants her competent at a G2 standard before he puts her in. I'm rather bored of Kabalevsky and Czerny but she isn't.

Icouldbeknitting · 05/01/2016 10:19

It's lovely to see some new faces in the ensemble so hello to CoteDAzur and Enb76.

We have a violin that someone plays with but is not learning, two of the strings broke this week (it's not been touched in thirty years so it's not surprising) and I'm not unhappy at all. There are worse things than beginner ocarina and beginner flute...

Greenleave · 05/01/2016 12:04

Fleur: your tutor was correct, I think its ok to skip. Great news about Jack is sad being the last one. Now make me thinking our tutor always says we start with the hardest then doing the easiest the last, might be thats why. She didnt do too well in sight reading and scale in her g2 test though(got almost max points in all 3 pieces and very bad in scales and sight reading so ended up with a merit). Our tutor says we could improve it by learning etudes. I am thinking of stop taking tests after this one and learn etudes abit. For now lets hope for the best in March. We were sent the week of mid March so there is 2 months left

Greenleave · 05/01/2016 12:05

Enb and Cote, lovely to see new faces and hear about this year plan

Fleurdelise · 05/01/2016 12:26

Sight reading is a pain for a lot of little pianists from what I have heard, it needs to be conquered but definitely the weak area of my Dd's also.

Scales and arpeggios are ok, sometimes though she plays them too fast and her finger slips.

Welcome to the newcomers, good luck with all the music achievements coming their way.

Greenleave · 05/01/2016 12:32

Forgot to say Fleur we found the first half of stormy coast was hard(fast and rough) while the second half is nice and relaxed and slow so hopefully your daughter will find the same

Fleurdelise · 05/01/2016 12:42

Green did you get the date already for the exam?

DD is also playing a lot of studies, Czerny, Burgmuller, grade 3 studies the book by ABRSM.

Yes hopefully the second half of Stormy Coast is easier to master.

mom17 · 05/01/2016 15:36

Fleur, What all Czerny, Burgmuller pieces your DD has done. DS did Burgmuller's op 100 first 3 pieces.

Greenleave · 05/01/2016 17:34

Fleur: we were sent an estimated week, they normally only tell us tge exact date closer to the day. We are away for 2 weeks so hopefully they stick with the week they mentioned then we are ok. I would be surprised if you daughter has a date yet unless she is having it beg Feb. We actually had our violin test date messed up last year as we requested for 1 month apart and hoping to have some free time between and they ended up moving the violin test date only 1 day after the piano date and only advised us more than 2 weeks before. We then called them and they eventually moved the violin test date to 3 days later-but in a different test centre and quite far from where we live. She managed to passed both with Merit but it was quite stressful. Learning the lesson I am now not scheduling the violin one yet until...maybe summer, or whenever she is ready but not in the same term with piano. The plan for this year for now is only g3 in March for piano then we will see how it goes and what she wants to do after

Fleurdelise · 05/01/2016 19:29

Mom as mentioned before she does the Czerny op 823, not sure what number she's on now as she alternates the books and I haven't got the book in front of me. She did Burgmuller op 100 Arabesque but didn't bring it up to the required speed as she then started the pieces and some supporting studies from the Abrsm grade 3 studies. Teacher stated she'll come back to it after exam as she really wants her to play it at the correct speed, seeing on YouTube at he correct speed I would be truly impressed if she does achieve that.

Green that is why I was asking as last time we found the date only about two weeks after the application date closed.

I can imagine your DD wasn't pleased to take two exams during the same session and only days apart. DD does ballroom dancing and I still try to not schedule exams close by to her piano exams.

Greenleave · 05/01/2016 20:00

Yes, lesson is learnt now!:)

raspberryrippleicecream · 05/01/2016 21:27

You can't always have them far apart anyway. DS2 had his Grade 4 piano and Grade 3 trombone on consecutive days, but with a four day Exam session (Trinity) they were never going to be far apart. (He got merit/distinction).

More annoying was ABRSM scheduling DS2 for Grade 6 piano last summer on the day he was leaving for band trip despite being given the date and there being a 2 week visit. They couldn't change it (or they did, but had forgotten to book the venue for that centre), but luckily trip left a couple of hours latwr than planned.

Greenleave · 05/01/2016 21:42

@raspberry: that was madness, your son must have done well. I was the least confidence as I could play violin and I thought she wouldnt pass given so little practise between

Don’t want to miss threads like this?

Weekly

Sign up to our weekly round up and get all the best threads sent straight to your inbox!

Log in to update your newsletter preferences.

You've subscribed!

raspberryrippleicecream · 05/01/2016 23:00

I can't remember now why he did them so close, it was probably preferable to keeping one until the next session, which always clashes with our local Festival and is always also busy. He doesn't do trombone exams anymore, maybe at Grade 8, so its one less to worry about.

motherwithheadache · 05/01/2016 23:35

ha, dd did a grade 1 and 2 on the same day and it looks like this term she is doing a grade 3 and 4 also on the same day...But she isn't bothered with it. The instrument in the lower grade is her stronger instrument so don't think she is going to have problems with it.

Greenleave · 06/01/2016 07:38

@mother: how old was your daughter when she took grade 1 and 2 on the same day. For us, we werent confident with violin at all(but she had nearly max marks in all 3 pieces and again didnt do well on scales and sight reading)

Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.