Summer Term Music and Music Exams Thread

Waffle- if she gets in, you can look forward to some very challenging navigation to get her to the various days they do. Had a horrible experience getting DD to a primary school in an anoymous modern suburb of Bristol. Never seen so many primary schools in one place! Results next week...

Hope you got there OK Waffle. I understand completely. And I hope DD enjoys the experience.

Herc snap, that is also DS2s summer project. He could also do theory at school in September, but as its after school on Fridays when he has Choir so it won't be an option.

Piano teacher said this morning she would like him to do it next March, so that seems achievable, though I think we may need to get a good way through Grade 4 over the summer.

Ealingwestmum how brave of her to carry on. I'm sure she will still have passed and it will probably be really good for her confidence to realise that things can happen and you can carry on.

Well since doing grade 6, DD has had a big turn around in attitude to technique. She always practised but hated technique and tone work and preferred spending most time on pieces - as most children do. Anyway, the examiner wrote in the extra comments, that she needs to develop her vibrato further ( no surprise as this is quite new to her and she is on a half size) and do further technique work. She is determined to do this. Her progress has been amazing in the last 2 weeks.

Anyway, the examiner's comments just hit the mark. Great combination of lovely remarks and a few 'raise your game if you want a distinction' type. She got a merit. She was relieved that she got a decent mark but is gunning for a distinction at grade 8. By then she should be on a 3/4.

Well one down here this afternoon. Finished consoling daughter on her G4 piano. She blanked on piece 1 (even though piece 3 had been the car crash in practice!) and played with right hand only until left felt happy to come back in (half way through).

Proud that she managed to recover after a horrible start…first time nerves have actually gone into the exam room. Now roll on the next in 2 weeks for G6 violin - opposite to overcooked, well under prepared (according to her teacher) and really hoping the exam trauma of today does not get taken forward!

Good luck on your hubbie's piano results Ishouldbeweaving!

Theas - DD1 is using a placcy bass for the foreseeable too. My wooden one cost nearly a grand, and it's not that good (it's not a Kung) and with her having had conservatoire grade descant treble and flute in the last 2 years, there's a limit and frankly she's well past it. We may get her a decent bass if she chooses to do a bass piece for her diploma, but we need a new car first! And the diploma will probably happen too soon. And all those auditions are going to cost a bomb too. Most of the NYRO people don't have sprauncy basses, to be honest. And then there's the issue of over playing - you'd need a placcy one as well as a decent wood one for the week and imagine carting two basses there as well as all the other stuff! Nightmare.

On theory, DD2s summer project is to finish grade 3 and have made a good start on grade 4 before she goes back to school. They have theory lessons there for the kids who are post grade 5 on an ABRSM syllabus, which hopefully will be her (she does Trinity for recorders, and she's only recently passed her grade 4 flute but she has grade 5 singing in a couple of weeks). But they are usually older kids and she is wary about joining the group as a new Y7. So she might carry in with the private theory lessons. But maybe not. DS also needs to buck his theory ideas up, he is the same level as her and would be ready for grade 6 sax if only he had the theory under his belt. He is belatedly realising that this would be a good idea, because he doesn't want her to catch him up in playing exam levels.

Theas - I thought the bass piece looked...challenging. But actually, it's not nearly as horrible as the key signature might lead you to believe. Falls under the fingers nicely. Your DD's audition is very late? Everyone DD1 knows auditioned ages ago. I think it's going to be a very full course (what with the Germans and all). We haven't started planning how we will get her there but I expect there will be a car going from our part of the world full of the usual suspects. Assuming she is fit to go - she's in hospital right now. :(

The husband's piano exam was laid to rest yesterday, it was a small event, no flowers. Actually it wasn't as bad as that but he thinks he blew his chances of a distinction with a slip in every piece (not in the same places as they've been stumbling in practice, he managed exciting new mistakes for the exam).

Best of luck for tomorrow Wafflenose, I hope you have a fun day out.

My elder daughter took grade 5 theory having just turned 9 and it was okay. She narrowly missed getting a merit. Young 'un is 7 and was finding the theory tough. The jazz sax makes so much more sense - she is far more likely to improvise and play nice jazz licks than transcribe SATB from short score. Or we might just move over to trinity? Everything up in the air for her currently. She is wanting to do more jazz, so I guess that's the direction.

DD did Grade 5 Jazz sax and absolutely hated it, although she loves playing jazz type music. Trinity, so doesn't count as a substitute. She hated the improvisation part, despite getting 1 off a full mark for it.

She has since done regular Grade 6 and prefers it. She won't do ABRSM because of the singing anyway.

I think DD mentioned the improvising a tune on top of the bass part being a bit tricky. But there was so much less work involved than in theory, and she enjoyed it too. She also now feels even more confident than previously about the aural side of the practical exams, as Practical Musicianship goes so far beyond them.

Actually, are there even jazz exams for double bass? I know that ABRSM doesn't have them. Always struck me as stupid.

I'd probably teach jazz piano as an 'instead of theory' option if I could get anyone to regard it as a separate subject - i.e. worth two lessons a week. As it is, I'm following ABRSM classical syllabus with my students and supplementing with LCM jazz piano materials. If I can figure out how to do the performance assessment DVDs (will trial on myself) then this will give them an option and perhaps when they're ready they could try an actual jazz exam with Trinity or ABRSM (LCM doesn't send an examiner here to the rock).

Of course, there are no exams available for jazz fiddle, which sucks. Totally teaching it, though - just did two jazz lessons with an adult student and he loved it, and it will suit one of the 8yos down to a tee once she's passed grade 1 level.

I taught one person prac musicianship many years ago when it was a very new exam. My daughter sings and is a pretty good sight singer and a get sight reader. Trying to toss up between jazz 5 and prac music 5. She is doing theory 5 but isn't finding it as easy as her sister did. We also think, being a jazz lover that those would be of more use than theory 5.

What did your daughter find the hardest to master? What took the most time to get to grips with?

Shak - we also decided on practical musicianship because it comes a lot more easily to her than the theory, though she is slowly working at the theory because of course you need it. She is 12 and she went from zero to grade 5 in pract musicianship in half a dozen lessons (some of them were an hour long though), without needing to do any practice at home, and got a distinction in her mock. Not that it's an easy exam, but she's a good sight singer anyway and finds aural easy. The difficult part was finding someone who would teach it to her. I spent ages not being able to find anyone as almost no-one teaches it, but the person we finally found is excellent, which obviously helped a lot.

I'm interested in the practical musicianship. My daughter is currently working on grade 5 theory with me but it's slow going. I have been talking to her teacher about jazz grade 5 - as she loves improv and jazz and blues. Prac musicianship - how old is she? How long did she prepare? Any advice?

Glad the practical musicianship went well. My elder 2 would say learn to fluff and act like you didn't do it or meant to play it like that!

Youngest very happy. Got into the next ensemble. Sneakily mastered a grade 7 piece very quickly for the audition buy the same steal practising that seems to rule in our house! Only the 2 really big orchestras above her now ( this is the highest tier ensemble with clarinets " en masse" now).

I sort of forgot NYRO audition in a week or so... but it's going OK with the set pieces. THey are hard and she's moaning ALOT about how crap our (MY I'll have you know) old as the hills , yamaha plastic bass is..

With three exams on the same day I think she deserves a reward for sheer stamina.

Apparently practical musicianship went really well, but she messed up the scales in her 2 practical exams, and made mistakes in some of the pieces. GRRR...

Hedgehogs that's really unprofessional! Assuming you are paying him don't use him again unless today is a real success on his part.

Do hope you fill us in on practical musicianship - sounds interesting

It's DD's music exams this afternoon. I'm a bit worried about the accompanist, as he is rather scatty. Last time she was singing a 2 verse song and he left out the second verse - simply stopped playing. It'll be interesting to see how the examiner copes with practical musicianship, as so few people do it. It'll be so nice to have that obtacle to the higher grades out of the way.

I know nothing about Initial or cellos so you're on your own there. Let's be honest I know next to nothing about music anyway so I'm not much use except in my supporting role as mother or wife of a musician.

It is a lovely evening here, mostly because it's been a day where I got to do some weaving (if I do have a specialist subject it's wool). The trombone has been dug out, greased and we appear to be capable of C Major (always a good start) and a half baked Blaydon Races from memory. I know I said he couldn't have it out until next month but we were just checking it over. Honestly. The husband and I have come to a negotiated settlement over the piano, he's got his pieces back to where they were a month ago and he's agreed that the worst thing he can do with two evenings left to go is to play them until they fall apart. They are as good as they are getting and instead he's treating me to something different that I haven't heard 15,000 times already.