Autumn Term Music and Music Exams Thread

Shedding - my daughter started violin one week after her 4th birthday, having begged from the age of 2. She is now 10, did grade 6 several months ago and is practising technique like crazy ready for grade 8 next year. Sometimes, they just have the motivational at a young age and know what they want! The hardest part was finding a teacher who would let her read music.

Rising 4 doesn't necessarily have to wait for violin, could start via Suzuki or Stringbabies. It depends on family situation - not just finances, but parenting style, ability to be involved in practise, commitment and finding the right local teacher! But just, you know, to throw it in the mix.

Can I just say: day 3 of term and I've practised 3 days in a row! What a shining example I am. Two instruments today, even (violin and viola - playing viola helps my bow technique), and actual practice not just playing stuff I like.

DS2 is another secondary school starter too. He has been to their primary music weeks for the last 3 years so knows the music department very well already though, as well as the numerous concerts that DD and DS1 have played in.

Hello, I'm joining in this thread for the first time :)

We only have one musician in the family (DD age 13) but she plays so many instruments she's practically a one-person band. It's difficult to know at what point we should insist that she chooses an instrument to specialize in.

Currently she plays guitar (acoustic, electric and bass), mainly jazz/rock/folk so not exam-oriented, is a self-taught pianist/ keyboard player working around grade 5 standard (started lessons with a private teacher this week), and she played soprano and alto recorders for many years. She's now dropped the recorder and is starting saxophone at the local music school this year. This means she will have to do formal theory classes for the first time as we live in France and municipal music schools here insist on separate theory and instrument classes. She may even have to sit an exam ;)

She'd like to learn the violin and accordion too but I have drawn the line at any more instruments!

Bramshott - yes DD2 has just started in Y7. Youngest child in the school. Luckily for her she has been having lessons with one of her instrumental teachers for the last year (when her old teacher retired at the end of Y5 it made sense to start with the teacher she was probably going to have from Y7 assuming she passed the 11+ (which she did)). The other teacher also teaches DD1 (actually they both do) so that's at least some stability for DD2 (she's met the other teacher several times at school performances and also at shows she has been in with her theatre group).

I do feel that DD2 is approaching the point where she will have to either give up some of the music or some of the dancing. Although she is adamant that she will give up neither.

Mini Muskey passed grade 1flute in the summer and when she goes back on Monday will commence grade 2. Mini Muskey did piano for five years but didn't want to do her grades.

Here in NZ the school term is January - December, so no changes in schools or year groups right now.

Oops, only just found new thread! I'll repost what I posted yesterday on the old one:

Got it! DD1 squeaked a merit in her Grade 4 singing with 120 marks. Will get comments sheet tomorrow.

It was her first day in Y7 today, and tomorrow she has to negotiate the complexity which is two instrumental lessons during the day! Fingers crossed.

Any other young musicians starting secondary this term?

Hi. We are in New Zealand so no chance of popping into London:-(
She plays a lovely Ling Hua violin, - bright sound and rich tone which is coupled with a Finkel bow.

There seem to be more 3/4 French pre1900 violins available in Europe but our budget doesn't stretch to picking up in person and we wouldn't buy unseen. They also have a bigger selection of bows there too.

The Caswell's Maestro outfit also comes in 3/4 (again, in the £600 range).

Shakyisles,

How 'amazing' is amazing? The Stringers London shop carries a 3/4 'Symphony' outfit for £600, which seems fairly top end for fractional sized instruments.

They also have some potentially interesting 3/4 and 7/8 models here: www.stringersmusic.com/Smaller-sized-violins-7/8-1/16-size/View-all-products.html

The viola I own is from them - bought secondhand but I think it's their 'soloist' outfit (still a student 'pack') with strings we can't identify but I think they're obligatos.

Hi all. Dd (10) has just grown and I am on the hunt for a really amazing 3/4 violin as she is skipping grade 7 and just doing 8. No change of school or year for us, as our school year runs until December here so she carries on in year 5.

Dd(7) has her exam date for grade 5 alto sax. She loves her pieces and is hoping to get a really good mark again.

I agree about sport vs music. If we treated those children who were good at sport the same way, we would hand them an instrument and make them play in assembly there and then. A bit like cross country is for children who don't run in their spare time.

I had a deal with DS2's peri teacher that I texted her direct when I knew there was a school trip, otherwise she would turn up at school to find them not there!

I usually get school notices third hand. Only one school thus far, though.

Ishouldbeweaving,

Leaving stuff out works for me. As in myself, no idea about students!

***

I've decided to work on the Wieniawski Legende as a possible entry piece in the adult section of the local Eisteddfod. That gives me a deadline of mid-November to have the piece up to scratch. It's challenging enough to require practice if I want to play it well, with the whole middle section being double stopped (in tune enough to create overtones, please!) and a need for a mature interpretation... and consequently good control of bow and vibrato... and 1-3 fingered octaves with double trills (which a lot of the recordings seem to omit... I wonder why?!?!?!).

Waffle - I wonder whether you'd be messed about quite so much if you were a sports coach. Some extra curricular activities seem to carry more weight than others in our school. (I had a long rant about excellence in sport vs music which I've written and deleted twice). School don't seem to tell the peri teachers anything, whether it's strike days, whole school events, year group activities or snow closures.

I've just unpacked the next weapon against practice slacking. Over the summer I had a clearance downstairs, I finally got rid of the toybox and all the accumulated rubbish that was in/on top of/behind it. I moved some furniture about and then herded all the musical stuff into the new space. The result is that the music stand can stop up all of the time and visitors no longer have to pass through a cornet and euphonium chicane to get into the living room. Today's delivery was a trombone stand, my hope is that if it's just standing there, with the music ready on the stand, then there's more chance of a quick practice. We shall see (I'm delusional aren't I?)

Also, tres impressed by my 3 and 4yo pianists so far. :)

AriaBanjo,

Stringbabies works differently because it teaches note-reading skills from the start, by simple association, in a similar way to the piano course I use. It's a framework, not a course, so I'll be mixing things I've learnt from this training with ideas pilfered from pre-Twinkle Suzuki teachers and with elements of Dalcroze and Kodaly.

Suzuki as a package just doesn't seem to suit my personality, but I love some of the ideas teachers have shared.

I haven't heard of stringbabies. Mine started violin at 3yo with suzuki method and it's amazing what such little children can do!

Hi everyone,
Dd (11)plays clarinet. It is her first day at secondary today and she went off very happily :-)