Summer Term Music, Musicians and Music Exams thread

Oh well sometimes it's good to have something else to take the worry away. Chemistry will do that nicely! DH doesn't think it's good for DS to be practising like crazy hours before a grade exam in case he makes a mistake and that doubles his stress level. But that said if DS wants to he lets him.

Thanks drummersmum and I'm glad you mentioned photo id. I'll take his passport just in case they think he's an imposter! I've never come across that one before.
If he decides to do another exam next year I'll get the Hot Rock book. Good luck to your DS with grade 7!
As he went out the door this morning, DS mentioned a chemistry test he needs to revise for tonight. Why he couldn't have done the revision last night I do not know. Unluckily for him, the only lesson he's missing tomorrow is PE, not chemistry!

Good luck to him. Does he know rockschool also publish the Hot Rock repertoire and he can play one of those for the exam? DS happens to always like their standard exam pieces but twice he included one alternative for fun. They have very cool stuff like Greenday, The Who, Police etc. Unfortunately DS is taking grade 7 this term and the hot rock series only covers the intermediate grades for some reason.
Btw they are asking for a photo id on the day for the first time. Some people must be sending their mates to take the exam for them?!

Well, DS1 has his grade 4 drum kit exam tomorrow. Luckily he stopped moaning about how rubbish the pieces were as we were all getting fed up of the sighing and eye-rolling. I think he's done enough practice and he has a lesson tonight so hopefully that's it for drum kit exams for some time! Don't know if anyone else's DCs find the Rockschool repertoire 'boring' - am convinced that really DS1 was sulking because otherwise in his lessons he gets to work on pieces that he and his teacher like. It's probably done him good to work on something he didn't choose for fun, just for a change.

Shedding

It was a great opportunity for her, but I think at the cost of the academics tbh.
We took an autonomous approach here and she didn't really want to do much. She has a great general knowledge and of course she is gifted musically, but I have to keep her feet on the ground as she thinks she's Cecilia Bartoli. or a female reincarnation of Charlie Parker
I will miss her too, very much so, but have been told by many to deny her the opportunity would be selfish.
I found "The Outliers" helped to put this into perspective telling her the amount of practice a virtuoso does before they get there.
Not to push for more practice, I'd have preferred less, but to let her know she ain't there yet, or anywhere near.
I'm hard, I know.

There was no grade 1, 2 or 7 in my day. So I just took the grades, practised 30 minutes. Day as a beginner and went up to about 45 later on. It was only post grade 8 that I did 90-120 minutes per day.

My children do about an hour on their main instrument per day. We homeschool and the most important thing is that they practise when they aren't tired. They still have plenty of time for activities and academics. It's amazing how much time is freed up by not travelling to school. They are very driven in their passions - which are a varied. Plus we have taken up kung fu, as a family.

At the moment, miss 8 and I are battling the grade 6 scales. She hates melodics with a passion! I ask them and she moans and gets cross with them. Then gets cross with me for asking them - even though she asks me to help!

shedding

There is nothing to envy, honestly.
Our dd practices for 5 hours a day, and dh for a couple of hours.
He also teaches from home, so it's music all day.
I am a sahm and people ask how i cope, they find it hard to believe you can just switch off
Our lives have revolved around dd for many years now as she wanted the chance to follow her dreams as she puts it.
The practice has paid off and her music is no longer our responsibility and we are moving to allow dh a music room, so I might be able to start playing again when there aren't so many others practising.
It's lovely to be able to play an instrument or two, or three but it can take over your life.

It is only this year - last year of French junior high (Y10) - that DD has cut down on "fun" activities! She's dropped gym, dance and archery (which were mainly social activities) - but added sax, piano, wind band and a zumba fitness class.

I doubt dd plays as much as 2 hours sax per week, she does about 20 mins a time (and not every day) plus one wind band rehearsal. Nevertheless, in 8 months she has gone from total beginner to taking her exam for admission into the "second cycle" at her French music school (roughly equivalent to grade 4 in terms of repertoire). I do not think she is a particularly natural sax player either!

Shedding, I know the feeling. She does other bits and pieces too but we've cut down on those, more to focus on academics and I think that's working. At this age they seem to want to do everything, leaving us to theorise over which one they seem to be more into or have the most potential for.

And yes two hours per week per instrument...that's on a good week!

Shakyisles, 8 grades in two years? wow..did you skip some? how many hours did you practice per week? My g daughter does 2 hrs per week by the way, not per day.

Violin "speaks to her soul" (nice expression) but she's passive about piano unless we have visitors and then she's in entertainer mode!

I think I'll look for a very good teacher before I even mention it to her.

I just noticed replies Ealingwestmum, wafflenose and musicmum. Thank you.

It's certainly possible to learn to play flute very well in a short amount of time. I started at age 10 and had grade 8 when I was 12. I agree that it would be better to concentrate on her first two instruments. If she only has two hours per day to practise, then adding in another instrument would really dilute her practise sessions for the first two instruments. Plus voice becomes increasingly important, as you climb the grades.
However if violin or piano doesn't speak to her soul, then flute might, and not allowing her to play might be the worst thing ever. Get a good teacher - poor technique takes years and years to unpick and can lead to damage. You can get tension in the neck, the arms, tendon problems from over stretching and so on. But she has great taste - my first instrument is flute!

Esex your approach sounds sensible - if your child plays several instruments you do have to be aware that there is no way to achieve excellence on them all. (This isn't an issue for my DD since "virtuoso" performance and exams don't really interest her, she is naturally more of an accompanist and composer than a solo instrumentalist).

Thanks for replying, Mistigri. Reassuring to know. I'm thinking if she really takes to the flute then she can relax on the piano after grade 4 as she enjoys violin more and then that way she'll be doing the two instruments she enjoys the most.

Essex We have found progress on subsequent instruments to be exponentially faster although it may depend how much cross-over there is. DD's progress on piano and sax (third and fourth instruments) has been quite rapid especially considering the relatively limited time she puts in.

DD does a 1 hour piano lesson every 2-3 weeks and tbh I think this is actually more useful than her weekly half hour on sax.

EssexYumMum we are gearing up for possible music scholarships as dd is In Yr 4; as others say the level required enormously from school to school and year to year. Our most prestigious local independant will normally have candidates on g8 on both instruments for yr8 entry; others are less prestigious musically and the expectation reduces. However having said that dd got her very generous music scholarship for her very musical prep school entry (yr3) without having taken any exams - indeed she took g1 a month later. They tested all sorts of musciality and talked to her to test her enthusiasm and she was chosen over more advanced players - what she did was demonstrate a commitment to joining in and her teacher's reference said the same - and indeed she is very willingly in just about every music group going (as are all the music scholars before her) as well as national stuff.

Hi Essex - you do not need grade 5+ on the flute if she's achieving that on her primary/secondary instruments, lots of children present for scholarship auditions with primary instrument being at the level only.

The grade necessity (or equivalent, at that standard which a teacher's report or reference verifies) varies by school depending on how competitive entry is (especially in London!). My DD did not secure an audition at 1 of her prospect schools with G6 violin and G4 piano due to high levels of applicants at a much higher standard. Conversely, I know of many boys that had been awarded very good % scholarships at great schools with lower grades.

If applying to independents, they only audition their shortlist if the academic elements are passed at entrance exams, so keep track of both as it can be very disappointing for musically gifted DCs who don't get to audition due to not passing the entrance papers.

Some schools also love the more unusual instruments. Try and go to the music open days of your shortlist to get a better idea of how to prepare her, but don't worry about the 3rd instrument so much...would be nice for her to play the flute for pleasure with no pressure on future outcome?

Hello. My daughter is 8 with her 9th coming up soon and has been begging to play the flute for two years now. With her birthday coming up, i know this is what she'd want. however I'm approaching with caution. She's learning piano ð??¹ and violin ð??» with grade 4 exams coming up next month for both. I don't want to compromise on her academics and so if we do give in, flute would likely be purely for pleasure with few lessons, maybe only once a fortnight or every three weeks and no exams as such. I just wondered your thoughts on this.

on the other hand I was thinking, if we're going to invest in the cost, why not pursue the exam route anyway as we're hoping to take advantage of music scholarships for secondary in a couple of years. For that she would need to be grade 4/5 I imagine so my next question is, how hard/easy would it be to get to say grade 4 in flute within two years if you are already on grade 4 piano and violin and very keen? She currently practises an hour a week on piano, an hour a week on violin, in addition to 1hr15 minutes of lessons for each of these two instruments.

Academically she's very good but not outstanding compared to her class mates...level 4b in English and maths, level 3c in science. As a parent, what would be your view in my shoes?

RLP - I think it is really hard for boys, because they don't really get the maturity you need for the higher awards until that point where their voice goes - ds1 was really lucky his voice just held out - he literally couldn't have done it a couple of weeks later! It's a tough exam though, I think there is a lot to be said for doing it later!!!

Two lovely concerts and an early start done!

LilyBolereo thank you, and well done to your DS1. I doubt my DS2 will get to Gold in time as a treble, but he can do it in Youth Choir later on. He is finding the non-music part the hardest.

DD has just done Trinity grades and that is fine, whatever arguable advantage there is to ABRSM exams isn't really relevant as she will never be a career musician and she gets really nervous exams!

Fleur, I think he was a very solid Grade 1 when he took the first exam, and then whizzed, it settled a bit after that.

If its the performing and applause she likes, are there other opportunities available, such music festivals?

Ishouldbe good luck with the GCSE