Summer Term Music, Musicians and Music Exams thread

You've a busy time ahead RaspberryLemonPavlova, I was all prepared to wallow in the smugness of another month with not much on except that this week I was surprised with two days notice of the GCSE music performance. Clearly it didn't appear out of the blue, someone knew about it but didn't think that it was worth mentioning. Fortunately his music teacher rang up to check that DS had told us about it (can you tell that DS has form for this?) and to tell me that school couldn't provide an accompanist so could he bring in a backing track if needed. DH couldn't manage both hands together in the hour he had to look at the accompaniment but he was saved by technology. There's a function on the digital piano that lets you record one hand, you can play it back and then record the other hand.

DS is a very good sightreader but only seems to apply himself to things he can see a point in. Aural was therefore a struggle. Given the cost of exams (especially when you have to pay for an accompanist) I'm glad he skipped a few.

And good luck to your ds2 in his Silver - nice to hear of other children doing the RSCM awards, ds1 has just completed his, just getting through the gold in time before his voice plummeted downwards!

Pavlova - the fear of singing for aurals is really common in girls, I've found humming to be a good solution - for some reason it's very much less scary than actually singing the note with the mouth open, and you wouldn't lose any marks on it!

Dd8 has just been entered for grade 6 sax. We have been a bit lax with scales up to now, so she said she will practise hard.

Noteventhebestdrummer What pieces did he play? I'm doing the exam on Friday. Scales keep falling apart.

Well DS survived Gd 6 piano although dropped 2 marks on aural since he said the piece was in 2 not 4. He's had full marks for Gd 8 aural twice before but there you go! Gd 8 Singing next week

The advantage of doing at least every other grade is that presumably it helps to keep progress even across the range of skills.

DD has never done exams except for her wind instruments. It means that she has an impressive repertoire for guitar and piano but notable technical gaps. Piano is worst - she'd struggle with grade 3 sight reading yet she plays grade 6/7 repertoire beautifully.

I am trying to stop the certificate chasing also as she didn't seem to care before grade 1 but I guess it is easy to fall into the big exam rota thing as she is a shy girl in public and she feels she found something she is good at and enjoyed all the praise and attention following her high achieving mark in the grade 1 exam.

I suppose there is a lot of competition between kids showing off what they are good at so she probably loves (secretly) the fuss that everybody including her school teacher, made once the grade 1 results came through.

Wow Raspberry what a great progress from grade 1 to 4 in 18 months. Dd's teacher doesn't work through grades as such either, in fact it is all about repertoire and putting them in exams once they are solid players at that grade, more like an evaluation as what they can already do rather than working to achieve it if that makes sense.

Only when dd asked when is the next exam she said "oh, we won't bother with grade 2 as you are past that level, we'll move to grade 3 when you are ready". Didn't start any pieces, only scales as she finished grade 2 ones, and doesn't follow a teaching method book, she assigns pieces from various books which I am happy to buy.

Good luck with the A levels!

I do daily aurals with my children but soon run out of material. I've used lots of my old instrument books, past aural book examples and so on. It's amazing how many piano pieces don't fit neatly into what is needed for the aural. Cadence recognition, sight singing, modulation - all are easy for miss 11 but she struggles with the last question. She knows quite q lot but struggles in the pressure of the moment to find the right words. I guess we wil just keep on practising!

wow, busy household Raspberry - good luck with the juggling, and to eldest son for his A levels!

DD won't do ABRSM exams because of the singing in the aural. For chorister DS2 with perfect pitch they hold no fear (although he did make a mistake in his Grade 5 piano). I don't think there is an easy answer.

We are about to start a manic eight days. Four concerts, 2 NYJO workshops, Ascension Day service when DS2 has to be at the Cathedral for 6.30 am, plus his regular services, and also DS2s RSCM Silver Award.

DS1 started As levels this week, that seems almost minor!

Speaking of aural tests - I am paying for extra lessons for dd (11) just on grade 7 aural!!! It seems crazy, but without the extra help, she would have really struggled - so difficult!
Ds (7) achieved full marks in his grade 3 aural, but did terribly in the Sightreading. Despite that he still managed a good distinction overall!

Fleur - dd did grade 2,4,5 violin and will be doing grade 7 in July. She found the jumps fine overall. The jump in aural difficulty was definitely noticed at grade 5 when they have to name the period of music etc.

Thanks everyone for your thoughts/experiences. I want her to progress but most of all I want her to enjoy it and stay interested.

My DC have all skipped various grades at different times, and I think the 'jump' varies considerably. DS2 went from Grade 1 to Grade 4 in about 18 months but his piano teacher doesn't work through Grades as such anyway, so it was just what felt right.

I would try and avoid 'certificate chasing' if at all possible, it is really easy to get hung up on the next exam and to forget about enjoying the music and the progression of learning for its own sake.

the aural tests are one of the reasons I'm putting off trying to do exams again (as an adult). I do want to do the exams, not just the performance assessments that I've done so far, but I really struggle with the aural - in particular, the first test where you have to copy the melody. I just can't remember it!! And even if I can remember bits of it, I never quite get the right notes with my voice. I sing in a choir, too, but it doesn't seem to help that test. And it will only get worse when I'm supposed to hear and remember one of two parts . I don't mind the sight singing, and I haven't had to do the period/style/texture question yet, only simple questions about musical features, which has so far been OK.

I suspect that aural ability is partly innate since some people can "just do it". DH isn't a musician but he has excellent pitch and an amazing aural memory. DD seems to have inherited this. She can easily tune a guitar without a tuner (relative to low E - she doesn't have perfect pitch) and she finds it very easy to play and arrange by ear. I was a reasonably skilled musician as a child but I had to be taught to pass the aural component of exams, I don't have natural ability in this area.

DD's sax exam is in just under 4 weeks. She's playing her pieces pretty securely already so there is just some fine tuning to do (the swing section needs more swing apparently, I can't tell the difference - see aural ability, above!).

She had applied to play at a music festival in a nearby city that is looking for musicians who play original material. She sent some recordings and they have been in touch to ask for more information. I would be surprised if she is accepted - in fact her age (14) may be a stumbling block - but at least she hasn't been rejected outright!

I think the hardest part of aurals is the recognition of style and period, with reasons for answer, plus texture question. Neither of my children find it easy! I think part of problem is that the pieces are quite long, so remembering texture at the start of a piece, which might be different from that of the end is tricky! They usually get the right period but it's hard to nail down the reasons for some pieces, without copping out with 'it sounds like Mozart' or something similar.

In terms of technical exercises I can see there is a lot of discussion around things that didn't seem to matter previously, like hand stretch where previously would have been a jump, picking up proper speed, elbow position.

She does Czerny exercises assigned to her on weekly basis so I did wonder if this is the jump in terms of technique from grade 1 to grade 3 that the teacher was talking about.

I find it amazing that some pieces that look easy are in fact quite hard to execute once she starts learning them. She was playing a Minuet by Bach that to my eyes looked pretty easy, it wasn't.

I guess I don't want her to fly through grades unless she is still happy to play which she seems to be but she does seem to be a certificate chaser. She keeps saying she can't wait to do her next exam.

Ealingwestmum - yes I am sure age kicks in as a factor at some point; we are also doing a lot of technical work - her teacher believes a lot of children drop music in their teens as they fall into a big hole technically and don't feel they are progressing however hard they may work; so we are very study focused this year and I can see glimpses of the impacts on dd's playing already. So with my non -musical hat on I really have no idea if there is a perfect path. For dd she def is motivated by ensemble playing as well as her own measures of advancement (which is certificates and festivals and auditions i guess - realistically she is 9 so I think is pretty natural in lieu of a more mature sense of progress)

Our experience is that it is an age thing, and they do change as they get older, and their skills adapt, especially when getting exposure to more ensemble/orchestral work. Duet work as well as studies can enhance these skills (though some can be a little boring).

My DD at 11 is not a great singer but can recognise signature keys, works well now in choir etc. She flew through her violin grades and did pretty well, getting distinctions in all but G6 where she was gutted at a 127.

But for last 18 months, she's had to go back to basics and really hone her technical skills, unpicking some bad habits that whilst are not atrocious, they will hold her back in being 'exceptional', if that's what she wants.

This has been frustrating, but deep down she knows that this is necessary, and regrets not placing earlier value on the scales/aural/sight reading that comes back to haunt her now, as these were her downfall on her last piano and violin practicals. To me, falling few marks short of her benchmark given all the other stuff kids do extra curricular wise was not a big deal, to her it was!

My non musical head gets the fact that pieces are not the be all...she's finally catching up with this concept!

Not experienced at skipping grades so not sure exactly what it means, I assume from what I get from the teacher that it is about the ability of achieving a higher grade faster so rather than taking time to prepare for a lower grade exam is better to move on to the next level. At least that is how she explained it to me, grade 2 will not be a challenge at all for dd so we won't do the exam as it will keep her away from progressing faster, but move towards grade 3 which requires more tehnique. Not sure what that means. :)

Dd loves playing and she loves scales. Aural comes natural to her and she got full marks and a comment stating she has a very good musical ear. Teacher knew that and she only prepared her once for aural just to show her what it is about.

Sight reading though...this is a different story. While she recognises the notes, key signatures, time signatures, dynamics, she fully hates the sight reading exercise itself. She hates counting the whole exercise, she doesn't ask herself the right questions (what key signature is it, how many sharps) so if the teacher does it she gives the right answer but she doesn't do it herself.

I guess it is an age thing? she's only 7 so not sure if she fully understands the importance of it.

I suspect the 'jump' is as much to do with the relative pace of progression of each child to different elements of the exam; dd always plays vast amount of repetoire from each grade and the grade ahead because she is quite competitive with herself; but she rarely will venture forward in her sight reading, aural and even scales. The latter two she has some natural skill in so 'manages' but sight reading is always lagging. I must admit I am now so much more relaxed re taking grades or not than when she started - def benefit of hindsight; dd of course still loves those certificates.....

Also I am asking the above because dd seems to have really enjoyed the exam. She keeps asking when is the next one and she was a bit deflated to hear about straight to grade 3 as I explained her it may take longer than a year, working from the basis of 1 grade every year therefore being a jump it may even take longer.

I am certain her teacher will not put her in until she is happy she is indeed grade 3 level which is fine by me, I want her to learn how to play piano and not collect certificates but she keeps asking when is the next exam.

She seems to get a lot of motivation from exam deadline.

Hello All!

Similar question here, anybody knows how big the jump is from grade 1 piano to grade 3? Dd's teacher said that she will be doing grade 3 next with her as she doesn't believe grade 2 is challanging enough for her abilities. She said she puts kids in for grade 1 exams when they are comfortable at that level and she assessed that dd was already playing around grade 1-2 when she took the grade 1 exam.

This now means that she'll rather put her in for grade 3 but I am curious how big the jump is between the two.

Just to clarify, she is doing the syllabus for grade 2 (scales, and grade 2 pieces from various books) and she didn't start the grade 3 pieces, just the scales. She is playing from various books to build repertoire and tehnique, a book is about grade 2 level and some of the other assigned pieces around grade 3 I am being told (Bach, Burgmuller's arabesque and similar).

Is there a big jump? Would she still be able to take the next exam within a year of the last one (grade 1 in March, will she be able to do grade 3 next March?).