New Year Music and Musicians Thread

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.

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

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.

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

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

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...

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.

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

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.

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.

*grade 3 not 8

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?

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.

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!

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 😀

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