Spring/ Summer Music and Musicians Thread

NeverEver enjoy the 3 hours of music. Sounds good.

DD had her piano lesson that focuses on theory and sight reading yesterday and after about 15 min she asked the teacher "when can I play?" teacher needed to explain again that she is a bit ahead in her playing so theory is now almost a whole lesson focus.

Today is the playing lesson.

Loose that is where DD lost points in Jack is sad, by the comments is sounds like she played it at the speed of light. Probably to get over it faster as she was playing it beautifully the day before.

We have had a morning in bed because DS has a lunchtime performance so there's no music centre for us. It's been lovely.

(Not out of boredom, mind. Late night ...)

We are off now to 3 hours of music lessons and ensembles...

Well, DS2 floored me slightly yesterday by deciding to go to theory after all! And apparently it 'wasn't too bad'. Seems a bit of reverse psychology ('of course you don't have to go, you have a lot going on this term') paid off. DS1 is very enthusiastic about the lessons and he said he mentioned it to his school music teacher who, it turns out, loves theory and has been very encouraging. We're aiming for grade 5 exam before the end of the year for DS1.
The major task now is to get DS2 to stop playing his grade 3 piano pieces at top speed, introducing new mistakes, and to slow down and get it right. This means standing over him when he practises instead of letting him get on with it.

Thank you all, Alexandra yes in Herts and I did have a look, nice woodwind ensemble for beginners so I may put her down for that starting September also, I just need to convince the IL to take her there as they pick her up from school.

Icouldbe school are supportive and allow her time to play during the day - also tweak her timetable a bit and fine about occasional early finish for extra lessons/rehearsals etc. We are careful about both these things though and don't do either unless absolutely necessary, I don't want her to miss out on stuff (either academics or just time with her friends) or to be singled out (in the wrong way). It's not a specialist school - DD would run a mile from the very suggestion!

Our music centre ensembles are similar to Raspberry's in that they are not tied to music service lessons although the majority of children will have been steered into the centre by peri teachers. DS switched to private lessons some three years ago but still plays at music centre.

There are no named instruments in the house. I do call the bassoon names but that's a different matter. We had to leave his lesson holding parts of it because the bell had stuck (again) so it wouldn't go back in the case. Teacher thought it was very funny. We have cork grease now so providing DS actually uses it there's more chance that it will come apart. I did suggest that he might not ram it together quiet as firmly as he was doing but that was Not Anything To Do With It Mum.

Fleur - google your local music service; most have lots of ensembles from early grades to more advanced. They often do theory group lesson too( ours does) for really low cost compared to 1-1.

Fleur our music service ensembles aren't connected to lessons. They are open to anyone. They are mostly run by Music Service staff, though one isn't.

Look for other opportunities like holiday workshops too. DS really enjoys some local jazz ones. They are very cheap too.

Fleur the teacher should know about local ensemble playing opportunities. On a second instrument it shouldn't be long before your DD can play well enough.

Picked DD up from her rock music camp this evening, after the end-of-camp concert. It's amazing what they achieve in just five full days, with groups of often not very experienced or skilled musicians many of whom are writing their own material for the first time. They do group the kids roughly by level, so DD was in a group with some other very good musicians - they had two other guitarists, so she played bass, and sang. I think she actually prefers bass to electric guitar. She's going back for two weeks in summer, it will be her sixth camp with the same association and she says she thinks of them as almost a second family :)

Home now for the second week of our spring holidays and she's going to have to put in some hours on the piano - she has been given her compulsory piece for her end-of-year audition (easy but fast, she says, I haven't seen it yet) and she needs to finish the Chopin too.

So we have a teacher now for September, we just need to organise the instrument.

The only down side I can see currently is the fact that again, the lessons are private (not part of a school or music service) and therefore no interaction in a ensemble. What is the next step once she starts lessons? Do I look for a local junior orchestra or ensemble a few months in? Waffle do you organise performance opportunities such as student concerts for your students?

scared how old is your DD? Sorry, I missed it, I thought she must be a teenager at least

Scaredofthepianoexaminer I hadn't realised just how young your daughter was, it's an achievement at any age but outstanding for a tween. Does she have a very supportive school?

Prada- how interesting; apparently dd's mark ended up as one of the highest which means a lot moved to passes. DD isn't bothered (me neither) but given it was three days worth of exams, I wonder if it was fair to some of the children. Apparently it was a trainee and I guess they felt the calibration was off.

Theory - no tips at all, but was o glad when it was 'done' - not that it really ever is of course :).

scaredcongrats to your DD, great achievement!

Well done musicmom for the grade 5 result, even with moderation and still a great result!

DD does theory homework assigned by the teacher, a couple of pages a week at the moment, she's towards the end of the grade 1 book.

Well done musicmom! We had the same moderation for G3 violin as the special visit contained some of the high grades and diploma so I think the examiner may have lost sight of what G3 sounds like . Her teacher was convinced she would get a high 130 score and ended up on a middle merit. Still a great result but when the teacher looked at the mark sheets lots of the kids (even in different instruments) ended up on exactly the same mark....

We did 5 minutes of theory every night before bed time story, in bed and it was fine. Most parents even without any musical knowledge can work through at least the grades 1 - 3 books with a child as it is exercises the child completes and pretty simple stuff.

Thanks Green and Musicmom, I am very pleased for her as she does put in a lot of work. She is also really lucky to have a fab and very inspirational teacher.

Well done Musicmom's DD, a great result but as you say does seem a very odd situation - maybe the mark sheet will shed a bit more light. I wonder why they went through this - not sure if they pick some at random to do each session - or maybe something particular about this session - new examiner maybe?

Well done Scared's DD - wonderful achievement!

So we finally got the G5 result; they moderated all three days down apparently and DD went from 136 (which she got for the last two grades) to 126!! Still a lovely result but what a very odd process (and will be interesting to see the score sheet).

Scare: just google to know about the LTCL, wow!!!And plus all grade 8s.

Thanks Icouldbeknitting I was resigned to waiting another 3 or 4 weeks but maybe their Easter eggs gave them a bit of a sugar boost over the holidays! Funnily enough neither diploma has been anywhere near as stressful as the grade 8's - so many scales - and the aural, DD will play in front of anyone but ask her to speak and it's a different matter - the last section of the aural was a bit of a trauma for her I think!