May/ June Music and Musicians Thread

I taught mine quite young too. But it was literally a couple of minutes here and there.

Waffle

I love your house.
No comment about the strops, dd used to be the same if it wasn't going her way.
I used to worry the saxophone would go across the room, or out of the window.
It was then we tried to encourage Piano, but you'd have to drag her kicking and screaming for Piano.

Love that picture Green!

Honestly she just cant never be serious, she either jumps like a monkey or rolls around. For some reasons she still had all 3 pieces, scales and aural done today(may be in 15 mins, the other 15 mins was doing what a 10 months old usually doing rather than a 8 yrs old

mama
Don't do it

Seriously, I would let him enjoy music, play for fun and not start lessons until about 6/7.
I know people start younger but ime and imo there seem few advantages and more disadvantages.
It's only my opinion though, I know lots of people would disagree with me.

strongheaded(awggg!)

strong head!!!

Hi, I am new here. I have a 4 year old son who wants to learn how to play a piano or violin. I have never been into music, so I have no clue if it's too early to start him to have lessons. Can more experienced moms please give me some advice about what age is suitable to start and what instrument is better for a 4 year old child?

Prada - we too have secondary school and scholarship exams this autumn; in our area one school requires a min of g6 to have been taken to be considered and is then selective on who auditions -they only give one scholarship and it's worth 50%! the others tend to be min G4 or G5, but the reality in higher. Some of the expect exams to have been taken and won't accept teachers refs, but there are a few who are a little more flexible. It is a huge focus for what are actually very few scholarships.

Waffle - I think they can all swop growing up stories in the dorm this summer :) but we are def off the exam bandwagon after this term.

We had massive strops over the Chopin - which she was genuinely convinced she did not have the technical ability to play. Got there in the end though!

DS1 has definitely A LOT more meltdowns approaching his exams. We are going to not do too many exams. He can do performances instead.

The start of pre-teen hormones maybe waffle? My DD has piano meltdowns fairly regularly, of the "I'll never learn to play it, my teacher has overestimated me" variety. Funnily enough she never has strops over guitar.

We don't get to watch piano lessons at all - in fact I haven't seen or spoken to her piano teacher since DD auditioned for her place in September! I do see her guitar teacher though as he is my teacher too. He is ace - scruffy thirty-something jazz musician who seems to be able to play any instrument and any style of music.

Waffle

I think you are very wise with the exams. We are the complete opposite and would have liked at least one more before summer hols.
It can become a treadmill though, as I know you know yourself.

As dd hasn't done any sax or singing exams for ages she has been able to concentrate on so many other things that not only take her beyond the next grade technically but are fun, challenging and different.

She is enjoying chord progressions, harmony, impro, and Scatt singing well beyond the knowledge required for grade 8. She loves being creative and inventive far more than exams.

Goo has worked really hard and she's a great standard for her age, I'm sure some time out from exams won't harm her musical education at all.

Apologies if this sounds like I'm teaching my grandma how to suck eggs, was just offering support and a different outlook to the exam treadmill

Thanks Raspberry, but the auditions are in December (1 intake only) although they don't start until yr 3. The school he is already at is a Chorister one (with non-choristors too)

besidethesea as a chorister parent, don't turn your back on the idea just yet. My DS wouldn't have gone for it at 6.5. He asked to try at 8.5 and it has been an amazing experience we are just coming to the end if.

DS started piano first at six he begged for lessons. It's much easier when it's something they want to play. Brass is lovely though, both my DS play trombone and older DS plays tuba too.

The advantage of a band/orchestra instrument is all the groups you can play in

I played piano to a high grade when young and stopped for about 20 years. I've picked it up again and go for lessons about once a month. It's brilliant - basically I just practise what I want and my teacher helps me to play them better. Love it. I taught DS1 for a long time but now he's with a proper teacher and they seem to like each other. I don't meddle with his lessons though I wonder if the teacher expects me to help. I do sometimes just to point out that certain awkward passages are not awkward if you got your fingers to the right places at the right time. I'm still teach DS2, about 3 minutes a day!

But I'm learning so much by watching them learn and watching what their teachers do. It's all so much fun.

Musicathome: I can answer your question better once my daughter has sat for the test. My advice is why not start now, very little each week then see how it goes. We never heard of theory exam until I read on here is January(you wont believe how many clouds I am on in terms of all schools/homeworks/music grades etc before I joined mumsnet(an example was I didnt know what day my daughter homework has to be returned). Our teacher is a Russian who isnt familiar with abrsm( technically in term of practical he is good)so he tells me what he thinks however he isnt exam focused(or even if he wants to he isnt experienced). So basically in terms of theory my daughter has been learning herself, he checks her past papers and explains any difficult concepts if needed. To be honest, with an hour manytime the violin overuled the lesson, he however is brilliant in terms of communication

Quick congratulations and very well done to Loose and Prada's DC!

My DS (10) has school exams next week (essentially assessments to decide sets for next year / progress towards CE) and so is up to his eyeballs in (academic) revision. His trumpet practice has fallen off sharply as a result, so he will be relying on the two - three weeks prior to the exam in early July to fine tune his pieces.

Good luck Green, she'll be fine I'm sure. Embrace the house guests. Miniprada failed the G5 theory last term and she realises she didn't do enough so sometimes a failure early on is not a bad thing (although it does appear that mini green is getting much better scores )

I think we'll have to see re: musuc auditions what works but I am very happy to be taking on board all advice offered!

Although I played both instruments (piano and violin) to a high standard (piano) as a child I honestly couldn't play a note now. I also passed G5 theory but can't help with that either so I see myself as the role of creating time and opportunity to practice. I sit it on the violin lesson (1hr) as it is external but not piano (home) which can be 1 or two hours depending if her brother has (wants) a lesson or not. He plays for fun only.

Green it's really amazing how useful it is to learn an instrument when your children are learning - I am able to pass on tips about practice and the dreaded exams and I can hear the mistakes in scales and know how to find the arpeggio, all that kind of thing. I wouldn't have dredged up that knowledge from the past. I felt with piano that somehow a lot of things became clearer - on the other hand paying for your own music lessons is also a great motivator!
I love the idea of your little one singing 'Over the Rainbow' from her cot! I think she must be absorbing a lot of music during all those lessons!