May/ June Music and Musicians Thread

Waffle it was a pleasure to listen to her-thank you for posting!
My 12 year old has been learning piano for just less than a year (third instrument) and will sit his Grade 5 exam in three weeks. I'm a bit worried, but to my untrained ear his pieces sound quite good ... Before starting to work on his exam pieces last month he was playing Fur Elise all of it, quite well and musically. Now my 8 year old wants to play the same (he will sit Grade 2 piano shortly), but is not quite there yet.

yes, I have read it before, and yes it's ABRSM. Just wondered if there was something specific in grade 3 that wasn't asked in grade 4. So if she does listen to the grade 4 one again she wasn't left with a gap.
Just so annoying not able to find the CD as dc3 will also be sitting grade 3 after the summer.

exampanic not sure what grade 4 aural is yet, I think it moves to sight singing also?

From what I remember the grade 3 aural is clapping in time and identify if it is in 2, 3 or 4 times, sing back a short tune, identify where a change in a short piece played twice is and explain if the change is in pitch or rythm, if the change is in pitch she should describe the change (a note lower, higher) and describing a piece of music, the examiner will confirm what the question will be before playing the piece (I will ask about dynamics) than play the piece and then ask such questions as "did the piece stay loud throughout the whole time?" (Staccato, legatto, loud, soft, fast, slow, etc).

I think you can find all the details on the abrsm website.

P.S. I am assuming it is Abrsm.

Our local library surprisingly has a big collection of printed music and I borrow them sometimes.

Cote That's very disappointing. Perhaps your teacher didn't want to photocopy from her published edition... Though most copyrighted material also allow reasonable amount of copying and institutions often have that sort of agreements - something like 10% or something. (They keep telling us and I keep forgetting. )

IMSLP is great for these things but sometimes only certain edition would do. I had to look a bit hard for a good edition of Bach's partita #2 - not too many instructions and not tiny little prints ...

So a question to the experts.
Still not able to find CD for aural test grade 3, and apps on ARBSM website is for iphone, not laptops/androids. No time to get a new one noline or go to the shop, as exam is next week).
DD1 did grade 4 not long ago (different instrument). If I let her listen to grade 4 CD, would they ask similar things in the grade 3 (dd1 obviously doesn't remember....)?

Waffle Goo has great taste - that piece is delightful and so is her playing!
Thanks for the link to EYMS - I hadn't heard of it but it is something we may well try next Summer.
I'm not sure if this is the best practice strategy but at the moment I have DS2 practising G3 piano every day at expense of cello because he will be away next week. When he gets back there's just over three weeks to the exam so it will be mainly piano again but with cello as light relief!

Hello! If anyone is in London this August there is this great music camp in Clapham Common entirely in French, 'French and Music Ensemble'. Ensemble playing and singing, rythmology drumming, tailor-made French workshops and concludes with a final performance in the theatre of the venue.

If it's that old then yes you need to be looking for free downloads:

www.free-scores.com/Download-PDF-Sheet-Music-jean-philippe-rameau.htm

but I'm guessing that you already tried that, came up blank and that's why you want the photocopies.

Project Gutenberg has a sheet music category but it's not that big, presumably because more people read books than dots.

Yes, I do know about something called copyright but I didn't expect it to hold for 300 years. I can download Anna Karenina for free on Amazon so expected the same for Rameau, whose book is written a full century before AK. I thought that was why there are websites where you can download sheet music for free, like the one my teacher gave me a link for to download Couperin's l'Art de Toucher le Clavecin.

Green do you live next door to us maybe? DD is playing the first part of Fur Elise beautiful, the fast part needs bringing up to speed, it is getting there, I didn't think she could do it but I can see she will.

Dd had stage 2 and 3 to practice this week from the clarinet book but last night she decided to move into stage 4 also as it has jingle bells and what is more beautiful than playing it in the middle of the summer.

I find it fascinating to watch how the learning flows so fast on clarinet, she doesn't have to stop for a new note, once she knows where it is she plays the pieces in rythm from the first reading.

Waffle Goo found indeed her new love, she is amazing after just 6 weeks!

CoteDAzur Dd's piano teacher has a massive music library however when a new book is required for DD she just shows me the book and I have to buy it. She only suggested photocopying one piece from one of her books as DD only needed one piece but in the end I could see she wasn't comfortable with it and I bought it. I don't mind buying music as DD will keep it in her music library, the only "waste" are the method books as she will not return to them once finished.

CoteDAzur Is it normal that the student buys their own music? Yes it is. Your teacher is right, there are laws protecting copyright. This is why exam boards are so insistent on the original music being in the room (even if you are playing from a much annotated photocopy).

Are the books available second hand?

Well done Goo, its a great progress compare to couple of weeks ago. Goo might be able to catch up us in a month even we started 4 years ago!!!( Surprisingly I heard someone playing Fur Elise last night while I was putting the baby to bed, it was the whole piece, the fast one at the end wasnt great however the beginning was really nice to hear)

Waffle. - wonderful 😀🎶🎶

I'm so disappointed today I was expecting the notes for about 10 pieces by Rameau from my harpsichord teacher today but she turned up with just one page (ONE!), saying that she wasn't comfortable photocopying for me because it's actually illegal. What?

I think she expects me to buy all three keyboard books by Rameau now. That will cost about 100 quid. Is this normal?

That is amazing, so musical.
Even though the fingers aren't supple technically, this is like kids I know who've been playing up to a year.
Bless her, what a fantastic start, I bet you're proud

Sorry, I hate it too, if people say this. You have every reason to be though.

Oh, she is adorable! Amazing progress for 6 weeks!

Green that's great news about the piano lessons, well done!

I take guitar lessons and I'm not very good, but I'm obviously a bit better than DD thinks because she heard me practising last night and expressed surprise . And then she stayed for my guitar class tonight (due to transport complications) and I think she was a bit shocked at how good we are. It helps that we are a proper group - drummer, bassist, three guitars and a singer - so if one person messes up it's not necessarily that obvious. But it's amazing what a bunch of adult musicians can achieve with a good teacher and a not excessively ambitious repertoire. And it's great fun. I've done two years now and will definitely continue next year.

Exampanic: go to the music shop to get one just in case! If not the apps is quite good too. Fingers crossed she still remembers it from the last exam. Our aural is awful. We have no sense of rythm. I am only hoping it will come up with loads of listening to music.

Someone told me about the Oxford Cello school and the Oxford piano school as well recently. They look expensive ...

I know, I had not heard of it either drummersmum until prompted to look around! We've been dong the same one for 3 years, and whilst she loves it, I know she could get more out of one that offers a wider range (I liked that composition and smaller ensembles were an option).

Just put it to her, she didn't balk, but said she'd prefer to go with someone she knew, though not essential. I did point out that she'd by nearly 14 by the time next July 17 comes, so at this stage, just to think about it for now until I get the lo down from our experts

ealingwest
why have I never heard of EYSM!! Looks fabulous. I have googled music summer courses for hours in the past and never come across it! Unfortunately we already have other plans for that week which cannot be changed. But thank you so much for the tip.