May/ June Music and Musicians Thread

Fleur.. We generally leave dd's clarinet out for 5 days out of 7.
We haven't had any problems.
We usually clean it in sections and regrease the corks ( we use pure lanolin) at the same time.
We've oiled it once since we've had it.. But it was recently serviced and they oiled it again

Our clarinet (Colin) usually stays together Saturday to Wednesday every week and it does help with spontaneous practice.

MusicMom, dd's two best friends are very talented strings players (who also play the piano and sing) and she is the only clarinetist in school so she often feels a little in competition with them.

I'm not sure she is up to NCO standards, I think she would always be playing catch up to the grades they expect.

Does anyone know of any good Saturday music schools in the south east or at a push London (for a grade 2-3 player, all the London ones I have looked at are for much higher grades). Dd loves her wind band and wants to do more ensemble stuff, and I would like it if she could do some theory/musicianship stuff.

Misti I know what you mean about errors when slowing down. If it was me I would be bloodyminded enough to do it slowly until the errors disappear.

Sometimes phrases are OK on their own but not in context - for those I would learn the "crossing" of the "borders", making sure I can do the end of one phrase through to the beginning of the other. Did you say it was Chopin? Is there a particular type of thing that she gets wrong, like leaps or strange chords?

I'm only saying things from my experience of playing myself. No idea how you teach ...

musicathome76 I highly recommend the Aural CDs - perfect for car journeys

Fleurdelise; thank you! She started 4 years ago just before her 5th birthday and is now coming up to her 9th birthday - she got to Grade 5 in 2.5yrs and has then spent 1.5yrs working up to Grade 7 (and G5 theory!). Despite high marks all round she wants to be a ballerina (not quite as talented but totally inspired!). Violin is 'just a hobby' whereas ballet is her passion

Looseattheseams and Pradaqueen - thanks re: house move. I have a big car... big enough for instruments, music, stands - just so they don't get lost or injured!

Hi Woolley - your DD sounds very good and committed; have you thought of auditioning for the nco in the autumn - orchestras are always on the lookout for strong wind players to keep up with this strings😉

She's at the stage where slowing it down just introduces errors (except in the fast bit).

Obviously she does practice it in sections, but the issue is that there are bits she can play perfectly in isolation, but where she will make errors if she plays from the start (loss of concentration?). Not sure quite where the right balance is between working on phrases and sections and playing the whole thing.

Misti same advice from Dd's teacher usually, identify the bits needing work, play those bars mostly till the results are as desired, move to the next bars, play the whole piece at the end of the practice session by adding it all back together. Always break the piece down into small chunks to practice until happy with the result before moving on to the next part.

Woolley well done to your DD for getting into the orchestra! She made very good progress since she began if only playing for less than 2 years.

Fleur, she started at just turned 8, will be two years in September. She was very set on playing the clarinet having tried one about two years earlier, even though it meant waiting longer than her friends to start playing an instrument. She is developing a real love for Blues type music and having been to some concerts with her band that they have shared with others she is glad to be playing a wind instrument as she loves the music they play in general.

We had happy tears on the way home from school when I told her about the orchestra day because"it's always strings that get in" and she was competing with up to year 6 to get a place (she is year 4).

Mistigiri
don't always start practice at beginning of piece. Start with part which still needs work. Dedicate most of the time to it.
At the end of practice, play all the way to the end from the beginning never stopping even if you make a mistake, like in the real thing

That was ages ago. I expect the advice still holds...

What my teacher told me: concentrate on a few phrases at a time. Half speed until you can do it perfectly at least 3 times. Then up the speed by 20 or so. Play till perfect at least 3 times. Then up speed. Repeat till your family or neighbours kill you ...

We finally have the date for DD's audition - 15th June. Which is good as it gives her nearly 3 more weeks to prepare including one week when she will be doing work experience at our local GP practice and will have either morning or afternoons free (she's doing shifts 8-2 or 2-8).

She's playing a Chopin nocturne (the easy one, op 73 in E minor). She's never performed such a long piano work before (actually she's never really performed ANY piano work before LOL), and I was wondering if anyone had any advice for perfecting long pieces. She knows the whole thing by heart and the first two pages are nearly perfect. There are still some parts of the fast section where she is not at all full speed (long semi-quaver runs with triplets in the LH), and there are some hesitations on the final page which I think are more to do with lack of stamina/ concentration.

What is the best way to work it? Obviously I want her to work at the whole piece as well as individual phrases which aren't quite there yet, but it's a question of balance. What's the best use of her time in the run up to the performance? Any advice more than welcome!

woolley can I ask what age did your DD start clarinet? Good luck with the concert and orchestra, sounds good!

Enjoy the cd Green we found it fun and joined in with the clapping and singing.

Have a good trip Green! I won't be sad to never listen to those CD's again....'

I have dd aged 9 who did grade 2 clarinet last term. Myself and her teacher were happy for her to bypass 3 and go to grade 4 but she doesn't want to so we are doing some learning grade 3 scales and practicing some higher notes (sorry neighbours!) whilst playing non exam pieces and we will maybe look at them in the autumn.

I thought we were having a quiet term but have had a letter today to say she has been selected for an orchestra in a day thing, and she also has a big concert in July as well as a performance in the park with her band in June so not as quiet as I thought!

She is also nagging about a second instrument but is still undecided what. We haven't been able to try a saxophone which I think is probably the current favourite and I think that's holding back the decision at the moment.

Prada, we have it will put it in the car for the trip next week, thank you. (it wasnt even listened once for piano G3 so we well deserved the fail in aural)

Hi Green, definitely get the G3 aural CD it has all the tasks expected on it x

Quickly dropping by to thank NothBothered12 (good luck with the move and dance exams - aaaaghh!) and MusicMom concerning cello make and ideas on quality strings - much appreciated.

Icouldbe I hope you are enjoying the new instrument.

I am also impressed by 8yo grade 7 violin, well done to her! What age did she start?

Musicdoc, good luck with the move and all these exams. I'm amazed at 8 years old Grade 7 violin. Well done to her!

Do I need to get this aural CD for Grade 5 piano? I did not know that they existed but will look it up, maybe it will help him.
Green, as others have said miniGreen maybe tired before the half-term, but good that she knows she has to practice :).
Now that we have the exam dates (still waiting to hear for horn Grade 6 date!) lots of practising in our house.

Question: can I leave the clarinet in one piece for a whole week? How do we clean it without taking it apart?

musicdoc good luck with the move and exams, that does sound like a difficult situation to be in.

We borrowed the aural cd from Dd's teacher and it worked a treat, in the car, in her room quickly before bed time.

DD is rushing through her clarinet practice, gets annoyed if I remind her anything like "don't puff your cheeks, take your time, slow down". I hope this is normal for a beginner, I decided to stay out of it and leave her to it.

I have also decided that 5 min clarinet practice before piano practice and 5 minutes after piano practice are worth more than 10 minutes in one go. So she does a bit before starting piano, then when she's frustrated that her puffs are not long enough we put it away, do piano, then go back to clarinet at the end for another short session. She still love it though which is good.

All the advices on the singing I have saved until the future, thank you. For G3 and below we have only "la la la" alittle bit and we normally failed aural so I am not too sure because of the singing "la la la" or because of other things in aural.

I was called this morning that someone woke up at 7 this morning(usually 8) and practised violin for a good 30 mins. Apparently someone must have been worried that the lessons will be cancelled for good (favourite toys were in the bin, books were given away and dancing lessons were cancelled for good in the past so they know I am very serious). No point crying that "mommy I am no good when not putting on any work"

Oo have just ordered to Aural book. Great idea. The instrument teachers at school do not cover aural (DS1&2 strings) so they have to go to a 'club' which DS1 particularly is prone to 'forget'. His echoing is also dodgy. Will play in the car on our five hour plus journey to Devon this weekend!