October Music and Musicians Thread

I love the only practice the days that you eat also.

I may make a poster of if and hang it around somewhere.

Piano is a lonely instrument indeed, one of the reasons I am looking at festivals with DD's piano teacher is for the performance benefit of it.

Hello call , I second what others have said, your DD is doing really well. Also, it's very normal with piano not to play in any orchestras and to, unfortunately, have less opportunities to perform in ensembles. DS piano playing is the side of his music people get to listen less to, (except jazz piano, which he can play in his trio). Tons of pianists, some of the most famous ones, just worked and worked at home - no ensemble playing, no public appearances - till they were ready to play concertos. The piano is like that...
That said, does her school ever give the students a chance to perform a solo piece, whatever the grade? A lunch concert? An end of year event?

only having to practise on the days you eat Ha, I love this one Humphrey !

callme welcome to the thread! I don't think there is such thing as behind in music. Music is an art that needs nurturing, it isn't like maths where you need to do your times tables by this date and done, you then know your times tables.

I think as parents we are of course proud of their achievements and tend to talk about them a lot here, but the truth is, what is most important is things that maybe we don't always mention, such as my DD's looks last night when she managed to play a hard bar in her music, the satisfaction I could see in her eyes was priceless.

So if your DD enjoys it that is all that matters. You may find that 20 years from now on she will still be playing the piano.

I certainly don't think you have anything to worry about, some countries manage perfectly well without a grade system at all. It sounds like your daughter is doing very well.

I keep telling myself (in terms of my own playing) that it's enjoyment that counts, because quite frankly I'd come out looking pretty crappy if I measured myself by anything else

Thankyou all, phew was a bit worried

"The average time to sit grade 8 is age 16."

I look back and wonder if I played too many pieces beyond my understanding ...

callme I don't think your DD is behind at all! Mine at Yr8 is about grade 3/4 level. He practises almost daily and plays in groups in school and enjoys it. My aim is that he should continue to progress and do as much with other groups as he wants to only. But he seems to enjoy it all.

Hi callme. Your dd is not behind at all. The average time to sit grade 8 is age 16 according to ABRSM. My DD1 and DD2 both did grade 5 piano aged 13. I agree it is a big leap from 4 to 5 and all of a sudden you need to be confident about reading music while playing and there are so many scales. The good news is that it really does lay the foundations for the later grades, especially in conjunction with theory, and for properly being able to play. So I would say now is the time to encourage your DD to dig in and get it under her belt. Both my DDs almost instantly started to enjoy playing and to progress faster once they had cracked it.

My only issue is that I am much better at encouraging them than I am at motivating myself and DD1 can be a very harsh taskmaster. She is chuffed that Loose appreciates her even if she did chuckle at all 5'10" of her being described as "mini". DD2 has taken a different approach to teaching me theory. She has been so resistant to getting on with teaching herself, as DD1 did, that I have had to learn it along with her. We are identifying cadences now though, so the end is in sight.

Call your DD sounds like she's doing absolutely fine - see drummersmum's link for why she is actually quite exceptional. Year 9 can be a difficult year... Also, she is ahead of me and I am decades older!
DS1 excited about possibilities for his marching band to take part in competitions so I definitely would agree with the article about performance opportunities. The concerts I take part in are part of the music school I go to and I do the one for the nervous adult learners so we don't get shown up by the tinies playing our exam pieces better than us! Have noticed adults are much more nervous than the little ones!

New thread, yes it is October already! Thank you Waffle

I have DS1 (12), who plays electric guitar, Eb horn and piano. He is also in the county youth brass band with his horn. No exams this term, but he is preparing Grade 8 guitar, Grade 7 horn for next year sometimes and Grade 6 piano in June/July. Also this year he and friends have formed a band, where he plays his guitar. Luckily, for now at least, band practice is at another boy's house...

My DS2 (8) plays piano (preparing for Grade 4 in March), horn (also in the county band) and cello. He is also working on his theory and inspired by miniGreen will hopefully sit for Grade 5 theory in March, but lets see how it goes.
My youngest (almost 6) plays violin. I'm also learning violin, but struggle to find time to practice.

call does she enjoy it??? Because that is the most important thing about playing! If she enjoys it and plays for fun then don't stress about the grades etc..get her playing fun stuff and learning to play by ear as well! I'd love to be able to hear a song and sit down and play it!

She also plays in no orchestras or auditions anywhere. :-(

Mmmm, I love these threads but I always feel that my child is so behind all you lot! She is 13 and yr 9. been playing piano since she was 8. Did her grade 4 and passed in March and is learning theory (grade 4 book at mo) and practices daily. All the kids on here seem to be grade 6,7,8 (at 8 to 9 years old). Is it worth her continuing? As I say she practices daily, but the leap from grade 4 to grade 5 seems huge. At her age now, is it worth carrying on?

Gilly - there are auditions at least one of the 'schools' this year.....would she not audition on clarinet?

Found the new thread!

Hello Humphrey!

Petra Have you read Logicomix?

interesting article Drummersmum, thanks for posting that, a lot of it really resonates.

dd came home and asked if she could audition for NCO, I said duh there's no saxes.
She's known this for years, she's a strange kid.
There are a few from her school do it every year though, so she must have overheard them or ventured into another dept.

Looking forward to a concert, hope it's soon.
Now she has started tenor there are opportunities for solos and she knows she has a 24 bar / 2 chorus solo, in one of the ensembles.
Clari is emerging from the depths occasionally, but still referred to as the swine pipe , Piano still not very appealing but serving it's purpose.
Singing going very well, but she went white when her teachers told them they'd be leaving playing flute. Owning one will probably be as far as dd gets with flute, although introducing her to the great Roland Kirk Jazz Musician saw a glimmer of possibility

Hello everyone, can I join in? I am not a musician myself but my two oldest children are doing Suzuki violin with their father. They did a graduation ceremony in London today, DS9 Book 3 and 4 and DD7 Book 2. This is very exciting for two rurally based children!

We also realised this week that DS has perfect pitch, he can correctly identify any note you give him and tell instantly what key things are in. Lucky beggar! Should come in handy if he continues playing. DH is jealous.

Our children practice most days too, the suzuki thing of only having to practise on the days you eat holds true here

I was trying to explain that proving 1+1=2 is not trivial at all!!

www.storyofmathematics.com/20th_russell.html

You wait until dd starts telling minigreen logic puzzles!!

Petra: we were all asked 1 add 1 equals what tonight? you have someone loves maths in your car today Petra!
Stringchild: thanks for your kindwords and sharing your experence, we are waiting to see if there is a confirmation for an audition first

green don't stress about feeling pushy...as long as you are going with what mini green wants you are being supportive not pushy! It's when you are forcing her into stuff that she doesn't want to do you need to worry!

Dd did a weeks brass camp last year and absolutely loved the week of music!! She's desperate to do it boarding next year!

Thank you Waffle!

*drummersmum" ha! This resonates with me so much. I know so many people whom during the 3 years since DD started piano were puzzled she had to practice everyday. So many people who minimise if I celebrate her music succes (oh, another piece of paper stating she took a music exam) but if I mention academic results those ARE important. And quite a few people I met who think that music lessons means you DC goes to a teacher once a week and that's that. But insist on their DC doing their academics homework.

"Parents don’t treat music as important as other subjects. The sad truth is that many non-music teachers and administrators do not find music equally as important as math or English language-arts — but parents must. Besides, you wouldn’t let your child quit math, would you? Many kids would jump at that opportunity! Music is a core subject…period. The more parents treat it as such, the less students will quit"

This is an interesting read:
www.musicparentsguide.com/2015/02/17/students-really-quit-musical-instrument-parents-can-prevent/