November Music Thread

Thinking of you theory guys today...good luck!

Good luck to all the Theory DC today.

Green - I did suggest that and completely agree but I think the fact that she missed a whole 10 marks by her own stupidity has preyed on her mind... Plus the fact that everyone refers to G5 as 'equivalent to a gCSE' and she wants an 'a'

Good luck to everyone today, I remember last term it was on a Saturday!

Prada: why not do grade 6 theory instead? We would do grade 6 theory however that might never happen as I dont find the point of paying for it if it isnt required. And well done, very clever on turning the clock, I will be doing it next time.

Ps drummersmum when miniprada was 8 I had a whole class sleep over for the girls in the class . It was potentially a disaster but I moved all the clocks forward in the house so they went to bed at 10 thinking it was 1am

Morning all - had a chance to look at the link waffle - very lovely playing from both of you! School looks charming also

Miniprada has decided that a pass wasn't good enough at G5 theory in the Summer so against our better judgement is doing it again today to get a merit or higher as she wants to go into the indie school auditions with a better result . She scraped a pass last time having forgotten to answer one whole question it transpires.... So completely agree with the sentiment to 'STAY IN THE ROOM' she left last time after 45 mins so careless really...

On a positive note aside from the child's madness I've booked a massage on site where she is sitting the exam which I wouldn't normally have time for after school so I guess I can't complain if she wants to sit it again...good luck to you all!

Festival rehearsal last night. Did not go brilliantly with the official accompanist mainly as she hasn't practiced the G5 pieces for ages and the G7 sounded flat against the piano. I feel mega practicing coming on this week!

Disorganisedmummy - sounds like the visit was a success! Congratulations!

Thank you all for the answers! Sounds like all have more or less the same period of preparation, same in our case. The reason I was asking is that dd was preparing few pieces for the concert and though it was an interesting experience I got fed up with listening the same music again and again
Fortunately concert is in few weeks time and we can move on finally :)

Good luck to all doing the theory exam!

Waffle I loved watching you and Goo play, I watched it about 3 times.

disorganised good luck with the audition, it sounds like your DS had a great experience.

With regards to how long does it take for a piece of 2-3 pages to learn, for piano at grade 5 I'd say 3-4 months to exam standard, however DD just started one grade 5 piece and the plan is to take it in July next year, but she won't concentrate yet on that piece in particular, she plays another 4 pieces at the same time. She's only learning 3-4 bars at a time because her teacher wants it right from the beginning (4 bars, correct dynamics, interpretation, move to the next few bars). So you could say it will take her 7 months but the other pieces will be introduced later next year. 3 months at grade 5 I think it is about average.

Although mine checked his answers and decided that a correct transposition was wrong and changed it! He was in tears when he realized later
Good luck everyone.

Amadeus was so good. I would happily go again. But still recovering from actually going out in the evening. Getting too old for stuff like this ...

Best of luck to everyone with their theory today. I've lost track of who's doing what when!!

Wishing everyone else luck with theory today! DS1 seems confident apart from the musical terms, which hopefully is just one point and hopefully not the 1 point between pass and fail.
Green it's lovely comments like yours that help me persevere! You have so much going on in your day, I really don't think you should feel bad for not doing piano lessons yet! Last night I spent most of the lesson on Indian Pony Race but was a little shocked to discover how much faster I need to play it. And I have developed a bad habit of crouching over the keyboard for the middle part!

I have to say that I'll be glad to have DD1 getting the theory exam over and done with - so that I don't have to keep nagging her to do some past papers! Good luck to all the DC doing the exam.

Good luck to onlymusic DC and anyone else doing G5 theory tomorrow. DS2 is quite keen to get it over and done with now.

How long in terms of how many concentration hours? Then it will depend on at what age. Then the child musical background(playing other instrument at what level) and depends on grades. We thought 3 months are enough for us to learn the pieces and scales, aural, sight reading. Well, 2 months passed and we havent played the 2 pieces properly, learned 1/2 scales. I look at the "festival" links and think of enrolling her in so she has more chance(meaning motivation) to learn from the piece.

Loose: you are doing so well, I know I should start too however I am just so so lazy. Its harder for us I believe, just think you are being admired by someone else who cant bring herself to do the same thing(yet!)

Only - it varies a lot; DD got two g8 pieces ready for auditions and a performance in oct and started work on them in July time, which i thought was very tight. However other pieces at other times have taken much longer. And she was very determined to do these two pieces which probably sped things up. From watching her she will happily 'note bash' for a period on her own, and start to memorise (not deliberately, just how she works) and then will ask for lessons on the pieces to work out tricky corners etc - and to correct bowing!!! It takes some careful timing to make sure she doesn't lock it into her memory before the wrinkles have been ironed out....However a set of scales in comparison could take years to learn......:(

only it takes DS 4 or 5 months to get a grade 8 piano piece to concert standard. If he didn't go to school it would be less! Three times that for three pieces. Mozart sonata movement is definitely 5 months at least.
Percussion pieces it really depends but less. If it's snare then an intensive one month may do it. If it's tuned two months dedicated if grade 8 level.

neverever was it good?
loose it's always the instrument's fault
disorganised thanks so much for sharing your experience!

I've been to see Amadeus at the National Theatre. :)

Hapsburg - loved the article, thanks for posting the link!
Well my own practice has been patchy to say the least. I can just about get by on what I already know but the new piece needs a lot more work! At least my scales are ok!
DS2 made me laugh yesterday - he was warming up with scales on cello and one of them sounded odd. When challenged, he looked daggers at me and said it was impossible to play because the cello was too small but rather undermined his point by then playing it properly!
Drummersmum - fabulous presents! Your DS did well there!

hapsburg interesting article, thank you!

Pradaqueen, just read about mini Prada Mozart performance at school -there are moments when it feels so worthwhile, aren't they?

Count me in for the stationery book Drummers

only thinking of you yesterday as DS unwrapped some of his presents from his mates: Herbie Hancock's autobiography "Possibilities" and Alan Rusbridger's "Play It Again". I am going to borrow them!! He also got some Duke Ellington's original vinyls!