April Music Thread

Waffle, Rara is sooo cute! Well done Rara we are all very proud of you :)

We got 124 for exam, though I knew it was going to happen one day 😂 but first merit after all distinctions was still a bit of shock 😂
However, one thing that I totally relate to teacher's fault is sight reading-They didn't touch it at all (as it is very good smile)-all our do teachers this mistake again and again....does not matter how many times I asked them to practice it....
Apparently she got the lowest marks for the piece she played the best according to accompanist....
Oh well, back to business now

She is absolutely adorable.

We had a concert at the centre using the same piano and I could see many children struggling to make sounds of some keys. Older and more experienced ones kept going but smaller and less experienced ones kept stopping and re-playing the note that didn't come through. They looked so puzzled. I was wondering if the examiner noticed the problem.

found, yes it happened to DS too. The centre his teacher books for her pupils has a piano with incredibly stiff keys. We were warned in advance that playing too soft may not make any sound. DS said it was not easy to create the dynamics he wanted.

dc2,(the one who just passed her exams), struggled with the exam piano (not our usual centre). Her best piece became her worst piece. She said the piano was so "heavy" she couldn't really do the dynamics justice. I know our piano at home is a really light one. Any of your dc complaining of this?

Great results everyone!

On exam, it really depends on each child, I could see patience and resiliency in my second child. For my 9 yrs old then the logic that the longer you learn the piece the better it will get doesnt work. Once she reaches to a point then the learning will be completely diminished, she could overcook it badly. Now, it could be because we havent found a right way to teach her another way of mastering the piece better. Same for violin and piano here. It also depends on our (parents) priority. Without an exam ( or festival) I have less motivation to pay for lessons.

Beyond that made me laugh, dd has the same routine of ruining it all the last couple of weeks before exams.

Dd also did an exam a year but a couple of grades each time so grade 1 followed by grade 3 and now grade 5 a year after grade 3. For grade 5 the festival slowed her down but benefited her on the performance side.

Dd plays a lot of pieces between exams, she never jumped from exam pieces to exam pieces but has a history of always picking the harder pieces of each grade usually she'll listen to the cd that comes with the book (I always buy the book with the cd) and likes a couple of the alternatives meaning I need to buy the additional books. She took half a term to prepare for grade 1, a term for grade 3 and now two terms for grade 5 but on and off as the grade 5 pieces were ignored in favour of the festival ones.

The clarinet is much easier from the point of view of being able to already read music, she did grade 1 after 12 lessons and now will do grade 3 a year after starting lessons, but I am sure that once she'll head towards grade 5 it will be more difficult.

DD only does piano and takes a year per exam. However, she is not doing every grade. So this will be a 2 grade year... How it usually goes for us :

She will get the pieces in June after GCSEs are done - learn one piece (usually B piece) between exams and summer, pick up another piece (A) in summer alongside Aural, then other piece (C) at Christmas alongside the extra scales and upping speed. Sightreading will continue (ha!) and she will be playing lots of other stuff as well - some for pure enjoyment with friends/alone, some for school exams, some for ensemble stuff at school concerts.

Then around Feb hols or Easter hols she will "beautify" the pieces, fall apart on the A piece, mess up the scales, forget how to actually play the piano and be ready for her exam as usual.

(does not matter if she has more or less prep time - the last month always goes that way - hey-ho...)

Onlymusic - i am not sure there is a comparison to be made; some children and adults will find one or other easier depending on how the brain/body is wired. personally, i have always thought advanced string playing is exceptionally difficult, not least tuning (which pianists don't have to figure out each time of course). But as we progress on woodwind, i am surprised how difficult it gets technically/physically compared to the early grades. So basically i think all instruments are hard and everyone should be incredibly proud of their children/themselves :)

Oh, and I should add that at the moment I am trying to ensure exams are spread out so they don't become the main focus. They have one each next term and then will be rationed to one each the following term!

in the past DS2 has basically spent one term on a cello exam (10 lessons if lucky) but a year on piano! I think now it's different because he's working on grade 5 cello, so is doing lots of different pieces to get experience and technique. With piano, he's essentially got the pieces in two terms (did a couple of others as well but didn't like them!) alongside theory but he still has some scales to learn. If he'd spend a bit more time on practice, the scales would be done already!!
I'm currently grappling with the combination of him growing very fast and wanting to sleep all morning! Practice is happening but not until evening.
DS1 on the other hand is spending most days practising a lot without any prompting so I just have wait another three years...

Surely people have different opinions as there should be many different 'right' ways for each individual.

DS learns lots of different studies through a year and exam pieces are one of those so I don't really remember feeling 'working towards' a certain exam (but the last time, polishing scales made us feel a bit like that). I suppose it may change for higher grades as I assume some more good polishing would be needed? Though I'm not sure how challenge they will be as I have never seen them yet. His teacher says no difference in the approach as DS will be at the standard any way. We will see.

We know only piano exam so no idea how it's like with other instruments. Would like to know about violin exam as one day DS may take one.

Waffle thanks

Talkng about preparation time.... I had this conversation on numerous occasions with teachers....and parents.... I think piano is more difficult instrument than violin. But people have different opinions.... What do you guys think? ;)

I am obviously tired, my eyes are closing:

*focus is

*out of sync. (Not sink by any means)

For grade 3-5 dd has started the pieces 3-4 months before the exam but alternating them with other repertoire. It is generally only a month or so before the entry deadline that all the other pieces are dropped and only exam pieces are practised.

So she would initially start with an exam piece and another 2-3 additional pieces or studies and the focus are the other pieces until gradually the balance swaps around. Her teacher also likes to have time to polish bar by bar if needed.

This time though I think we were thrown out of sink by the festival. The plan initially was to take the exam in march but no exam pieces were practised before the festival.

DS had hardly any time for polishing his pieces for the last exam mainly because we decided to do it at the last minute (for multiple reasons). We got the music in April for the exam in June (and DS had a week off during May half term as we went Switzerland). So he had less than two months to prepare... Luckily he knew scales already so only pieces to learn from scratch. However he had a hard time with scales and seemed to have been spending more time on them than pieces - while pieces were learnt at ease, he was still making mistakes here and there in scales!

He kept practising one of the three pieces after the exam and played it at several venues in July. He played it much nicer by having had time to digest the piece properly.

DS didn't spend too long on exam preparation in the past but they were for lower grades so manageable. I suppose it will be difficult for higher grades. So we have no plan to have such a short preparation next time!

Sounds like she can play it but I am sure Waffle can confirm if it is a good idea.

Fleur she was making a good, strong sound but I'm just not sure whether I need to run out and buy new 2 strength tomorrow. Hopefully it is ok as we spend too much time rushing around

SE22 I haven't got the expertise like Waffle and I'm sure she'll come and confirm if this is the case but I think if your dd can play on a 2.5 then it's fine to use it, I don't think there is damage to be done, she can either play on it or not.

only I am so happy to hear you've found a teacher you really like, I know that was a frustration, it's great to hear of happy parents and great teacher.

Managed to squeeze in an hour and a half music practice in one go, I don't think dd could do more than this in one go as she was knackered by the end. Out of this 25 min was clarinet and the rest piano. Still didn't manage 20 min per piece but you know what, her pieces are starting to sound recognisable, lol, Summertime is definitely the hardest in terms of stretches and execution, but as she has them all now known and in rhythm I am becoming more optimistic that she can probably make it to the next exam session with this level of practice. It's just not leaving much time for polishing but we'll manage I'm sure.

Clarinet two pieces known, third started and all the scales so that should be fine.

With DS's GCSEs in May/June, dd's clarinet and piano exams in June/July and dd's secondary school exams in September I feel I could run and hide, can somebody let me know when 1st November comes.

We will manage to squeeze a two week holiday in Italy in the summer otherwise I'd lose it.

Waffle dd chipped her last clarinet reed and all I have in the house is a thicker 2.5 which I bought by mistake. Can she use these do you think or should she hold off until I can get more 2 strength? Don't want to do any damage