April Music Thread

Helen, congratulations!!

Congratulations Helen, good luck with deciphering the comments when you get them.

Helen

Excellent results well done to your dd

Helenluvsrob fantastic result - that is amazing!

Oh BeyondThePage! they had to give her extra marks for that! :)

Congratulation Helenluvsrob, what a star

This could be "outing" but... Last year we were told online DD had a distinction for G5 piano. Got the certificate - "with distinction", got the comments sheet ... 116 marks...

Luckily she KNEW she hadn't got anywhere near a distinction. Received a written apology ... eventually.

Woot . Distinction for grade 8 recorder for DD2 :)
Great results for her and also for her teacher as she might be his last grade 8 ever. Comment sheet awaited.

and I better namechange again.

ha, how about me accompaning dc for her grade 1. I practised when I was sleeping, sure that if I could do it whilest sleeping I could do it during the exam. Well, that didn't work out. Stopped and started, played with 1 hand. But dc did what I told her to, just carry on playing regardless of what I do, and she got her distinction. but never again for me

I'll never forget the examiner who one of dh adult students came across.
She was nervous and well into her 60's when she took her grade four.
She was well prepared, could play pieces standing on her head, aural was good, scales, sight reading etc, a clear distinction so we thought.

She went to pieces in the exam room and one of the pieces just went from bad to worse.
The comments included x put up a good fight, right to the bitter end.
She just scraped a pass in the end, but I loved the comments.

Glad notes were helpful only

foundoutyet only if she wants to. If she says-no music for me anymore I may let her :) (have not decided yet :))

violinandpiano I also think at grade 1 the examiners are more generous, dd got 30 in one of her pieces and 18 in the aural test. The aural is also easier. This didn't repeat at grade 3 and I have no hope of repeating at grade 5. But it doesn't reflect on total music ability it is only 10 min on one day.

It also depends how long a dc has been preparing for that grade, you said so yourself that the friend's dc took longer to grade 1. So did my dd, she did grade 1 after 18 months of playing while a friend of hers took it around 9 months after starting lessons but got a lower score. I have no doubt that if the friend would have taken the exam a term later she would have got higher marks.

But why would she be done at the beginning of secondary school? Went to secondary school concert last week and there were a couple of seriously good players, who passed grade 8 when they were 11,12,14 or so. They are putting many hours in AFTER having passed grade 8. And I know they are not going to be professional muciains.

I agree, no need to spend on academics outside of school during primary school age. It is however a difference how schools handel more academic children. We changed for dc3 and it has made such a difference in her "happiness"

hapsburg thank again for sharing notes for music periods, apparently this is one question we got right on exam :)

violinandpiano it is a human factor too as examiners are human. I don't believe that 30 marks make you a better musician. It is only a reflection of a performance on a day, child's nerves and what examiner was eating for breakfasts. Nothing else :) May he he wanted to go to the loo during the performance and didn't listen to the piece carefully. I think we mums tend to put too much importance on smth totally unimportant when it comes to our dc :)

DD away at NCO, so taking inspiration from Loose I have been playing the piano as it is extremely quiet around here! Lovely neighbour commented this morning that she hadn't heard any music for a few days - we are very very lucky that they like hearing DD play. I don't think there's much chance of my piano playing moving on much from the grade 1 challenge I did a couple of years ago!

Oh sorry, so many mistakes, pressed enter without proof reading :)))

she will be done with music at the beginning of secondary I meant!

foundoutyet I feel guilty in other direction-dd is very academic but we spend far too much time on music lessons (only because dh virtually is not at present because of his job and I have two children on my hands). However I tell myself-she will be done with music and and then she can concentrate on academic subjects. To be fair - if she concentrated on them now shoe would be far too ahead at school which is not ideal either. She was already doing year 6 maths starting from year 2 or 3, French-she is wasting time there, school promised to mover her to year 5 or 6, still didn't do it, etc. So really, she would be better off at home in terms of education, but my priority social side therefore we manage as we can....

I have spent a lifetime with musicians, from playing myself when younger to being the wife of a musician.
Most of our friends are musicians and I've spent 30 years listening to them talking, telling stories and sharing their experiences.
I have honestly never heard any say they wished they'd started earlier or that they missed out by not playing from an early age.
The difference is the drive to want to do it as a profession.
I think this is the only factor that determines whether a person enters the industry.
I found that whoever the person is, whatever college they attended, whatever the musical education background, the work is exactly the same whether you started at 5 or 15.
Most musicians are involved in education to some extent, most have private pupils, some teach in schools, colleges etc.
On the bandstand they are all the same irrespective of when they started to play.
I'm sorry I am disagreeing with you only, but I see no evidence for what you say.