April Music Thread

Salty

You can't really start too late for a career in music.
My dh took one grade 6 after doing grade 5 theory. This was enough to gain entry to his chosen music college, where he excelled, won the memorial prize for his year and is now a leading name in his particular field.
He never took any more music exams.
He also started playing at 14, becoming serious at 16 when he worked his socks off for college audition.

Salty grade 3 after only learning for 1 year is pretty impressive in my book. Dd is also doing grade 3 after a year on clarinet but she is grade 5 level on piano so she could read music notation when she started.

Also if your DS is Year 8 he's 12, I don't think he started late, my dd's clarinet teacher is also a sax teacher and told me once that she only takes 10-11 yo based on their size as it could mess up their backs. So if you take somebody starting at 10 and doing 1 grade a year the average child would be grade 2 by 12. So please don't feel like your DS's achievements are not great.

Piano and violin are usually started early, 4+ in terms of age, if the child has any inclination and supportive parents and prioritieses music to a certain extent compared to other activities I do believe they can achieve higher grades by end of secondary but not all instruments can be started that early.

Waffle did you mean 4-6 years?

Only at one point when dd kept making a Chopin piece very jolly indeed her teacher had to shout "no, not like that, imagine how you would feel if all those kittens died now!"

Salty, there is a book called 'meet the orchestra' (very enertaining reading). According to this book there are some instruments which are ok to start late. Perhaps should worth investigating.

All of your DC are so good!

My DS is in Y8 and just took G3 sax this week after learning for a year.

He loves it and has dreams of being a musician.

But I fear he started too late. And will always be years behind children like yours who left primary on such high grades.

Does anyone know anything about Lutes, please don't laugh.
She wants to accompany herself with a lute when she sings Baroque.
Presently working through grade 8 singing syllabus and "If Music Be The Food Of Love".

There were 2 children brother and sister that we knew before dd went to her present school and they were 8 when they took and gained distinctions at grade 8 Piano.
I've spoken about them before, their mum didn't know anything about music and trusted the teacher, who issued the next grade or one above as soon as they'd finished the previous grade.
They were excellent players, but obviously no emotion or repertoire other than graded pieces.
Lovely family though, I haven't seen them in ages. They probably both have diplomas now and will be 11 and 10 respectively.

Dd is home for Easter after last nights Big Band gig, got up at 8.00 this morning and at 9am knocked on neighbours door and asked if she could start.......Piano practice , she did an hour, then 45 min singing, then we went clothes shopping.
Dh has a TV recording in London tomorrow, so is doing long notes atm, then no doubt they'll be playing duets. We are so lucky to have good neighbours.
I'm cooking Sunday roast but it's still a bit warm for me for hot food, so we'll have it later.
Just grade 3 Piano left this year, it's an uphill battle but she's getting there. Perhaps if she found some inspiration for playing it she might progress a bit quicker

This is exactly what I meant BeyondThePage.
Fleur, cannot stop laughing at kittens example. It is sort if stories I am telling my dd to understand the mood of the piece :)
Practicing with my no 2. He SO struggles with G major two octaves scale :(. Fortunately dh and dd can help but I feel I overestimated my future prospects with him :(

beyondthepage. That's interesting to hear about cramps etc. dd2 has no problem with pedalling, but dd1 who is taller struggles with it, and pefers wearing something highhealed. She has always had "funny-looking " feet....

I think dd will probably do grade 6 piano by end of primary. That if she does grade 6 at all but working on a grade a year and doing grade 5 now I'd say 6 next year. Which I would be more than happy as she is summer born so if she would have been born two weeks later she would have probably done grade 7 by end of primary. Saying that she didn't do a grade a year as she skipped the even numbers but she'll be grade 5 after 4 years of learning. I am quite happy with this as I don't feel she skipped any skills, on the contrary she had more time to learn it as she wasn't slowed down by exam prep at each grade. Clarinet should be grade 4 by end of primary also again if she does a grade a year.

On the other hand I can see she's not mature enough to play at this level, while she can obviously copy and follow instructions from her teacher as to how a piece should be interpreted and somehow I can see a bit of a personal input with regards to interpretation, there is a certain level of emotional maturity lacking. Such as sadness in a Chopin piece for example, her teacher had to find an emotional example for her to understand, they started talking about abandoned kittens and how sad it is they aren't with their mum, lol. This after the teacher explained the composer's exile and missing his country and dd couldn't fully get how that was sad to that extent.

Anyway I digress, bottom line is that if you give her a piece with a high emotional charge she will not do it justice at the mighty age of 9. And while I am proud she's advanced and capable of passing higher grades compared to some real life dcs I still wonder how a piece may sound if she would have been 16 for example. Maybe she'll slow down after grade 5, I think that's her teacher's plan, to skip 6 maybe but do 7 or 8 when she feels she's emotionally mature enough.

That obviously doesn't cancel the high achievements of dcs getting to grade 8 or diploma level before the age of 11. It is impressive.

I know what you mean only - my DD is now 16 and doing G6 TOMORROW - arghhhhhh,

but her playing is beautiful, heartfelt and soooo much more "musical" than it was even a couple of years ago. All of her playing has character, drama when needed, there is just a lightness of touch, a gentle emotion in playing that comes through with age and the experience of playing many varied pieces. Even her scales sound more rounded, more body to them - less going-through-the-motions. She feels it too.

If only the A pieces suited her playing style and temperament more! Still, exams are there to test the whole range. hey-ho.

If it goes comparably on recent years it will be 25+/30 for both the B+C, 15-20/30 for A, 17-19/21 for scales, 12/21 for sight reading (it needs work - but it seems to be a mental block thing - she plays a whole load of sight reading beautifully at home, but in exam can't get rhythm right let alone dynamics in there!!!) , 14ish/18 for aural.

A middling pass.

Waffle I know one girl who has just done her grade 7 at 8.5....(strings). Very bright confident child, no pushing or whatsoever. Her mum does not think she is particularly talented though (mum is a musician too) as when this girl took part in NCO last year (at 7yo I think) she said there were far more advanced children at this age
Saying that I totally lost interest in grade race now. I watched that girl playing-she is indeed brilliant but something (I would call it life experience) is still lacking. I just was not blown away. She needs to grow up a bit to make it. I also wonder- what is next? Dd had grade 2 in both-violin and piano at 6yo - in retrospective - I don't think it was worth it. I had my moment though - showing off, etc :):):) I used to think - when do we finally move to the next grade, nowadays I am the cautious one-when teacher suggests doing exam - I am the one who is asking - are you sure? Cannot believe how my views changed over the years :)

That should just say practice time don't know how the rice slipped in!

As for teatime. DS2 was a Chorister at 9, so tea was after 7.30 those nights. Other nights it was ridiculously early to be at band practice for 6!

I'm also a non- playing parent. I can read a few notes and that is more or less it.

I did sit in on DS2s piano lessons at the start, and helped him at the beginning, but that time is long over!

I help with aural by looking at the answer book and telling them what's right or wrong.

Having said that, I do some remote supervision for DS2 piano, usually to remind him to stop playing a concert!

All organ practice is supervised as DS2 has to be accompanied in organ lofts and empty churches, this was a safeguarding condition of being allowed practice rice time by the respective Cathedral/parish church. I also sit in on organ lessons, as Cathedral policy states 2 adults at all times.

Btw, this is rather funny-when I told our violin teacher than dd starts piano again and ds will have lessons too-he was not happy bunny :) Was rather grumpy and worried that it will affect their violin learning :)
He support the idea about jazz though. Perhaps because it does not require such timely practicing :)

Talking about the light at the end of the tunnel - yes, I suddenly realised that we will be done with violin at 11-12yo - only three grades to go -and it feels great! Also, as she likes exams it is not really a burden to do them.

Saying that I already see a diploma on horizon :).

Piano - I don't have any plans for piano at the moment, I really see it as a supplement to the violin, I would rather not to do any exams at all on piano and only grade 8 at some point. But what I really would like her to do is jazz (piano) - apparently she is very good at smth like that - but initial approach to the question indicates that classical piano education is still important. If we had more time I would send her to jazz lessons straight away, but.... not yet :(

With number two-does not look scary as he is quite compliant. So for the next few years I don't anticipate big problems with him, it is only when he gets older he may resist as he can be very stubborn at times....

Waffle: one thing I learnt from more than 3 years supporting her learning music is the ultimate goal for an amateur is how long do you keep playing(although to a good standard level). Which means I hope she knows how to play and can occasionally enjoy playing during her adulthood and she will appreciate music much better than us.
We dont aim for a musical life/solo career so it makes it simpler---I hope I didnt demotivate any of you here, its just our ability/life style/circumstances. I although leave the choice to her if suddenly she thinks she is into it. Right now we are making Easter eggs nests and once we finish, there will be a bike trip to the park then dinner with a friend of mibe who come to see us for this evening only, we have to vent over the weekend as our week days are tough.)

Greenleave actually we practiced on holiday quite well (plenty of time too) saying that we only go for one week, with my two children I rather prefer to stay at home altogether! This year number I am taking violin for my number two (possibly, he is is much better to pick up after the break than his sister).
Vibrato.... Oh.... Apparently, one year ago, when we started it for the first time, it was quite good (according to the teacher). Then all of a sudden it became bad again (see what I mean by long breaks? She didn't do it for few months and it was like she never touched it at all). So there was a struggle to "restore" it. This video really helped (there are few actually but start with this one if you need help). Our teacher said it is not how he taught dd but if we manage to do this sort of vibrato -fine with him too - just any for a start

We did loads of pedalling with the g5 pieces last year and other around g6-7 pieces now, the chair is still creaking almost every time she releases so we havent done well yet. She has been doing a piece where she has to change hands and cross them very quickly, it wasnt ok last week however it sounds(and looks) much more natural this morning.
Only, last year we brought our violin with us during the 3 weeks holiday away in the summer and we didnt touch it once so I have decided never try again.
Only, Kutik, can I ask how are you doing with vibrato. We havent started, our new teacher says we should, she will show us how from the next lesson.
I keep my goal very simple: to hope for g8 by end of primary for both instrument(in my head it means the fundamental technique has been ticked), then from secondary she will be on school lessons, practise on her own(I will be on the next one who will be nearly 6 by then so another cycle). She could do whatever she likes by then(festivals or not, Orchestra or not...).This is my ultimate aim. For now, it seems a mountain to climb.

Kutik dd does not like me to supervise her practice but no way I will let her to practice unsupervised. I still need to correct her bow and hands as she would play her 'lazy' way. We just were tipped that she has dyspraxia which explains her body control problems, therefore I understand that it is just plain difficult to do it all right and therefore I need to remind her (again... and again .... and again.....)

Thank you all for sharing how you support DCs with their home practice. Some comments assured me that it's ok not to know the technical side and that being untrained musically doesn't mean you cannot help. Individual condition such as personality and family schedule decide what works for each, and I'm amazed to see how people positively find a way to work for them. Very inspiring! Although I had been quite pathetic about being supportive in regard to DS's music (which I changed now and am trying to be as supportive as I can), perhaps in a way it was the best I could at the time. I was paying the fees and being a taxi driver at least, and for my very determined DS, it may have been what he needed from me. He would have been irritated and annoyed if I had been more keen! His early musical journey was such a bliss (especially with violin as it was mostly fun apart from the occasional grumpiness of the teacher). It would have been a different story if someone like me had been in the way! Today, he is enjoying time with his dad outside, so no music here. But when he does practise tomorrow, I am going to sit down on the sofa and be an encouraging audience.

only, DS uses pedals a lot for years but I haven't noticed any technical discussion happened during the lessons yet!