April Music Thread

Dd used pedals when doing her last piano exam but no technique was discussed unfortunately, apart from press-release :(
Oh well... I am sure Russian teacher will have her chance with pedalling too :))))
Fleur-so familiar... They know their staff but do they ever follow it? NO!

Green I haven't decided what we will do yet. Im the only parent and being the sole decision maker can feel impossible

Oh and dd's teacher is also working on teaching her how to pedal properly, she described it as a fishing event for dd to visualise: release the fish (play the notes) then catch it in the fish net (action the pedal). Then release the next batch of fish and then catch it in the net again. And so on. Dd quite likes the analogy.

Only dd has a habit to cross her legs under he chair or stretch them out, the teacher insists the feet have to be flat on the floor unless of course you use the pedal. This is also combined with phrases like "back straight, elbows down, shoulders down" dd sometimes ends up looking like some sort of still statue. For a second though as she quickly forgets, crosses her legs and raises her elbows.

Release of the pedal is quite an art - I have to pretend I'm driving!
Regarding practice - I don't really supervise DS1 as I can't help much and he wouldn't listen anyway but with the caveat that when he puts in for the next tuned percussion exam he will have to play his xylophone pieces to me so I know he isn't just dodging the difficult stuff.
I do help DS2 with piano but that's partly because I get to sit in on his lessons now so I can check he's actually doing the relevant bars.
Ironically the only reason I ever sit in on cello practice is because I can decipher his teacher's handwriting!
Green definitely go for the posh shed! Just think when you have two dds playing violin!

there are legs too

haha - yep - those things called pedals - the kids need to get into sitting face on at the correct height and working on press and ESPECIALLY release of the pedal. We found out DD16 is flat footed with no arch strength at all and needs to wear boots with a heel to pedal correctly or her feet get cramp. Only became an issue in exams for her at about grade 4 upwards, but by then she had had plenty of practise.

OMG Fleur, there are legs too???

Re violin-is no one using mute? May be not every day but from time to time? Last year we went on holidays only couple of weeks before dd's violin exam - so I needed to keep her practicing - we took violin with us and she practiced with mute in the hotel :)

Green, thank you!
I bet your little one could sit her first exam much earlier, I was very lazy with both of mine when they started violin. They resisted fiercely, both of them, as it was very hard at the beginning, and it put me off too.
Dd did her grade 1 piano at 5-but it was so much easier with piano-I didn't need to push her at all. But we always had love-hate relationship with violin...

Only glad to hear the piano lessons are going well, hang in there with the corrections, dd's piano teacher got to the legs now, she is obsessed with her legs position. and well done to your DS, have fun preparing.

Regarding support at home, I have sat in dd's lessons since she started piano a week after turning 6. I kept up with all the lessons without actually playing, learnt the notes, learnt the scales fingering, aural requirements, etc. Of course now I am losing track and lagging behind but dd will not do music practice without me. So when she started clarinet I said to her that I cannot virtually learn another instrument so she's on her own.

So our routine is that I sit next to dd on the sofa or on a chair while practising. First clarinet, I actually have no clue what she does but I tick her practice book once she's done each task. If she gets stuck I help her find the info. I prompt her to do what her teacher asked.

With piano I can still identify mistakes but so does she do it isn't about mistakes. It is more about effective practice. Such as "don't bother practising the first half of the piece which you've known by heart for a while now, just practice bar 19 to 21 where you are having issues". Don't do it just once quickly and consider it's done, do it several time till you feel it is embedded properly. Don't forget the teacher asked for x,y and z to happen. Sight reading - I can identify all the errors and point them out at the end.

These are our dynamics, it works for us.

Icouldbeknitting I used to knit too during lessons, but it was during lower grades, now I feel lessons affect my ability to concentrate on ... knitting! :)

Another thing I do during practicing - sometimes dd's playing is really boring and flat-so I point at that, try to help her to imagine a story behind the music-basically switch her into more creative mood :) This is important part of practicing too as far as I am concerned

Only, it makes me think of my 3 years old now, just another ...3 years. Your son is doing really well though. My 9 yrs old only started violin at 7. Best of luck with the new teacher!

Petra: on the day she isnt in the school club she is usually given something to eat at 4(usually small pie, cold sandwich etc). On the 3 days at school until late then I just pack her similar(a banana, an apple, loads of dry nuts). Mine eats like a horse too. She eats more than me now.

Se22: how is it going with your teacher? We are still on silent except during piano lessons and Sunday morning. She has been having normal conversation with us since though. I still secretly wish we could afford a semi detached one day. Violin is practised in the conservatory, well, we dont do much though so no complaint yet. If there is complaint it will be the whole neighborhood. I am thinking of Loose's posh shed too

Another aspect of practicing I fully supervise-is aural. We practice it at home, almost nothing is done during the lessons-this is by mutual agreement with the teacher. But as I said before - we use app for aural - so it is easy

Re. holidays - we carry on lessons during holidays - long breaks are not working with my children unfortunately

Kutik I am not a musical parent. I only know the difference between minims/crochets/etc - this is all. I know when note should sound longer or where rests are-this sort of things.
Basically, my task is to make sure that there is no lazy practicing. Like with piano scales, clearly I have no idea if dd would play them correctly but I can make sure that fingering is correct. But to be honest I can recognise when scale is out of tune. The only thing I can not do is to differ one scale from another. And yes, there was a time when she didn't want to play some scale and she tricked me-said that she played that scale but in fact played a different one. This is smth I cannot help with :)
Violin-yes, I would not recognise the subtle changes in sound, but I think I can hear now when music is out of tune or some odd notes are played incorrectly. Dd started her first music lesson 5 years ago and during those years we obviously listened a lot of music-I feel like my ears had a proper training too.
I also feel lucky in a way that dd always knew what she was supposed to do and how - I only had to ensure that she is not lazy. Ds is not like that and I sometimes struggle to figure out what he needs to do, but luckily dd helps me now :)

Fleur forgot to mention our piano lessons.

Ds is starting after Easter break

Dd just had her first lesson with a Russian teacher. I totally fell in love with her. She is clearly not a typical Russian teacher - she is very.... I would not say English but certainly not a Russian either! Smiles a lot , very soft.... I told teacher - here is your student-do whatever you want with her. She got straight to the business-started with dd's hands which are HORRIBLE! So I don't envy you anymore

Waffle, may I ask for your advice please?....
Dd has a recorder lessons at school. Recorder teacher is teaching privately too.... Is it worth doing some odd grades on a recorder? I am thinking about the highest possible grade with the minimum effort (say, she can do grade 1 with no effort, but would need to spend time on grade 2 - then I would go for grade 1 only). Is it worth doing? And what is highest grade she can look at after her other music lessons (assuming lessons at school are pretty basic)?
Thank you

Fleur, yes, ds started violin last year but by the time of his exam it will be 1.5 years since he started. Remember, my children start early . To be honest I was not keen on this idea and discussed this with his teacher. I think teacher overestimates ds, teacher thinks I underestimate him . I decided I have done my best to make sure that my children have the best teachers around, now I retire :) If teacher wants to do exam-fine, if ds fails it - I don't care, I truly don't.

Talking about two pieces for exam - I am sure your dd will be fine to learn them. Ds is taking exam at summer - I only received exam book yesterday!

Exam/festival dresses - I am all for the nice dress. Not necessarily sparking but a 'proper' looking (saying that uniform is fine too as well as smth like white top+ black skirt). I am a strong believer in human factor. And examiners are humans too :)

Dd also eats at 7 mostly. The idea of pre food homework is futile. We just try to minimise neighbour annoyance by practising the high notes on clarinet immediately after. Then violin after, the sound is more secure. Green's neighbour still plays on my mind if practise is very late.

green how on earth does she last until 7 for dinner? Dd is ravenous and extremely hangry by 5!!! She cannot do anything until she's eaten...let alone practice!

It's not quite that much greenleave but I feel your pain ( at the minute we are lucky that ds's teacher doesn't charge that much for his lessons even though he comes to us )

Trumpet, Icould: we pay £100/week for violin and piano lessons as teachers come to us. I remember TRL has 5 musical children with multiple instruments then I dont feel as bad

Great advices from everyone!

I got home around 6.30pm and both our lessons finishes around the sametime so I usually try to understand what we need to do during the week within 2 mins. My piano teacher has a big ambition for us in terms of what we should do(he although never once says she is able/musical the last nearly 3 yrs. And I like it, the previous violin teachers says she is talented and It didnt end anywhere)He never says how long we need to spend on what. Vionlin teachers usually says min practice time. Our new violin teacher asks for min 20mins/day (supervised). We usually then have a quick change, wash while I put something in the oven for dinner(I cook the night before for the next day dinner). Dinner finishes at 7.30 then she usually sits down with her piano while I put her younger sister to bed. Then I come back and try to sit down for 15 mins if she practises violin. I didnt want to tell my new teacher that even 20mins for a busy household like us seems very hard. She usually is tired at 8.00(this girl needs 11hour sleep). She then reads in the conservatory(we called it library/play room, its big and we have a whole open plan from the 2 living rooms to the extension(kitchen) to the conservatory. Its great with children as our toddler rides her bike around all rooms and never has to stop and she plays and where I can always see her and hear her. She usually reads for 20-30mins while I pack our lunches, prepare for the next day dinner.
So not only 100% non musical, I dont(cant present) during her lesson either and we dont practise that much. We are although no where near any of us here and we know we need to do more however given our circumstances, this is the best we could manage and I am very aware that I am lucky that she learns things fast(faster than average). We do much more on Sunday morning though, some Sundays we could do 1 hour each very focused and in a productive way. Saturday is French and swimming and we need to vent in the park(or anywhere). I usually have friends come for Sat dinner or we come to them almost every weekend, I love cooking.
I although wish she could practise on her own (hopefully when she is bigger, she has 1.5-2hr in 2 afternoons a week free of activities, I wish she could do 1 hour each on these days, she uses these two days on her "arts". I know that is the level of practice that we need as she is now working on g6-7 piano and g5 violin).

The cost of music lessons ( and in this house drama classes too) is wincing but when they come away from performances buzzing and so happy just to be taking part and doing what they love as both have mine have this week it's worth it !! I'm pleased though to have got to the end of a ridiculously busy half term and am looking forward to a more relaxing holiday