April Music Thread

I sit there in the lesson knitting (no surprise given my name) and I listen. Of late I've been listening very intently because we've reached the age where DS is organising his own things and sometimes the first I know of events is when he discusses them with his teacher for advice on repertoire. He's going away for a week in the summer with a group that he isn't a member of that plays at a music centre he doesn't go to and I knew about that because I wrote the cheque. I didn't know that they want him to take two instruments and do a duet on the one that he's not playing in the ensemble, he dropped that into the last lesson.

I usually am doing the ironing in the kitchen while he practises - we have a through kitchen/dining room so there's no wall between us. I know he'd do better if he had a plan for practice rather than randomly playing stuff but that's because I was listening when Big Name Player was giving his practice masterclass. "Today I will work on bars 48=60 with the aim of..." is something you get with experience and maturity and he's not there yet.

I have had about ninety hours of sitting in on lessons, probably closer to a hundred. I wish I hadn't just worked that out because that means I know what we've spent on them. Some things are best remaining a mystery.

Icouldbeknitting, you are doing an amazing job. I sit in on DS's lessons too (mostly), but I just sit there waiting, rather than learning together during piano lessons. I am more alerted during violin lessons simply because the teacher expects me to get involved. So I probably understand more violin than piano. But I find violin so hard (to help).

Thanks for great advice, Waffle and Trumpet.

DS usually practises in the room connected to our kitchen. I'm often cooking while he plays. He often talks to me while he is practising - not always music related though, such as 'ooooh, nice smell, is it fish?' or something... But we communicate like that as we are in the same space.

When he couldn't do what his teacher asked him to do, I had no clue how hard it was to achieve, so I probably mentioned to him in the past that he was not doing or not making enough effort, but then he knew I had no clue so my comments didn't improve the situation at all.

I may sit with him next time, rather than being busy cooking and doing other stuff, and be a good audience. I cannot give him any great advice, but probably that's the best thing I can do.

Asking DS his practice plan before he starts is also a great idea. It will make him think what he needs to do and it gives me some ideas what he wants to achieve.

Beyond and mistle, thanks for your great advice too, they sound fab and I wish I can do what you were/are doing. But helping sight-reading, scale test or playing together are all beyond my capacity I'm very afraid... I can read music but cannot tell if all is played correctly... I did test DS some scales when he was preparing for an exam last year, but I jut did it without knowing if they were all correct... I only notices something wrong when it was obvious. I can tell when it's out of tune but again when it's obvious....

It depends how old they are, as they get older you have to do less because they are better able to assess their own performance. I think that's how it's supposed to work but I suspect mine would never think of practice if I didn't remind him. He probably thinks he practises every day for three times as long as he actually does.

I am the non-musical parent but I have the advantage of sitting in on his lesson. I know what it is he should be working on and I know where the major issues were in the piece during the lesson. After many years of lessons I can tell the difference between a half baked and galloped through production and the real deal and he knows it. I'll ask him what he's supposed to be working on this week (I already know the answer) and what he intends working on today (I suspect the true answer would be Sims and Destiny). I will mention that I noticed him breathing in the wrong place, we both know it has to be the wrong place for me to notice it, and I'll point out that there were some boring and repetitive exercises he was supposed to be doing.

My mother always used to play the piano when I played the violin pieces - and I did lots of playing through of pieces for fun - luckily I had a load of pieces that my grandfather played and we worked out way through these (great for sightreading too).

Violin and 'playing in tune' is interesting - if you start really listening to the tone of the violin you can tell when it's in tune by the tone - the violin tells you when the note is correct.

We always try to do some sight-reading and random scales testing during practise time.

You need someone there for sight-reading to point out any obvious omissions - key signature, clef, dynamics, staccato/legato, rhythm, character.

Scales/Arpeggios etc - they have a tendency to just play a few through in order all the time for practise which can mean problems when they are asked a random few, or to use just one hand, so it is good to have a bit of a "test" from time to time - especially to keep speed up between exams if they are being done - nothing more demoralising than having to build up again and again.

And aural practise requires a lot more listening unless they record their response to the CD rhythms etc and go back over it.

I don't sit in on a full practise session, but am "around" for those bits, or for those sessions where she just wants to do a bit of sight reading for 10 min etc.

I do not comment on pieces - unless there is something glaring that she does over and over without thinking (Over the rainbow with pedal depressed and never quite lifted enough did not sound great, for instance)

Mostly me and ds fall out if I get too involved in his practice and his playing is way beyond my ability now so I can help with some things but not others. I can read music etc and sing but have no idea about the technical aspects of brass playing . so what I am doing now is sitting in on some practices but literally just sitting there and not really commenting . that way we don't fall out but it seems to make ds practice rather than being 12 and playing his pieces too fast and all the way through! Ds is a bit older than your ds but the other thing I do when I can't supervise is get him to tell me what he's going to do in a practice before he starts ( his teacher is always very ambitious in the amount of work he sets) this seems to help focus ds too . Hope that helps

DS doesn't get any homework from his violin & piano teachers during holiday. So holiday is holiday for us usually. But as he has an audition scheduled during Easter, he has to keep going with his practice. But I feel it may be quite challenging for a 9 years old to keep going alone. Usually he sees his teacher weekly and this spices up his practice. But it's holiday now. He has to keep going without seeing him. So I felt, I might want to step in to help him but I may ruin things by telling him nonsense due to my ignorance instead!

Those who are non-musical yet 'supervise' DCs daily practice, would you mind sharing with me HOW you manage to do that? I hear so often that it's more efficient and motivated if parents involved in their daily practice, yet I have no clue how it works when you haven't done any musical training yourself.

I mean, when DS just started I could help him. In fact it was a lovely mummy & son time, sitting together, playing together (it's so easy and simple even I could play). Then I kind of stopped. I think it was when I fell ill and ended up staying in hospital then when I came out this 'practising together' routine didn't work any more. Anyway, music was not a huge part in DS's life (at least for the parents' eyes) so I didn't really make any effort to go back to the routine and didn't get involved too much other than being a taxi driver.

However, when it became clear that it's quite important to him, I started wanting to get involved more. I attend most of his lessons so I can see how DS learns things and what he's learning. But at home, I have no clue what to do. For instance, I cannot tell if DS is playing correctly when he does scales on the piano (I could for G1 but no way for G7). I love music, and I think I have OK ears. But then when he plays double stop on the violin, I have no clue if they are all in tune. In fact I cannot tell even when it's just single notes, especially if it's very fast. I can tell something too obvious though.

Those DCs who get support at home usually have musical parents? I'm sure some of you are like me, no formal training, yet manage to help home practice. How do you do that? Any tips to share...?

Home with DS instead of rehearsals, rehearsals and concert as he's got a heavy cold and we don't want to infect everyone before the Easter holidays... Just did Gd2 viola last week - not confident as to how it went but then sang on Thursday evening in a public concert and made a tiny fluff of the words and carried on and said that was how his exam went - so if that was all, I think he'll pass even if it's not a great mark. He's surprised with his progress when he allows me to help and actually concentrates when practising (!!!). Singing doesn't really get practised at the moment - he just sings, then sings in a company and a choir... Singing in an opera next term so rehearsals for that are ramping up too.

Happy April everyone! Have a DD, aged 13.5 in Y8 who plays violin, piano and sings. I post less these days, as her other main activity tends to take lion share of time, though she still manages to participate in 5 x school ensembles a week and enjoys music life to a good standard.

So now more of a reader than contributor

Petra our last couple of exams have been on Saturdays so no school uniform, she wanted to make an effort and I encourage her to treat it as a performance.

We have a 3 weeks break from clarinet lessons so the teacher assigned a lot of work, all the scales for grade 3 to practice, some studies, a Disney piece and a grade 3 piece. Now I still wonder, is there time to learn and polish the other two till June or not? I may encourage dd to start a second piece on her own over these three weeks and see how it goes.

If it is achievable I may push for that also thinking that I wouldn't like her to play the pieces till November.

Hello all and thanks to Waffle for the new thread. I really hope Rara is much better - those vomiting bugs are hard on child and parent.
Respect to Mr Stringchild! Don't think I'll try for a selfie on Tuesday!
DS1 is 15 and I've just paid for his grade 8 bass guitar exam next term. He's working on grade 6 tuned percussion and drum kit as well. He has got year 10 exams out of the way, hurrah!
DS2 is 12 and working on grade 5 cello and grade 4 piano. I hope he takes the piano exam in the summer as I am tired of the whining about the A piece.

That was very very rare Petra, we usually have abrsm test during the week then usually the school uniform. On usual day, I dream of her remembering to comb her hair. Every morning, my husband drops the kids to school and nursery the best I could wish for that they dont leave home in their pyjamas and warm enough.
We received an email from our piano teacher this morning for the next coming months, feeling motivated.

Goodness I'd never even thought about what to wear for exams - it's usually school uniform! I did try to get her into something smart for the festival - we used the orchestra uniform...no sparkly dresses though for her ...she'd live in leggings and t shirts given the choice!

Hahaha, I am now thinking while the girls are practising, us (non musical) moms can work hard searching for dresses.

Maybe we should organise a meeting for the little ones to get to know each other.

Only I am impressed that your DS is already doing violin grade 1, didn't he just start violin last year? Dd's piano teacher tells me it takes a couple of years for the average child to reach grade 1 in piano or violin. Also he's only 6! Dd only started at 6, grade 1 at 7. Well done to him. How are the piano lessons going?

Green dd wore a lovely dress in the grade 1 clarinet exam and her piano teacher who accompanied her in the exam said that you could see the examiner fell in love with her from the moment she entered the room. If he would have only known what a tomboy she is.

Green, I love mini Green's description! Makes me to want to meet her in person ;)

Now as I am reading...
Well done Goo! Congratulations with an excellent results!
Stringchild-your story about selfie with the examiner made me laugh :) :) :)
BeyondThePage-best of luck with the exam on Monday!
Fleur, I was laughing at myself-you wrote 'killing summertime'-I was thinking -what did Fleur mean? She is not happy to wait for her dd to finish lesson at this lovely almost summer weather? And then I remembered that this piece is in exam syllabus :) ;) Should not really read this thread at night :)
Prada, wow! Mini Prada is going to have a busy term! What a clever girl to do two exams!

O..M..G..! April thread starting in March-this is quite a change! I felt guilty not to keep up with the threads, now I feel that it was a good thing - if I were commenting-we would have to move to April thread a week ago!

Thanks again Waffle for starting a new thread and my April resolution will be to read April thread regularly :)

I have dd9 violin/piano/recorder and ds6 - violin and is starting piano after Easter break. We are waiting for dd's violin exam results.

Grade 5 theory for dd in June and grade 1 violin for my baby - cannot believe this! Interestingly, my dd took her grade 1 violin at 6.3 and so will ds....

Nice Kutik! Fingers crossed for the next round!
Prada: fingers crossed for the best possible outcome. Your comment about the dress made me remember we did really badly with NCO last year(2 weeks practice, no performance experience, suddenly out of tune and all wet and late for the audition, no rehearsal with the accompanist, I knew it didnt go well). There was although a small hope that with a beautiful sparkling dress and an Asian dedicated pale skin face, long hair and her quirky playing style then they might find other thing in her. We failed to impress though hahaha(we truly not deserve it) however the comment did say she plays with a style(might be due to many hours laying on the sofa playing)

Fleur: there are ups and downs, downs moment now might be for ups later.

Thanks Double and Prada, though no celebration here yet as it's not that he has got a place! I know the one in April would be the hardest challenge for DS. Fingers and toes crossed!

Prada, we tend to remember only worst bits, don't we? And very often you realise all was not that bad in the end. So you may be surprised nicely when you get the result. At least you know your DD is very much capable of receiving merit. She is doing wonderfully well.