May Music Thread

DD2 just got her RIAM Grade 5 violin results! 82/100, with 8/10 on both sightreading and aural which were result of huge effort all year. This was her first exam (Suzuki kid), she never did aural before and her sight reading was poor.
I am so happy for her 😊

She will do Suzuki again this year, but continue to work on sight reading and scales. Will think of doing Grade 7 in 2 years time.

Good luck Fleur. We did two exams in one session once, piano G4 and trombone G3, we've avoided it since. Though the results were fine.

More manageable was DD when she did violin and sax in the same 2 years running, because they were different boards the were different weeks.

Think how lovely the end of June will be, no music exams or GCSEs!

I am having a very quiet half term, literally. DS2 is in Germany with school and DD is too busy with AS revision (to the PP who asked, yes she is doing AS in all subjects, 12 written exams) to practice.

I've cheered myself up buying tickets for DS1's uni summer concert.

New thread here

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/extra_curricular_activities/2943703-June-Music-Thread?watched=1

Fleur hope your day is better today. We are currently still in a terrace I love my house but trumpet practice is difficult to fit in sometimes if we don't want to annoy are very tolerant neighbours too much. We are currently trying to buy a much larger and more sensible detached house much closer to the high school , but the whole moving process is driving me slightly mad. Currently at grandparents with no neighbours to worry about so ds can make as much noise as he likes If we don't manage to move this time ( we have been trying now for over a year) then we are going to build ds a posh ( soundproofed) shed to do at least some of his practice in!

Just to clarify my previous post...

We had clavinova which was okay for the time being. The piano teacher knew we had clavinova so she didn't mean to say that we would be okay with paper piano, and she did advise us that we should get the best possible piano we could afford when we were ready to buy one.

We finally got one last year after DS's grade 5 exam.

Ha ha ha. Paper piano is just a piece of paper with keyboard drawn on it.

We didn't have the real piano for a long time. It was okay as piano was just for fun. But when DS started showing his passion for music, I got worried the fact that we were not well equipped. His piano teacher told us about a pianist who was too poor to have piano so practised on paper piano and won a prize. She told us no money and luxury would be able to buy diligence and real passion. She was basically telling us being equipped well was not the most important thing.

I was going to buy a portable keyboard for the time we were away from home (we were always away for 6 weeks in summer) but was hesitating as it was bulky. So when the piano teacher told us the story about the pianist, I thought if paper piano would do okay rollup piano should be fine too. So got it and it did serve our purpose.

It's more like a toy for DS now but it's so light so we take it with us when we are away.

Is there such thing as paper piano? off to google paper pianos

Kutik you are amazing!

I didn't know rollup pianos were so unknown! It can be useful but you won't touch it at all when you have access to real piano. It's just slightly better than paper piano, say when you want a quick finger exercise away from home. You have to be careful not to go for something too cheap as some models are really bad. It can be really frustrating when the keys don't respond well. Paper piano would be better than poor made roll up ones.

Forgot to thank you all about the music service feedback, I like it and I think we'll look into it from September. Dd doesn't want to do I am in two minds but I do feel it would give her an advantage to be taught on the music school premises.

We are in a semi and my "attached" neighbours have a 7 yo practising piano sometimes at 9,30pm but I do feel piano is different than clarinet.

I don't think we'll ever do exams in the same session (same day!!!) as it brings so much stress, you can't give up one instrument practice in favour of the exam one, or ease off at all, after an hour and 15 min on the piano she had to start clarinet practice even if she only did the scales and one piece. It feels like a total mess! I am in moaning mood!

Misti dd said tonight that she doesn't care about the exams results. So I asked if she's happy with a fail. She suddenly put more effort into it. I guess she meant she didn't care about merit/distinction but it suddenly dawned on her it could be a fail and that she's not happy with. Even though unless she has a total meltdown I don't believe she'd fail and after the way she played me Summertime and slow Air tonight I am even starting to think she may pull it off if she sorts out this last piece. Aural is fine, scales fine, sight reading hit and miss depending if she remembers to count and not correct errors.

We are lucky to have no young families on either side. Since one neighbour dug up his drive with a pneumatic hammer for AN ENTIRE SUNDAY I no longer worry too much about disturbing anyone.

I suggested the damper pedal for the contemporary piece (that I didn't like to start with and never want to hear again) but DD says she can't play it unless she can bash out the loud bits full force.

Fleur DD starts to get serious about practice only when embarrassment is on the horizon!!! Good luck!

Fleur, that phrase gets lost in translation here too!

Practice here can be a bit later than ideal - DD1 has only started her oboe practice now (9.30pm), but we are detached with neighbours on one side who seem to be at home rarely and an empty house on the other side.

Thank you ladies. I do think she'll be fine but she is pushing me to the limits. We've sorted out some phrasing in the second part of the problem piece and the first part is now a mess as she doesn't understand the words "slow down!!"

Another day tomorrow. We didn't have the chance of playing two of the clarinet pieces either as it was too late. She just played one and I had to stop her as I am not sure my neighbours agree with it.

Sounds good Misti!

DD2 did an hour of practice this morning, went to a friend's house for 4 hours or so, then did another 30 mins when she got back. We've been baking blondies and then she still has to do some theory practice. Tomorrow she has a mock theory test with her teacher followed by critique and then a bassoon lesson. Might let her off further practice tomorrow.... Poor girl was complaining of sore lips, although I think she means the muscles rather than chapped lips.

misti
fleur stop it. Right now. There's no way your DD is going to fail!!!!!!!!!

loose bassists are always in demand. DD usually plays bass when she does music boot camps, because there are always plenty of guitarists, and she prefers bass to electric guitar.

Think she was quite lucky today. The other pianists taking the same exam struggled with the compulsory piece which was technically not that difficult but quite complex rhythmically and musically (Christian Manen Op 126: V if anyone wants to put their ears through a bit of gratuitous musical torture. It's on Spotify). DD isn't that great a pianist from a technical point of view but she is rhythmically very secure and I think that made a big difference.

Thank god it's over, anyway.

Great news Misti! Well done!

Don't know what made me google that but I quickly shut the pages down as it doesn't help. Obviously I am losing it, I'm sure she'll be fine.

Google must wonder what's with all the roll up piano searches. I bet all the retailers are stocking up following our searches.

Fantastic news Misti - your dd is amazing! I'm sure it will all go well on Saturday, too.
DS1 is enjoying his rock band boot camp although it now appears he's in two bands as there's a shortage of bassists! The gig on Friday should be interesting...

Great news Misti

Fleur I'm sure she will be fine! I bet you underestimate her (and that she underestimates herself).

DD's piano exam went fine. Different set up to the UK as all the cycle 2 (grade 8 ish) and cycle 3 (diploma) students played in front of each other and a jury of visiting teachers. They get feedback and results immediately after. So she was told to turn up for 2.30, ended up starting at 3.15 and finishing at 5! Bit intimidating and the wait didn't help but she was lucky enough to go first in her group. Ended up with 17/20 and a "mention très bien" (the equivalent of a good merit or a borderline distinction) - which after only two years of piano isn't too shabby. It is fair to say that she was delighted.

Next up, our guitar school show on Saturday where she has been roped in to sing for some of the groups, and a recital on the 10th for which she is accompanying a violinist. She hasn't practiced the piece yet but it only looks to be around grade 3 so she will be OK I hope ...

Fleur! MiniFleur will be fine, I'm sure of it. for you this evening, I think!
Meant to add about the borough music service - they run lots of ensembles. They charge £90 per child per term so it's not cheap but there is a sibling discount and once you've paid you can join as many or as few ensembles as are suitable. Some are by invitation so the teacher would recommend a child to the organizer, or is the organizer.

drummers I felt the same last year in September, I still don't think DS knew 100% what subjects he wanted but chose them by eliminating the ones that were definitely a no. He can still change in September.

Double thank you, sounds good I've sent an enquiry to the music school with a view of moving her there in September. We'll try at least.

Is anybody else as masochistic as me? I googled "failed grade 5 piano" and now I am reading threads on forums about people that failed. I must be a bit crazy 😜

Fleur, you were asking about costs of music service lessons. 30 mins lesson is about £25. They can have longer lessons as long as the teacher can timetable it. Because they have lessons through the music centre, DD1 gets a 25% loyalty discount for her 3 bands (one of them she plays sax in and doesn't even have lessons through them) and DD2 gets 50% discount off her two bands as she does their G&T programme. As previously mentioned, there isn't much time to do aural though.

DD2's teacher swapped her lesson to a different day for this term in the lead up to the exam as she felt that there wasn't enough time sandwiched between other lessons. She is having up to an hour, but informally, so we are not being charged extra - although by rights we should be.

He may be able to change his mind later drummers. College said that the deadline for choices was March and that's when they built up the timetable based on everyone's preferences. They were allowed to change subjects at enrollment in August providing that the timetable which was by then written in stone allowed for it.

School should give some guidance about choosing subjects that keep future options open.