May Music Thread

Well done to mini PaulWeller. Fab news.

I have pre registered for the October open day, so we will reply what DS2 thinks and take it from there!

Many well done MiniPaulweller!

Drummers: thanks so much for sharing the practice advices. I so agree with being play without any disturbance to maximise improvement and focus (and everything else)
Loose: you made me laugh when I read the bits on "boys translation". We are opposite here, this is the almost all girls house.

Any tips on playing music without music book please? Mine has (or used to have) good memory and couldnt play 3 pages pieces without a book well. She plays much better with the book. Taking the book away then she makes mistakes. We have been learning this Sonatina Fritz Spindler for 3 months now so it isnt like we havent had enough time.

Kutik: we havent seen any school. I will make that decision next year( I might not bring her with me). I think I will try not to let her to put her heart or mind on any school incase she cant get in the school she wants(this is just me thinking failing 11+ shouldnt be end of your educational life and similar to getting in the aimed school doesnt mean we then are done). How do you prepare your son if you dont mind me asking. Is he taking this Sept exam(I remember he is in yr5).
Fleur: you are so organised!!!

drummers

Your peace and quiet reminded me of this so much.

Haha Gilly. Dd one really likes your dd!
Little percussionist may be with your dd in big band, maybe not quite yet, but in a couple of yrs xx

Thanks Rapidly x

Drummers sounds good and I am sure it will apply perfectly at an older and more mature age. Dd wouldn't be able to organise herself that way but that's what the adults around her do, including her teacher.

Ok, sorry if this is written badly, I am rushing through it. Here's what the top drummer we saw at the perc fest does to monitor his practice:

Constantly records himself. One a year he fully assesses himself, records his playing of different pieces and technical stuff, identifies areas he needs to improve and work on. Obviously some of these deficiencies or ambitions ha been compiling during that year. He then searches for specific exercises and pieces which will make him work on those areas. He divides the following year in blocks of three months, each trimester dedicated to improve one or two areas. After the three months he records himself and performs a self-assessment. He says he gets nervous even though nobody's watching or listening Apart from these year and trimester assessments, he constantly records himself before and after, sometimes from one day to another. This is to keep motivating himself like on a before & after diet program! He can notice small improvements after a day's practice. The day's practice is also divided in blocks. He will play for lets say 50 min then give himself a break of 5-10 min. Never longer than an hour without a break.
Length of practice depends on time availability, but average is 3 hours.
He keeps a journal of all the above, writing down what he needs to work on a using diagrams for the kit when designing new fills and grooves.

He switches off all mobile phones and internet. This is crucial. He says there have been studies that show your focus duting a creative task hugely improves not only if you're not interrupted which is obvious, but also IF YOU KNOW you won't be interrupted. That certainty can only come from creating that possibility i.e. switching off devices.

How to focus in a world where you can just go from one thing to another on internet and never stop? He says that in the past the challenge was to find a specific record, hear an artist, etc. Once you had the record, you would learn it by ehart, hear it a hundred times. Now it's the opposite, youth can now listen to anything and anyone instantly. So the challenge is to achieve that DEPTH. Stick to one thing and if everyone is coming to you to show you this and that, refuse to engage, say you're working on this one thing, that's what you're doing now.

When asked why he didn't have more toms and gear, he said more gear doesn't necessarily translate into better playing. He says his creativity doesn't depend on having more stuff, but on having limitations. He then illustrated by playing an improvisation on the snare with his bare hands and nothing else.

minipaulweller that's great news!!!! 👍

Well done to minipaulweller!

Fab news little percussionist how exciting

Thanks guys,
It is boarding and day school, so all good. Yes, she'll be with her sister

Thank you Fleur.

Fantastic news Paulweller! Is it the same school as your older one goes? I assume it's a boarding school? If so, then they are together there is so so nice.

Kutik I don't know much about violin, somebody will answer your questions I'm sure.

Well done Paulweller! Amazing news!!!

So little percussionist dd (8) recently auditioned at a specialist music school- just received the letter- she got in!!!
She's so happy and excited.

Thank you Fleur on the ram teacher. I passed your words to the dad.

He was also worrying about his DD been in the school chamber group without one to one lesson for nearly two years. Apparently she's been doing fine there but dad says she may have picked bad habits/technique. He didn't know how complicated violin was. I assured him she should be fine as she is only 9 ( nearly 10). Or would it be a problem? I have never changed DS's teachers (both piano and violin) so have no clue of the impact/reaction the change of teaching style may cause.

I told him he could come to this thread for more advice but he said if only it was called parentsnet...

drummers I am sure your DS's teachers are great seeing how good he is.

Music done for today, all going well, nothing to report. We are now in a state of plodding along till the exam, improving the pieces and scales, aural work and sight reading.

I haven't had the time or the solitude to share the practice tips but i haven't forgotten. fleur I shall abduct your piano teacher one day. alex thank you. Clearly yours and loose 's orchestras know how to motivate a young player.

The £56 cheque for ds's piano grade 4 doesn't seem too bad now!
Alex yay! Thanks for that! Being the only female in this house I am clearly the most responsible! DS1 is very excited and says he wishes the fortnightly band rehearsals were weekly because he loves it so much! (This is an improvement on 'er, yeah, fine!' Which DH says translates as 'really good' in Boyspeak!)

I've not written an exam cheque in eighteen months, it's a real possibility that I'll never write another. I can't say that I miss it at all.

Waffle it's a really long time until July, if she was slaving over her pieces now they'd be stale by then.

Sorry for all the mistakes I didn't read it back and I am on my mobile