May Music Thread

Fleur why no comparison? DS in in Y10 and your little one has not left primary school! If your DH is not following her day to day, I am not surprised he was in awe, as she progresses so fast and works so hard. Just wait to see what she has in store for you. She sounds so determined. And the same goes for so many DC on this thread. I think we come here because that dedication requires a lot from ourselves too.
Loved hearing about miniealing future plans and her parents shock! Welcome to the club!
Forgot to wish minitrumpet a quick recovery!!

drummers when the piece goes on his YouTube channel can we listen to it? I can imagine how proud you were, well done to him.

DH sat behind dd last night when she was practising her pieces, he was in awe with her and kept asking her after "how can you do that?".

No comparison to your DS drummers but I could still see DH being totally amazed with his little pianist. More so as he rarely takes any interest in her practice so watching the fingers move was an eye opener to him.

woolley it makes sense, that is what I was thinking of, I didn't want to make a huge expense out of the festival last time so I kept dd on the piano classes only, I know if I would have asked her piano teacher to accompany her on the piano she would have offered to do it for free like she does with the clarinet exams, I wouldn't have liked that as it takes away from her free time and hiring another accompanist would have made the whole event pretty expensive. I'll look at the festival next year for both wind and piano in this case.

violinandpiano I don't think a piece is ever polished enough. Dd did a Haydn piece for grade 3 last year and got a great mark. She then dug it out in January for the festival in March and by the time it was performed it sounded even better, obviously she's grown since last year, she's worked on a lot of technique since then so polishing it further it sounded amazing. One of those experiences when you think "omg it sounds so much better than last year I wish she would have played it like that in the exam". I am pretty certain that if she plays that piece in two years time it will sound Devine, even better than now.

So ultimately if a piece has achieved its meaning, to teach the dc something new, I think that is all that matters.

Very often you will see a piece in the exam syllabus that if you listen to a professional recording on YouTube for example it sounds nowhere near the expectations of the exam performance. This grade 3 Haydn piece for example was played much slower on the Abrsm recording (we always buy the cd with the book) and had less ornaments, when I listened to it on YouTube it was way beyond grade 3 performance.

Great, new thread, thanks Waffle!
DS (15) plays piano, drum kit and all percussion. Has done to G8 exams this year, and has one more to go (piano) in two months.
Last night he played piano at a concert, the Mozart sonata movt he has been preparing. I am going to embarrass myself here by saying that he played it so well and with so many colours my eyes filled with tears and I had to hold them back. Not only I was happy for him, but I have witnessed the work over the months, the sheer tenacity so I guess I was overcome by emotion! That's one that's going on his YouTube channel...
Jazz concert tomorrow night and orchestral concert Saturday night at Waterloo (a last minute thing he has been asked to do).
violinandpiano I thing the only way to get a piece to the standard you mention is dedicate a lot of time to it. This is fine with certain personalities, others prefer to work on more repertoire quicker and will settle on something later on as they mature, like kutik said. But there are no shortcuts to polishing a piece!

Oh, sorry, somehow double posted!!

I hope minitrumpet gets well soon. It reminded me when DS broke his collarbone. He broke on the left hand side so had to stop violin completely. He missed the important performance which he had been longing to take part for a loooong time. I felt so sorry for him at the time. But looking back now, it appears such a tiny thing in a larger picture. In fact it did a favour for his progress as he was so keen to go back to play.

violinandpiano, I don't think you need to worry about her unpolished way of playing. It's very normal for younger ones. It may be magnified for you as she is progressing fast. But I'm sure her playing standard will improve as she gets matured.

I hope minitrumpet gets well soon. It reminded me when DS broke his collarbone. He broke on the left hand side so had to stop violin completely. He missed the important performance which he had been longing to take part for a loooong time. I felt so sorry for him at the time. But looking back now, it appears such a tiny thing in a larger picture. In fact it did a favour for his progress as he was so keen to go back to play.

violinandpiano, I don't think you need to worry about her unpolished way of playing. It's very normal for younger ones. It may be magnified for you as she is progressing fast. But I'm sure her playing standard will improve as she gets matured.

Fleur, we decided to play without accompaniment this year, as we didn't know anyone who could do it for us it would have meant hiring someone and it would have made it a much more expensive day. The clarinet piece does sound better with the piano so we will have to see how it goes, we will also get to see what the majority of others do.

String, no not a C festival but an R one!

My DD is year 4 (age 9), she started violin and piano together from the beginning of year 2. She has never done any piano exam, but she has learned all of the piano scales and is playing grade 5 & 6 level piano pieces. She did violin grade 3 (D)at the year 3 autumn term and got a offer from JD at year 3 summer term. then got in NCO training orchestra at year 4 autumn. Now we are planning to do theory exam at November.
Her progress is very quick but she can't play a piece to outstanding level( not only violin but also piano). I guess maybe she is weak of aural, so she can not play pieces very well. When the teacher show her how to play that part, she can follow very quickly, but when she goes back home to practise, she still play as before. It makes me worried and I would like her to slow progress but can polish a piece to high level.

Get well soon minitrumpet!

Feeling like it is all about music in this household, dd has been invited to an all day wind band day organised by the LA, we've submitted the form to the headteacher at her school as she has to authorise the school absence. It will be interesting to see her reaction as the school doesn't go out of its way to support music, in the past I have been told they don't offer music peri lessons as it would take away from the academic time

Wishing a very speedy recovery for Minitrumpet and for Helen - that must have been a very emotional evening. (I was a a bit teary when DS1 did his y6 primary school assembly!)
Well done Rara with the cello and good luck with grade 3!

Witchend thanks for that that's great! Ds has already had some ideas about holding it in a slightly different way for a bit ( he just needs to rest it first!) and his teacher usually has a plan for most things thank goodness
Hi to missy, sitting and weegie
Helen I hope last night went well and wasn't too overwhelming. I felt moved watching the upper 6th pupils play their last solos at the end of last term so goodness knows what I'll be like when ds gets to that stage !

Thanks for the new thread waffle!

Miniprada is y6 (11yrs) and is doing G7 violin in a couple of weeks time and working towards G7 piano (not started pieces yet, still doing technical work).

Going to try and keep up with this thread!

one-handed trumpet see about half way down the page.

A stand so you can play the trumpet one handed. Although dd2 doesn't bother with the stand and just holds it up with her right hand while playing, she found the stand too much of a faff when she tried one-but she had been playing for a few years when she was asked to try it out.

Well done Waffle for keeping the monthly threads going.

DS2 is taking G6 clarinet this term and sings in a choir.

DD is taking G4 flute this term and has a lovely voice but little confidence. Currently having occasional singing lessons to boost her confidence.

I sing in an auditioned choir.

Tis good news that it's not a break Trumpetboysmum but if it's swollen and/or bruised it is going to be painful for a while. He may need to experiment with cushions and pillows at bedtime to find a position that's less uncomfortable than another.

Helen I hope that you've survived tonight, it must feel like an ending but as one chapter finishes, another begins.

DS is 17, a brass player and at the stage of thinking about post A level choices.

Oh dear Trumpet, it must be very stressful for you all! Hopefully minitrumpet will recover real soon.

Helen: have a wonderful time tonight!

Hopefully all injuries are being recovered real soon!

Great advices on no accompanist for none piano performance! Infact, we couldnt arrange an accompanist last time then we couldnt come to already paid festival.

Well back from the hospital they don't think it's broken but have strapped it up . He's very pleased as he's left handed and they've asked that he rest it for a few days ( so no writing !!) though strangely he thought he could try holding his trumpet I said no !! Hopefully it will start to feel better soon but sprains can take ages so we shall just have to wait and see thank you for all the well wishes

Helen that must be hard, I mean I am getting nostalgic that I won't be buying DS school uniform in September, I can't even imagine how it must feel not to go to the school concerts anymore... I guess I'll know when I get there. Hand hold from here also.

Thanks guys I guess I'll put dd in the festival next year without accompaniment next year if that's possible, I didn't want to become a burden on dd's piano teacher on top of exams to ask her for festivals also. However dd has a friend playing the piano, maybe I should talk to her mum and they can play together.

Helen. Hope tonight lived up to the memory of your folks, but that the in-laws were able to take up the mantle in some way. I know it's not the same though.

Helen thinking of you. I've yet to have the last senior concert, but the last Junior school concert I sobbed all the way through. That was 9 years of heavy music involvement.

Senior won't be as bad because when DS left last year most of the music staff left with him, it's like a different school now.

Fleur - jumping in: DD will be playing unaccompanied as too difficult to arrange (last minute decision to enter). I am confident she won't be the only one, and while it would be lovely to have an accompanist, i think clarinet can sound equally lovely without.

W - dont suppose you are at 'C' festival?? anyone?

Hi all and esp to Trumpet's DS - good luck with the hospital!

festival for us too this week - only time to do two classes (woodwind) but should be fun