(Mostly) August Music Thread

I was incredibly lucky as a child in that I was able to attend the out of school music centre that Vivienne Price ran before she started the NCO. This started with percussion band at around 3 or 4 years old and progressed to recorder at about 5. I think I learnt to read music soon after I learnt to read words. Theory was introduced somewhere around 7 or 8 and woodwind instruments probably about 9 - no curved head flutes then so it depended on arm length. The grounding we received there led to a number of my contemporaries going to JD and music college. Playing an instrument was just part of life and the practice habits were started early on.

Happy B'day to The Boy, a new saxophone is a brilliant present
I hope you realise he'll probably want the whole family before long.

Mine comes home and plays on dh instruments and comments all the time that they are hers, in a kind of mind control way.
She even has me calling them hers now, dh isn't impressed.
This holiday she is making the most of the bari and soprano, which aren't hers.
Atm I can hear piano practice which warms my heart as it isn't something she would previously have choosen to do if she had the option.

Happy birthday to The Boy! His birthday is ringht in the middle of my two, my Boy was last Sunday and my Girl is next Friday.

Very happy birthday to The Boy! New saxophone is a pretty cool gift!

Happy birthday to The Boy ! We're a month behind him here. A great age

violinandpiano, I too don't know about what the expectations are for NCO and agree with Kutik on the endless techniques a violinist needs to learn!

My DD was not so hot with her harmonics. it was real hit and miss. Her then teacher wanted her to play Czardas for a concert (Y5, aged about 10?) and at that stage, no amount of practise mastered the technique to perfection. I remember wincing inside at the concert, though she pulled it off overall on the showmanship side. But, she was so stressed on the build up and in hindsight, I should have put my foot down as she clearly wasn't ready for the piece. Or maybe my own judgement bar was too high.

I would want an audition to reflect the child's love for a piece, play it with musicality, and show the technical capability with confidence. We have moderated a piece in the past to downgrade and replace the technical element, without completely losing the essence of the piece, which was brought up in feedback as an intelligent and mature decision. And that they hated seeing a child perform something too technical (for them), badly.

Good luck with the audition!

DS said he liked harmonic because of its delicate sound. He seems to apply harmonic when he wants to emphasise the subtle beauty when a choice is given. So yes, it has to sound beautiful, I think. It's great for your DD to polish her harmonic if she hasn't done much.

I like that there are endless techniques and skills to learn and polish in learning musical instruments. DS is learning a piece with lots of spiccato!

Kutik73, if the piece had passed by the teacher, the qualify should be fine. We just started the piece and heard from my friend the harmonic is very hard. She does not think it is difficult, but I heard she played the harmonic notes are not beautifully as others. I hope it can be improved after more practise. Thanks.

Yes he did, and I I don't really recall DS particularly struggling. But he likes harmonic and hasn't found it too hard (well, according to him...). Though, not sure how good the quality was!

Kutik73, thanks. Did your DS play this piece? I just worry about the harmonic. I don't think my DD can play this piece to a good quality at this moment.

Depending on what kind of quality you are looking for but I don't think it's too difficult for 9 years old. It can be achieved grade 7 level to grade 77 level. Sorry not sure about NCO but can't see any problem.

May I know whose DC played "Souvenir De Sarasate"? There are lots of harmonic. Is it too difficult for 9 years old? Is it good piece for audition NCO? Thanks.

I think if you start early for fun then its fine, dont expect much. Mine started around 4.5 yrs old or something with piano and it was purely for fun. Just follow the child's lead. I think start any time before 6 is early. My 2nd is 3 and 5 months and I am hoping to start her in couple of years when her sister starts secondary. Basically the sister will be on her own and does whatever she wants with her music while I start again with my second. The cunning plan hardly ever works though. I must say that because her sister plays she does sit down at the piano and love to bang/bash it, she also loves to try on her sister violin and doesnt care with the horrible squeaky/screechy sound she created. She does sing and loves singing(her sister never sings), we are all very very terrible singer.

And yes to local music services, our local one has Saturday music school for toddlers and pre-schoolers where they get to try a lot of instruments, sing and have fun.

So sad to hear boys think singing is uncool. DS was only one boy in his year in the school choir but managed to 'recruit' one of his friends. But he finally stopped last term. His friend left also. But it was not the main reason for DS to stop as he is a bit of 'going-my-way' type, so didn't mind being only one big boy there (he likes girls anyway - he says girls are prettier than boys). But it was because the teaching was so bad. It was so uninspiring and the teacher managed to make it so so boring. Very sad.

My MIL and FIL started having dd two days a week when she was 9 months old and FIL is a musician therefore he'd spend hours a day either singing to her or playing his instruments, by the age of two FIL and dd would sing all the songs from Disney cartoons and musicals together, that's when he started nagging me to make sure dd has piano lessons (he kept saying at 4 but she started at 6). She would sing in tune and they used to play this game where he'll just sing the first few notes of a song and dd would guess what it is and sing it back herself. It was hilarious to watch their arguments with FIL (jokingly) saying "my song, stop join in" and dd would make a point of joining in as soon as possible.

She still sings to herself all the time, having a bath, playing, on the back seat of the car, she constantly sings.

3-4 is early for formal lessons in my opinion but then my dcs were Duracell at that age and wouldn't have sat down to listen to instructions at that age (saying that dd did start school 2 weeks after her 4th birthday and the teachers never complained of her not being able to follow instructions).

DH and I both love and appreciate music, not crazily but just ordinarily, so go to opera and stuff and enjoy the entertainment aspect. Classical music is almost always in the background at home simply because classical music is my choice of the background music when I paint (I'm a painter). DH plays guitar badly and would play and sing Beatles' Beautiful Boy' to baby DS, and I also used to sing DS at bedtime (again badly) but I am not a singer so certainly didn't sing much other than bedtime.

Music was appreciated but it was certainly not playing huge part of our life before DS developed passion in music. DS's exposure to music in his early life was def very much ordinary, I think.

He took up piano when he started primary school, and two terms or so later he joined school violin club. I was told he was a late starter for both instruments million times.

Identical experience to ICouldBe including the refusal to sing at school! I used to sing all the time to them, which might also account for the aversion!
There were a lot of Early Learning Centre toy instruments that they played on and a small acoustic guitar that I think they both tried around age 4 but basically just liked strumming. I think getting little ones dancing is helpful, too - front room disco after work to wear them out! 'Jungle Book' is good!

there was always a song for everything ( and if there wasnt a song I'd make one up !!)

I sang my way through the first years of parenting. I was a SAHM with four children close in age, and it kept me upbeat and entertained them. If there wasn't a song to fit the occasion, I improvised one. The (now teenaged) children still sing some of them, including "We're a little bit early... but it's better than being late" (to the tune of 'The bear went over the mountain')

I sang a lot while DS was too young to appreciate how bad I was. We'd make songs up in the car, fit new words to music and spend car journeys messing about rhyming. It's only with hindsight that I see now how good he was with hearing a couple of bars once and being able to sing it back weeks later. He might not remember the words but he'd nail the tune. He would sing in the bath every night. That stopped after he started school where singing (for boys) was not cool at all.

DS and DD were both exposed to loads of singing from the start really - I'm an early years teacher so there was always a song for everything ( and if there wasnt a song I'd make one up !!) but ds who is now whizzing ahead musically speaking only started lessons age 8 but then picked up reading music really quickly. I don't think there is a right age to start but early exposure to lots of songs rhymes and listening to music is a good start ( and beneficial to lots of other areas of development too)

From our experience, I think at 3 or 4, I'd be looking at fun music classes- singing, percussion, listening to music, introduction to instruments- rather than a formal instrument tuition. If you're very keen for that age, perhaps suzuki method would be more suited. I know my DDs piano teacher only took her at 5 because she was a precocious reader & was very fluent by then plus proved she had a concentration span above expected for her age. She's been playing for 2 years and is working on G3. Progress was initially fairly slow to build strength in her little 5yr old fingers. 15months in, aged nearly 6.5, she got a clarinet and just over a year later passed G3 and is now working on G5 stuff. The very careful foundation that had been put in place with piano paid huge dividends. For us, the fact she started at 5 means music has been part of her life for a very large part of her conscious memory. Practice is just part of life's daily cycle.
I would also recommend exposure to all the musical performances you can. The CBSO, LSO and RPO all do regular family concerts. The Proms always have a family prom. Such as the Royal College have workshops for little ones (we don't live anywhere near London but visit a lot). Our 2 local music services both run fun workshops for preschoolers. All adding to their enjoyment of live music.