August Music Thread

I never managerial keep up on these threads but anyway, will try! Ds13, a slightly reluctant piano player. Looking for something other than Abram to help motivate him. Dd11 piano, recorder and oboe. Hoping to audition for NYOS junior in autumn, our first ever experience. Am treating the audition as a learning experience, not expecting she will get in. ( But still a tiny bit hopeful!) Dd8 piano, recorder and wants to do bassoon. Just need to source an instrument! I play double bass and absolutely do not model good practice habits to my children! I also run a recorder group at school, will be starting to look for new repertoire soon, I love that . Love hearing about others achievement s, very few of their friends play.

Waffle good luck with the appeal - that's so annoying - though an amazing result anyway .
Ds's teacher has said this about his marks for both his grade 5 jazz - it didn't make a difference to the final grade awarded but the comments and marks didn't seem to match up . Hopefully they will just remark the exam as they record the trinity ones rather than offer a free retake (if this was ever offered to ds I know he would be like err no what's the point in that !!)

Waffle the stylistic thing must be really annoying. I got marked down on a grade 3 piece (so in no way comparable!) on a stylistic point and my teacher was outraged on my behalf! As I was nowhere near a distinction and a bag pf nerves anyway it really didn't matter in my case but it does show how unpredictable these things are. I hope Goo prevails but as Knitting says there's always the diploma!
DS1 is absolutely loving his bass diploma lessons, especially as he gets to do a bit of double bass as well, but when he reports back the best I can manage is 'well done, that does sound complicated!'

Helloooo! Intermittent poster here, but hoping to get more involved now DS's first year at secondary School is over.

DS is 12 and has been playing cello for 3 years. I'm another parent beating their DC through grade 5 theory this summer, as DS hopes to take grade 7 cello in the spring. He started piano lessons last September, which has been helpful in getting him to read treble clef.
He's a music scholar at his school and thriving. He won the year 7 music award and has just got into the county youth orchestra as their youngest player. He may or may not audition for NCO this Autumn...!

I also have DD, 14, who started singing lessons last September and got a merit in grade 2 musical theatre last term. She's interested in drama more than music.

DH and I are both professional musicians - we met while playing in one of the well-known orchestras. I'm a flautist, he's a percussionist, but neither of us have musical families.

Lovely to hear so many DCs are enjoying summer music courses and tours!
Good luck with the grade 8 review, Waffle.

Bit the bullet and signed dd up for nco auditions on both instruments...eek!

I’m not musical though I’m a dedicated taxi driver and pa. I’m also very much curious in anything I don’t know so I prone to make time for researching and studying till I’m satisfied which may have helped understand DS’s world and managed to support him somehow (I hope). I also appreciate Arts in general and as a child I was fascinated by classical music/ballet/musical and biographies of artists (and lots of not so famous but interesting historical people). So I’m genuinely enjoying supporting DS’s musical journey. I won’t be sitting in his lessons from this Sep which I’m rather feeling sad actually.

Hello all again, so good to get a refresh of where all the minis are at.

DD is 13 (not for long) and hopefully will be doing grade 2 piano autumn, has started grade 5 violin preparations and is slogging through grade 5 theory over the summer ready for November. Doing the theory now for a few reasons: helping with music GCSE, doesn’t clash with school exams and also doubles up as a skill for her Duke of Edinburgh bronze. She also plays in the school orchestra and sings in the choir.
I am not at all musical but full of encouragement!

Thanks for the thread waffle.

Dd is also a summer holiday baby but is now 10. She loves that (like Noo and The Boy) she will leave school at 17. She plays violin and clarinet and sings. This summer holiday is ridiculously packed with music courses ,

Cat - I hope the little video of mini-DS2 will inspire some of the little ones to share their music making on the channel! I’d love to see your DD. I bet she’s really good, having you to supervise her practice .

We are super lucky that my father is an expert pianist, so DS2 does not have to suffer my piano playing!

I would absolutely not classify myself as a musician but i do play cornet/flugelhorn (took it up again 5 years ago after an 18 year hiatus). Being able to read music has been helpful to support the kids practise, but i think the most important thing has been treating their music making as 'important'- making time and space for practise, acting as a taxi service, and encouraging (read demanding 😉) a good attitude (turning up on time, being prepared etc). Im convinced that my kids have got a lot of oppotunities through being 'reliable' rather than because of being particularly good or talented.

Of course i think my kids are brilliant but hey im their mother

Hi taggie - can't get cluster to work here in back of beyond but I'll have a look when I get home. Maybe I can get DD to do a violin video too! She's technically been playing violin for 3 years, so is maybe more comparable to Suzuki kids starting at that age, I think she'd be fairly average there. Definitely work in progress with straight bow! But really I don't think we can sensibly compare stages so young, it's so dependent on circumstances and many of the kids who'll later be brilliant haven't even started yet at this age. Main thing is they're having fun :)

I do play myself (violin/viola good amateur, bit of piano but I'm going to have to practice that much more if I want to accompany kids much longer, the Brahms Waltz in suzuki is defeating me already), which is a big help for young kids learning. Though annoys DS no end as I interfere with practice when he's not doing it properly. Perhaps that's why he wanted to play the horn!

We appealed a G8 as his teacher was really unhappy with the merit. The mark sheet wasn't exactly helpful and several of the other candidates had not got the marks that the teacher expected. It's a long time ago but I think the outcome was that he could take it again at reduced cost (it might even have been free) which he didn't take up as the timing was all wrong with GCSEs. I told him that if he ever was in a place where the lack of a distinction was a problem then he could take it again but once he could wave a diploma then he didn't feel a need.

I've been through a few name changes but I've been here for years, DS is 18 and a brass player.

Dd(11) is currently off at brass academy with her trumpet, complaining about all her parts being too easy. She’s switching to trumpet from cornet for g6 (trinity) in October as she prefers the trumpet excerpts to the cornet ones. Plays cornet the rest of the time...except when she’s playing viola (distinction g4 this summer huge boast!!!) or violin.

Probably aiming for g5 viola at Xmas then g6 violin sometime...although I’m very tempted to move her to trinity rather than abrsm just for the flexibility in exam dates!! Did you know you can just go online with trinity and book an exam date??? It’s amazing!!!

Hello. I always love reading about everyone else but don't always check in myself! I have two kids. DS is 10 and plays trumpet. Very dyslexic so reading music does not come naturally and plays mostly by ear, which becomes very apparent when he has to do any sight reading! Is currently working towards grade 2 but not sure the scales will ever stick!
DD is 8, started the clarinet last September and has just done her stage 1 (county equivalent to grade 1). Struggles a little with the size of the instrument and covering holes properly but in a year or so I'm hoping that she's going to be more in command technically. She is desperate to start singing lessons at school, but I'm holding off for now because of extra expense. Also not sure how much practice is involved. Is it the same as an instrument? Am not a singer myself so not sure what we would be getting into!

Cat - DS2 started when he was 6.5 and was barely grade 1 at 8! I didn’t let him do anything ‘advanced’ (i.e. beyond grade1/pre test level) until he was really solid on keeping a straight bow, which took a loooong time. I’ll post a little clip on the channel...

We just dabbled until it became an issue. 2018 was the year of theory boot camp!

We are blitzing theory now ready for November ( I've entered him for the exam but told him I don't really mind if he passes or not I just want him to understand the theory side of things and he needs the exam to motivate him ) he has dabbled in theory since he was 10 he's now 13 and it's suddenly seeming much easier to him - because he's done so much playing . I think it depends on your dc some go through all the grades and manage it at a young age . Some just need to blitz it when they have to do it !!
In answer to an earlier question I'm fairly musical - but hated exams when I was younger . I know enough to help - but sometimes not enough to advise Ds with confidence!! That can lead to clashes so I try to just be supportive and be his taxi driver/ PA !! It's this that's most helpful I think

Enb76 how exciting! Hope you enjoy it.

My older two never actually did a theory exam (though did quite a lot of theory in a club at school). DS2 did odd bits for a few years, then concentrated properly for a few months and did Grade 5 when he was 12. He chose to do Grade 6 last year, blitzed it though the summer and took it last November.

swaying, soursprout I am indeed one of those 'first generation' musicians, although looking back the signs were there in previous generations but the opportunity for instruction wasn't. I can trace 'musicality' back down the line in our family. Someone always has to be the first though! And my daughters are definitely now benefiting from my experiences, and will surpass me as musicians soon enough. But I don't look back and think 'if only my parents were muscial', or anything like that. They did the best they knew how for me, and in turn set things up very nicely for my two girls.

I also know of a lot of very talented DC's who have excelled without musical parents, some of whom are on this thread. Certainly aptitude and natural talent play a part, but at least as important are drive, determination, patience, tenacity, and commitment. And support from those around you, whether musical or non-musical. Without those things, no amount of talent will compensate. It sounds like your DD is very self-motivated soursprout which is fantastic!

My birthday comes up this month and as I am a woman who has everything (well, that I want anyway) my mother has sorted me two flute lessons which I'm actually rather excited about. I reached Trinity G8 when I was 16 but I'm now in my 40's and literally have not picked up my flute since. I tried to play some Handel this weekend just to see if I could still blow the thing and apart from speed and tone on the high notes it all seems to be there(ish). That said, my face ached for a bit after playing.

The child (9) is plugging away at piano and guitar - her guitar which she started in October '17 has been a bit of a revelation. It's obviously her instrument and her teacher tells me that should I want to put her in for exams that she would be best off starting with G4. Piano, on the other hand is not as loved though I'm wondering whether her teacher is really helping - she's talented but whereas I did a massive range of repetoire when I was young, she does a lot of exercises (Czerny) and he's such a perfectionist that the pieces remain the same for ages until she has all the wrist movement perfect - she says she's happy but I'm not sure I am.

What I would like to know now is G5 Theory - what age? and better to blitz or go through them all slowly?

Non-musical parent here.

DS2, 15, plays trombone, piano and organ mainly. Ex chorister still singing on the back row. Older DS1 still very involved at music at uni. DD is a sax player, also hoping to carry on at uni. Life is pretty much on hold until results day on Aug 16th here.

DS2 is out on some kind of work experience with the leader of the jazz group he plays in today, followed by rehearsal.

Sprout, there are a couple of posters with first hand knowedge of applying for music who I expect will be along shortly.

Hello! Occasional visitor to these threads. Waffle, what happened with the grade 8 flute? Good luck with the appeal and with grade 8 recorder. I can't imagine that will be too much of challenge. It's a shame about the piano teacher, do you have someone else in mind?

My oldest, who for a long time was the only musician of the family, is leaving home in a few weeks. Not sure if she will keep up piano, though her guitar will go with her. She will be in Paris, and there is definitely no room for a piano in her (16 sq metre!) studio, though apparently there are 3 pianos where she will be studying.

However teen 2 who only discovered music this time last year is now on the road to multi-instrumentalism. He is a pretty good jazz/rock guitarist (doesn't do exams, but I think he would be capable of preparing one of the higher Rockschool grades) and now he has set himself the task of learning to play piano this summer holidays. Plays several hours a day and progress has been correspondingly quick (currently 2/3 of the way through a Chopin nocturne and he's not playing it badly either ... we were away on hols last week and he spent hours practising polyrhythms on a ukulele ). Hoping to book him some lessons ASAP.