October Music Thread

Herts I can see the same happening here - Noo's new teacher asked me what we thought about grade exams, we said not bothered, and the book was practically chucked aside! Exams just don't seem relevant now... although I do want her to 'tick off' Grade 8 at some point, it's more of a rite of passage than anything. And maybe at some point the UCAS points will come in handy!

Totally agree with that Floot. We know a young violinist who almost exclusively studies for grades and has reached a high level for her age. However, she can barely play anything else, can't sight read very well and struggles in an orchestra. It seems the teacher tries to get her to slow down on grades and do something else for a while but parents put huge pressure on teacher to just pursue grades. We have the other problem with DS. Once he went to specialist school he lost interest in grades completely. He could probably get grade 8 on four different instruments but he has no interest although it could be helpful for the future if he ends up teaching. In the end one of his teacher made him do one just to tick off and say he had grade 8 in something but he was kicking and screaming.

Just realised I wrote breaks, when I meant brakes. 😳

Trumpet, I completely agree with you about grades. They are a means to an end, not the end itself. I'd even stick my neck out and say that students that are hell bent on getting through them as quickly as possible don't make good, rounded musicians.

Brasstacks - it sounds like your DD is doing really well and is very keen. I can't comment on specialist school and jd, as I have no experience. However, in the meantime, I would certainly recommend both Pro Corda and NCO, as being places where she will interact with young musicians of her age, both at her own level and more advanced. It is difficult to find these opportunities at school, and county ensembles for grade 5+ players tend to be for much older children (at least where I am).

My DS2 had a wonderful time at both Pro Corda and NCO this summer, and his playing came on a lot. It was the first time he has come across children of his age playing at a higher level, and he loved the challenge.

Hi brasstacks
With all 3 of mine (8,10 & 12) i notice significant progress with the occassional mega practise session but they benefit from time to sort of mentally process while focussing on something else. For example big improvements in bow control from a weekend doing pizzicato pop/rock group improv on double bass.

Dd1 is now focussing on classical music and interestingly has had some positive comments that she has a certain 'something' about her playing which i suspect comes from living in the sticks and saying yes to every musical opportunity regardless of genre etc. A sort of accidentally rounded musical education

Floot I agree sometimes they just need to slow down a little , play for the enjoyment of playing or work on technique without pressure. I’m really hoping that ds’s year will be more like this this year , although there have been changes recently which might impact on what he does who knows ? In the big scheme of things they are all so young with time on their side ( although sometimes they don’t see it like that and it feels to them like a race to grade 8 and beyond) Ds will probably take it before he’s 15 , could have taken it already - but it’s got to be about more than grades. I’ve always seen them as a happy extra not a goal in themselves ( though I do get that some dcs need to take grades to motivate them ) Brass your dd is doing so well she probably doesn’t need to worry about exams at all

Floottoot, I'd normally agree but she decided on this when she first started playing and it hasn't proven too taxing for her, despite us having a huge amount of disruption in the meantime. She plays loads of repertoire and has a lot of fun. She hasn't done any competitions but does seek out every opportunity to perform as she loves it.

Floot/Ealing: thanks so much for your advices/kind words. (And agreed with do everything we could attitude )

Brass: my advice is worry alittle about something hasnt come. If she wants boarding and there is music boarding schools for little ones then why not trying it. You only have to decide once you have choices. The thing about boarding at young age that if she wants to switch back to mainstream school and drop music a little later then it wont impact her secondary school choices at all from day 1. Your daughter seems a very strong and determined child, loves her determination and focus toward a very clear goal.

There's absolutely no need for an 8 year old to be doing 3+ hours practice a day.
Musicianship, technique, understanding etc all take time to develop. Putting in more and more hours won't change that.
JDs and specialist schools nurture, not force, which may mean putting the breaks on, eg advising against taking part in competitions and other public performances etc.

Music just isn't something that can or should be rushed. Getting to grade 8 before anyone else means very little, in the grand scheme of things.

Just my thoughts. 😀

I agree there are lots of different ways into becoming a musician.
Some people manage it without ever taking a music exam.
Some even manage without attending a FE/HE college/uni.

I think like anything else you look at the child, their personality and what works for you as a family.

We went down the H.ed route for a few years then audition for specialist school. However, had we chosen a different route she'd still be playing as it's what she wants to do.

I always say this but we assess each term, half termly at times, if it isn't working she will leave and would probably be h.ed again, as state schools aren't for dd, considering her commitment to music and practice.
Other approaches would work for those with different circumstances.

I think the youngest are year 6 Zak.

Do Purcell still have a Junior dept? I heard they were getting rid of it?

There's a 'Play at Purcell Y7 Taster Day' on 17 November, which could be of interest to some?

www.purcell-school.org/admissions/open-mornings/

That's what my dd's doing in December - an advice audition. She's had one before and although was very nervous beforehand, really enjoyed it. It was more of a lesson and she got a lot out of it. Following that, she was invited to an open rehearsal with one of the school's ensembles which was probably one of the highlights of her life to date!

Thanks ZakStarkey, useful to know.

Also try a music school or two- for an advice audition- just to see what they say, they can also advise about teachers if you don’t want a specialist school yet.

Thanks all. Yes, home schooling would be great but unfortunately that is not a practical option for us. Also, it really hasn't been easy tracking people down locally who can provide high quality music tuition so even if she was home schooled we'd probably have to drive all over for what she needed. I have little doubt she'd be considerably further along if she'd been having 3-4 hours practice a day! We do occasionally have a long practice at the weekend and the progress is invariably amazing, which I suppose is one of the reasons why I am acutely aware of the difference between her progress now and what she could do if given the right circumstances.

No, I hadn't tried Guildhall. I will do so!

Very true...

But she is home-schooled so has plenty of time to practice.....

And I know this very talented lady's mum (herself a fabulous teacher) who says she didn't decide to really go for it until she was older, she said she was a late bloomer:

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candida_Thompson?wprov=sfti1

Just to illustrate a point, this little one is not at RCM/RAM or specialist school....

To brass and 4 strings it’s hard I worry all the time that I’m getting it wrong - I think consultation lessons etc and having a look round well in advance if needing to make a decision can really help . Certainly I wouldn’t rule any particular route because somewhere has a better reputation it’s all about what suits your child at a particular time and if you keep yourself well informed opportunities have a funny way of presenting themselves !!

Consultations are usually a very worthwhile investment Brass... perhaps not if you want a couple of quick answers to things but to really experience the college, get advice on your DD's playing and possible paths etc, it's extremely helpful. At JD and/or at Specialist School.

Have you tried Head of Strings at Guildhall?? In my experience he's always extremely helpful and very communicative.

Thanks so much everyone. Lots of advice to go on! I do suspect my DD would fit in to a specialist school - she is well liked at school but definitely viewed as a bit "other" by peers - and if we hadn't found her current teacher I don't think we would have felt we had much choice but to send her. She is currently a very balanced, kind, generous, resolute child who seems fairly immune to peer pressure and in some ways I think that means she would cope very well with boarding and on the other hand I think it would be tragic if boarding undid any of that.

I'm not sure about Pro Corda v YNSSO as there seem to be enthusiastic votes for both! Both seems excessive!

The comments about JDs have come from experienced music teachers but that doesn't mean they're right. DD plans to reach G8 very rapidly (entirely her idea) and is very focused on doing that, so I am not too worried about rate of progression for the next year or two, but quite what we do after that when she really will need to be practising more, not sure.

As it is, she is supposed to do 25 minutes of homework every evening, plus reading and times tables, etc., and then also piano, theory, etc.. By the time I've got them home, fed, etc., the main issue is already getting to bed on time and I do try to give them a bit of time to just play. She is pretty quick at her homework but often it is open ended, e.g. see how far you can get through these exercises in 25 minutes, so she can't even curtail it by working faster. I really don't want her to end up burnt out simply because she is trying to fit her music in around a normal school life. Ideally, I'd really like her to be having musicianship and improvisation lessons as she is so keen and mops it all up, but this sort of education seems remarkably difficult to source locally and of course we also don't have time. I am dreading even trying to find a better piano teacher.

I will see if I can speak to a JD professor, though I did contact a few JDs whilst trying to find her current teacher and they were completely unhelpful. If I wanted to talk to someone I had to pay for a consultation!