December Music Thread

Older DD is a cathedral chorister and is preparing for her singing diploma. I gather it's a big jump up from Grade 8, but am leaving her and her singing teacher to it (not much I can contribute!).

Has anyone got a child with braces? My DD plays cornet and has refused to play for the last few months as she says her braces make it too difficult. A shame, as she enjoyed playing in the brass band.

All three of my DDs did grade 8 on 30 minute lessons as they learn in school and that’s what is offered, but in the run up to the exams they all had a semi-formal (with the official accompaniest and teacher acting as an examiner) practise run and two sessions where they were given two back to back lessons - so they had 2 hour long slots. Is there any chance your DC could arrange something like this?

I am jumping in to introduce myself. I have given up on any hope of anonymity anymore as my kids' instruments and activities are too outing!

I have 3 ds all of whom are involved in folk music to some degree but one is the actual "musician":

Ds1 who is 17 and played classical guitar through to grade 5 then dropped it completely in favour of acoustic guitar and folk music. He now plays only for fun in a folk ensemble

Ds2 who is 14 and the musician. He took grade 6 last week on piano which is his second instrument. His main instrument is melodeon and he is extremely talented. He plays in 4 different folk ensembles including being the youngest player in the National Youth Folk Ensemble and he also does solo gigs in folk clubs and festivals. We are currently looking for a 6th form to support his talent.

Ds3 is 10 and plays recorder. He is working his way slowly through gradings as he started late with these. He will probably do grade 4 at some point next year. He is more talented in folk music though and plays in a folk ensemble. He is impatiently awaiting turning 12 when he is allowed to join the same ensemble his two older brothers play in.

As to CYM, ds2 plays in their Senior Folk Ensemble. This was the first year he did it and it came about as we heard them play somewhere else (where another folk ensemble he was in was playing) and we spoke to the leader after and asked if he could join. He was too young technically as it starts from 15 but the teacher said yes. We didn't realise there was supposed to be any formal audition process (which we had long since missed the cut off date for anyway) and I just called them and said the teacher said it was ok! He loves it but only attends for the ensemble. I am now looking at DS3 joining in September. We will attend the open day and audition process for him this year with that in mind - he would join the fuller program. We do live in London though so travel is much easier.

We are awaiting the results from DS2's piano grading and also DS3 who auditioned for our council's Junior Musician of the Year last week.

Thanks so much, minisnowballs!!

oops, x-post coco, sorry!

Perfect intro to this month's thread as always Waffle.

Coco, such a tricky one, your question, and could be either a mixture of 30 mins not being enough, or, that your DD has hit that standard wall that comes part way when things are not quite coming together or pieces fatigue is already kicking in, and they haven't even completed learning them all.

My DD also does 3 instruments, though I'd say it's really 2 as one is voice. Interestingly, she has commented this time around (is also studying G8 piano right now) that the pieces are not inspiring her, all REALLY long (vs a shorter one for C) but didn't have the energy to research the non-std pieces before selecting. We only have 30 mins lesson also during term time, but the entry is only put in when she's part ready on at least 2. I challenged the duration once circa G5 time ago, but he said it was enough, given what she does on other stuff.

I recently asked for a 45 to 60 mins lesson from her school violin teacher when G8 entry was proposed (even discontinuing singing, as I didn't think 35 mins lesson time was enough, especially when at school reality is it's less with change overs) but it was declined.

I guess what I am trying to say is that in an ideal world, increasing lesson time would most certainly help. But, these teachers, having known my DD for a while, have taken into account her wider interests and time restraints and worked with them, with no pressure, and it seems to work. Yes the practise time could be longer from her, but they know she does what she can, when she can, and at this age, are working with her more holistically than the parochial way of younger years. It has also kept her engaged in school music life more than some of her peers who are dropping their instruments and ensembles.

I can understand her thinking she's not making progress. I think it's more like G8 is such a jump from the other grades, and it's easy to compare yourself against the DC who have access to longer lessons, go to JD, have more music hours, that you think are never going to make it. Your DD is clearly practicing which is great, just may need to enter later given the amount extra to cover. And if her schedule allows for longer lessons (that make her feel more progress is being made), then great, I'd do it.

thank you everyone for your advice. I have a call scheduled with my daughter's piano teacher for later this week to discuss- her view is that we can certainly do something!

DD takes lessons at school and the standard is 30 min but her lessons take place at 8am due to number of instruments she learns so maybe she can start at 7.30am!!!

Hi, I've lurked on this thread and even posted a couple of times under a different username.

I have DD(9) who has been playing piano for 7 months now - she started from scratch and is now not far off Grade 1 standard so we think she's doing pretty well!

I'm thinking now about her starting a second instrument with more opportunity for ensemble playing. She is playing flute at school in her class ensemble but they don't get to bring them home to practise and I'd prefer she played something that either less ubiquitous or perhaps easier to get into orchestras down the line (so potentially strings). She's pretty bright and has started playing around transposing some her pieces into different (simple) keys - so I was thinking French Horn might be a good choice - but I don't know how much repertoire there is for a learner?

I used to play the violin, clarinet and did a couple of years of piano when I was doing A Level music many moons ago and was also a choral scholar - I am very lapsed in all of these but have started the piano again since DD started.

Learn
Sorry my phone isn’t behaving !! What I’m trying to say is you could be working towards grade 8 for a while - but not necessarily playing just the same pieces . Better to take it when you are more than ready - but really there’s no rush !!

Posted too soon !! So these ones he’s picked up and learnt really quickly . Whereas this time last year similar standard pieces were taking him longer to k

Hapsburg I agree and you’ve put it much more clearly than I did - but that what u was meaning . Ds will probably take it next term with pieces that he started in November but maybe he will play something else - who knows !! But he’s learnt these ones quickly because he’s been playing lots of stuff at that level and harder . So yh

Audition was quite short. DD was auditioned by the head of the centre (he's a brass player I think) because the head of her section was sick. This was quite daunting (especially as he recorded it). However, I think he was kind and although she did play some pieces the emphasis seemed to be on aural work and seeing how she would take instruction - so she said they'd worked on her chromatic scales together for example. We didn't bring an accompanist, but many did.

It took AGES to hear. They are not that organised and in the end we had to contact them as we needed to give notice to the local wind band she played in (and to her teacher). We weren't looking at anything else, but I think that might have made it hard for those who had auditions at the junior departments too.

I've no idea how competitive it really is - different for each instrument I think - certainly there were good flautists at dds school who didn't get in. But it must be in a sense self selecting too, and they take into account how long a child has been playing.

Guildhall link involves signing a whopping big scary contract about not missing any weeks and not taking any exams in other instruments without telling them. And lots of the visiting masterclass people seem to be from there. Not sure what else really.

Thanks, minisnow, that’s good to know. How was the audition process if you don’t mind me asking? Did you have to wait long to find out? Still seems quite official and they are linked to the Guildhall in some way (where my son’s teacher is) though no one could tell me how exactly. Just in budget I imagine..?

Good luck with the open day - I just remember it being incredibly wet .... bring a brolly if so as there are actually three sites to get round (percussion is in a local primary school).

It is wonderful, but dd2 finds it very tiring. Far more so than school!

CYM sounds amazing

Minisnowballs, thanks, that sounds all great, registered and looking forward to open day in Jan. Really appreciate your response.

Coco, a lot of teachers I know, me included, wouldn't choose to teach grade 8 on 30 minutes lessons, because of the amount of material to be got through. If you can stretch to it, an hour or even 45 minutes would make exponential difference, because the teacher would have a chance to cover a bit of everything more often. It's so hard to go into any depth and leave the pupil with a clear objective for the week, when the lesson is 30 minutes - by the time you've warned up and talked about last week's work, it's almost over.

CYM? DD2 is really enjoying it - it is quite a step up for her from her previous musical activities (she's only been learning for two years and we're not musicians), but it's very social - she has CYM friends already, and even playdates and sleepovers...

She does a compulsory choir (all primary children do), as well as supporting studies, her individual lesson, a wind band and (because she's about to take an exam) she currently has aural classes and uses an accompanist every week too. They'd add more in for her (at no extra cost) including a folk band and an ensemble with her cello, but I think at just 9, that's enough for us at present - she can put more in later if she wants.

I stay at the moment - it's split site, and she has quite a tight timetable. There's a canteen on each site. But you don't have to stay, and there are chaperones and pastoral people to walk them between sites if not. To be honest, it's quite a pleasant place to be as a parent - it's quite a friendly social morning, and I have friends whose children are there who compete to do the 'CYM run' - because it is warmer and more social than watching Saturday football with other dcs.

All in all, I'd recommend it. She's had some wobbles and they've been promptly sorted. I know lots of older children there and they never seem to moan about going. There are some very, very talented children there - but I get the feeling it is less pressured than the alternatives (and of course not quite so geared to a career in music) - and possibly more social.

Coco folk makes a good point about length of pieces, the brass pieces in particular were much shorter.

Thanks, trumpet!

Zee no there will be some very advanced pianists I’m sure but also just some very good ones . Everyone who I know who goes to pro corda raves about it

Snowballs
Coco I think if your dd can go for longer lessons then that would help - just to have the time to go into detail about stuff . Ds only has 30 minute piano lessons (he’s about grade 6 now ) but always loves his hour long lessons when he can fit them in !! He says they get so much done .
It can take ages to prepare for grade 8 so I would also tell your dd not to worry it sounds like she’s doing fine . Ds hasn’t taken grade 8 yet but will do early next year I think . He’s now chosen totally new pieces !?! But has been playing lots of stuff at that standard for about 18 months now - and some of the pieces have taken a lot of work and they’ve been better when he’s learnt them and then returned to them a few months later . Unless your dd needs grade 8 completed soon for a particular reason I would tell her not to worry

Hi snowballs, how are you finding CYM? Do you drop off or stay? My son is craving some sort of Saturday music activity. He currently has weekly 1 hr (sometimes 2x half hour) private piano lessons and bi-weekly accordion..