Autumn 2020 music thread

Looking ahead - he already has the grade 3 music and says he wants to play four pieces for the performance grade. So I will chat to the teacher.

He has heard about this from school friends.

Is it better to do the typical grade 3 or can he just do the pieces and performance grade 3?

I just wonder what people think about the grades where you just play the pieces rather than the additional aural etc.

We are probably best just seeing how he goes with grade 2 first l!

He knows some children at school with grade 5 or going for grade 6 and they are his age. So he doesn't feel confident he said others are doing higher grades.. maybe I am not that good, he was told that grade 2 was easy.

So I have had to say please don't compare yourself. You have not been playing a long time so just give it a go.

Thank you. He has just turned 11 years. But it is his first exam.

Thank you so much for the response.

There are some amazing grades being achieved on this thread.

@snowpan It said on the website that if over the age of 11 (and that was the wording, which is why I noticed, because dd is 11 so I wasn't actually sure whether she was mandated to wear one or not - she's at secondary so I decided that must be the cut off and she wore one in the waiting room) they must wear a mask when waiting and that 'facemasks should be removed as appropriate' in the exam. He'd have to remove it for the aural tests anyway so I should imagine it would be fine. Dd took off her mask to go into the exam (wind player) and no-one suggested she should have been wearing it to go into it. I suspect he'll be fine to remove it.

Good luck to him!

onelovelysister in my experience (i'm a volunteer with å kids windband) brass beginners often take å while to develop a decent tone and spend å while in the wilderness somewhere between note and fart.... trombonists have the added challenge of slide positions and tuning. Something that i have found helps is to challenge them to try and play very quietly/loudly start quiet and get louder and vice versa, play it to sound 'spikey' or 'soft and round' all of which gets them focussing on the sound they are making (when they start out it can be hard to hear any actual difference but it gets them thinking about how they sound).

Hello,

My son is sitting grade 2 piano - will he be expected to wear a mask as he has glasses and they fog up?

His sight reading has inexplicably gone backwards whereas a month ago it was great - so we are not going to worry and hopefully they are not too harsh. It is his first exam. His teacher thinks he is grade 3 level but we thought we would try grade 2 as an entry level.

Thanks

ItsCovid, ABRSM took three days to get back about correcting DD’s date of birth, but I still haven’t had a response about correcting her surname for the certificate (emailed three weeks ago). Are they still not taking phone calls? Have you tried Twitter, if you use it? Hope it’s sorted soon.

mbell, thirdfiddle has a point. And one silver lining (for parents, at least) of missing out on the exam is saving the fee... to pay for the next one!

Thanks, thirdfiddle DD1 is only 10.5yo, so younger than many DC on these threads, but new DD2 was definitely a last-chance effort (I’m 43)!

On last year’s (pre-Covid) autumn thread, I had some very helpful replies re DS and instrument choice. He did go for trombone in the end, and started at the beginning of this term (on a pBone mini). I’d be interested to hear from any parents of small trombonists how long before it sounds... musical? (I’m trying hard not to compare to DD1’s beginner flute sounds!)

Is anyone else struggling to get any sort of response out of ABRSM? My child took two exams 6 weeks ago - one was back within a week. The other is still marked as pending and we have had zero response to emails. Any thoughts appreciated

Your poor dd mbell - we had that with dd's Grade 5 - I tell you, this generation are going to be amazing with setbacks - they will be super resilient. I am looking forward to them being in charge!

Oh, what a shame, so sorry to hear that. Of course, the progress has still been made, and preparing for an exam/event is useful preparation practice, but it’s hard on DC, especially at your DD’s level, to miss out on showing what they’ve achieved.

I’m sure she’ll do well taking the Grade 7 exam in March - sometimes it works out surprisingly well to neglect a practised thing for a bit and come back to it later.

Sadly the stars just did not align this time. The piano accompanist was not available even though I did manage to find a teacher hosting private visits.

Thank you for the advice from everyone on this board.

We’re parking grade 7 for now. Starting grade 8 repertoire and then will fresh the pieces in March. DD is ok with it all but soooooo deflated at the time.

Yes - I've been thinking of you too @mbell - really hope your daughter is now able to take her exam.

@mbell, how’s it going with you? Has the new 10-day rule saved the day?

Excellent news, minisnowballs Well done to everyone involved!

I felt much the same way with DD’s exam. She’d had to miss Grade 2 in the spring session and move on to take Grade 3 in the autumn, with much of the teaching being via Zoom. Then we had a newborn in the house and really, really short notice of the exam date With all this, and in the wider circumstances, we’d have been delighted with a solid pass, but DD managed to scrape a distinction (despite an error in her strongest piece, two stabs at an arpeggio and, tbf, not being strong on the aural bit).

Results seem to be back quickly with the new electronic system. Everything crossed for your DD

Made it. One child, one accompanist, one examiner, all covid-free and in the same place for DD's Grade 6. Honestly don't care what the mark is (apparently she played a dominant when asked for a diminished at one point, which she's stressing about) just amazed she got to take the thin.

Yes certainly been an odd one. Almost forgotten what normal music times are like! We have been distracted by conservatoire applications for son so have noticed less but end of term is a reminder as to all the things that should have been happening. NYOS? Scotland? I lose track of all the NY acronyms :) Congrats anyway.

Hi Herts! Not been so much music happening this term, maybe next term will be better! DD got into NYOS so pleased about that but not sure how much will go ahead. Still, it's a nice boost.

Just saying hello. I used to post on these music threads a lot but been quite some time. I recognise some of the names but lots of new ones :)

Theory results are in. Hope everyone's DC's got the result they wanted. DD was happy with her's, seems the online wasn't too bad after all.

Thimbleberries, thank you so helpful. Will get investigating!

That's really helpful thanks! Let's see what happens.

@minisnowballs, in case you didn’t know (I only saw it when trying to find out if warm-up rooms would be available under Covid restrictions) your DD doesn’t have to have an accompanist:

“Live accompaniment, as detailed in the relevant syllabuses, is normally required. However, while social-distancing requirements are in place, we are offering flexibility to singers and instrumentalists who must usually have an accompanist (or duet partner) on the day of their exam. We will accept unaccompanied performances in face-to-face exams until at least 31 March 2021. Arrangements beyond that are subject to review.”

Special COVID-19 arrangements for accompaniment in practical face-to-face exams

Not ideal to play all pieces unaccompanied but if you could only manage DD and examiner on the day for some reason, maybe better than nothing.

Having looked at the late booking slots available currently, I think Yr10mom’s strategy of checking at least twice a day for cancellations is a good idea. It’s a headache for you and your DD may have horribly short notice (because people may well be having to cancel at very short notice) but definitely worth a go.