Summer 21 music thread

@Patchedcabbage dd has had both traditional and now invisilign. seems very child specific butt dd was in a lot of pain when doing v long playing days with traditional - was doing nco etc etc. when she had her regular tightening she playing was often too difficult for a week or so - it was quite a battle with the dentist before big events! removable are not painful at all for her but they spend a lot of time ‘out’ which does affect progress. her current dentist works with a lot of young players. you may do fine with traditional but may be in the too painful category (hopefully not)

My DC was in the same position, had traditional train-track ones for 3 years and found it didn’t affect clarinet playing. Took about a week to get used to but other than that, no problems. Tried to ensure the routine tightening wasn’t the day before any orchestra etc as it can make your teeth ache for a day. When they are finally removed, try not to have an exam fairly soon after as time will be needed to adjust then too (week or two).

Does anyone have words of wisdom regarding braces and clarinet playing? DC has just started to work on G7 pieces and will start GCSE Music in September. Did your child adjust to fixed braces? Did you pay for Invisalign?

Theory practice papers working today. I didn't do anything differently so perhaps the system was just down yesterday. Now need to convince DD to use her scrap paper not just try to work out the whole lot in her head. She's passing but so many unnecessary errors. I guess she hasn't had much call for exam technique up to this point in her life!
Next job G5 aural.

Congrats to your DD gogohm! College updates and perspectives welcome too :) must be a point where all these grade whatevers seem very beside the point.

Thank you @QueenMabby!

I quite like modern composers!

For DD’s g5 performance she played a v modern South African piece by a living composer. Think it might have been in an exam syllabus in SA in the last 20 years but it was “alternative” to say the least!

I think as long as it rounds out the overall performance nicely it’ll be fine.

Well I think I've graduated from this thread, finally ... dd is off to study music in September. She's also able to sing enough weddings to help with the cost thankfully. Best of luck for next year for all of you still in the school system

You also try using an incognito window in chrome - I had this recently where I could only access a website if I opened an incognito window first. I only found out because their tech support people suggested it.

Thanks, will try that.

Have you tried with a different browser - I think Chrome usually works better than Safari. Also try switching on/ off pop-ups.

I don’t think so as it’s basically a pre-exam system check. Has it not told you what the problem is?
I found an actual pre exam system check which checks out okay.
And then the practice online exams in my link above tried to run its own system check which got stuck with browser row saying "in progress".
Tried same on a tablet which shouldn't work and it gives a fail and a help link to "page not found".

That's brilliant @KittyOSullivanKrauss

Our boys are not musical and have chosen other subjects so it's not a problem for us. It's absolutely great that you have chosen the school that best suits you!

Good luck to the rest of you with your exams, whether theory or instrument.

Does anyone know if you do the performance exam, can the 4th piece be of a higher grade or completely outside their past exams list?

I don’t think so as it’s basically a pre-exam system check. Has it not told you what the problem is?

Those of you who've done online theory- if I can't get the online practice exam here to work on our device, does that mean an actual exam is not going to work either?
gb.abrsm.org/en/our-exams/online-theory/exam-preparation-resources/

Chocorabbit sounds awful! DS goes to a very large mainstream secondary in an area where few go to grammar so there is a large and active music dept with lots of different ensembles and musically accomplished kids around. Tons of performance opportunities in 'normal' times. The music teachers already know DS and he's had differentiated work this year. It's a good point to ask about the grades that they've achieved, so we'll definitely do that at options time.

Chocorabbit that's terrible. Both of mine want to do music GCSE, and my year 9 has already picked it. They go to an ordinary comp, in an area where most really musical kids are creamed off by either the state academies with 'music scholarships' or the private schools with real scholarships, so you wouldn't maybe expect the best.

But there are plenty of 8s and 9s in the music results and I think everyone learns in the music lessons. In Year 7 and 8, everyone takes music and everyone is expected to learn to read staff notation, for a start.

There are keyboard tasks in lessons (there are usually four skill levels to choose from on any task and DD2 who has just finished year 7 and who is about to take Grade 7 in a non-keyboard instrument, usually does the second from top - so there is differentiation), and basic composing on garageband. And quite a lot of singing.

Once they pick music GCSE it steps up. DD1s classmates are mostly grade 4 and 5 in year 9 (because it is self-selecting who takes it) - which is fine for GCSE as you don't need to play anything harder than that - perfectly possible to get grade 9 in performance with a grade 5 piece. They do theory, which is at least as hard as grade 5 theory in Year 9, and some pretty tricky listening papers - writing down notes onto a score from listening to them for example. They learn to compose in different styles.

In extracurricular terms (when no covid) there is a swing band, orchestra, flute group, cello group, two choirs and a madrigal/chamber choir group and a specialist teacher who takes small groups to do more contemporary bands each day after school. Instrumental lessons free for those on FSM, cheap for everyone else.

It's honestly seen as a very ordinary local school - and somewhat looked down on by those who like a shiny academy and who cannot work out why DD2 picked it when she could have gone for a scholarship elsewhere - but the music seems to be the least of our worries. What a shame it isn't always like that.

I always say to dd that we do three takes and then pick the one she feels happiest about. I think that takes the pressure off them somewhat for it to be perfect. If it wasn’t limited that way dd would stop at each mistake and insist on starting again!

She did her piano performance recording at school and they allowed her two takes.

I think her piano teacher will act as accompanist for her cello exam which will help as she’ll feel comfortable with that.

DD also wants to do music gcse. She has an instrumental award at school (bit like a half scholarship) so I think it’s expected. Fortunately school has a large and active music department and gets great GCSE (and A level results).
This year (year 7) she’s obviously not learnt a lot in music but for the theory lessons her music teacher just let her work independently on her g5 theory so that worked.

@KittyOSullivanKrauss how is your DS's school's music teaching at his school? In our DSs' secondary children who have never had any music lessons haven't learnt anything. When our DS1 used to tell us about it we were suspicious as his grades in music were bad. However, since DS2 started and confirmed it it makes sense that the highest GCSE grade in the last few years was a 6. Most children didn't even know the notes on the piano. I believe most other teachers in other schools to be competent and I probably sound deranged but please research it a bit more before your DS takes up GCSE music.

thirdfiddle the recording we submitted was the first take 😄

(And it wasn't single take because it went well, it took some persuading to get DC to record it even once.)

We have done 3 recorded exams and progressively less takes with each. The single take one got the highest mark.

Minisnowballs I agree completely. The performance recordings were tough going. He only ever managed two takes in a row and we did them over a weekend, ending up with three to pick from. Definitely very demanding. I could see how much stamina it took to psyche himself up to do it and then sustain the level throughout 4 pieces. It looked exhausting! It was really important not to aim for perfection as there were no takes without errors. The exam slot was way after we submitted so technically he could have done a few more but he declared after we'd done the last take that he was never playing his A piece again 😂. The feedback was detailed and I think he's learned a lot through the process.

I think it must be really hard to record all of those pieces straight off for performance exams - particularly on instruments where you need an accompanist and it isn't a family member - how many takes are you going to have to do?

I don't think DD2 would have been mature enough to persevere through many takes, and would have ended up doing quite badly - so the normal exams have worked well for her. But most of her teachers think the examiners (ABRSM at least) are pickier for the performance ones, so I think would be more impressed with scores from those, not less!

Thanks for the thoughts on the exams. The ABRSM say that performance exams are equivalent but, exactly as herbaceous says I am worried about whether everyone will agree and the potential for it to limit opportunities further down the line, in case we came across someone who valued the traditional exams over these new ones.

That said, DS quite likes scales and sees the point of them so I think he could be persuaded to continue doing them as part of practise. He's got naturally good aural skills, although he's embarrassed about singing he can actually do it if he chooses to. Sight reading was his weakest point in exams, but he's joined a few ensembles recently and can manage it fine in 'real life' IYSWIM so again begs the question of what he's doing it for.

His teacher seems to like the new performance exams and said she thinks this route would enable more time to spend on technique (which he needs). To be fair, his technique has improved massively since being with her.
DS is very keen on a musical career and especially keen on composing at the moment but he's not even 12 yet so no idea how this will turn out. He's keen on the idea of doing GSCE & A level music (both offered at his school).
Lots to think about and thanks so much for the thoughts & discussion 😊

Agree thirdfiddle.

DD did the full grades for 1, 2 and 3. She skipped 4 but did 5 as a performance (reasonably last minute as she was gearing up for the usual grade and then lockdown happened and performance was easy to do online) and is I think heading for 6 as a performance too - she has several pieces on the go, three of which “happen” to be on the g6 syllabus and she’ll just pick one of the others to go along side.

I think it does help with repertoire to see these pieces as part of a well rounded performance rather than three stand alone pieces that are hoops to jump through iyswim? DD’s teacher continues to grill her on scales etc anyway.

Also for second and third instruments it’s nice not to have to do say g3 aural if you’ve already done it with a different instrument exam!