Autumn 23 Music chat

@horseymum - we have technical practice and performance practice here! Definitely worked when dd was smaller @Bunnycat101 as when she was doing the performance practice she knew she couldn't stop.

She would often do one "technical" run through (stopping and correcting mistakes), then one "performance" - no stopping and then a final run through when she worked on any bits she ploughed through on in the performance.

@horseymum - as my dd does all her exams at school I think I've saved a fortune in hot chocolate and cake!

@horseymum definitely don't want to jump straight into grade 2. I’ve got her some lovely Christmas music and will have a look for some pieces so we can have a term of just fun and then maybe start off the new scales alongside. She’s a bit of a perfectionist so trying to work on making sure she plays on if she makes a slip and not stop in frustration. It feels like it will be a learning experience whatever happens and I want her to be proud of the effort she’s put in and not the result.

Congratulations to your DS @chickentikkasalad that's a great result!

A while back I asked for some advice about my 7yo sitting her grade 1 this term who was borderline. We ended up getting a slot for the last date and will go for it- she has worked so hard and made a lot of progress (back in September she’d only started the grade 1 book) and if she’s doing well I think she could get distinction but also could completely implode and fail altogether. Either way will be leaving exams for at least a year and just looking at having fun for a while.

@horseymum the examiner must have been quite generous. He only took 2 points away for the wrong timing in clapping and the wrong answer for the counts.

@QueenMabby thank you and well done for the concerts!

Congrats to your dd @chickentikkasalad a distinction is fantastic!

No exams here but dd had two successful concerts this week.

DS took the piano exam on Thursday and got the result today (very impressed with the speed) - a distinction! He was over the moon as he said his clapping was not on time when he came out of the exam room. Now he knows it doesn't matter to have one or two things wrong.
NYSO audition result not out yet they said hopefully next week. 😬
Any other DC's got exam results back?

@horseymum we just have airtags- I have an (ancient) iphone so I'm the only one who can check them though. They're very effective but I don't know what the android alternatives are, sorry!

We use air tags on instruments. Have previously used 'tiles' on other things though

That's interesting @northerngoldilocks. Dd has good pitch and can sing it all fine but she's rarely fully relaxed when playing and definitely squeezes with her thumb on the back of the cello too much. I'll tell her to try and loosen her grip!

Lovely to hear about all the music concerts that have been happening - for us its all still to come!

DD has a concert on the 9th where she's playing a piano solo at her music school end of term concert and then another one on the 16th where she's playing in the strings ensemble, a piano trio and singing in the choir. She's also got her school Christmas music concert on the 18th and her G5 violin exam on the 19th - busy times. Her violin teacher is about to go on tour so tonight's lesson might be her last before the exam, though hoping can fit in 1 or 2 just before depending on how it fits, but thankfully have a friend staying next week who can hopefully help!

DS also has to re-audition for the wind band he was in last year on Friday- which is weird as its different from how they used to run it. Maybe there are more people interested so he's a bit worried as their self appointed worst flautist (he's also the youngest!). I say he's worried - but he's not worried enough to be home practicing and has gone to a friends after school! He has a school Xmas concert to go and then end of term activities at Sat music to do.

@QueenMabby DD sometimes has tuning issues on violin - most noticeably on scales but i find that if I shout 'tuning' from another room she can correct it straight away, so am taking this as an indication that its an issue about listening to what she's actually playing. My violinist friend said that its either that she can't sing the music in her head (which we've checked by singing the scales and its not that), or she's gripping too tight on the neck of the violin - which is very much the case so trying to work on that. Wonder if cello has the same effect?

Thanks @Siriusmuggle - yes, both are tagged, which is a relief. Mostly I can just see them moving between her house and the woodwind department.

@minisnowballs if she's using public transport I'd recommend an airtag in each instrument case. My son's lives in his case at all times- we bought it after an airline lost a number of his school mates instruments (thankfully not his!).

well done @QueenMabby 's dd. We've just been up at DD2's school for the first concert we've seen there. Unsurprisingly rather more impressive than we're used to, but very relaxed (not the main symphony or anything, just some of the smaller ensembles she's in). We sprung her from woodwind performance class first and took her for a pizza - and got in trouble for returning her 15 minutes late after taking her out after the concert.

It was just SO nice to see her though!

She's got an audition for a band she's been in for years (but for some reason they're reauditioning_ when she is home this weekend, and because they've asked her to audition on both instruments she'll have to bring them both home - a right pain. Fingers crossed she doesn't leave them on a bus or a train.

Agree it's particularly hard for growing kids. I think real turning point is when they click about listening to themselves critically and adjusting when it's wrong. So the fact she is even knowingly working on it bodes well.
DD's teacher has her do slow scales or passages, checking individual notes as you go with open strings. And naming notes as she plays too - if you know that note in 5th position is an A, then you know to check it with the A string, or at least that it should resonate with the A string. Particularly in things like chromatic scales it's easy to go by relative pitch and get systematically out.

Thanks both. It's definitely a dd problem and not a cello problem! She's generally flat so has been trying to stretch a bit more. In her lesson yesterday she was sharp so has obviously gone too far!

Dd's been planning her piano piece for this year's Xmas concert since two years ago. It was a little tricky to perform at that point, then last year she did a violin piece. Hope she gets a slot or it may get another outing next year!
DS has no idea what he's going to audition or even which instrument. Auditions are this week. 🫣
Fingers crossed for audition result-ers, good luck to exam-ers.
And well done QueenMabby's DD! There are usually a few little things, which usually we and the performer notice but the rest of the audience don't.
QueenyMabby, is it strings going out of tune or her? For player, lots of practice, slow, listening like mad, checking notes against open strings when you can, planning ahead for finger placements and shifts, lots of slow shift practice. Someone told me that when listened back in slow motion even top players don't land every note perfectly but they adjust faster than you can hear it's wrong. I thought that was really interesting and reassuring. Tuning is a lifetime job for most of us.
But if it's the cello causing problems may be luthier time.

We've put the Mozart to bed now after DD's concert last night. Thank God!

She played really well. As is the way of these things, a couple of tricker passages that were causing her trouble went perfectly and a couple of really easy bits that she doesn't give a second thought to tripped her up but overall it was good.

No exams here just a good mix of repertoire. G6 cello will be happening at some point but at the moment she's just playing around the pieces and trying to get her bloody cello in tune! She plays beautifully but her intonation is often off and she struggles to get that right. Any tips?