Autumn 23 Music chat

I don't know @herbaceous. It won't have been any of the main ones. Just something with a few lines I expect. We have some very talented female 6th formers who will have been given the biggest roles. She can't do it anyway so I didn't want to dwell on it with her. She's desperate to do Phantom and really hoping it comes up once she's in the 6th form.

It must be a really tricky thing for a drama teacher/department to select the performance each year keeping in mind all the children and their varying abilities!

Ooh which part? Most people would give eye teeth for one of the female parts in Les Mis!

@herbaceous - that sounds like fun. Fingers crossed for a good part in WSS!

Dd was somewhat puzzled to have been cast in her school's production of Les Mis despite not auditioning and her telling the drama teacher that she didn't have time to be in it! It made it even harder not to do as she was the only one in her year (yr 10) to get an individual part rather than "ensemble"! She just doesn't have the capacity at the moment. I'm taking her to see SIX as a birthday surprise next month so that might make it up to her a bit.

We have a two concerts next week - one solo piano performance and one ensemble concert.

DS is now all about the musical theatre. Had the BEST time doing School of Rock, and has just auditioned with another company as Tony in West Side Story. Doesn't really stand a chance, but may get him noticed!

Helps to know we're not the only one waiting (although for different orchestra) . It'll be nice to hear from them either way...

Has anybody auditioned for NYSO this year and has heard the result already? We haven't heard of anything. Anxiously waiting but not sure whether they still give a result if it's a no?

How lovely they'll be together! dd2's is a later one - 13-15, which is a shame as I'm sure she'd have loved to meet your little bassoonist. I'll try to persuade her to make the trip though - it was really useful in terms of meeting teachers and other players last time. She knew several of the RAM undergraduates when we went for their double reed day (though was too shy to speak to them) because of Inspire.

Anyone else's woodwind player get an invite to the NYO inspire Blackpool residency in February? Not broached the whole 'trip to blackpool' thing with DD2 yet. I think it would be very good for her but last time my mum died while she was away and I think it's rather coloured her idea of it. hopefully can still persuade her to go.

@horseymum I bought the accompanying book to DS's cello book, had a go at accompanying him this weekend. Definitely something I will try to do in the future!

My DD(12) practises no way close to those levels as it so hard to fit it all in,
Piano (G8) - 30 mins 3x per week (taking this slower as she only did G6 in June
Cello (G6) - 30 mins 4x per week
Clarinet (G6) - 30 mins 4x per week
Voice (G8) - 30 mins 2x per week
She does however take part in two orchestral ensembles and two choirs every week and a 1hr aural skills class so in total that adds another 4 hours. Probably nowhere near the recommended amount but she does it ramp it up as necessary if there is a particularly tricky piece or has an exam approaching. She is in no rush so is happy to take things slower.

She does do the finger practise on her leg/ table too!

No Christmas music here but dd has a concert next week so I'm having the same "tricky" parts of her current piece over and over and over again.

It's a movement from a Mozart Sonata and he has to do "finger pedalling" (whatever that is!) - I've heard it so many times I think I could almost play it be ear! I'll be glad when it's performed and done and we can rest it for a while.

Starting Christmas music now would be considered 'late' by DD- but it is like living with a Christmas elf! We even have the joy of the same piece on violin and piano as she has the Nikki Isles jazz on a winters night book for both instruments! I have insisted on adding to the piano repertoire though given how early she's started as don't just want to listen to silent night, in the bleak midwinter and The Snowman on repeat until Christmas.

DS less keen though and turned down my suggestion of a new Christmas flute book!

@Nbobun - once when watching dd sing in church, I noticed that she was constantly wiggling her fingers against the outside of her leg or on the ledge in front of her. I asked her why she was fidgeting so much when she sang and apparently when she sings she "plays" the notes on her leg/ledge as if it were a piano!

When she's nervous or anxious there's a favourite Haydn piece that she "plays" on her leg!

I am looking forward to the day when DS can join an ensemble. His cello teacher runs a small group, or he could also get into the school one.
Might be sooner than you realise. Check out local music services too - ours have ensembles from beginner up, I think they even have an open strings part for those that need it.

Totally agree. I remember I used to "practise" on the school desk, or do finger stretches during class. Listening to music, working out interpretation etc are all part of learning. There is obviously theory, aural, sight reading etc on top of the physical practice. DS would "play" on table during lunch hour, or hop/step/tap to different rhythm etc.

He would definitely faff a lot if I don't keep an eye on him! But because we don't set a target time, the more he faffs the longer the practice is. I learned this from my own experience. My parents used to set me a target time so I would do anything during this set time to get away from playing the actual piano 😂

I am looking forward to the day when DS can join an ensemble. His cello teacher runs a small group, or he could also get into the school one. The thing with piano player is we often play alone which can be quite lonely. I have duet in school concerts but never had the opportunity to play with more people.

Indeed. A lot of DS's horn practice is by playing in ensembles - sightreading, technique, etc. And piano he's always noodling his way around Elvis or showtunes.

The other thing I'm beginning to realise - forgive me but dd2 has just been home for half term so I've been able to see how practice has transformed - is that lots of things don't look like 'practice' , but are.

That includes - listening to pieces she's playing, different interpretations, with music in front of her, wandering around breaking in a reed, breathing exercises, taking up running (yes, her flute teacher has suggested this one) and some ensemble work and classes. And lots of looking at how she does things in a mirror and slowly doing them.

Some of these things are probably obvious to the rest of you - but it can make 'practice time' shorter because some of it can be done on a commute for instance, or it can look like faffing about.

Some of it definitely is faffing in her case - but her perspective on 'practice' has changed a lot in a very short time! There is also voluntary metronome use. Unheard of!

She whatsapped me last night very excited about her move to the main symphony orchestra. Which is great - but she's on contrabassoon. Which she's never played. Teacher must have a sense of humour, as she's the tiniest of their five bassoonists.

@Nbobun sounds like he's really enjoying it and he's on the right track. Our piano teacher doesn't set a practice time just what to practice and it's up to us for how long we practice.
We don't get much home work at this age (state educated) mainly the reading. He usually does it when snacking or waiting for something. There's a bit spelling/math but not much. So it's mainly the music practice that takes up time anyway.

My dd(14) practices nowhere near any of those amounts!
Piano (g8) is about 30-45 mins maybe 4-5 times a week.
Cello (g6) maybe 30 mins 3 times a week.
Voice (g4) practically never!

To be fair though although she is serious about her music she doesn't want to do it as a career so isn't "working" at it in that way.

She does play in three orchestras, has a weekly piano duet lesson with her long-time (7 years nearly!) duet partner, plays in a chamber group and sings in a church choir. So gets plenty of music time that way.

If she has lots of homework on (or something else demanding of her time like a school drama production) then practice slips still further.

@SweetforOrchestra that sounds about right. Our teacher suggests 10 min plus 10 min for every grade, so 20min for G1, 30min for G2 etc. When I was learning it was initially 30 min then from G4-5 it was 30 min scales etc plus 30 min pieces during weekday as minimum and 7-8h during holidays for exams, which was insane.

Just to clarify, when DS was working towards G1, he did about 20-30 min every day. But since he got G1, he got given new piece which I now realised is G2. And the teacher has stepped up in other areas like scales/arpeggio and sight reading, so he can easily spend 45min doing those. Some days he decides to learn Christmas music or movie soundtrack (easy version) so it can be over 1h just for piano. Cello has been averaging 15min. I don't really set a time target, but I do set mini goals for him like learning a new part, improving certain areas etc.

DS is out of the house by 7.30 every morning so the only time we can practice is in the evening. As he advances, the only solution is to perhaps drop some of the school clubs (which we don't want do, nor does he) to allow him doing homework at school, so he has more time to practice in the evening.

We were told by junior guildhall that they expect kids on the brass and string training programmes to practice daily for the length of their lessons. So the complete beginners who are 6 will be expected to do 20 mins per day per instrument.

We will definitely be aiming to do at least some of it in the mornings as not feasible to fit everything in after school.

An hour is very long indeed for G1. DD only had 10 minute lessons back then (tagged on to older sibling’s lesson) so no more than 10 mins practice.
Now, there aren’t enough hours in a day. DD (13) plays organ for 20 mins before school (keyboard skills) then home to 20 mins piano (diploma but not working towards exams any longer), 45 mins violin (joint 1st study, diploma) and 90 mins or more organ (diploma and passionate about). Homework gets squeezed in (mostly on car journeys 😬). No time for other hobbies since organ started but up until age 12 there was time still for swimming, gymnastics etc