Autumn 23 Music chat

@londonmummy1966 we're in a small town it's not easy to find a bigger kid at that kind of level. We do have a friend's son who is gr7. Sometimes he comes over to practice with DS but they know each other too well they always end up messing about 🤣.

@londonmummy1966 that's hilarious - however I can't see it happening with bassoon, alas...

@northerngoldilocks The new teacher has just one slot left that I could make. We are in a temporary arrangement with her for that slot while the existing teacher is off work. Part of me do want to grab that slot and make it permanent just in case it's not available any more when we come back. But lots of things will happen between now and then so I guess it's nonsense.

I guess what's frustrating about the holiday lessons is that she used to work all the way through the holidays during our first 2 years with her. Then she moved to work through our music centre and she's becoming less and less available. She just seems to be struggling with her health recently a lot. At least I don't have to make decisions right now can wait and see if she still comes back after the sick leave. If she does we can continue till gr6.

Although I'm thinking about this rn , at the end of day it'll be DS's choice. So I shall just leave it to him 🤣 to decide.

It's not uncommon for teachers to not do anything in the school holidays. What we found worked was to find a local senior school kid/conservatoire student who was several grades ahead and get them to come in and do some "practice supervision" just to keep them enthused and ticking over. (I would suggest that you don't put a very good looking conservatoire student with a year 8 girl though as they get a bit giggly and overwhelmed - obviously not speaking from experience here......)

Ok- so a bit of time before grade 6. You could do gr 5 with his existing teacher and then change if he still likes lessons. Does the new teacher actually have space for him now? I moved my daughter after grade 5 but it was quite a while after and with hindsight should have moved her earlier to have someone who could teach more advanced technique on piano whereas her violin teacher is still great for where she's at, so it does depend on how you feel the lessons are going.

Also on the holidays teaching point , out of the 4 teachers we have none of them teach in the holidays so don't think that's so unusual.

He's doing g4 at the end of March

What grade is he doing now @chickentikkasalad ?

BTW I forgot to say our current teacher is only qualified to teach up to grade 6. We'll have to change teacher afterwards anyway. So it's just a matter of time unfortunately but DS just wants to stay with her as long as possible!

Thank youn@QueenMabby and @horseymum for the wise words. My current thinking is to stay with the old teacher when/if she returns as she knows DS best and is deeply interested in him. The only down side is only her availability. Now she only works for the local music centre and we have to have lessons through them during term time. I tried to arrange some private lessons at school holidays but not been very successful last year.

@Comefromaway - that's so exciting! Well done your ds. What a fantastic opportunity!

@chickentikkasalad - tricky. I can't be of any help. Sorry. We continued with a cello teacher that wasn't working for dd for over a year because we didn't want to hurt his feelings!

DS is having a tricky situation. Less than 4 weeks till his violin exam and his teacher is ill for 4 weeks! The piano teacher was very helpful to recommend another violin teacher whom she claims to be the best in town. We had one trial lesson and DS likes her and I can already see improvement in is practice attitude and also the sound quality. I asked him whom to continue with after the 4 weeks arrangement and he says he can't decide. His old teacher is probably the best with young children and he loves her. This best teacher is just more exciting and teaches him like an older child not a baby. I don't know what to choose either so told him let's worry about it in 4 weeks time. Maybe it'll be clearer after a few more lessons. Or we could still not decide then! What would you do?

It will be going full circle for me as I used to work at Symphony Hall and he will be playing just outside in Centenary Square.

Some exciting news for ds today (well he's known for a few weeks but it's been announced today).

He is going to be playing in the band for one of the support artists at an outdoor music concert in Birmingham in August.

@horseymum Thanks for pointing out the resources on the ABRSM website - I think she might like watching the videos (especially as one I’ve just watched a bit of shows someone making a mistake and being given a second go at a scale!)

Snap @horseymum re the performance opportunities!! Also that's a good point re examiners not commenting as they go through but just getting them to move on not being indicative of what they thought.

Thanks, she is okay at performing (her teacher is really good at organising little mini concerts at school every term) but I think it’s the being judged/marked formally that is daunting, understandably! I haven’t told her that there are different levels, so all she is aiming for it to pass and hopefully her teacher knows what she’s doing & wouldn’t have suggested her entering if she wasn’t reasonably likely to pass.

My youngest was super nervous for grade 1 piano and said she wasn't doing any more exams ever. I just went with it- plus then covid hit so there weren't any face to face anyway. By the time exams restarted she had come around to the idea on her own so sat grade 5! Grade 1 is really just introducing the process and it doesn't matter if they don't do the next exam or any really. Whilst it is technically possible to fail grade 1 it really doesn't happen to kids who have prepared as long as they don't just refuse to play anything when they go in.

If there are any opportunities for her to perform beforehand, even if just to friends or family it might help her manage nerves- especially if she plays all 3 pieces!

@northerngoldilocks Thank you, that’s really helpful. She does tend to be a bit of an over thinker so it will be a challenge for her to overcome her nerves and just give it a go. I just really hope she passes as I think it’ll give her a confidence boost & then she can go back to just playing for fun (and not having to hear the same 3 pieces played on repeat will be quite welcome 😆)

Welcome @WheelySquirrel - i think for Grade 1 if her teacher thinks she's ready she will be fine. What mine found useful when getting pre exam jitters was to look through the marking criteria which makes it very clear that you don't need a perfect performance to pass. Grade 1 is very much an intro to exams and examiners really are looking for them to pass. Lots of practice so she feels prepared is the key but also learning to manage nerves etc is part of the reason for doing early Grades!

I've just had a look though and ABRSM have changed their website and I'm struggling to find the marking criteria at the moment. There are some useful bits of information on there generally though so maybe have a look through

Practical Grade guidance (abrsm.org)

Please could I temporarily jump on the thread to ask you (as experts!) what the standard expected for Grade 1 music exams is? I’m not musical so it’s a new process for me & I’ve got a very nervous 8 year old recorder player on my hands with an exam coming up. I have reassured her that the examiners won’t be expecting perfection & that they’ll understand nerves etc but I don’t actually know if that’s realistic! She still hits the wrong notes occasionally, sometimes squeaks etc - is this normal for a grade 1 or is her teacher being a bit optimistic putting her in for it? Thanks & it’s lovely reading about everyone’s kids’ musical achievements!