Spring / Summer 2026 music thread

@se22mother thanks so much- her school is adamant that she must not have a tutor otherwise they will decide it is not her own work and fail her.

seems a bit mad to me but what do I know? Half the kids seem to have tutors for things like history and English coursework so why not music.

the good news is that everyone is aware that her dad and I are absolutely no help so they aren’t going to think we’re all over the chord progressions.

going to try to encourage her to chip away at it a bit at a time over the holidays and keep a log of what she’s doing. Perhaps a bit of time off her genius school cohort will help.

currently on holiday with no instruments! A joy.

@achangeofnameisasgoodasarest if you want a composition tutor recommendation then please feel free to dm me.

I used to teach Grade 5 theory and I did have 10 and 11 year olds pass but it was a weekly theory class at school that they did for 3 years (once they'd passed a Grade 3 practical). I kept a lot of it more practical - made up board games for learning note lengths etc, wooden "dice" for assembling scales etc

I mentioned above but there is a very good weeklong theory course in Gloucester (not residential though so youd have to find somewhere to stay) - they do a lot of practical clapping games and playing to reinforce the theory. Might be worth a look next year?

@achangeofnameisasgoodasarest if finances stretch to it could you get her some tutoring? When I got stuck with one of mine because the teacher did no aural I reached out to one of the tutors on the Guidlhall short courses and she gave her a few online lessons. You could consider doing the same with a composition tutor to give her a bit of a hand? She might be able to get some informed feedback and inspiration to help her get over the blank page fear? An external eye, away from school and her perception that she is less good might give her a boost. I know these things are ANOTHER musical expense, but it might help her work out how to tick the boxes to do well enough.

I also think it helps teenagers to remember that, again with the exception of the tiny few, no one is brilliant at all the competencies of an exam. It sounds like she has the two parts that it is hard to "box tick" nailed - which is brilliant. So now she just needs to work out what she needs to do to tick competent on composition and not worry too much about being brilliant. That way madness lies. But I am very sympathetic to those who have that nasty little voice in their head because I have one too. I always thought that everyone around me was brilliant at everything and I was hopeless. But in adulthood I have come to accept that the truth is more nuanced than that!!!

@achangeofnameisasgoodasarest it sounds to me like your DD could probably flunk composition and still get a very high mark in the A level overall. She doesnt need to be as good as anyone else in her class (who are obviously not a representative sample of the people doing the exam), she just needs to do fine? Agree with checking the criteria and just ticking the boxes. It’s great she’s doing it for bassoon as she will be able to write something very idiomatic and play to her strengths! Does she need to do it over the summer or could she just chill and start next term?

@MockCroc really good post (probs because it has confirmed my approach with DS!). I did all the theory exams as a child (except grade 7!) - starting with grade 1 at about 11, and really enjoyed working through them slowly, with a real sense of achievement. I’m sure I could force DS through some of it now, but have no desire to put either of us through that ordeal!

I’ve come to the same conclusion about the 11+ recently - think we probably will conform to the terrible middle class cliche of moving house near to a good comprehensive with a good music dept, rather than having to start prep next year (in year 4!), which seems quite soul destroying.

@DitheringMusicParent she does now have a structure - and has predictably gone for a bassoon sonata. At least she understands how a bassoon works I guess.

I think it is paralysis to an extent. She thinks she can't do it, so she can't. I keep telling her OK is good enough.

I don't know anything about A-level music as we are not in England, but I know here the composition bit doesn't need to be 'good' to get a good mark, but fit the criteria. Depressing, but means those who aren't amazing at it can still get a decent mark. Is it worth going back to the criteria to initially aim for 'good enough'. I'm sure once she has something down, she can refine and add some more creativity to increase the marks.

@achangeofnameisasgoodasarest is it decision paralysis? Could you help her pick a highly structured format, like, say, a Mag and Nunc? I know not of what I speak though.

Our friend who is now organ scholar at a large college on the river in Oxford did a string quartet for his A-level equivalent. He turned it into an exercise in shoehorning in every motif like BACH and DSCH in as many ways as possible, while pastiching the original pieces the motifs had come from. It hung together OK but could perhaps have been less complicated.

Totally agree with @MockCroc on the theory. DD2 did it at 10. She did fine, but remembered nothing later.

It feels bizarre to now have to put it on her UCAS form now - like a total fraud. She is doing higher 'theory' as part of her A Level but won't take exams in it.

As an organist @DitheringMusicParent he really will just imbibe what he needs. DDs friends who do organ are now taking things like advanced counterpoint diplomas in Year 12, that she wouldn't be able to tackle at all - grade 5 will seem irrelevant. He really doesn't need it, or other exams, yet. It will come later.

We are having tearful composition stress from DD2. It's 25% of the A Level, she hates it, feels very unequipped compared to the rest of her class - she's in the top set for music, which in her school (might be the only one in the country that only sets for music) is quite a thing.

Everyone else is a genius, she says, and she can't do it. In fact, everyone else is a pianist, or an organist, or first study composition, or took their music gcse at 13 - many of them are all of those things.

She is in the top set because the rest of her music is very, very good. On the long essay questions for example she gets the top marks in the year by some way and she needs that top level teaching. How can we help her (without actually helping her write music IYSWIM) get the comp over the line this summer so it's better? She has MuseScore(?). Sometimes it feels like music A Level is in fact three a levels. She's great at the Appraisal and Performance bit and the comp really lets her down.

Totally agree, and yes, I think he's too young and ADHD-inattentive (despite medication) for it to be anything other than a cramming exercise, which as you say, he'll forget 3 weeks later. Much better to tackle it later on when he's decided he needs it. As per toilet training which took 2 days, and shoelaces which took 20 minutes, when he was ready (and not a moment before).

I find with him I constantly have to tread the tightrope between "he's too young, immature, with underdeveloped technique, and galloping ADHD" and "he's got a raging fire of blazing ambition, extreme stubborn hyperfocus, and the ability to sightread and memorize like nobody's business". He can confidently memorize pieces 15-20 minutes long the first time he sees the music.

Teacher A always tipped over into seeing the second bit but not the first, and put things in front of him that fed the ambition instead of the technique, while treating him like an organ scholar. I had to constantly run behind attempting to shore up the technique, musical understanding etc.

Teacher B, thankfully, is much more like his cello teacher: has his head screwed on about happy future musicians with solid understanding and technique, being infinitely more desirable than pressured, unhappy child musicians. So now I can step back a bit and let them get on with it and be less overinvolved.

@DitheringMusicParent I think parents have to accept a few things around very young musicians and theory: (a) with a few exceptions most of them are averse to the idea. (b) the ABRSM G5 theory is out of date, dry and boring. (c) with young ones I have found theory is best tackled in a short block(s) if you need to heavy lift them through the exam. (d) if they pass it, it is unlikely to have any great benefit to any future musical plans they have (again I am sure with some exceptions) because they have forgotten what they have crammed by about 3 weeks later. (e) if they are too little for it you have to decide as a parent whether to go through the misery of making them do it anyway, or whether you shrug, accept that, revisit it when they are a bit older and recognise that despite the fever that can develop around talented little ones, it actually doesn't matter.

Two of mine did their G5 theory at 10 because of imminent G6 exams. I definitely would not have wanted to tackle it with them any younger than that. With both of them they were mature enough by then that we talked about it and discussed how much it really mattered. They both chose to give it a go because they had their own ambitions around their practical exams. I think that it was important that they had made the decision themselves and were therefore willing to put the effort in. The elder dropped in, did a short online course, didn't find it too hard and passed about a week later (she is very good at picking up concepts in subjects like maths). The younger one processes things completely differently, had to do two courses and work much harder but did get there.

I found having to do the exams at that age counter productive because it put them off theory. Funnily enough my eldest developed the greatest aversion despite finding it relatively straightforward. My younger one, because she had done more of it, did get some more secure understanding and sense of pride in grasping bits of it.

Overall it is a shame because theory, when learned alongside the playing they enjoy, is actually interesting and valuable. My eldest is now 14 and the grasp she has of theory has come about in more recent years through discussing the concepts in an applied way with her teacher as she learns repertoire.

My youngest is 9. We will come upon the G5 theory question in the next year. When we do we will have the same conversation about whether it is something he wants to do. At the moment he would not want to do it and I would not want to make him. I probably could, with bribery and coercion, but I suspect we would both be miserable. The sudden cognitive leaps they take at that age (9-10, 10-11, 11-12 etc) are huge. In a year's time we might be in a different place but we might not. But he hands down loves his playing and that is great.

My reading of your message is that you don't actually think your son is ready to learn theory at that level and, if that is the case, that's fine. He can still love his playing and develop as a musician. It won't hold him back in the future. He just won't have a piece of paper at 9 and will either have to hold off ABRSM exams or carry on with Trinity. No music school in the future would give a hoot about that. My younger daughter was at a JD when we went through the G5 process. If I had said to them that actually I thought she wasn't ready, they really wouldn't have cared. They aren't fussed about exam grades. They are much more bothered about the damage that can come about from pushing children when it is counter productive and making happy future musicians unhappy child musicians. And you may well find that your son, at 10 or 11, is in a completely different place.

I think music leads to choices about what sort of parent you want to be. There are other JD parents who, I am sure, would take a different approach and have done what it takes and got their child through G5 theory at 7 to have them at G8 by 8. I just think that's a bit nuts and sounds deeply un-fun for everyone. For me music is about enjoyment, the immense valuable lessons about teamwork, resilience and life it teaches and the sheer pleasure of being part of something so fabulous.

I do think that it is important not to get too swept up in the future with little ones and music, however talented. They are their own people. If it is a passion he will find his way with the support you are giving him. And he might grow up to be a great doctor or save the world doing something else. None of mine want to be musicians and if they said they did, I would want them do go into that tough career with their eyes open, because they love it and because it is a positive choice made by them as adults, not made for them as children by the adults around them.

And the obvious response to that is: 10 yo friend is obviously doing too few pieces, but DS9 is obviously doing far too many, at least on organ!

Thankfully the new teacher is working mainly on technique so the difficulty and length of the pieces has dropped massively, and e.g. there's no longer the expectation that if he learns one movement of piece that he'll automatically need to learn the rest as well (two Bach Trio sonatas, three big Preludes and Fugues, Mendelssohn Op 65 No 3, all last year... taking Grade 5-6 single movements and making him learn the rest of a 15 minute sonata that is on diploma lists, at age 8-9)

Thanks @Compsearch - yes we have the same here - I try not to say it too often!

I think my perspective on exams is generally that they're unnecessary (until the need for qualifications comes up) if the kid is progressing appropriately and being taught appropriately. We had been doing them because I really didn't feel qualified to teach everything all the time without reference to something external, and Teacher A wasn't doing much teaching.

In countries where music is dominated by an achievement-focused mindset, and seen as one of a list of accomplishments that must be ticked off, merely an addition to the child's CV, exams can often become the sole focus, and that's really counterproductive. Here, high level players are often extremely boring and clueless about broad context and style, because as kids they've been shoved from one extracurricular exam to the next and never really listened.

DS has a 10 year old friend who only ever learns exam material each year, i.e. 3 pieces each for cello and piano, plus the grade level scales and exercises. Every year she gets high-ish marks in the exams and wins the music excellence prize at her school. She is regarded by many in the school as a musical prodigy. At 6 pieces a year played very confidently and loudly, she's got time to make sure the pieces sound pretty good. It is an addition to her CV (along with ballet, tennis, Kumon maths tutoring...): she isn't actually interested beyond exam results and the school prize.

DS has been learning more like 6 pieces a week on organ for quite a while (repertoire, choir accompanying, hymns), and each year on cello generally completes a Suzuki book or more, most of the pieces for whatever grade syllabus, plus plenty of other pieces in eg the Editio Musica Budapest books, real repertoire, chamber music parts, plus two orchestras a week at about 10 pieces a term each. We also go to a lot of concerts and listen to alllllllllll the recordings so he understands style and interpretation. Which is why he doesn't have time to learn theory!

@DitheringMusicParent I don’t think you need to worry - your DS is already in a completely different position than you were. DH and I were both late starters from non musical families and I do often find myself telling DS when he’s moaning about practice how lucky he is as no one ever helped me…unsurprisingly doesnt go down so well ha.

Im sure by the time your DS has matured enough to be interested and up for the exam, the preparation required will be minimal as he’ll know most of it already. He’ll be in his late teens before he needs exams for anything (if at all). My friend is principal oboe in one of the London orchestras and doesn’t have grade 8 oboe.

@herbaceous - yes hugely competitive. One of the kids in the year above is off to do it from dd’s school. He’s a brilliant pianist - also an academic scholar. Dd isn’t really sure she stands a chance but she would love it.

Thanks all for this perspective.We can leave it for a bit! Generally exams here are because schools don’t do anything useful for music at all, most don’t even offer it as a subject, and if DS remains homeschooled he can’t do eg International GCSE or A-level music, so he’s going to need to show he can do stuff via exams

However, I totally agree about him being very young and not all the exams being essential! Enjoying playing is far more useful.

It’s a relief to hear others also find Gr5 theory a bit dry. DS loves looking at things like “Here’s the motif upside down and half speed” “Here it is again in A minor” and working out which voice should be prominent at any time etc so he’s taking in the theory that he’s going to find useful later on.

And yes, later on he might decide engineering is what he’d prefer, and that would be fine. It would be an easier career than music. I’m just making sure that if he wants to do music, which is currently his all-consuming passion, he has a chance to do it seriously. I’d have given anything to do music at uni and beyond but I started way too late (12, 14) and had no idea how to practise and hardly practised at all, so noone ever thought I was any good, in a high school full of multi-instrumentalists who’d all started age 3 (Suzuki was very big back then). Of my music class one became a violinist, one a piano teacher, and everyone else stopped playing except me. But I never got to a level that was remotely satisfying to listen to.

We didn’t know about the RNCM joint course until we got there! They played it down, as it's so competitive and for just a very few students each year, but it would be amazing!

@herbaceous you seem to have done the work so we don’t have to- dd is failing to get to any open days (she has had glandular fever to be fair) but her choices are basically Cambridge, Durham, Manchester joint course and then some conservatoires.

your summing up of the different options is admirable! she’d be lucky to get of them..

I think 9 is very young for grade 5 music theory @DitheringMusicParent My 13-year-old took it this year and he found it boring, difficult and frustrating. I don’t think he could have managed it when he was 9. One thing to consider is that your DS only needs to pass the exam so you could view it as something he just needs in order to access the higher practical grades and not go chasing high marks. The online multiple choice format really helps, for example in the musical expressions section, you’re given a choice of four answers so, as long as you have a reasonable grasp of the terms, you have a very good chance of making an educated guess. My DS was asked what “avec sourdines” meant in his exam which was a bit of a head scratcher.

Some universities want grade 8 for the performance part of the degree, I believe.

Talking of which, we've been doing some open days. Durham - amazing yet mildly shambolic department, lots going on in cosy sort of way, amazing drama, choral scholarship opportunities in cathedral. Manchester - amazing in a totally different way, much better facilities, industry contacts, RNCM dual pathway, generally groovy city with loads going on.

Not helpful really.

We're going to Cambridge on Thursday, to confuse ourselves further.

@DitheringMusicParent have you considered medication for ADHD for your DS? That could help with concentration in general, not just for music theory.

Re. theory, there are two separate things - 1) learning theory for better understanding of music and 2) sitting exams. I don't think formal teaching is necessary for ABRSM grade 5, they seem to absorb enough knowledge through instrumental lessons. My DD is not good at theory and not spending hours at the instrument like your DS, but she did the exam with no problem and no other prep but a few days on ABRSM Theory app. I'm pretty sure your DS has enough knowledge to do this too. If he cannot concentrate for the exam, that's another story, but then again medication could help with that. DD spent about 40 minutes on the whole test, just to give you an idea of how long he would need to concentrate for.

Exams aside, learning the theory is very useful of course but it can come later. Your DS may change a lot when he gets older.

Another question is why do you think you need to follow any graded exam pathways, including on the instrument? Grades are not mandatory for any admissions in the UK (is it different in the US?), it's the auditions that matter, not grade certificates. If your DS is obsessed with music, he will be working far beyond any grades or diplomas by 18 anyway. He could easily prepare grade or diplomas pieces just before the exam when he's older if you still want the certificates. DD skipped a lot of grades and has always been playing a lot of non graded pieces, depending on the technical skills she needs to develop or particular rep she likes and persuades her teachers to teach her.

Congrats @achangeofnameisasgoodasarest , an admirable achievement and lots of fun ahead with the brass band! 😁

So sorry to hear organ teacher A is being weird dithering. How disappointing. Music people are 99% lovely and supportive to students, even if not theirs, specially if theirs and moving on.

I agree with horsey, 9 is very young to do theory for anyone. Even a couple more years maturity is likely to help if it's not presently urgent. If you have time and funds finding a theory teacher and working through some stuff wouldn't do any harm. But honestly, all that playing time and practical lessons the patterns of theory ARE going in. The later you leave it the easier it will be.

Agree withhorseymum, the ABRSM theory is very dry and not at all inspiring for a child of that age. If he can't simply enjoy his music at that age, then when can he? I know it's difficult, but please try not to fast forward to various milestones. He clearly has an aptitude and a passion, and I wouldn't mess with that. The Trinity pathway is very well regarded. The repertoire lists are often more extensive and interesting. I find many of my young musicians have been more suited to this route and have thrived and are enjoying music careers. It's worth pointing out also that many started on one instrument and ended up developing a passion for a totally different instrument. I see music as something expressed through the instrument. The technical mastery of one instrument can extend to another instrument surprisingly quickly - but the phrasing, the calibration of your intonation, your skill at playing alongside other melody lines - this is what you are developing and the instrument is just your tool.

Separately and arguably more importantly, if he has AuDHD, then I highly recommend that you get a referral through the GP to see a psychiatrist who can assess him, not only because this is what is needed to apply for accommodations (a paediatrician assessment is not accepted), but also because there are lots of fantastic resources and strategies to help neurodivergent children to tap into their own way of learning - exercise for example, is highly effective.

Thanks @horseymum yes I agree that’s a good strategy. We tried to pick 2 for NCO audition but he got sick of them which is why we’ve got 5 that are almost ready atm and none that (in my opinion!) are actually done. He has lots of the scales to learn and I’m sure sight reading will need a lot of work so there is still plenty to do.

@DitheringMusicParent this really stood out to me - However, he really needs to get going on the theory exams since he'll actually need to know the theory if he wants to go and do music at uni and be an organ scholar - he’s only 9! He might not even want to be an organ scholar at 18 and there’s pretty much nothing you can do at this age to rule that in or out. Great that the new teacher is going well - presumably they can teach him the theory he needs as part of his lessons? And then the actual exams can wait til he’s a bit more mature. I’m taking that approach with my 8yo anyway - haven’t done anything formal yet but he’s picking up loads from choir and violin. He’s NT but not a bookish child at all - would totally hate having to sit down with a theory book.