Spring / Summer 2026 music thread

Thank you. Will suggest both options to dd

That’s handy @thirdfiddle My DS’s teacher reckons the books are the best resource.

All the exercises from the old book are on Spotify now, they still seemed to match to our old book.

@QueenMabbythere is the ABRSM Aural Trainer app but we found it doesn’t have a huge number of exercises so the sight singing gets easier over time! I think you can pay again for more exercises. I got the old Aural Training in Practice books with the CDs from eBay which are brilliant but only if you have access to a CD player. There is a version with downloadable files as well but I haven’t tried that.

@StuntNun yes trinity but rather dependent on the centre I think. With another centre we have had to wait until the Monday (exams done at the end of that week),

It's a long time since i've been on this thread, but its lovely reading about all the music stuff the DCs are up to. It's bern pretty busy here - ds has been in the studio, which has been fun for him and dd2 had a performance of Vivaldi's 4 seasons for chamber orchestra ans solo violin with some intersting additions (bagpipes, the old Nokia ringtome and barking musicians). I have to say the teenage musicians looked singularly unimpressed by the barking......
Tomortow they are performing together with a singer friend of dd2 which will be fun

😂

@Londonmummy66 yes that- but with extra led lights round it…

Thank you, sorry should have said we need to be able to see the whole body (seated).

@678socks we got one similar to this for DS to use - though ours was from ikea - they seem to have discontinued it. Handy as freestanding:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/NEZZOE-Frameless-Dressing-Free-Standing-Windowsill/dp/B0B6P7Q95Y/ref=asc_df_B0B6P7Q95Y?mcid=b128f167aa1b345f969cbebe524a99cb&tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=697179731904&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=12952327104423279331&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9044962&hvtargid=pla-1746287142701&psc=1&hvocijid=12952327104423279331-B0B6P7Q95Y-&hvexpln=0&gad_source=1

Does anyone have a cheap mirror (not hung on a wall ideally) for posture checks etc? I had one leaning up against a wall and small person fiddled with it….

Best of luck @achangeofnameisasgoodasarest- you can do it!

Can someone please remind me of the good app for aural training for g8? Thanks.

Good luck with the grade 3 @achangeofnameisasgoodasarest - I think you'll need to buy one of these to make sure your certificate really stands out from the rest https://www.eventprophire.com/product/giant-gold-frame-3/

Less of the 'just' @thirdfiddle - grade 8 is serious stuff. The aural? I have no idea how anyone does it.

I'm just preparing to record my grade 3 euphonium. Did consider face to face, but it's hard to get an accompanist etc for that, and hard to fit it round work. If I get through I'm looking forward to having 'my' certificate on the wall with everyone else's - in fact, if I pull this off I shall make sure it has pride of place!

And well done stuntnun's DS on knocking out that theory too!

achangeofnameisasgoodasarest merit on a diploma is bloody brilliant in my book. Let alone on a second instrument on half an hour a week - congratulations!
And 678socks DD congrats too.

Just one grade 8 exam for DD this term. Which is more than enough for us. The aural tests :o I don't remember them being that hard when I did mine, maybe my brain has gone downhill since my teens.

really good news @678socks - sounds like she really worked for it! And thanks @StuntNun - she'll be fine with it - she wasn't actually even expecting to get a merit, so it's just the closeness that's annoyed her. We have made the appropriate fuss (from afar) and sent her a card with the ARSM letters after her name (which is what it's all about when you're a teen, right?)

@678socks Well done to your DD on her exam result. What a week she has had!

@achangeofnameisasgoodasarest that’s a fantastic result on the diploma but I can see that it’s frustrating to miss the distinction by one mark. It’s so easy to get bogged down in the mindset of always expecting a distinction for everything and forget that a good pass at grade 8 is still a fantastic result.

My DS is celebrating his theory result by trying to forget all the theory he learned as he won’t need it again. My suggestion that he and I could take grade 6 together was not well received!

Well done on the exam results. Seriously impressive.

She did it, very nice distinction! Lovely reward for a lot of hard work.

@StuntNun fabulous news! Totally agree, much preferred the old way. DD came out of her exam feeling very despondent so I don’t have a good feeling. Should hear tonight though. Hope she and I are wrong as she is going to be bitterly disappointed otherwise. Worked her socks off and was easily capable of high marks in all areas.

@achangeofnameisasgoodasarest- that’s an amazing result. Well done your dd. To do that on two consecutive days for second and third study is an incredible achievement.

@StuntNun - great result for your ds too. Well done!

Why is Bach either amazingly brilliant or absolutely awful? Dd is having a “bad Bach” day today - lots of crashing down on the piano keys!

congrats to your DS @StuntNunexcellent news!

@StuntNun brilliant news! Well done to him and a fab score