Support group for parents of children taking music exams!

[Wafflenose]

Hello, I'm feeling excited, nervous and wobbly because my daughter is taking her first music exam in three weeks. I'm a music teacher and am very used to getting children through the exams, keeping the parents informed, helping to focus practice, etc, but this is my first experience with my own child doing an exam and for some reason it's more scary than putting other people's children in! I think she will be OK (and the other thirteen I have entered this term) but I'm not!! Any tips for the 'other side' (parents rather than music teachers) for how to keep us both calm on the day would be gratefully received! Does it get easier as they become more experienced? Am thinking not...

She is taking part in the local music festival tomorrow, to gain performance experience. She's wildly excited, and I've got the jitters!!

FiveHoursSleep my ds has grade 2 guitar on the same day. Its his first ever exam as his lovely but slightly dotty guitar teacher forgot to enter him in for grade 1.

Gosh why haven't I seen this thread before !

I'm an old hand really but I still get nervous....

DD2 the theory dodger, did grade 5 yesterday at last ... She has grade 5 singing at the end of the month ( still doesn't know the pieces -argh! ) . DS has grade 8 recorder 1st week dec- that terrifies me , because he should ace it, BUT as we fond with the eldest, at higher grades to get a fantastic mark, especially on something like the recorder, it so depends on taste and interpretation, which you may well disagree with them about! (DD I think lost marks for very flexible tempo in a solo piece , which she and her teacher , after research though was how it should be played! She also played it at A2 in a practical and got fill marks - go figure!)

@Theas good luck to your DS. Which pieces is he playing? I agree with you about interpretation at that level. DD1 is doing grade 7 singing at the end of term, this was put back frm the summer when she had tonsillitis. DD2 is doing grade 2 flute and grade 3 recorder. She has so much on, that one, because she is in the city pantomime too, and preparing for the dance festival next February (she's in some ensemble groups so there are regular rehearsals).

Our main music festival isn't till march, in previous years both the girls have entered loads of singing classes and usually win, but Dd1 has her GCSEs so I'm limiting her to two singing classes - but she'll probably do the concerto class on her first study instrument too (in previous years she's done the advanced baroque class but it's time to step up). Dd2 tells me she will do 'the normal amount' of singing plus instrumental classes this time round. I've told her that's fine if she has discovered some form of income I wasn't previously aware of, if not then we have to talk because there's a limit. We are currently at an impasse.

DS still will not countenance doing anything in the music festival even though he's a decent clarinettist and guitarist. Fair enough - his choice. And from a finances standpoint I applaud his reticence!

Hi everyone,
my DD1 has her first ever music exams beginning of December! Grade 1 piano and Grade 1 violin. She is very confident about her violin, she's only been playing a year but she is very natural with the instrument....with the piano it's been quite a struggle instead, despite me helping her (I can play pretty well) and having had 2 years, I honestly don't think she'll get a distinction, I think she'll be lucky to get a merit because she seems to get things perfect one day and then completely mess them up the next. She can do it but it's very inconsistent.

DD1 another one with a zillion activities and interest so practice hasn't been great but I am pleased she's got this far and that she enjoys playing. She's also in an orchestra for her violin.

Fingers crossed to everyone's DC and their music exam!!!

Wow, what a lot of exams coming up. Good luck to everyone!

I can't believe it's a year since I started this thread, but it must be because our festival started today!

DD played in the 8yrs & under piano beginners' class. She played two tunes from the Initial Grade book - she is not sitting Initial (will do ABRSM Grade 1 at some point) but I thought she'd enjoy the pieces. She played really well, with just a little hesitation, and got a Distinction and came... 2nd! I'm pleased for her as she did her best, but she's not all that happy. She won everything she entered last year, so it's a hard lesson to learn! Very good for her to learn to accept defeat, and learn from the others though.

She has three recorder classes tomorrow, and I am playing in six! Then flute on Thursday (non competitive).

@mordion

Hottettere suite in e minor ( he loves his French baroque )

Rubbra meditation sur un cour desolee (sp?)

And the English nightingale ( this may have been the contentious piece for dd1 lol).

Good luck to all the festival players ! We've never done festivals- I don't even know if there are any locally...I remember doing them as a kid and still have the certificates !

Btw ( burying it in here as people will understand ) ds has finally plucked up courage. He's arranged an audition next Sunday to see if there may be earning opportunities as a dep at cathedral. Fingers crossed- it would be great in many ways, not least keeping him out of rugby and injury ! ( he trained at the club just over a week ago for the 1st time and sprained his ankle so badly e had to have a day off school!).

@theas I love the English nightingale so much. Athough it's quite difficult not to just mimic one of the well known recordings. But it's just wonderful. I remember playing the Hottetterre myself. DD1 loves that too. I don't know the other piece. I'm sure your DS will be brill. Scales or study?

Dd2 is doing Van Eyck for her grade 3 - she insisted. Tweede Rosamund (or Tweed as we call it).

What will your DS be playing at the cathedral? Is this the one who wants to do medicine or child 3?

Theas18 good luck to your DS with his audition

@ mordion . Ds is the one who wants to do medicine ... He also sings a mean bass for a 16yr old- with pretty good sight reading , being the legacy of a chorister boyhood , and 3yrs in an adult choir as his voice broke early.

( no 3 is a dd and she's 13- sings with the girls choir - snigger of the weekend as we chatted in the car about Xmas concerts to come , was dd2 comment about singing The Messiah at Xmas was " well its a great piece to have in your repertoire" lol. Mind you she's sung most of it 3-4x....)

Rosamund is lovely.

Thanks raspberry!

@ mordion .i think they chose the rubbra because it's almost unknown. There's 1 piers Adams recording from a long time ago and that's it!

@theas it's good to do something different. As long as its nice. I remember doing the hindemith trio for one of my grade 8s (not surprisingly, the ensemble grade 8) and it was just the most horrible piece - I didn't like it at all. The syllabus these days is much nicer than in my day, I think, overall. I was clearly born Too Early.

DD1s school are doing the messiah too. She loves a bit of Handel to play - but to sing? Not so much. She's firmly in the showtunes/great American songbook/folk arenas given the actual choice, when it comes to singing. I think she'll be glad to finish her grades - now she's decided singing is only going to be third study I did wonder if there was any point her doing grade 8 given she usually hates at least two of the songs she has to sing for every exam but apparently I 'don't understand'. Which translates as of course she is going to do grade 8. Madness.

Mordion. Would she be better off switching to the LCM Musical Theatre Grades?

She's thinking about doing them as well. Because she's a bit of a demon for hard work! But she really wants to finish the ABRSM grades first. She has plenty of time, she's only 14.

Interesting reading. I'm only familiar with ballet festivals but I've seen that most of the festivals dd does also have a music section. Do they all go on with their number at the end for the adjudication as in dance?

They don't wear numbers.

At speech & drama & music festivals the children perform individually then after everyone has performed the adjudicator goes through each one if its a small class or makes general comments then announces the names of the 1st 2nd and third and awards the trophy to the winner.

Afterwards (you have to allow enough tune for them to be written out) you collect your certificate and written adjudication and score from the steward.

DD won back her two trophies today, in the 8 & Under and 10 & Under groups.

She also did a duet with a very inexperienced friend, who has been learning for six months, and is a few months younger than DD (so still 6). The festival has really focused the friend's practice and she's made huge strides. They came 2nd in the 9 & Under Duet category, so still have a few more chances over the coming years, because of their age.

I was the only one in my solo class, so I won that one!!

My two school groups both came 2nd.

So three 1sts, four 2nds, and one pupil who finished in the middle of a pack of 11 yesterday!

Non competitive flute class on Thursday.

Ours gets everything written out as they go along, and you always hope the adjuticator will make general comments if its been a large class, but not always the case!

Logged on to see how Wafflenose and miniwaffle got on - hopefully they will be along soon.

@mordion and theas19 my DS2 has just become a chorister and Messiah is indeed part of their Christmas Concert, but at least its fresh to him. Am making DS1 go to the concert as it is part of his GCSE repertoire.

adjudicator. I can spell it.

Well done Wafflenose to you, miniwaffle and all the other DCs.

If you have to pay for your won engraving like we do, it is going to be expensive!

Yes, we do have to pay! Last year, it was £10 to have her two cups done.

I didn't win anything apart from a sheet of paper! They gave me an 'Outstanding' though, which was very nice of them... but I probably would have been a bit embarrassed to get much less, in front of all my pupils, and some rival teachers! (OK, they are not really rivals, but am feeling a bit stung about something that happened with one of my groups... a VERY unpopular decision!)

Now we wait to see if any of mine get invited to the festival showcase concert, a week Sunday. MiniWaffle was in it last year, so I'd be surprised if they ask us again. One of her best friends is having a birthday party at the same time, and MiniWaffle has said that if asked, she would prefer to play in the concert! I'm quite surprised at her dedication in that respect, because I have to remind her to practise most of the time. She is a new 7 year old though, so it's probably to be expected.

The being reminded to practise is expected, that is, not jumping at the chance to perform!

Gosh, I need to go where you go, it was nearly double that here last year. I have two cups from last year's festival to get engraved before the end of January.

I'm starting to look forward to our festival now, it isn't until March but the syllabus has just come out with the piano set pieces and the DCs teachers are starting to work on pieces and groups, ready for entry in January. Plus I'd rather think about the festival and concerts than the exams!

I'm sorry about the school group - its horrible when things like that happen.

Thanks for replying! I did think that it wouldn't get easier as time went on,

DD1 one doing grade 7 piano in 2 weeks. Argh! She did grade 5 a year ago and pieces are great, but due to skipping a grade the scales came as a nasty shock! Anyone here got any tips for remembering them, except practise +++?

View - the same here! So many of them comparing to G5. There are no shortcuts though.. slow practice concentrating on correct fingering, first hands separately, then together in different styles..
I am pretty worried about aural though - it seems to require a lot of knowledge that my poor DS is a bit young for..Fingers crossed and good luck to both of them.Which pieces is she doing?