Summer Term Music and Music Exams Thread

[Wafflenose]

A new thread for a new term!

If you're a music parent, or music teacher, please introduce yourselves here. It was getting hard to keep track on the old thread.

I am a music teacher (woodwind, 90% recorders these days) and I have:

DD1 (aged 8) who is taking Grade 5 Recorder this term, currently working towards Grade 4 Flute, and also sings, plays the piano and one tune on the ukulele (no lessons on these three). She has completed a video audition for the South West Music School, but we won't hear yet, and quite honestly, I don't think she'll get in this year.

DD2 (aged 5) who is taking Initial Grade Recorder this term, started the cello a month ago, and can play a few tiny, baby tunes on the piano and ukulele (again, no lessons on these).

I only have one pupil doing an exam this term, other than my girls - a Grade 2 Recorder player. I'm doing 11 Music Medals though.

Our music service concert was this week, which started our summer term season of concerts off! Older DCs school concerts next week.

DS2 has his Bronze RSCM medal at the end of next week, but has KS2 sats to get out the way first.

Well exams are looming now... ours are early, on June 9th!

DD1 has just received a letter, saying she got through the video audition round, and has been invited to a proper audition day for the South West Music School!!

We are realistic about her chances of getting in (minimal) but she is keen to 'have a go' and has done well to get this far.

How very exciting Wafflenose, it's an achievement to make it through the first round. The audition will be good experience for her and it means that it will be less nerve wracking another time. That is my standard approach to auditions because I'd rather him be pleasantly surprised than disappointed. Generally he turns up, plays and forgets about it while I fret and try to predict when the envelope will land.

It's death by arpeggio here, my son is done for a while but my husband is going to be taking G7 piano in this sitting. He doesn't have a date yet though, I'm hoping that it will be early because then it will be over and I can listen to something else for a while. He seems to have been a long time preparing for it and I am all scaled out.

That's brilliant news Wafflenose. Well done miniwaffle.

We are working our way through concerts, older DC had 2 seprate school concerts last week.

DS2 had Sats last week, then went to a choir camp for the weekend. We had to fetch him back on Saturday afternoon for his RSCM Bronze medal. It all ended up a bit rushed, and then he was inside for ages and came out a bit quiet, so we'll just have to wait and see. I know the singing part was OK.

Ishouldbeweaving:

Just heard DS2 got Highly Commended for his RSCM Bronze award.

Its Pass, Commended, Highly Commended so very proud of him.

Congratulations to JuniorPavlova, they are quick with the results aren't they?

good luck with your daughter's G6 this term Shakyisles, we're on for the 2 July for violin - such a shame that yours had to give up piano.

Today my daughter's violin teacher told her off for not 'prioritising' (she had yawned, and then admitted it was due to late night swim squad training). So difficult to give equal weighting to 1 instrumental strength
vs other interests when each teacher is parochial to their own only!

June 30th for DD1 Grade4 piano.... fingers crossed - she is not ready .. yet... never is....

The husband is changing jobs so said that he couldn't do his exam after June 20th. The initial date given for his G7 piano was the first week in July (sigh). We are now on for June 19th which is the week after junior's contest so it's worked out quite well, I wouldn't fancy having both of them gearing up for a performance in the same week. I have no idea what I'll be listening to from the 20th but I'm looking forward to the change of repertoire.

Good luck everyone.

I should be weaving they try and give the results within 2 weeks which is great.

DS1 has GCSE music on Monday, I'm hoping he has done as well in the composition and performance as he thinks as he doesn't seem to know any of the stuff I'm testing him on this afternoon!

After that I'm enjoying just having concerts to look forward to this half term now, apart from the rest of DS1s GCSEs.

ealingwestmum it is a constant juggle isn't it. Ours tends to be between different instruments and priority goes to the instrument that needs it eg before an exam. But teachers don't always see it like that.

Ooh, concert - I forgot about that! We've got the music centre concert in June as well. It's time to rummage in the wardrobe and look out those unloved Christmas presents that I put aside for future raffle prizes.

Hmm July 5th for Gr7 violin for ds2 and Gr2 trumpet for dd2. Not a great day as it's my birthday so the morning will be filled with stress instead of me relaxing with coffee &cake! Of course dh has gigs both days. Bah humbug!

DD has July 2nd gr4 singing, saxophone and violin around 16th July.
Concerts, auditions, competition, workshops, lots of extra rehearsals.
This is where I start meeting myself coming back.

DD2 has grade 5 singing and grade 1 piano (she only started learning about 6 weeks ago!) on the same day. Luckily it's the second half of July (exams are always late here) so she has plenty of time. Except for the Big Show (the one with the barricades) all the kids are in at the end of June which is taking up a huge amount of time for rehearsals etc. Nightmare. I'm just letting it all wash over me and pretending it isn't happening.

Raspberry - music GCSE here tomorrow too- good luck to your DS. DD1 not at all inspired by having to learn about trance and dance music. Then grade 8 flute on 30th June and the odd surprise concert has appeared for good measure. Grade 8 piano next term and DD2 grade 1 clarinet, probably with DD1 accompanying.

How did your DD get on View? Ds 1 thought it wasn't too bad in the end. He said he was the only one who chose to answer questions on Rag Desh.

DD was pretty happy too. May have been a different board though: Rag Desh doesn't sound familiar. They had some 70's disco, a german Lied and a sunrise!

No, none of that here. DS did Edexcel. It included Handel's Messiah, Capercaillie and Electric Counterpoint amongst others.

Glad your DD was happy too.

Schilke

How are the scales coming on, or do we not mention them atm.
I think it can be stressful when you know how hard they work and the effort they make.
For dd singing comes naturally, this doesn't necessarily make her technically good and she does tend to make it hard for herself by choosing challenging pieces, although one sounds easy enough.
I am fed up of hearing scales and arpeggios and that flippin violin may be found wrapped around her neck before the exam.
The sax is ok she loves this and finds it really easy.

Good luck to all you early birds and hand holding for those later in July.

Ours are next Monday... eek!

DD1 is sounding great, when she hits everything well!

Little-Miss-Laidback DD2 is as good as she's going to be this time round... she has been making the same note and rhythm mistakes for weeks! She corrects them when I point them out (and I have written on her music too) but goes back to doing it all her own merry way!! Her aural and sight reading are good. I just hope it's enough! She has also just had a birthday.

Waffle

Don't worry, she'll be fine, they all handle the stress of exams in their own way, even the laid back ones.
My dd is so laid back she's almost horizontal, never gets openly wound up, excited or nervous which is quite unnerving for those who know her.
With a competition on Saturday, today she complains of a sore throat.
She'll be fine, I hope.
Good luck for Monday

I hope she'll be fine potato... she was only 6 a fortnight ago, has never done any kind of exam in her life and has little idea of what to expect. A pass (even at the pass mark) will be just fine!

Morethan - scales have improved! Pretty much as soon as I posted the problem on here, scales clicked! However, she is a little unreliable with all her playing at the moment, so we'll have to hope she has a good day on exam day. At the moment she loves playing rounds with dd1 on clarinet and dh on trumpet more than practising scales and pieces and that's fine.

Less than a week to go. Things are ramping up here. The only time I have seen miss 10 so stressed was on the run up to grade 5 theory.
I don't know whether we have an examiner fresh off the plane or whether he or she has done other exam centres first.