Spring Term Music, Musicians and Music Exams Thread

[Wafflenose]

Hi all, my children go back to school tomorrow, so I thought it was time for a new one. Who's doing what this term, and how is practice going?

Our main focus is the local festival next month - we're all doing loads, as are my pupils! My girls have just started practising for that.

MiniWaffle (9) is doing her well-overdue Grade 4 Flute this term, and hopefully Grade 3 Theory (to keep her on track) in the summer, and Grade 6 Recorder in the autumn. She also has some SWMS and NCO commitments, although not too onerous yet! She plays the trumpet for fun, and dabbles with piano, ukulele and singing.

BabyWaffle (6) will concentrate on repertoire and technique for a while. I think Grade 1 Cello is supposed to be in the summer. She can play a coupe of the pieces and some of the scales. She plays the recorder too, but won't be doing another exam on that for at least a year.

Shedding that makes complete sense. Unless dd was desperate to be a chorister it sounds as though she's much better off with the teachers and music groups that she loves. Good for you for investigating it all!
DS1's school seems to be upping its music activities. There is a 'recital' for his year group after half term. Does DS want to play a piece on an instrument in which he takes exams? No, of course he wants to play one he's been learning for half a term just for fun. I have suggested he think about it a little more but in the end it's his decision!

to the bath of beans! We have that yet to come! Bizarre coincidence about the ocarina - the other day we were just saying there's one in our house somewhere but no one knows where! Goes without saying that none us can play Ode to Joy on it, though...

Shedding it's important to remember that music should be fun, sounds like a good call to me.

waffle how did your DD get on last weekend?

It's a relatively quiet time here musically - no concerts until March and not sure DD will be able to do it anyway, as it's the day she gets back from a Spanish exchange (after an overnight bus ride from Madrid). She is really enjoying playing in the wind ensemble though and I'm impressed by the variety - some jazz, some traditional, and today I heard her working on an arrangement of the Game of Thrones theme tune. She is sounding very confident and musical on sax now, hard to believe that she couldn't get a sound out of it last September.

She has been doing a bit of "proper composing" on piano too (as opposed to just song writing - she rattles off songs at the rate of at least one a week - maybe there is a potential career in it ).

Ishouldbeweaving how often are brass instruments meant to be serviced? DS often complains that his valves stick, but I've put that down to the fact that his fingers are still little and therefore push down on the valves unevenly when he gets tired.

suspended

Do you have to oil them regularly/ No brass here but know a few who use a lot of oil.

Thanks for asking, Mistigri! She did really well and was practically flawless. We changed one of her pieces to a much easier one a few weeks before - no point taking risks in a competition, especially when you're unlikely to win anyway. It was open to children aged Under 14 on last September 1st... MiniWaffle was 8 then, so still has 5 years to go in the Junior competition! She was the youngest of the 7 children involved, went up second, and played brilliantly. A much more experienced child rightly won, but rather than bumping along the bottom as expected, Mini was right up there, and enjoyed herself. We then had to rush off to NCO regionals, so she had a busy day.

She won two classes individually at the festival, and one with some of her friends. It's the second year she's won the 13 & Under solo recorder class, and there is no actual prize, so my mum and I have bought it, and called it the Wafflefamilyname cup. Well, not ACTUALLY that, but you know what I mean!

SuspendedinGaffa We were talking about this last night, the idea of service vs repair. I see that instrument repairers say that you should take brass and woodwind instruments in every year for a look over, but then they would, wouldn't they? We go by the line of "if it it aint broke, don't fix it", my husband's cornet has not been serviced since he bought it and that's over 20 years ago. It has oil on the valves, grease on the slides (slide grease not vaseline) and the occasional dismantling of the valves and a good wash.

DS had a new euph four (5?) years ago and it's probably fair to say that it gets about four times as much use as his dad's cornet. He had one valve that made a tapping noise after a few years so we replaced the felt pads at the top. The valve guides that sit around the top of the valve are plastic and they will wear especially if you're applying unequal pressure, what the repairer said was that over time if you're always pressing slightly sideways rather than straight up and down you can deform the stem (I think that's what he called it, the bit that you see travelling up and down).

DS has been complaining of a sticky second valve for nearly a year and we put it down to poor cleaning and forever losing the oil bottle. I finally got sick of hearing DH and DS arguing about it and wanted it sorting once and for all. If you've taken it apart, cleaned it, oiled it and it still doesn't work then there is something wrong. I'm not sure that I'll take it in once a year but I will be faster off the mark the next time he says there's a problem.

Thank you Morethanpotatoprints and Ishouldbeweaving. I'm not sure DS has slide grease (and suspect I might find vaseline in his bag when I look ). He does oil the valves from time to time though, and I've washed them on a few occasions when his whining has reached fever pitch. Last time I looked the valve stems seemed to be okay but will check again. His trumpet is only about a year old so it shouldn't need servicing presumably. Sometimes this knowing nothing about instruments and music malarkey isn't entirely helpful when trying to keep the peace (and the practice) going at home.

Hello! Got the exam date now, first week Even though the teacher requested last week. She isn't worried though so I shouldn't be either but I do keep asking myself if a bit more time will get her better prepared.

Her teacher said that she feels positive it is the first week so we can get it out of the way and move on. Which sounds good to me.

Fleurdelise There's only so much polish you can put on those three pieces before they become boring, if she's ready then she's ready. I'm with the teacher, get it done and move on to some new repertoire.

Personally I found G1 to be the most worrying exam because I didn't have a clue. My husband should have been on the ball but his G8 was a long time ago (in a galaxy far, far away) so neither of us had much idea what to expect. Once you've done one and you know the score (oh look, I made a musical joke) then the others are less worrying. You are probably much more anxious than your daughter is but there is no need. Your teacher wouldn't have entered her for the exam if she didn't think she was going to pass it, teachers know pretty well how their candidates are going to do.

Do you know what parking is like at the exam centre and how long it will take you to get there?

Hello all.

I gave you all thanks on another thread. I love this ongoing thread, to lurk, support, gain info and generally chat about music.
DD got her letter from last audition on saturday.
She is starting Chets in September. She is over the moon and bouncing round like a maniac atm.
Now she is deciding what if any exams she wants to take beforehand.
I think theory is a must, so we are both working on this as I failed it first time round, many years ago.
I won't be going anywhere though and will still be here.

Ishouldbeweaving you are of course right. Today after the one hour lesson I realised that she is indeed prepared and ready enough, if anything should have maybe been prepared more that should have been sight reading but I am sure you are never fully prepared for sight reading at the age of 7.

And yes I am more stressed than dd as I don't know what to expect exactly, I have no clue what happens on the day.

Parking should be fine, we are in the afternoon and we should have plenty of time to pick her up from school a bit early, go home and change and get to the examining centre.

Stupid question: what should she wear on the day?

school uniform is fine - lots of children are coming from school or have exams at school etc, and it makes it into something that isn't a big deal, which might be good if it's her (and your) first exam. Whatever she is comfortable in.

You can get to the exam centre a bit early so you have time to relax first; some centres let people have a little warm up if they have a spare room. Or some even let you go the week before and try out the piano (e.g., if it's a grand piano and children have never played on one before) - they sometimes charge a little for this.

on the day, you'll let the steward know you are there, and then when they're ready, they'll call her in - takes about 10 min (there are official limits for the different grades). You can even watch a youtube video of a grade 1 exam (or a couple of other grades) that gives you an idea of the format of it all. They let the candidate choose the order of the elements - pieces or technical stuff first, etc. The examiners try to be as friendly as possible, but they can't comment on things, which can be a little disconcerting for young children who are used to having teachers or parents always responding in some way (praise, criticism, corrections, whatever). The examiner usually says thank you in a pleasant way, but not much more - it can be helpful to warn the child of that, so that they don't think that they have done something wrong.

morethan - Congratulations, I'm so pleased for you and your daughter. I know this is what she really, really wanted to do. I'll go and find your other thread so I'm not asking what you've already written.

Fleurdelise we've always gone to the exam centre straight from school so it's always been school uniform for us.

more than that's wonderful. Well done your DD.

Fleurdelise these threads started with Waffle asking for advice from a parent's perspective before Minwaffle's first exam, and look how far she has come!

My DC have preferred to wear something they are comfortable in, and are happy playing in. I think DD did her early sax exams with her shoes off!

Secon all the advice to get there in good time, check the route in advance if you haven't been before. I once missed the entrance of a new place and stressed DD no end - it was no problem as I had plenty of time. Occasionally they can run early.

Any centre we have used has a warm-up piano and the staff of any board have always been really nice.

fabulous news morethan - congratulations to your DD!

Morethan - brilliant news! Our three friends are so happy there (one yr 5, yr 7, yr 10 if you want to be put in touch)

We can join you you in g5 theory challenge in June :)

Congratulations to your dd morethan !

Thank you for all the nice advice, it is a school day but Dd will not accept school uniform. I'll make sure she is wearing something comfy.

runaway thank you for the detailed view of the day, I will have to warn Dd about the lack of praise for sure as she may feel down if nobody comments on her performance.

Can I join please ? Dd taking gr 5 oboe in March. Can I ask about finding repairer. Her instrument needs minor attention - new pad on one vent key. Teacher has recommended someone a fair trek away but more local guy may be able to do it for £30. No idea if this is a fair price.

Sorry, I know nothing about oboes. I could pick one out in a line up and that's about all. Hopefully someone more knowledgable will be along shortly.

Presumably you want the valve fixing before the exam. When we rang one repairer last week he couldn't fit us in until mid April. That was two contests, three concerts and a residential away so I went with someone who could do the job during half term. Whether £30 is reasonable does depend on where in the country you live, I suspect it's cheaper up north based at what I had done on a brass instrument last week.

Taken it to local bloke so fingers crossed. Any idea what she should be working on while she can't practice, aural ? We did have the Abrsm app and some books but is that enough?