Summer Term Music, Musicians and Music Exams thread

[Wafflenose]

Hello again everyone! I know not everyone in the UK has gone back to school yet, and some of you are overseas, but term here starts today, so it's time for a new thread. Please post away about your children, your own musical studies or any questions about music exams/ learning an instrument generally. We have a helpful and experienced bunch of people here to answer queries or reassure you.

I have MiniWaffle, who is 9, and BabyWaffle who is 6. Mini has passed Grade 5 Recorder and Grade 4 Flute, and also plays some trumpet, piano and ukulele. Baby has passed Grade 1 Recorder and Initial Cello, and tinkers with the piano (when it's not in the repair shop...)

This term for exams, we have Grade 3 Theory (Mini) - as a warm-up for Grade 5 which will hopefully take place next year - and Grade 1 Cello (Baby). Both in June. I am doing Grade 2 Xylophone for the NCO Parents' Challenge! We have been challenged to learn an instrument unrelated to our proper ones, and I'm really a clarinettist.

Thank you all for letting me know.

I'm excited about the new strings list coming out. Miss 11 didn't like anything much in the last batch so fingers crossed for some amazing grade 8 pieces! I filled in the survey online for woodwind teachers and was amazed how fe scales they are requiring for recorder players compared to the orchestral instruments. The grades are hardly comparable. Did anyone else do the survey?

Really? Which exam board? When I did Grade 8 ABRSM, I had to learn about 100 for recorder. I always thought there were the same amount... have they changed things? My Grade 2 Trinity pupil had to do 9 this time.

I got 92% for my Xylophone exam! It's BabyWaffle's Grade 1 Cello today. She hasn't been playing well this week, so hope she sorts it out this afternoon.

Well done Waffle!

Dd now getting steady merit/distnctions in her practice papers. So think should be fine for g5 theory on sat.

Good luck to her!

I have my mark sheet. The examiner wrote on the bottom: "I look forward to examining your ATCL!" I can't work out if he was being sarcastic or not! Either way, it's not going to happen, but I did have fun.

Well done Wafflenose! Hope Baby comes out smiling from the exam. And good luck to Musicmom's DD for Saturday!
Not sure where we're heading with DS2 and his piano exam. It was looking a bit dire last lesson but he seems to be getting his act together with the scales now so there is cautious optimism!

We've got the date for miss's grade 6 sax. It's September - so plenty if time to master the last tricky scales on the list and polish them. Good luck with the upcoming exams in the UK.

Well done Waffle. Hope it went well for Baby this afternoon.

Noteventhebest. Amazing result, well done your DS

I keep forgetting DS2 has Grade 6 piano looming, it has been moved back to 3 hours before he leaves on band trip for 10 days!

I haven't actually counted how many concerts until the end of term because it will stress me too much! I have begun printing a weekly schedule for DH with highlighted reminders where he needs to pick up/ drop off. Luckily he works flexi as there are a lot of events coming up where the children need transporting.

Fingers crossed our weather improves up North, there are several outdoor concerts coming up!

School have been brilliant authorising days off and early release for DD, an email this afternoon congratulated me on DD's outside involvement.

After this week DS2 has only 7.5 days doing school work and 12 days doing school related music activities (including band trip), and half a day to leave early to do his piano exam.

BabyWaffle got Merit for her Grade 1 Cello exam. She can be inconsistent and has been playing badly out of tune this week, so that is a pleasant surprise!

My Recorder pupils got 4 Passes, 6 Merits and 1 Distinction, so I'm really pleased.

Good luck to everyone doing Theory tomorrow. Mini is STILL learning the Italian...

Well done waffle and baby :)

DD has four concerts between now and Sunday evening :-/ And then her school leaving exams next week. What fun.

She gets her sax certificate this evening, at which point we will finally discover what exam level she actually took lol.

Well done BabyWaffle - so good that you got the result quickly so she didn't have to wait! It's been a great week of results by the sound of it.
Good luck to all the theory candidates as well.
I am going away for the weekend with friends. I have left a practice timetable for the DSs and I am asking no questions when I return. I have every confidence in their father! They have got a lovely Saturday afternoon planned, though - a brass band concert in our local park and a picnic!

Well done baby waffle - lovely result

Dd has decided she now loves theory and wants to carry on with learning it; will see if she still feels like that on sat. Good luck to other dec who are taking it on sat. I have told dd she needs to stay in there for 1.15mins at least -I didn't want her following others out in confusion!

Congratulations on all of the great results - I thought of you this week Wafflenose when I was reading an article on playing with four beaters. I suspect that might come in after G2 though.

Best wishes for those with theory ahead - I told my theorist that there was no point coming out before time X as I'd be sitting at home with a cup of tea and wouldn't be there to pick him up. I don't know why I didn't think of that at G3.

I've written three versions of the saga that is his forthcoming audition and deleted all of them, some things are best forgotten and I'll be glad when I can forget about this. Other than that it looks to be a quiet end to term, county band finished at Easter, school have done their their thing and there's only music centre left now.

What a good idea Weaving - I shall tell Mini that I'm going to be busy so won't be there until X time... probably the official end time!

I have just done 7 back-to-back music medals. This used to excite me, but having done well over 100 (and 40 since March) I'm rapidly losing the enthusiasm I need to upload and mark them. Am sooo glad this week is nearly over.

DS2 was told we wouldn't be there til the end, he and our piano teacher's other entrantbwere the only two there at the end. Both got Distinctions, DS said it stopped him rushing as he knew there was no point.

Good luck to everyone.

Well done to Babywaffle

Thanks for nice messages all. DS is pleased of course but now needs to drag his piano playing up if there is to be any hope ever of getting to Grade 8 with that! He has flute and violin Gd 8s already and would like a matching set of 4 distinctions but the piano seems to not cooperate with him so well!

I don't know whether to tell DD2 to stay till the end or not. She is pretty quick, and on all her practice papers when she's gone back over stuff if she's changed something it's usually to make it wrong or less good. She has a tendency to shoot herself in the foot like that. So it might be better to tell her not to hurry but to come out when she's done rather than just changing stuff for the sake of it...I just don't know.

DD and I are both doing grade 1 theory tomorrow...not quite sure what we are going to do for the 30 minutes after we have finished the questions before we can leave...there's only so many times you can check that you have got the right clef drawn in, the right bar lines and that your copying of the music is perfect...

And if DD doesn't read the question right the first time through she won't re read it any differently the checking times...ho hum!

Anyone know if I can leave my handbag with the invigilator? Obv don't want to be without my phone when I leave!

Narvine - dd is the same; she is consistently completing papers within 60mins. If I force her to stay for two hours, she will be sitting doing nothing or making changes needlessly or making the paper illegible with doodles etc! so am thinking 75 or 90mins. I know she won't be brave enough to leave until she sees others going anyway:)

DS heads for rehearsal with the accompanist tomorrow to prepare his G7 violin exam next weekend. C3 Averie seems easy at beginning, now become the hard one for the irregular rhythm. Fingers crossed!

MusicMom1, Can you pls. tell me what all theory books/work books you are using for Grade-1 ?

sorry, my bad. This qs was for PetraDelphiKi as its for Gr-1

Sure I answereed earlier!! Will double check when I get home!!

We have some sample papers if you want?

Phew..... we can all breathe again... DD14 Grade 5 theory over and done with.... she said there were no surprises

Well done to her, and to everyone else who has now done it.

Mini said hers went well. She's quite tall, but looked tiny and terrified walking into the room (a big hall which is still laid out for GCSEs) with lots of big strapping teenagers. There were only two preteens there, but there were some older ones doing Grade 3, she said.

Rather than give her a break now (which is tempting), I think we need to crack on and keep the momentum going. Especially as she has gone to the trouble to learn all the words from Books 1, 2 and 3 - about 100 in total. She needs to complete Grades 4 and 5 before she forgets them all! Her next exam will be Grade 5. I reckon she is 9-12 months away.

On with Grade 6 Recorder next term then, and probably Grade 2 for her little sister.