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.

Musicmom - why not give grade 5 practical musicianship a try, to gain access to the higher grades? My DC managed to get a distinction in that, after only a handful of lessons, which is not what happened with grade 5 theory... She's about to take Gr 7 singing, which should go well, but I am less optimistic about the instrumental grades she's taking at the same time, as they have been prepared for with less enthusiasm. The other day she took part in a charity concert and sang 15 solos, which is a record for her, and didn't make a single mistake (not off by heart though). She was really buzzing afterwards.

Feel for you morethan. The expectations children put on themselves these days is enormous, with no account taken into consideration that they do heaps more stuff than we ever did. The time spent practising becomes less as the grades get higher. I dread aural in our house. No matter how much support she's given, my DD's nerves cannot recall rhythm via clap or singing, but weirdly, always thinks she's got it right, which leads to arguments if I try to help. Maybe there's a disconnect between what her ears hear and what her brain registers!

good luck on the forthcoming sax exam.

I should -he ou ds lovely and v talented!

Fleur - piano update.....?

Morethan - guess we all try to explain that examiners are not ompletely predictable, but I get it re putting the effort in. Long chats with dd and friends re practice alone gets you further than talent alone....your dd sounds so talented that she must be amazing when both come together. Dd's friend has just finished his first year at 'music school' and the timetabled practice everyday has been great - as have been he lessons where they work solely on playing with feeling rather than getting all he notes right!

Tramb - thank you; dd did g5 theory a coupleof weeks ago and seemed to go ok. Our main teacher won't do the musicianship exam so we would have had to go to someone else. Jazz is our back up plan as she has added this in to her Saturdays and at school!

Hello everyone! New piano is gorgeous and it got delivered yesterday morning, I wasn't at home but DH said it took them about 10 min and they put it on one of those trolley thingy to roll it in.

Dd played it last night endlessly and loved the sound of it. She does feel the difference in both touch and sound, touch a bit heavier but sound much nicer.

I did find her hugging her digital in her room at one point which was sweet.

The trouble with pass/merit/distinction is a problem of competition between peers but also a problem where the parents of certain parents stating in front of their kids that if you don't get distinction you may as well consider you failed. Not the case here but I had to stop a friend having this conversation in front of our DCs talking about another kid who skipped some grades and got "only" merits. Her opinion was that you are not to skip grades if you "only" get a merit.

Seeing that my dd is skipping a grade at the moment I had to interrupt her as I don't want my dd to hear such things. For me even if she gets a pass it is worth celebrating, even better, we should celebrate hard work regardless of the outcome.

I see my dd's piano work as a life lesson regardless of her path in the future, she works hard and that is all that matters.

*the parents of certain kids of course

Morethan,
MIE there is little you can do with a perfectionist child and however many times you tell her a merit is really good (it is!) she has to get over her disappointment on her own. She will have forgotten everything after a few weeks in her wonderful school. She's going to get so much out of it :)
When DS gets upset like that I try to give him time perspective and make him see that in time, this thing which seems so big now will be a grain of sand in a million, completely forgotten and with no impact on his life at all. It seems to work for him.

Fleur thanks for the piano update - it sounds like it's part of the family already! So sweet your DD hugging the digital piano!
As for merits and distinctions, I am seriously the most (silently) nervous person when the DCs take their exams and I am always going to be impressed with a pass. I let DS1 skip grades and I don't worry about it at all! If you have to have a particular grade at a particular level for a college or orchestra that is different but the DCS are learning instruments because they love playing, not for any other reason at the moment and I don't want this to be too competitive or stressful. (My only stress is hoping the examiner will be nice and not put them off. So far all examiners have met with the DCs' approval!)
Oh, and I have one DC who seems to just 'get' the aural section and another that thinks it's a conspiracy against him!

I know that it is not the case here of putting the pressure of distinction on your DC.

But I have to say it annoys me in real life as I have seen parents obsessed with it. One friend posted on FB about how her dd only got a merit this time. Only? Only?! And stating the child is disappointed.

And I am talking about first few grades, I do know that as of grade 5 it is important what you got in the exams.

Another friend of fine seems to think it is fine to state in front of my child that getting a merit at the age of 8 in grade 4 piano exam is not enough (a random child not mine). And if the child was so good as his mum says he is he should have got a distinction.

I am sure you know what I am talking about, you must know some people in real life who have this attitude. What is worse is that their kids hear this and then they go spreading "the word" at school and in the playground.

I would have liked and I still hope I will be able to do so, to keep dd as stress free as possible in the musical world for as long as I can. She loves music exams and she can't wait to take the next one. But I do hope she is not becoming too competitive with her results.

That's a very healthy attitude, Fleurelise. My girls have been brought up to be delighted with a Pass - it hasn't happened yet, but I know that one day it will, and they won't be too upset or disappointed! Examiners can obviously only mark what they hear on the day - not how good the child is usually - it does't sound like the other mum realises this.

Fleur

I know exactly what you are talking about and I feel for the poor kids.
In dds case there was no pressure really as she is doing exams after she has her place at music school iyswim.
She wanted to have distinctions to forward to them, I think this is the main concern.
I tried telling her it is a snapshot of her ability on the day that the marks refer to, this kind of helped.

I also think it's important to reinforce to them that if grades were the be all and end all the music schools wouldn't take children who had never set an exam in their life. not that all kids should want to go to music school, but if that is the ideal for musical children the grades aren't that important.

We got the comments back today and the examiners remarks were lovely. He said "You have enormous potential x and it was a joy hearing you today. Sadly aural robbed you of a distinction"
He couldn't have made it clearer.

Ishouldbeweaving

Sounds like your ds is in for a busy time over summer. I like the not taking praise attitude, dd is a bit the same. She laps it up and then declares that the person hadn't a clue really.

Drummermum I know, she'll forget soon enough and I can't see them rushing to get her through grade 6 so she's time to work on the dreaded aural.

I know my DD is still young and for the time being I think she won't care if it is a pass/merit/distinction. Even though she now knows about it and it was such a fuss that she got distinction from all that I am sure she wants one in her next exam.

morethan you must be so proud of your DD. We have a music school close by and we have been thinking about it as it does seem she will be at the right level to audition for it when the time comes by what her teacher says. We'll see what she thinks when we get there.

Hello

Anyone else come to the conclusion that aural tests scores often don't reflect how musical the candidate is?

Fleur your DD sounds very motivated AND having great fun at the same time! I am sure she will continue to enjoy her exams because she has a great attitude - and a new piano! keep updating us about your own playing, by the way!
As for exams, I know a couple of kids who failed and resat grades and I really admire that - they picked themselves up and had another go because they could see what went wrong and fixed it!
morethan the examiner was lovely to have given that feedback - your DD obviously impressed them! Also she mustn't worry about the merit because it won 't hold her back from what she wants to do.
Right. Time to locate DS2 for some practice...

DS ran high merits all the way through, his playing was spot on but it was aural that let him down every time. There's only so much you can teach them when they don't want to learn it, when scales are boring and pointless and standing between you and a good tune and all theory is a waste of time. The only time he's ever put some effort into scales is when he's needed them for an audition. He's coming round to the idea now, it's a bit late in the day but never mind. We are now two years post G8 and to date it has not mattered one bit what any of his marks were.

My viewpoint is coloured by being raised as a perfectionist - however much work you put in it is never enough, you could have always done more. I decided that I wasn't passing that on to the next generation because you don't start things for fear of failing and you're always looking at what you could have done rather than taking pleasure from what you did. I've raised a talented slacker, I think that if he had my drive for perfection coupled with his talent then he would be a world class performer but I'd rather he be happy than driven.

Morethan - those are examiner's comments to treasure for the days when things are going a bit out of shape and you're feeling down. I would tell your daughter that her new school is interested in her, not her results. They will see her every day, week in week out, they don't need to judge her on that one single performance that was the exam.

I do know one of "those" mothers, I do periodically come here and write a long rant but (so far at least) I delete it rather than posting it.

Oh my practice... I started using dd's book last night to practice, really easy stuff but hard when don't have the hand coordination yet. I thought it would be a good idea to encourage my dd's sight reading as she had forgotten them by now and asked her to demonstrate for me.

I'll keep you updated I found it quite fun and amusing playing jingle bells in the middle of the summer and on such a hot day.

I bet she loved being teacher for a change Fleur! Well done to you and at Jingle Bells - I remember hearing that all one summer holiday...

Ishouldbe weaving talented slacker exactly describes my DS1. He's doing end of year exams at the moment and told me that he had to ease off on music practice because of revision. Which was fine until I realized he wasn't revising either!

Fleur

Ah, thank you. I am sure your dd will be right for music school, no worries there.
I have never been as surprised as we were when dd passed.
As I said above it isn't about grades passed but more about showing potential and dedication. They need to know that your child will flourish and not be out of depth emotionally, irrespective of their standard.
They usually look for an ability of aroung gr5 distinction but they don't have to have taken exams at all.
I think some instruments are more competitive than others, but still the ethos of potential seems to be the key.

forgot to add, they even had separate tests to scales for those who hadn't done exams, so hence not done scales either.

I read a post by a mum whose daughter got into music school. She had a merit in her last grade exam, and when she auditioned they were very het up about that, and they made her go through what she'd done in the exam, to work out why she hadn't got a distinction.

So much trouble with the aural. You wonder why we all keep doing ABRSM. I think Trinity don't do aural. Am I right?

Trinity do aural, but there are choices. From Grades 1-5, you have to do two from: Aural, Sight Reading, Musical Knowledge and Improvisation. In my Grade 2 Xylophone exam recently, I chose to do Musical Knowledge just for a change. From Grades 6-8, Sight Reading is compulsory (and rightly so, IMHO) and there is a choice between aural and improvisation.

DS did Trinity and avoided scales all the way through. At the time there was a choice between scales and exercises and he always chose the exercises because you had the notes there in front of you. It did mean that when he needed scales for an audition he had a lot of catching up to do. DH told him that he couldn't put them off forever and sooner or later he would have to learn his scales but it was always going to be later.

This is a very interesting and pertinent discussion for us right now! I posted last week that my dd (8) had a merit in her Grade 2 singing (abrsm) - she was disappointed as she 'wanted' a distinction however the amount of practise she put in did not reflect this desire!

Anyway, she came home with the report sheet tonight and what's interesting is she managed 28, 26 & 27 for her pieces and 18 (out of 21) for the unaccompanied song (which singers do instead of scales for those with non singing dc!) but only 14 (pass Mark) for sight reading and 13 (pass Mark is 12) for aural.

Is it just me or does that seem like quite a big disparity?

Ishould

Your dh is right though, it is tough if they find it boring or something they struggle with but there are no short cuts, and we/they all need to do it in the end in order to progress.
I'm not sure if this will help anyone but it has helped dd with scales on sax and even though only doing gr5 soon she knows them all now, and Jazz/ other silly scales i can't name.
They practice the scale first, very slowly then play just the first 4 bars of the study in the same key.
They do this every day as part of their practice. So, they can do as many or as few as you like.
Obviously if working for an exam and practising several a day they do the 4 bars of each study for the scale.
It stops the monotony of just playing scales and also the fingers become very familiarised with the scale iyswim.
This is dh secret for success with his pupils, I haven't told you