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.

DS and DH had a long and tiring day on Friday at the Whit marches, I volunteered to take them to and from the coach so bed time was 3.20am for us all. The band they were playing with collected over £800 for a national charity which is £500 more than they were hoping for. The two of them have decided to enter a local contest, that's in two weeks and DS has decided he does want to audition for a national youth thing after all, that's next month (last minute or what?). I printed the forms off and had them in the post as soon as he'd finished writing so he had no chance to change his mind again. It would look good on his personal statement, he's still got a few years left to achieve it if he doesn't get in this year.

I'm sorry to hear that things have gone wobbly Woolleybear, I hope it's something that is easily resolved because it must be a huge blow to your confidence to suddenly find that you can't do what you previously did.

Just heard that DD1 got distinction for grade 8 flute. That's her third grade 8 (already has distinction for recorder and merit for singing). She is very happy and relieved. Dd2 exoecting to get her grade 2 piano result tomorrow, and doing grade 5 flute and grade 5 theory this month. It's all go.

Wow •Narv* that's fabulous news - your DD1 is clearly a very accomplished young lady! Good luck to your DD2 as well.

MusicDoc looks like your children are doing very well even if you think they might be doing more on the practice front (don't most of us think the same?!)

Woolley good luck to your DD - hope it all comes together for her on the day.

ShakeyIsles how do you find the music scene in NZ? Have you been able to find good teachers for your kids in terms of their music and sufficient opportunities for them to perform in front of an audience? I know it will depend on where you are based to some degree - I'm looking at returning home to live (I'm a kiwi) next year after nearly 30 years of living abroad and am trying to get a sense of where to pitch my expectations with respect to educating my three kids.

IShouldBe every time I start flagging, I remind myself that some people manage to organise themselves to achieve shedloads - you are one of those people!

As for DS, there was a miscommunication between the school's director of music and his brass teacher and he was not entered in time to do Grade 2 this term. I say miscommunication - when I followed up to find out what the date would be, the DoM frowned and said it wasn't usual for a student to be put forward for successive exams re the same instrument during the same school year. If this is indeed the case, then I think I might be having a word with the brass teacher about skipping the Grade 2 exam altogether with a view to aiming for Grade 3 at the end of the next school year. I could wish that the communication all round was much better than it is, so that I can support my boy as best I can.

Narvinectralonum - it's all go in your household isn't it? Four exams must take a lot of planning especially when two of them need accompanists. Congratulations to your dd on the G8 flute exam, I would be happy and relieved too.

That's a fabulous set of results for Dd1 Narvinectraloneum, and good luck to your Dd2 on her forthcoming results and exams!

Good luck to all those sitting exams this term - a quiet one for us with Dd seeing out the last junior term with a mixture of popular and classical repertoire and looking forward to her annual Summer residential at Kent Music School.

Narv that is quite a crop! Well done to your girls! :)

It's D-1 for DD's theory exam. She's fairly relaxed about it but not that confident of passing (due to having been parachuted into this class with no prior formal theory lessons). I don't suppose it matters that much either way. Her sax pieces OTOH are sounding really good!

I bit the bullet today and ordered her new guitar - have been putting it off for ages due to the cost. The cheap pre-amp that I put in her current acoustic guitar isn't up to the job, and replacing it would be expensive. So I've ordered a decent electro-acoustic that will be a "forever guitar". Next stop, insurance!

Just heard today that she has got into a specialist senior high school course for bilingual French-Spanish speakers, so we are celebrating that!

DD2 got distinction for her piano which is a bit of a relief since I think she'd have been gutted if she did less well than her sister even though they were different grades, different instruments and she is 5 years younger! She can't relax though because of the flute and theory coming up. DD1 is now completely relaxed!

You may all know this already but I've just found out that I have access to Grove Music Online by using my library card. It's very useful for anyone who has to write programme notes or wants to do any research on the pieces they are playing.

Suspended, The quality of teachers is not as high - however I was involved with RNCM, top universities, international summer schools and people who had been trained at music colleges. They take some beating! Some teachers don't advertise and are like me - highly specialised and highly qualified. So teachers are a mixed bag, just like the UK.

There are some opportunities to perform. My children are young and we have yet to find any ensembles at their level, unless they are with much older children.
The top layer of opportunities is missing - there is no equivalent to Chets or junior school at one of the RCMs for youngsters.

But we love NZ. There are so many amazing opportunities and the pace of life is slower.

Mistigri - what sax pieces is your daughter playing? My daughter was asking.

Shakyisles her main piece is "Arcade" by Saint-Léger, and she is also presenting two non-obligatory pieces, one technically easy but musically interesting one from a book of études called Jazz Attitude, and a second from the collection "50 études faciles et progressives" that seems to be popular in the Trinity syllabus.

The quality of teaching here seems quite variable too ... Sax teacher (conservatoire) seems competent but no more, guitar teacher (private) is great and her piano teacher although totally disorganized and not terribly professional (he's a pro musician/composer but not a qualified teacher) appears to my ears to be doing a remarkable job ...

Theory done and dusted ... 19/20, top mark in her class :)

Sax exam Saturday but I am less worried about that!

Many thanks for the overview Shakyisles - it's very much appreciated. The Arts scene generally must have moved on a long way since I grew up in the 70s / 80s (my only reference point) as I literally knew only a couple of kids who were learning any instrument while I was at school.

Wowee Mistigri - what a wonderful result, particularly considering how relaxed she has been leading up to the exam!

Many congratulations to your DD2 as well Narv - lovely to see a younger sibling coming out and shining in her own light.

Fantastic results, Mistigri and Narv! Nice to see everyone is doing so well! We're waiting for DS1's drum exam result, but not stressing about it. I am getting a little bit more stressed about DS2 and his grade 2 piano exam, due in early July. Scales are coming along well, pieces will be OK on the day, I'm sure but he needs a lot more practice at sight reading. We're doing sight reading every day before school now. Cue more sighing and eyerolling and mutterings of "mean, cruel mum" (but with a cheeky grin at the same time!) He does find cello sight reading significantly easier but that's a combination of reading just one line of music and a lot of ensemble playing!
I was very amused to get an email giving me "advanced warning" that the school orchestra would be playing on open evening this month. Advance notice surely?? Or is this a strong hint to take ear plugs!

I have done 11 mock exams with my Trinity candidates this week, and they scored 2 Passes and 9 Merits. Exams are in two weeks, and there will be some distinctions by then, for sure. Seems to be a good bunch.

During that same week, I am doing Grade 2 Xylophone (for charity), Baby is doing Grade 1 Cello and Mini is doing Grade 3 Theory. She is learning 3-4 Italian words a day, and needs to revise grouping of notes and rests, which she's awful at. In July, I have 5 ABRSM candidates, and 1 more Trinity - we are travelling quite a long way for that one, because I wanted to ensure it was after her GCSEs.

Very hot here and DD is struggling a bit with sound production on the sax - I assume partly because the heat affects the reed. She's been advised to change brand of reeds and also to considering buying a new mouth piece for next year - anyone got any experience of changing mouthpiece and does it really make that much difference? (She has a decent Yamaha student sax bought new only nine months ago).

Following the complete loss of ability to play, we kept trying a bit but left it really til yesterday's lesson.

Fortunately or unfortunately, it turned out to be a problem with the clarinet rather than with dd.

Rather luckily I managed to get an emergency appointment at a repair place today and so now all is well although it hasn't been tried by dd yet.

It was a lovely experience being there while it was fixed and serviced, I learned so much as I waited while it was done, the guy who did it was so knowledgable and gave a great performance on the clarinet to show how well it was not playing.

Mistigri, the discussion about mouthpieces came up with regard to the clarinet today, the repairer advised that it would be much more sensible and realistic for a new mouthpiece in a few grades time than a new clarinet (my purse is relieved). The instrument sounded amazing today (Buffet student instrument) with his mouthpiece but then he was also an amazing player so it's difficult to say!

Our exam date has come now too, 7th July so I can book my holiday now!

woolleybear well that's a relief! We will buy a new mouthpiece for the new music school year, I think. I need to ask her teacher if the sax needs a service before then.

DD had an uncharacteristic wobble this morning before her sax exam but all went well and she passed with the top grade and the "félicitations du jury". She always tends to perform best under pressure, luckily for her.

To round off the year nicely she has been offered two paying gigs for the summer holidays! (Solo guitar/ singing).

I'm glad that you got sorted Woolleybear, is she ok now or did it knock her confidence?

She has flat refused to play until this evening. She practiced her scales and then cried because they sounded ok! We just did one piece tonight, a few mistakes but all notes sounding ok which is the main thing. Once we get back into practice I'm sure the mistakes will go!

Result in - DS1 got a merit for grade 4 drum kit and is quite relieved! He knew there were a few fluffs. I am so impressed he's done it but hopefully for some time to come he'll just focus on tuned percussion and flute for exams and continue to enjoy his drum and bass lessons and bands!
Woolleybear, so pleased to hear it's going well, hope DD's confidence is high now!

A good result Loose. Well done to your DS. We have drums exam in four days.
Everyone else, it has been rather fascinating reading about wind problems I knew nothing about...no wind players in the family!

Thanks drummersmum and best of luck to your DS!
We've just got DS2's G2 piano exam to go - I am making him do scales before school and pieces after as it's very difficult to fit everything in during the evening. Having a week away and no piano at half term didn't help but I think he's nearly back on track now.

Misti

I have just seen your post about mouthpieces.

They can make a huge difference and very personal to the player.
Dh accompanies his students to specialised mouthpiece manufacturers and suppliers to help find the right fit as they start to become more accomplished. It's very similar with reeds as well, sometimes the best well known quality of reed/mouthpiece isn't suitable for a student and they need some relatively unknown brand.

Just come onto thread to say dd taking 2 grade 5's soon, sax and singing, which is next week.
Does anybody know what sort of turnaround is expected? I know this time last year it was pretty quick.

Dd is visiting the school again at the weekend, I don't think I can casually forget the cheque book, all a bit scary now.

Sorry, how rude of me. Good luck to all those taking exams this session.

Grade 2 singing on Monday - I still haven't heard her pieces but she seems happy enough. Fingers crossed!