Autumn Term Music and Musicians Thread

[Wafflenose]

Hello everyone!

I know not everyone is in the UK, but my children went back to school today, and I have found that having a new thread every few months works well. The school terms sort-of coincide with music exam sessions here - I will shortly start preparing the pupils that I plan to enter for November/ December.

As there are quite a few people reading/ posting on these threads, I would find it really helpful if people could remind us what children they have, how old they are, and what they play. If you don't mind, of course! Please feel free to ask questions and talk about your own learning too!

I'm Waffle and I'm a teacher of woodwind - mostly recorders these days. I have Mini who is 9 and plays the recorder and flute properly, and a bit of piano, trumpet and ukulele for fun. She is a member of South West Music School and NCO. I also have Baby who is 7 and plays the recorder and cello, and would like to play the piano.

For exams this term, Mini is doing Grade 6 Recorder with Trinity, and Baby is doing Grade 2. Next term, they are doing Theory exams - Grades 5 and 1 respectively. I know Grade 1 is utterly unnecessary, but Mini found it helpful to have a practice run by doing her Grade 3, and I can think of worse ideas than sending Baby in for the first time with her big sister. The next Flute and Cello exams will be Grades 5 and 2, but not yet.

I need to change their names at some point - Mini is not mini any more. She is 4'8" and up to my top lip. Baby is clearly 7, so I need to think again.

NewLife if yoir DD really wants to play, stopping temporarily isn't the end and she may come back to the violin later. DD stopped music lessons (in fact she stopped playing completely) for a while before coming back to it at a later stage. And restarting on her own terms has led to a completely different attitude and approach to music. I am sure she is a better musician as a result.

FiveHours what size double bass do your girls play? My daughter would love to play (not as a classical instrument but as a jazz instrument, as an alternative to the bass guitar, which she loves) - but she is very petite with small hands. I don't know if this would be an obstacle.

Hello back everyone and thank you Waffle!
DS (13) plays piano (classical and jazz with separate teachers), tuned percussion and drums (again with different teachers) and likes to occasionally compose. He will be taking G7 piano this term and G8 drums in summer. He is playing G7 pieces on marimba and xylophone but not really taking exams for that yet as he has lots on his plate. School is 3 to 4 ensembles and choir. And he has a national audition coming up as a drummer.
Right now the big challenge is practice versus homework, as they are both likely to keep increasing and time is definitely NOT increasing. He is so good at coping but I am a twisted messy ball of pure unadulterated stress.

New Nonmusical mum here with 3 DS.
DS1(11) plays horn (Gr 6), guitar (gr6) and piano.
DS2(7) plays piano and horn. Both of them play at local brass band.
DS3(4) does not play anything yet .
This term we have DS2 Gr 1 piano exam.
I know that there are quite a few very knowledgable musicians here and have a question please.
DS1 (11) started piano lessons in July having previously played on his own on the piano. The teacher says that he'll be sitting for Gr 5 piano in March session. Is this usual with him already grade 5 on two other instruments or do I have a prodigy . I assumed that it will take some time. I should say that he started with guitar lessons 3 years ago (he was 8) and horn when he was 9.5.

I think there is a common thread of time on this thread. either time for individuals to fit in practice on multi instruments, or time for parents to ferry/ accommodate several children playing several instruments.

GI2015 your DS is certainly an unusually able musician. Having played other instruments before will definitely have made a huge difference. And if he played on his own before having lessons then he's probably unusually motivated too.

We have had a similar experience with DD (who is a little older - 14) - she started messing around on the piano on her own just over a year ago when she was 12/13 and we got her some lessons last year. She has just auditioned for the local conservatoire (we're in France) with grade 6/7 pieces. She is not an all round grade 6/7 pianist though, by a long stretch - the sight reading and scales would require a lot of work!

Mistigri my eldest is 5ft 7 so plays a 3/4 sized bass. Very few women graduate to a full sized bass. She is also playing the bass guitar but not doing grades.
DD3 is a shortarse, so plays a 1/4 sized bass. I'm not convinced it is her instrument though.

Thanks fivehours. DD is a very petite 5'3 so obviously full-size would be out of the question. I suspect that for jazz bass, it would be an instrument she could pick up later (especially if she learns fretless bass - she has a good ear). I am not encouraging any new instruments as she is already planning to add classical guitar to her repertoire if she gets a conservatoire place.

It's your big day today isn't it Newlife4me? Did you sleep at all last night or were you up in the small hours fretting and sewing on labels?

Today is band practice with band A followed by a concert with band B followed by practice with band B (their outing to the National Brass Band Championships is only a couple of weeks away). I waved them off at 10.30 and am expecting them back around 7. I am going to do all the chores I could reasonably be expected to do and then I'm going to play with wool.

Hi, very little sleep last night Icould

However, we have a nightmare atm. Have started a thread last night about naked pics dd has received from an old friend.
Trying to sort it out so we can speak to the boys parents and hoping to be able to speak to somebody at school as soon as we arrive.
What a way to start a new school, and dd is upset that we are going to inform them, but don't feel we have much choice really.

NewLife What a shock and what timing too. If there was ever a thing to take all the excitement out of a new school this would be it.

Hello everyone! Back to school today for my dd. She enjoyed 7 weeks of summer holiday.

Just to reintroduce myself: non-musical mother of DS 14 (non musical also) and just turned 8 DD who plays piano and is currently preparing for grade 3. Back to piano lessons on Saturday after a long break as we have been away for two weeks and then her teacher has been away for another two.

She practised as much as she could over the summer but looking forward to first lesson back to get back into the routine.

Quick reintroduction - non musical mum of DS (9) who will be doing trumpet G2 ABRSM this term and working towards G2 cello some time this school year, and DD1 (5) who is picking up the violin for the first time. Apart from a week's residential course with GAM this summer (absolutely loved by DS and very well organised), DS has only sporadically practised on his trumpet, and even less on his cello. I've invested in a few new books with the Pink Panther, Star Wars, Harry Potter themes etc in an effort to get him back into regular practice prior to school starting this Thursday.

NewLife that sounds simply awful. I don't envy you in the least in trying to sort things out.

GI2015 wow! Your DS sounds extremely talented!

NewLife hope it will be sorted out!
Thank you Mistrigri And Suspended guess as long as he is keen it is worth the lessons

Newlife just catching up with thread and hope everything's OK, that sounded very stressful.
I went back to school last night to discover my piano teacher had left over the summer and so I have a new teacher. She is teaching me to play scales with my eyes closed, so my fingers remember what they need to do. Actually it seems to work, much to my amazement.
Fleurdelise if DD is playing Stormy Coast for grade 3 be prepared for some VERY loud playing - apparently you have to really go for the dynamics! (Even at the expense of hitting a wrong note!)

I have lurked on your threads for a while after 18 months of what really was a personality clash between DD(11) and her clarinet teacher, but which he couldn't/wouldn't be the adult about we have moved to a new teacher and are finally moving forward.
We have added in singing (Trinity musical theatre) and on course for Grade 4 in the spring.
We are also going to be odd as due to other musical commitments choir and musical theatre group music lessons will happen in the school holidays.

Loose thank you, yes Stormy Coast on her list but she didn't start it yet so I'll keep that in mind. It is a beautiful piece. She is has started the first piece which is one of the alternatives, Haydn's Alegretto which is quite hard and I found a teacher on the ABRSM forum stating it is about grade 4-5 level in fact. She is doing well but indeed it seems to be pretty hard.

Dd's teacher asks her to play scales with her eyes closed also more so when it is a new scale and she is a bit stuck but with the same finger pattern as another one for example Bb major and Eb major. It is also easier to listen to your mistakes.

We now play the same "game" with pieces, once she seems to have memorised it she shows me how she can play it with her eyes closed.

Fleur it is a lovely piece - the main problem I have is the fingering, I'm going to follow your lead and try eyes shut! I have basically memorised the other two pieces so they flow better. dS2 is about to start grade 3 (his lessons start next week, I think) so will be interesting to see what the teacher suggests for the pieces. He's mainly played cello grade 2 pieces over the Summer and just a jazz piece on piano plus the occasional scale! From what you say he will probably have to steer clear of Haydn!

Which other two are you doing Loose?

We bought the alternatives and listened to them on YouTube and then marked the ones she liked. Teacher advised on which ones she could do bearing in mind her hand stretch and Haydn was one of them however now I wonder if it was a bad choice.

She's back to piano lessons this Saturday and I will follow her teacher's lead of course but I hope it won't put her off. At the moment she's learnt 1/4 hands together and 3/4 hands separate. I suspect putting it all hands together will show how hard it is in fact.

She is learning an easy version around grade 1 of Moon River for mummy (as I love that piece) and that is her fun time as she finds it so easy and gets to practice her sight reading also.

Hello Lonecatwithkitten, I'm glad to hear that the lesson situation is sorted now because it doesn't sound like the right environment for learning. We have music lessons in the school holidays because DS has them away from school and as his teacher teaches adults too he works all year round.

It was the first day of school yesterday and I got off to a flying start with my first performance of Clueless Mummy (there's no doubt I will be putting this show on again before the end of the year). I sent in a beautifully crafted letter last term asking for a day off this term for a musical thing, it was full of all the right words about team building and raising aspirations and not surprisingly I had the absence approved. Sometime in August I found out that the event wasn't the day that my husband said it was but the following week. By then not only had I written the letter to school but also two other letters apologising for DS not being able to perform somewhere else on that day. Oh how we laughed about that one (no, not at all). I had to ring school yesterday and explain that I had the date wrong but I made DH sort out the other whoopsie.

If I can't be a good example then at least I can be a terrible warning.

Fleur the other pieces are the Minuet by Scarlatti and Jack is Sad by Philip Martin. I totally see what the teacher means about finding pieces without too much stretch for little fingers as both of those do require either stretching on its own or stretching and holding keys down while playing other keys. I have small hands and find it a bit of a challenge! Stormy Coast is more about knowing when to move your hands rather than stretching so she should be fine with that. It's worth persevering with Haydn, she has lots of time! Moon River is lovely, how nice that she is learning it because you like it!
Icould I hope DH has grovelled!

DD1 (Y13) will be auditioning for conservatoires this term, also applying to some unis as a back up. No exams obviously.

DD2 (Y8) is a more complicated story - until a couple of weeks ago the plan was grade 6 singing and Grade 6 recorder this term (also a ballet exam), Grade 3 piano next term (plus tap) and Grade 6 flute either next term or the term after - she did superbly well in her grade 5 flute but it's a bigger step up (for her, might not be for some people) to grade 6 than it is on the recorders (she can get faint playing in the top octave sometimes, for example - she's physically tiny even though she is 12 now) so nobody wants to rush it. However she is having an emergency operation next week so that might throw some of the plans out of the window,although it may result in piano moving up the schedule - she's ready for the exam she just wasn't going to do it this term because of the other exams but if she doesn't take one or both of the music exams due to her convalescence and the disruption to practice/lessons (she will be off school for minimum 2 weeks and not allowed to sing or play wind instruments) then piano could move up assuming she doesn't go backwards on that. HER priority is the ballet exam though, because if she doesn't take it then her friends wll move up a grade and she won't. So that's the key thing as far as she is concerned.

Hello everyone!
Reintroduction - I've two child musicians in the house. Miss 8 just took her grade 6 alto sax exam yesterday and we are waiting on results. She had a stinking cold and she did very well to get through. It's a shame as she was playing beautifully and she doesn't think she played as well as she could.
Miss 11 is swapping teachers shortly. She moves to advanced lessons and leaves her lovely teacher of 7 years!

I was a wreck for the grade 6. One parents commented that I looked more nervous than my daughter! I'm so pleased it's out the way - and so is she!

Lovely news yesterday that DS2 has been selected as Head Chorister for his Cathedral Choir. Very proud of him.

Uhtred what a complicated term for both your DDS!

Still trying to work out bands/ensemble timetables for the term. School has completely moved some groups around, so some assumptions that I have used as foundation stones have rocked the whole tower!

On the other hand, DS2 singing lesson has been moved from the teacher's house to the school where he has an entirely unconnected ensemble. And by chance has been allocated the slot just before the ensemble so can flit almost seamlessly from one to the other!

Congratulations Raspberry, what an outstanding achievement. Is it in time for a line in his personal statement?

Thanks Icouldbe. Lots of time for the PS, he is only 12! My DS1 is currently writing his statement. He passed his driving test this week and has
decreased my taxiing duties (but increased my anxiety levels!)