New Year Music and Musicians Thread

[Wafflenose]

Morning all, and Happy New Year. I decided it was time for a new music thread too. I really enjoy hearing about what everyone (and their DCs) are up to each term, and it's great to hear from new posters too.

I have two DDs. Goo (10) - the child previously known as MiniWaffle. She's not very mini any more... she's 4'10" and catching up with me. Anyway, she plays the recorder, flute, piccolo and a bit of piano when it occurs to her. She is doing Grade 5 Theory and possibly Grade 5 Flute (if the new teacher deems her ready) this term. Next recorder exam will be Grade 7, but possibly not for about 18 months! Am hoping the new flute teacher will also do a bit of piano with her... we'll see.

And Rara (7) - previously known as BabyWaffle - plays the recorder and cello. I was thinking of putting her in for Grade 1 Theory, but she's not keen, so we'll wait. She is in the blissfully calm position of no exams this term - yay!

We all have the local music festival next month. I think Goo is doing 11 Classes, and Rara about 7 (plus possibly helping with some percussion parts). I have 27 groups, pairs and individuals entered, so am going to be busy for the next month or so.

Hello
I wondered if anyone could give me suggestions for piano and violin books for my DS.
He loves jazz and ragtime and would be interested in Grade 5/6 for violin and 3/4 on piano.
However, he likes to play a variety of music and we are looking for something outside the Grade books, that he can practise at home. Maybe something that has a variety of classical composers and styles?
I am not musical so do not really know how to help him.
Thanks

ABRSM has published some books with graded pieces such as these for piano. I don't have them but they are on my wish list for future reference

Encore: Book 2, Grades 3 & 4: Your favourite ABRSM piano exam pieces (ABRSM Exam Pieces) www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1848498489/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awd_SNi1wbVGVJZ8Q

Jazz Piano Pieces, Grade 4 (ABRSM Exam Pieces) www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1860960065/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awd_RMi1wbK2VG1VN

Thanks for that.
Does anyone know if there are similar books in violin?
And maybe jazz/ragtime piano books for Grade 3/4?

Sorry, I missed the jazz piano book somehow.

What about some Scottish fiddle music? There is a lot of crossover with American folk and really good for improvisation and building technique. Scott Skinner's The Scottish Violinist is about grade 5 on and my go to reference. Trinity have just produced a fiddle syllabus and lots of other ideas in there.

Big day here tomorrow. Blocks braces and Theory exam for Goo. Good luck to everyone else who's taking a Theory exam.

Good luck Goo! I am sure she'll do amazing!

Good luck to Goo and all other DC.

Waffle how did Goo do in the exam? Did she come out satisfied?

I hope she's getting used to her new braces also.

Can I ask you, how long would you say it takes to prepare a kid from grade 1 ready to grade 5 theory?

Hello everyone! Minprada is out of the grade 5 theory exam. She took the full two hours... Don't think we've got anything more than a pass but I'll take that any day to take the pressure off the educational arms race next year in year 6.... She said the paper was on the hard side only one foreign word (German!) so that'll help Goo Waffle!

Fleurdelise, I'd say it depends on the child and the teacher how quickly/ slowly it'll take. Miniprada has gone from Grade 1 theory (distinction) last summer (July 2015) to grade 3 xmas (merit) to Grade 5 now but she is exceptionally good at languages for her age and most importantly, she loves learning. A couple of Her friends hate theory which is a real shame as frankly they have to get past grade 5 to move on in the practical should they want to. I am indebted to her piano teacher for being so patient and encouraging. Roll on the results and I wish everyone much luck with their entries!

Hope Goo did well in theory and the new brace isnt sore!

Pradaqueen: thanks so much for sharing. My daughter started theory from Jan(we had more than couple of weeks holiday between) and now just finished grade 2 theory. Grade 2 is already a step up, cant imagine grade 5. She is 8 and in year 3. Her marks for past papers were around 80%

Thank you for sharing Pradaqueen. DD is probably just ready to look at grade 2 theory but I would like to accelerate the learning process and give it more focus as her teacher is suggesting she may skip grade 4 practical and move to grade 5 therefore after this she'll be stuck unless she takes the theory exam. I hope she'll be able to cover all grades by next year and I was wondering if it is achievable.

Good luck to your DD, I hope the results come out soon.

Green how is preparation for grade 3 practical? Is she ready?

Fleur how old is your DD? Mine did grade 5 theory at age 13 having done nothing before. She did about an hour a week with the abrsm books for about 3 months and taught herself. She got a merit, even after losing loads of easy marks from not having bothered to memorise the terminology and on the composition due to lack of detail. So it is definitely achievable.

Assuming your DD is younger and does not have my DD's cavalier attitude I would recommend using a tutor and doing the odd past paper.

Goo is sore today, but is being very mature and taking it all in her stride.

I told her I couldn't pick her up until 6.40pm last night (which was true) so she used almost the full two hours. She thought it was easy peasy, and hopes to get around 90%, although I realise it wouldn't have been easy for everyone - it's just that she was very over prepared and should have done i last term really!

I think that time taken to get to Grade 5 Theory depends on the age of the age of the child, their degree of determination, and how much homework they are willing to do. We started when Goo was 7, and have been doing a page a day in the school holidays and occasional weekends - no time during term time. So 2.5 years for her. We did every single bit of every single book, and past papers at every stage. With dedicated lessons each week, completing work at home and a slightly older child, I think it's do-able in a year. I've taught a few teenagers who've had 15-20 mins theory time tacked on to their practical lessons, and set them a bit to do each week. I think they mostly took around 2 years from scratch, to merits and distinctions in their Grade 5 exams with me, but I don't remember any of them busting a gut in terms of effort!!

I taught myself the lot during my spare time in Year 10, so 6-12 months? I was very motivated, as it needed to be done and we couldn't afford lessons.

Fleur: she didnt do too well the last lesson as she was ill(a terrible cold, got it from me). We have only another lesson and I have been home late these days so dont know if any progress. I hope to find out tomorrow night when I could rush home slightly earlier and check on it( she hasnt been fully recovered so tired and has been in bed from 8pm, I got home around 7pm and after putting the baby to bed then there isnt time). How is Minifleur doing, I hope she is in better shape. I keep telling myself that after this one then we will take some break, just another more than a week.

Waffle: hope the sore goes real soon and its good to hear Goo was confident. My dd is very likely gonna need a brace too so I am dreadful to think about that day!!!

Regarding to theory, my dd reads the red book (must have reread it more than couple if times now to be able to remember anything) then do the practice book, if all errors, questions were answered then move to the past papers. I bought 3 for each grade 1 and 2 (yr2012-2014). The practice book takes longest. The grade 1 was very easy(did everything in 2 weeks) while she found grade 2 was hard. I havent planned anything yet as I'd like to see how she is doing within her own pace. She is the "love learning" type so I am lucky in the way that I dont have to tell/nag if no progress. If she hasnt done it there must be a reason(illness, busy with other things). This approach might be completely different for her sister as She is not showing any similar sight as her elder sister(very boyish, playful and little or no patience to anything so far)

DD (8 yo) does theory already in lesson, but just set as a homework. So the teacher takes 5 min to ensure that what is required in the book is explained or she understands what she is meant to do and sets her a couple of pages to do.

The plan going forward is that we would keep keep one of the lessons (she currently does two lessons a week 30 min each) for theory, scales, sight reading, and the other lesson based on repertoire and exam pieces when approaching another exam. This way there would be more focus on theory on weekly basis and she will keep having theory homework set.

Green DD is ready for the exam I would say but she still has a couple of things to cover in the next two weeks like improving the dynamics in the Stormy Coast and the timings in a couple of bars in Jack is Sad. Other than that I'd say she's ready.

Oh and her teacher would also like her to take grade 3 theory exam first just to familiarise herself with the format. Not sure when though.

Green I also meant to say, last year before the exam DD had some really poor lessons where the pieces went quite bad (including forgetting one of the pieces 3 weeks before as she was playing it from memory and she just suddenly couldn't do it anymore). However all went amazing in the exam and scored 137 points so don't stress too much.

We are going down hill with stormy coast for some reason as she was ok 3 weeks ago then after last lesson our tutor said the pulse was very uneven especially on quaver runs in bars 2,4,8,11,13. We need to work on Jack is sad too. It might be because she was tired on the day and also no practice during more than 2 weeks holiday.

I am only planning for dd to take g5 theory test as to be honest we are very busy(both have city long hours jobs) and lazy, trying to skim things if we could.

We have 1.5 hour lesson weekly for everything(piano, violin and theory). Our tutor takes home what she has finished during the week fir theory to mark and come back in the next lesson to explain bits she got wrong.

I see her reading the red book, took at least 2 weeks for the practice books then 2 past papers each weekend(she could do them all but I wanted to wait for the tutor feed back, correction). Grade 1, 90% consistent(may be too easy for 8 yrs old after more than 3 years practical learning, so no effort required. Grade 2 was hard, only had average 80% on 3 years(x4) past papers

I am hoping to sort Goo out with piano lessons, now that the theory is over (as long as she doesn't have to re-sit, but I think that's unlikely). One of my colleagues (who is wonderful) has offered to teach her, and we're thrashing out times and days at the moment. Goo did 9-12 months when she was tiny, mostly self-taught with a bit of input from me, but then (a) baulked at the pieces (around Grade 1) - she was more than good enough, but felt that if she couldn't learn it in one sittling, it must be too hard, and (b) got a flute, and piano went out the window! She is talking about music college now, and even though I don't think that's where she will end up going, piano is going to help enormously with GCSE etc, so the sooner the better really. She's already 10, and I don't want her to leave it as late as I did - 15!

The timing on Jack is Sad is deceptively difficult but I think good expression on that piece counts for a lot as well! Good luck with the exams - I am sure MiniFleur and MiniGreen are breezing through everything. DS2 can already play Stormy Coast better than I did and he's not doing the exam till July. Just as well, in his case, though as there is quite a lot of work left in other areas.
I have to say my two do not sound like the dedicated children I read about on this board. DS2 moans about doing theory, although I have to say DS1 does enjoy it and he's on a bit of a high at the moment as he was made one of the Music Ambassadors at school - he has a job description and a badge!
Glad it went so well for Goo and I hope she is feeling OK with the braces very soon - especially in time for the flute exam. She is a very resilient child.

Waffle - it definitely sounds like the perfect time to do piano. I really wish DS1 would learn as he has managed to teach himself a bit and to me sounds like he could be quite good if he did it properly. However, he is much more interested in guitars now!

Loose - a few months ago, I wouldn't have said she was resilient at all. She'd gone through school getting perfect marks in everything and being effortlessly top at most things without much effort - then in year 4 a lot of her peers started to catch up, and it really knocked her confidence. Too much of her self worth seemed to be tied up in being bright etc. Once she got over this and started to celebrate other people's achievements, she had a few minor setbacks, like the public concert in October which went wrong, just before her NCO audition. Year 5 has been about dealing with small disappointments for her - she has yet to get a spelling wrong in a test (!!) but twice this year has received two stars for her homework (=good) rather than three (=excellent) so hopefully the pressure is off now! But she has been incredibly resilient this week, and if she doesn't manage to practise between now and next Wednesday, I know that experience will get her through.

I hope it's a good time to start the piano - I think she now realises that she has to persevere with things for more than half an hour. Hopefully the teacher will start at quite a low level and allow her to feel accomplished with her pieces from the start, rather than giving her something difficult.

The young man who does Theory with me on Wednesday evenings started off on the piano too. He still plays for pleasure, but discovered the guitar in his early teens, and now has a vast collection. He also loves collecting records and educating me about prog rock. He's off to university to study sound recording in the autumn, and it will be so strange. I think he started coming to me (for piano) when he was 8, and is now about to turn 20.

DS1 was a bit like that - if it wasn't effortless, give up! Funnily enough, I like that kind of constant going over things in piano - you think you will never play it and then suddenly you can, then you can improve it. It may be as Goo gets older that the piano really helps her in other studies as well.
Your young theory student sounds familiar. There seems to be something eminently 'collectable' about the guitar! It's lovely that you've been teaching him for so long - and that he's teaching you about his music!