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.

She was 10 at the time.
Exams are (mostly) done at school therefore two on the same day.

Happy new year to all!
I don't think we have any exams this term but DS1 is working on grade 5 tuned percussion (possibly could take it this term but about to have a new teacher so I suspect better to wait until May) and DS2 is working on grade 3 piano and cello. Most likely both of these will be in Summer term, although if necessary we'll wait until the autumn. Cello would be in May and piano in July otherwise. For the grade 3 piano, he's doing Allegro, Stormy Coast and Moody Prawn Blues. Focus has been on Stormy Coast (nearly there) so hopefully will soon spend more time on the other two. Sounds like Minifleur and MiniGreenleave are considerably more advanced!
Cello pieces are The Peanut Vendor (loves it), Vltava and Moderato but he's just been having a go at them over the holiday and needs to start working on them with his teacher now (there are notes in Moderato he's not sure about and I certainly don't know the fingering!!)

Good luck to everyone in their exams. We have none, possibly no more ever as the boys who passed grade 7 singing won't do grade 8 like some of their siblings and me but that's fine. Feels like the end of an era. Only one still having any lessons and he has done his grade 8 in that and doing another instrument for fun. Keep at it.
Do help them do the theory exams too as it's good practice to do some of those - they did 1, 2, 3 and then 6. 1 - 3 were worth it just for the practice and to build up (if you can afford the fees).

@mother: mine goes to state so we do abrsm via a centre instead(mostly in churches), not in school. She did it last year when she was 7, although the main concern was I didnt think she was very ready for violin hence hoping for some time between. Last night while putting the baby to bed I heard her played one of her new g2 violin piece, she somehow managed to learn it mostly by herself(we are prioritising piano for now), I am thinking to myself she might progress much better with violin so after g3 piano we might speed up violin a little more. To be honest, either way I dont mind as long as she enjoys learning it. For now it seems like she is very self motivated

Hi Loose, we found stormy coast was hard too(hardest of the 3 we are practising on) but its a very beautiful peace, fast, rough at first when storm starts then slowly slowly calm down till the lovely peaceful end!

Happy New Year everyone.
Thanks for starting the new thread as always, waffle.
DS in yr9 is preparing Gr8 in tuned percussion, drumkit and piano. No exams this term. It's going to be far from quiet though, as he has school competitions, concerts and a trip abroad with the orchestra.

Musically, he's at a nice place now. I still have to support a little bit the management of time but the will to practice now comes entirely from him. The joy of playing advanced pieces at the piano is a drive, as he can listen to the same pieces played by the greats he likes like Kissin, Horowitz, etc. And even after working on a Chopin waltz for a month, breaking it down, fingering it, repeating bars over and over, he still calls me from the piano and says "this waltz is really beautiful". And his drumming has rocketed with his teenage change in muscle. So a nice time for him and worth all the work and time we all put in these years. What I'm trying to say is... You know yourselves.

Greenleave couldn't agree more about Stormy Coast - I like the loud, crashing bit best!Drummersmum your DS is amazing! I can leave DS1 to practice - he knows what he's doing - but DS2 still likes an audience. And needs a little bit of a nudge!

Hi for all thinking about sight reading and exam, I took a new approach. I won't let DD near a grade unless she can have a half decent go at sight reading a wide variety of pieces from the next exam repertoire or similar, which then shows that she really is ready for that grade, rather than solely good At three pieces. Dd's sight reading was a real weakness, and we chose together fun books of straightforward arrangements eg musicals. Really good practice and really good fun, and she is a solid (but not exceptional) sightreader now.

Ha ha loose, I did my fair bit of nudging at a certain point!

(And pay the fees. I asked my son how his trumpet lesson went at school today and he told me. He said he'd asked the trumpet teacher why he was the only boy having a lesson this week. The answer was none of the other parents had paid the fees yet. I sent by cheque the day I had the bill).

Ha Greenleave, really happy now that 2 older dc have lessons and exams at school. Having said this, still had to take her out of school last year (and book half a day off work) for one of the exams, as she would otherwise have to start on 3 new pieces (piano syllabus not valid for the following term....).
Hm, my dd not really that self motivated, only practising after me reminding her. But then she has one or other afterschool activity (NOT music related) on most days so not home till late...

Drummer, loose: just about 3 months ago I did have to sit every night with her, it seems like something in the past now(which I am so glad as I am lazy and in the evening I am normally close to half dead)

Musicmom: this came as a surprise for us as she had distinction in the previous part and could always do well at home so we were very surprise)disappointed with the result. We have "joining the dots" books and she could always "got"it. Scales and arpeggios was a surprise too, according to the diary due to the slipping fingers but I thinks she wasnt good enough because the very similar (low) mark for violin too. Can I ask what practice does your DD do regarding to scales and arpeggios please

Hello all, just checking in
Well as predicted no break from music all holiday and dd doesn't go back until Sunday, when my ears can have a bit of a rest.
With her and dh practising at the same time in different rooms or playing together in the same room, I'm hearing stereo.

Have finally started playing my xmas pressie (clarinet) but as everybody is a critic a few long notes and a bit of the Demnitz book are all I can manage atm.

Dd didn't even let up xmas day as she had new instruments and accessories, so she wanted to try them out.

Hope you are all doing well and looking forward to a new term with possibly an exam or too.

Happy New Year.

DS1 just came back from bass guitar lesson saying he needs the grade 5 book. I still don't think that means an exam this term but it might mean both DCs have 2 each next term. I may have to find somewhere to hide!
For sight reading piano I think the Paul Harris books are brilliant but you have to do some every week to get the full benefit. Scales make me shudder but one tip is to make it even harder than you need to (bear with me here) so as well as practising with your eyes shut, you can try doing more than 2 octaves so when you go back to 2 for grade 3 it allegedly seems easier. That's supposed to be particularly good for arpeggios. I have to stress that I have not tried this theory on DS2 yet!

My two still like me there for practice time, although I work a lot so can't manage to watch them every single time!. Goo needs help with specific bits, but mostly just likes an audience. Rara still needs a lot of help with cello. Not that I can play it very well (I just about keep up with her) but I can tell her when she's unrhythmic or out of tune. She's not a natural, but is enthusiastic!

I have entered Goo for Grade 5 Theory. She sat and did half a paper tonight, and moaned all the way through. Oh well. One paper a week from now on, and a bit of vocabulary cramming, and I'm sure she'll be fine.

Greenleave - for scales DD practices different variations eg each note four times, or different long and short patterns, different slurs, or any variation like that. Seems to help. on the other hand she still tries to put them at the end of practice (or not at all!) rather than the beginning :) I

Newlife - I bought myself a long wished for sax last year, and DD promptly took it up (on my sax!). So you are doing better than me.

Dd has a "problem" she memorises everything first time therefore her sight reading is lacking. She is practising sight reading every lesson but her teacher doesn't want her to have the book at home as she would work it out first and memorise it.

After the exam the plan is to tackle yet again this area. Scales she finds easy and she did get full mark for them last time.

Waffle can I please ask where to get previous theory papers from? Dd's teacher would like to enter her for grade 3 theory first as a practice but I have no idea where to get the practice papers from and we haven't started practicing yet.

Waffle - I am sure theory will be fine; Goo sounds much more prepared and natural at it than DD was.

Teacher just to,d us we need to be thinking about a full size cello - less than a year after the last purchase! Was not planning for that and can't believe how quickly DD is growing!

Fleur. - Amazon have them; am sure other places too.

Waffle: I dont know how can you do it, I have only one on music now and it already feels handful.

Newlife: nice to see you again

Loose: will look up at PH's books tonight, thank you.

Music: we are learning scales that way too, left then right hand, slow then medium.

Fleur: my daughter memorise everything too, her memory is amazing, I am on opposite I have a memory of a gold fish so that may be a temp thing for my daughter for now

All: regarding theory, I thought we only do g5 theory and its a must if we want to carry one doing grades? I dont know there is a theory g3 or 4. Do they have to sit for it seperately? What good could it help with their progress?

Thank you musicmom!

Green there is an exam for each grade in theory but only grade 5 is required to continue with exams higher than grade 5.

Fleur, thank you. Then I will sit tight until grade 5 as I feel like too much to ask her to do it now. We work full time long day so evenings and weekends I am always longing for the lazy cuddles, hopefully next year then it might be possible.

How hard is g5 theory everyone? How long does a child normally have to learn it?

I did grades 1 - 8 theory about one a year from age 7 or 8 or so. It's up to parents and teachers what they prefer. There are certainly lots who only do grade 5 theory - you need grade 5 theory and higher to do ABRSM grade exams in other instruments of grade 6 and higher. I found doing grade 1 theory when I did grade 1 piano etc did help with general understanding and I quite liked it was it was like doing maths papers.

As for how hard is grade 5 - you need to learn quite a bit so if you do grades 1 - 4 first you have less to learn when you do 5 or you can do all of it at one go. LIke anything worth doing in life it involves a lot of practice which is why children who do music tend also to do better at their academic work too.

You can buy the theory books on the ABRSM website shop.abrsm.org/shop/dept/Music-Theory/100016

DS has a shiny new saxophone in a nice rucksack carry case (rather than music service one in a bulky heavy suitcase) and he is HAPPY!! Just wanders round the house with it, playing little 'toot, toot's and improvised riffs of happiness.. Also recording his GCSE pieces at the moment - getting it all out of the way in Y10 seems to be the plan if he does well enough.

DD has ignored her cello all holiday and is looking forward to some new pieces... but as always it has to fit around dance.

We don't really do exams much. Think grade 6 clarinet might be the next one. Or Grade 7. Or Grade 6 saxophone. Or maybe just keep playing and enjoying. I'm sure he and his teacher will tell me when I need to do something