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.

raspberry I think that is something that you are better off not knowing, once you've counted the exams then you can never go back to blissful ignorance.

Wow raspberry I don't want to account the £££ spent on the exams at your end as it would make me rethink the future

In terms of cost though, it can't be as expensive as dancing
probably not far off but at least there isn't uniform, make up, costumes for shows.

Even instrument repairs, insurance, accessories and all the rest doesn't add up to what we paid when dd danced. She only reached intermediate level and it was bad enough.

Raspberry: 22 exams!!!!you must have a steel nerve.

Newlife: yes, it sounds alot, I thought we spend quite alot on music(£65/week, sometimes more if close up to exam and if our teacher has to come to the exam). I cant imagine having 2 at the sametime not mentioning 3. We tried to conceive the second one in the past but now I feel fortunate about the age gap as I dont know if I could handle 2 of them at the sametime and paying for equally same cost(but then we have to pay for nanny cost).

Funnily the U3 and U1 is 15cm wider than my current piano and it means it wont fit to the current piano place now. We are thinking of rearranging the whole living room then we realised if so we need a new sofa...hahaha, we are stretching our budget alittle too far I think!

Music is actually THE activity for which children get serious scholarships and funding. Far more than for any other activity, surely.

Hope you don't mind if I join in? I've read a few pages of this thread- and been very impressed by so many dc - but certainly not read it all so apologies if this has been covered already.

Does anyone know anything about practical musicianship?

Ds (9) has just done grade 4 piano and will hopefully take grade 2 cello next term. He's a very quick learner and hasn't really been playing that long. His teacher thinks he should try practical musicianship rather than grade 5 theory. But I've no idea what it involves. Would be good to hear if anyone else went down this route

My DD did this as after she'd been doing theory lessons for a while, it became clear that it was going to be a long process. She just had a handful of lessons with a different teacher, and passed with an A (equivalent of distinction). Much much easier than gr 5 theory, which she did pass eventually. But you do need good aural ability.

Thanks- he plays quite well by ear so hopefully that will help? Sounds like it might be easier than gr 5 theory in the short term anyway

I've done Theory and Practical Musicianship, and my daughter was being prepared for both (Theory with me and Musicianship with her flute teacher) - she got to Grade 5 Theory and Grade 4 Musicianship at the same time, so took the Theory in the end. She is quite a mathematical, academic child who likes sitting down and taking a pencil and paper test, but would have been fine with the alternative. The Musicianship option involves lots of sight reading and aural type activities, a bit of transposition (putting the music into a different key), realising the ornaments in a piece, and answering some questions about a piece I think. It would suit someone who's good at aural and sight reading, although the theoretical knowledge still needs to be there. I'd say that for a lot of children, it would probably be quicker to prepare for... it's just that we started the theory years ago, which is why it got there first.

Hello everyone! I've just read through the past 700 odd posts and am amazed at how talented you and your children are!

I have a nearly 8 year old who has been learning clarinet in group classes during school time since September. He's done the copper medal, and is currently working towards bronze. He's also just come home with some grade 1 music and scales to start learning so I guess we are in for the long haul! He's in the school orchestra and they are currently working on an end of school year performance, and for a concert the local music service (who organises the school teachers) are organising at the Royal Festival Hall. (I might be rather excited at that!)

My background is I learned Recorder (rather well but didn't realise there were grades) and Violin (rather badly) at primary school as well as being in a RSCM choir, and learned the keyboard in a hurry to do GCSE Music. So I know enough to get him through the beginning bits I hope!

So a couple of questions for you lovely lot!

How much practice should I realistically be looking at persuading DS to do to get him through to grade 1? (He's very keen once he dragged away from Minecraft and gets started) How much a week and how many months? (How longs a piece of string!)

I'm looking at buying a music theory book to keep as reference for myself but also maybe look at DS doing music theory grade one once he's done grade one Clarinet. (after reading this thread) Which one should I get...First Steps In Music Theory or The AB Guide to Music Theory?

Thanks Waffle- Ds is very good at maths so I think he'll be fine with theory, but we haven't really done a lot. But his teacher thinks he can probably do the musicianship quickly. So it's probably worth a try and then do theory in a more leisurely fashion. (Is there a need to take the exam if he gets grade 5 musicianship or is it just useful for scales etc?)

He is very good at sight reading and has been practising transposition- so that makes sense. I'd say less good at aural, but I think perhaps my standards are high as he always does well in exams!

Sleeping we don't do exams but it has been said to me that DD would be a good candidate for the practical musicianship tests if she wanted to do them. Not sure I completely agree with this for piano (the suggestion was from her old piano teacher ) as her piano sight reading isn't that good, though it's a strong point on her other instruments.

She is very good at transposing, improvisation and playing by ear - I watched her record an improvised piano accompaniment to one of her songs last weekend, in a single take with no prior practice (obviously she did know what the chords were). It's one of those things that some people are just mysteriously good at, and the rest of us find baffling!

Teachers tend to be a good judge of this sort of thing so I would follow his/her advice.

Hi MrsWombat very jealous of you getting to go to a school concert at the Royal Festival Hall.

Mine started playing various instruments at 7 and 8. I am a great believer in little and often and even now they are 13 and 14 they still stick to about 10-15 minutes per instrument per day (except they also spend a lot of time at orchestra rehearsals etc etc out the house as well now). If you can find a 15 minute slot like straight after homework or before minecraft (DD2 is only just outgrowing this) it is much easier to get into a routine.

If you want the theory book for yourself then I would go for the AB Guide. I started off with the best of intentions to learn all this properly before teaching DD1. In the end I didn't get round to it and DD1 taught herself from the ABRSM grade books in conjunction with the guide as a detail reference. We did have some half hearted attempts when they were young but actually she mostly did it all from scratch in 3 months prior to the grade 5 exam. I would say no rush for theory as it is much easier when they are a bit older.

Well come new joiners!

Just a quick note to say I couldnt resist so I bought it online today, it will be delivered in a week, its a new U3 SH silent. There will be beans on toasts and no trip to coffee shop for me for a long time however hopefully its worth it, I keep telling myself that we use it more than our car which we even have to pay tax for it and use it very little so its worth it!

howabout We live in London and the council contracted out (like everything else ) the schools music service to the local performing arts FE college. I guess this is one of the advantages.

Greenleave yay. Definitely better than a car. I can't stop thinking how nice if all cars in London were pianos instead. Music in the air instead of fumes!

Greenleave - how lovely! Beans on toast totally worth it! You must be so excited.
drummersmum - that comment totally made me smile!
MrsWombat - that will be a lovely concert, and very exciting for your DS.
Raspberry - huge well done to both talented DCs!
Schools finished early today. DS1 has exam revision to worry about this Easter - suspect we'll hear even more bass guitar playing as a displacement activity!

Another one here with a child, who wondered whether she would sit the Jazz, the theory or the musicianship. She wound up doing just under a year of the musicianship and jazz before deciding on theory. At 8, she was the youngest person I've ever entered - but she passed (just under a merit). She still transposes at sight and plays a lot by ear and improvises so for her doing all of them worked well. She plans on sitting her jazz grade 5 'because it's great fun' - at the end of the year and because she isn't pressure to do anything other than play. She also accepts that all the improv will stand her in good stead when she joins a jazz band.

Welcome newcomers!

Dd's teacher mentioned there are other routes to go past grade 5 for example practical musicianship but we're not there yet so no need to worry just yet, she's doing theory anyway but about 2 grades behind her practical exams.

Green amazing! Well done! Is it a black shiny one? Well worth the money I am sure!

Ooh, excellent Green!

I know of a girl who did Grade 5 Theory and scored something like 88% when she was 6! That must be very unusual though. We are currently waiting for Goo's result. She scored 97, 98 and 99 on her last three past papers, but knows she made mistakes on the actual day. Anyway, I don't think she'll have to do it again. She might well do the Practical Musicianship one day just for the experience - it's probably 6 months or so since she was working on Grade 4, so would probably be fine with the Grade 5 now.

Have a good Easter weekend, everyone.

Yes I am on team shiny black now, thank you everyone.

Waffle, I really dont know how could someone score 99%, Goo is truly a perfectionist!

She is... but she won't score that in the real thing. She guessed a foreign word wrong (-2 points) and probably won't get full marks for her composition. When she came out, she was hopeful of 85-95%, but really wants a distinction. I don't know of anyone else who has really wanted a distinction for Grade 5 Theory - most just want to get through it. I think I scored 93%, but I was about 5 years older than Goo!

Waffle: she got it from you for sure. Fingers crossed for a big fat distinction!!!

Green

You are letting the side down with your posh new Piano
We will always have our beer stained ashtray top upright.

Nobody smokes over it now, but it's obviously seen better days.
Tunes up well, when we can be bothered though.

Scared the living daylights out of dd tonight and told her I'd signed her up for the Piano school during summer holidays. Her face was a picture, I thought she was going to cry, I'm so bad.

Newlife: just listened to Ave Maria, its so so beautiful!!! Let us know how she is doing!
Hahaha, I could imagine her face too from your words, all best singers can always play at certain level of piano, why not try it.

Will take pic of the shiny black once it comes, to be honest for nonmusically person like me (and mostly who hardly spend money on things doesnt earn any profit back) its a big "expenditure", I told myself I invested in the future(the children)--- sorry still excited about the black beast!

Happy Easter everyone!