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Extra-curricular activities

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Original poster

New Year Music and Musicians Thread

991 replies

Wafflenose · 04/01/2016 13:46

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.

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LooseAtTheSeams · 15/01/2016 20:33

Fleur the examiner plays a piece where you just have to say it's major or minor. The other one is where they play a piece twice with a difference but all you have to say is if the difference is in pitch or rhythm, and where you heard it, no more than that (thank goodness!) I was ok with that, it's the bit where you have to sing the echoes that I find more challenging, in the exam I was so rattled by my scales disaster I actually made up one of the echoes but at least I was in the right key, I think! I only lost 2 points on the aural, I think the examiner just decided to be nice!

Fleurdelise · 16/01/2016 18:21

Thank you! I actually mean the last part of the aural where you "answer questions about two features of a piece played by the examiner. Before playing, the examiner will tell the candidate which two features the questions will be about. The first will be one of the following: dynamics (loud/quiet, or sudden/gradual changes), articulation (smooth/detached), tempo (becoming slower/faster, or staying the same); the second will be tonality (major/minor key)."

So basically Dd's teacher is asking her about smooth or detached let's say and she is asking her to respond like this "the piece started as a major and then it became minor, it was detached as soon as it became minor" as an example.

Is that what the examiner is after? Loose how was it in your exam?

LooseAtTheSeams · 16/01/2016 19:22

Sorry, I've been full of cold this week and definitely not firing on all cylinders! You're absolutely right. The examiner plays a longer piece and asks two questions about changes in it and can ask if it is in a major or minor key - I was remembering it as two separate pieces, which it may have been! I've checked the specimen questions and those only ask if the whole piece or the end of it was in a major or minor key, so the candidate might have a piece where there is a change from major to minor but it might be the same all the way though- it was in my exam. Obviously it is trickier if there's a change but I suspect it would be quite clear when they play so the candidate will be aware of a change, (I think I had a fairly lucky escape!)

LooseAtTheSeams · 16/01/2016 19:26

Oh, and the good news is that they ask the questions separately, so they might ask about a tempo or dynamic change first, then if it was smooth or detached and then if major or minor. You wouldn't have to describe it all in one go. i think they try to make it as straightforward as possible.

Fleurdelise · 16/01/2016 20:57

Thank you Loose, it is more clear now :)

Original poster
Wafflenose · 18/01/2016 19:41

I thought I would use this thread as a diary that I can refer to, for Goo's theory. She finished the Grade 5 book before Christmas, and has now done three practice papers. She'll cram on vocabulary at half term! For her first paper (done in December) I let her look up whatever she wanted, and she got 90%. First attempt all by herself (no referring to charts or instruction pages etc) last week was 78%. Second attempt all alone this week: 88%. She didn't check it and made a couple of silly mistakes. Composition is the weakest bit - she prefers to have an instrument to help her, but obviously won't be allowed, so I haven't been letting her. Pretty much everything else is perfect. Six weeks to go! She is doing Grade 5 Theory and Grade 5 Flute about a week apart, but then won't have any more exams for at least a year (hopefully) and no more theory unless she wants to!

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Greenleave · 18/01/2016 20:33

Wafflenose: hope she is keeping up the good work. My tutor brought us a book today called pass grade 5 theory(Dorothy Dingle). Will send him an email to ask when we could start using it, its very advanced for my daughter now(who hasnt started anything). I am thinking of working through every grade(but not taking the exams) until grade 5. Target is 1 year, lets see how it goes(but feeling so lazy now as we are having a much needed holiday coming this midterm, our minds are all about it, sigh:!

RapidlyOscillating · 18/01/2016 20:44

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Greenleave · 18/01/2016 20:51

Rapidly: hahaha, I do that too, I couldnt hrlp it, if I realise the I stop but I normally do it unconciously

Fleurdelise · 19/01/2016 12:30

Hello all! DD had a bit of a meltdown last night by forgetting her pieces and making a right mess of her practice session. She ended up crying, fortunately we have last year's experience when she forgot one of her pieces 2 weeks before the exam but it came right back with practice.

So I asked her to stop practising and do something else as obviously she was having a bad time. Hopefully tonight she'll have a better experience.

Greenleave · 19/01/2016 17:30

Fleur: it happened to my daughter too and she was told to work on the scales as a break, left hand only then right hand (not the contrary ones). Never fast or normal, only allowed slow or medium until couple of days before the test. What happened to my daughter is she "reads and memorise" music too fast, she has finished all 3 pieces within slightly more than a month, doesnt mean she plays them nicely though. We were told to listen to the author's other pieces to "know" the piece better, for the music to sink in, to "feel" and "touch" it instead. We are worried she is rushing to finish it(however she loves classical music now, we only have classical music in the car and it was on and on. Last summer we had 7 hours drive and the whole trip we were only listening to "river flows in you"

Fleurdelise · 19/01/2016 22:06

Green same problem here, she memorises all the pieces first time literally, so she only reads the music once to figure out a bar and once she knows what to do she never looks at the music again. Which means that if she starts making a mistake she can't start in the middle of the piece and she finds it frustrating therefore before you know it becomes a mess.

Our way to fix it is that I stop her as soon as I see her making the same mistake on and on and panicking (she pull a face close to tears) explaining she only has a bad day. Otherwise she gets a mental block and it sticks to her head that she cannot play it anymore. Last year it was proper drama.

Tonight was a success though, all pieces done and completed, she only has to polish them a bit, fix some tempos here and there and add the trill in the stormy coast.

Green does your DD play the trill easily? DD is still a hit and miss but her teacher says it will be ready by then. It looks hard to me.

Greenleave · 19/01/2016 22:23

Fleur: good to hear practice tonight went well. Sometimes its really just a bad day.

My daughter still doesnt get the trill correctly most of the times, slightly worse she didnt know she misses it. Admittedly I am equally as bad, I didnt learn music properly, cant play piano and dont know much theory. I am not present during the lesson either, we have a nanny during the day and our tutor comes while the nanny is looking after the little one. The tutor then writes an email to say how it went and what we need to do during the week

LooseAtTheSeams · 19/01/2016 22:48

The memorising thing can be an issue - just in case it helps at all, my piano teacher suggested starting at different places in a piece. The idea is that you can recover quickly if you make a slight mistake. I totally understand why Minifleur had a meltdown and I do sympathise!
Ds2 has definitely improved on Stormy Coast but we have some way to go!
Incidentally, grade 4 Indian Pony Dance is great fun - you get to hit the very lowest key on the piano at the end - something to look forward to!

LooseAtTheSeams · 19/01/2016 22:49

Indian Pony Race that should be, no idea where I got dance from!!

Fleurdelise · 20/01/2016 07:45

Loose that is what DDs teacher does, stops her and gets her to start randomly in the piece but you can see her frustration. At home I don't dare doing it as I am sure she'll end up in tears.

I think going forward the plan is to work more on this and sight reading.

Greenleave · 20/01/2016 10:06

Loose: thanks for good tips, I will try it tonight. Can I ask you a question please, why your Ds2 is learning grade 4 pieces, does it help by any chance.

Fleur: memorising is always an issue for us, sight reading then the pieces itself. Scales and arpeggios were learnt but still a hit and miss. Some nights she got them all and some other nights missed most. Well, I am trying to relax about it as I am telling myself we still have 4 more lessons before the exam(holiday for 2.5 weeks and exam is the second week in March, could be earlier as we havent had the date yet)

motherwithheadache · 20/01/2016 12:25

[and when they have mastered the trill,or grace note in dd2's case, they have to play on a different piano (which is much heavier than ours), and it all goes pear shaped....]

Fleurdelise · 20/01/2016 13:14

Hahaha yes, true! I am sure she'll either play fantastically in the exam or all goes pear shaped. DD doesn't seem to have a middle ground.

Last year I was almost convinced the night before that she'll fail the exam, and then she comes out of the exam happy and two weeks later we found out she got a solid distinction.

Original poster
Wafflenose · 20/01/2016 19:04

Gah, Goo really isn't in the mood tonight. Wednesday night is Theory night (she sits and does some while one of my pupils gets my attention, but at the same table - he is doing Grade 6) but today she rushed through half a Grade 5 paper in 30 minutes, didn't complete questions or finish some of them properly and doesn't care. I gave her 43/50 which is fine, but could easily knock that down to 40 due to presentation etc. Oh well, hopefully she'll get it together when it matters. By the way, that was the easy half!

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Greenleave · 20/01/2016 19:53

Waffle: it might be just a bad day. For the incorrect answer then what do you do? Do you make het to reread theory and reanswer them or you explain to her straight away. Lucky Goo has you as a mommy who teach music. I can play violin but not so good and dont know much in theory, could barely read the note and cant play piano

motherwithheadache · 20/01/2016 21:19

well, she did scrap a distinction, but either way she woi;d have been ok

Musicmom1 · 21/01/2016 08:15

Waffle -Goo will ace the exam! well done to both of you - she is getting impressive scores. DD was varying from a fail to a distinction depending on the day/mood! Is it your festivals soon?

Re memorising - DD still does this on cello (her Suzuki heritage showing) and whilst it looks great it can be very risky if they haven't spent enough time with the score. But DD is a performer and likes to take away the music stand when there is an audience.....

Original poster
Wafflenose · 21/01/2016 09:10

Festival is in 2 weeks! I have entries in 27 classes and have written a lot of the music - I spend 6 months of the year preparing.

Usually, I go through Goo's errors with her at the end, and look at how she could do better, but she just wasn't in the zone yesterday and wandered off without checking, or wanting to know. I think she's just bored of it now... after 2.5 years or more! Hopefully after this term, she won't have any exams for ages.

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LooseAtTheSeams · 21/01/2016 09:41

Waffle I can't imagine how you juggle everything at work and teaching Goo theory as well - my children will let me help them a little bit but not teach them anything! I am exploring theory options and my local music centre said they will look into putting on a theory group class again. The alternative is 1:1 with one of the piano teachers but they would charge the same as a piano lesson, whereas group lessons there are massively cheaper. On the other hand, if both DC could share the lesson they might both make huge progress. I will have to talk to them when they're in a calm mood (I have jam donuts to help things along!)
Green just saw your message, I'm the one learning the G4 piece - I am only one grade ahead of DS2 and he is determined to catch up. He likes to pretend he isn't competitive but he really is! And frankly, he is going to overtake me, it's just a matter of time!