Spring/ Summer Music and Musicians Thread

[Wafflenose]

My children go back to school tomorrow, and it's my birthday this week, so it must be properly spring in the UK now, and time for a new thread! Please jump right in by telling us about your DCs' learning (or your own), or by asking any music/ music exam related questions you like. We have lots of experienced music parents and teachers on here, as well as lots of new ones.

I am a music teacher, and mum to Goo (10) and Rara (7). Goo started the recorder and flute when she was tiny (age 3 and 6 respectively), has recently added piccolo, but not very well yet, and is starting piano lessons in a couple of weeks. She has no exams this term, but will probably do Grade 6 Flute in the Autumn and Grade 8 Recorder next Spring. She plays in her school orchestra and recorder groups, South West Music School and NCO, and has her first concert with County Wind Band tonight, after a trial course. She hasn't auditioned to become a member yet, and might not for a few years yet, due to age and time factors.

Rara isn't so musically inclined - she prefers to read and draw, and is also very physically active. However, she is due to take her Grade 2 Cello exam this term, and Grade 3 Recorder in the Autumn - she's currently getting to grips with the treble and loving it!

Aargh, I keep going back and forth on the exam issue - Goo's, that is. We have decided not to put Rara through it this term - she was keen and had learnt everything, but other things need to take priority. I can't go into detail on here, but her teacher was getting stressed, so she was getting upset. If I'm honest, I wanted her to do it, because it would have given her a boost, but needs must.

Anyway, Goo. I really appreciated all your responses the other night, but am still no closer to deciding what's best. So I thought that writing it all down here might help to make it clearer in my mind.

Points against doing Grade 6 Flute this term:
I promised her she could have a year off exams, after doing 3 in 3 months. Not that she seems to mind.
She says she doesn't really like doing them, and is ALWAYS disappointed with her performance.
Grade 5 to Grade 6 in a term is crazy... isn't it?
She is performing in the chorus of the school production of Joseph, and needs to devote time to rehearsals and learning words. But this will come easily.
I'm not sure how much time she will need to spend on learning NCO music for the summer, but it would be good to spend some lesson time doing that.

Points for:
She is playing two pieces and just over half of the scales well. She has done the aural before, and similar sight reading (Grade 6 recorder a few months ago). The choices of third piece (teacher has given her a few alternatives) look fine.
Her teacher thinks she can do it.
Goo is goal-driven, and can be very focused.
She is willing to accept that she probably won't get a distinction, and says she will be OK with a pass.
It might help with her confidence - I think the other flutes in NCO this year are all around or above Grade 8, so in her mind, this might be a step closer to the others, IYSWIM.
She can then use her exam pieces for various re-auditions later this term.

Hmm. I'm still none the wiser.

Waffle what does Goo want? Does she really really really want to do it or is she a bit "whatever" about it? I think it should be her decision as she will put in the work. But she needs to be clear what work is expected of her.

I'm trying not to make her piggy in the middle here, but... She just says she doesn't like exams. She certainly likes passing them though! She said she'd rather do it in June than wait until December, but I am concerned that she should be spending her lesson time working on difficult orchestral stuff (not that we have been sent the music yet though) and her spare time learning chorus words. So no, she doesn't really, really want to do it. I guess we'll wait and see how the lesson goes later in the week, and ask her teacher some more questions about it all, but it's frustrating, because if Goo felt strongly one way or the other, I'd advocate for whatever she wanted.

I see what you mean. DD is similar, she doesn't like exams but somehow looks forward to them if you see what I mean. She now keeps asking for the next one and while her teacher said she could do grade 4 by Christmas she wants to skip it so it will be grade 5 March or July next year. If you ask DD she doesn't like exams but she wants to do them.

So if Goo doesn't have any preference I'd go with your experience. Luckily you know what you are talking about so you can put your foot down. Can she not skip grade 6 if she doesn't want to wait till December and go straight into grade 7 December or March?

I imagine she could miss it, but I would then hope to have a gap of at least a year before embarking on Grade 7 - she's nowhere near. It seems crazy to me, to take the next grade before the certificate has arrived for the last one (Trinity, so they take ages). It would be great if she felt able to decide, but if she can't, then I will have to say no. I don't want to be the one to put her under any sort of pressure - real or perceived. DH thinks she might as well go for it, as the consequences of not getting a very good mark are almost non-existent.

Hi Waffle - from a distance sounds like a lot of reasons for doing it if she wants too and then taking a bit longer yo g7. I doubt we will get the nco pieces until July (think it was then last year) and of course you are well ahead for the autumn auditions (if she doesn't want new pieces for those......). I think ever child finds the step up from one grade to another different - some really are not so big a leap and others are huge. Our cello teacher skips g6 quite often but g7 is a really big step incl on the aural.

Btw DD went straight to metal graces on top, and will gag bottom ones in few weeks if loose teeth ever drop out!

I personally find Grade 5 to 6 one of the biggest gaps of all. Most of my pupils take about four or five terms to bridge the gap, and the non-practisers take two years. I think this is skewing my perspective... also the fact that I shoehorned her through the Theory by promising her a break from exams after that!

Waffle If you're unsure then I'd skip it. Summer term plays havoc with a rehearsal schedule as there's "this thing" then "that thing" and routine goes out of the window. It's her last term so there's leaver's this and that on top of the usual chaos. DS took G6 on the last day of term and if I had my time again he'd have done it in the next session - I had no idea just how many extra things would be popping up in the last term of school.

If teacher is keen and she's keen then it's a different matter but if you're going to have to push it along then life's too short for that.

Thanks, Icould, all perspectives are helpful. Incidentally, she is in year 5, not year 6, and kind of twiddling her thumbs academically. I have emailed her mentor, as I think he will be able to help, but I'm inclined to skip it.

Not such an end of year nightmare then. I thought about it while I was washing the dishes and still couldn't work out whether 10 now meant Y6 or Y7. The other thing to think about is that when she's 16 and you're looking back it won't matter what you did now. It feels like a big decision but the consequences of getting it "wrong" aren't that significant.

Y5 or Y6. I have no idea where my fingers got the 7 from.

Waffle that is a dilemma - your points for and against are equally balanced!
Goo has done an awful lot of exams in a short time. If it were me, I think I'd possibly skip grade 6, do other pieces and then take grade 7 a year later. But I take your point about how she compares herself to other NCO players and if that is a big thing for her then a solid pass at grade 6 this term may be a confidence booster.
I think we sorted out DS1 and his grade 5. Turns out he and the percussion teacher thought the exam would be June, not May, but in fact the teacher is confident he can take it in May anyway. Another teacher at music centre is very kindly helping him with the aural work - the bit he hasn't done is identifying different styles of music but they have covered it a bit at school and she's going to spend some time on it after his next lesson. I'm glad ds2's exams seem a lot more straightforward!

Hi Waffle difficult isn't it? I was going to delay g7 to Xmas as summer term is always so busy/fun but unfortunately first sets of entrance exams and music scholarship auditions have been moved to oct and Nov (from Feb!) and carry on until March so that plan blown! So we are going for a July exam date. But I refuse to discuss g8 for many a year!

Hi waffle,
I would skip G6. For that extra confidence boost, the teacher can give it to her by letting her know when she's playing the pieces at the exam level, congratulate her and then you just move on. I don't mean move up to G7, but keep learning other pieces G6 standard, prepare the NCO pieces, keep up the technique, building a solid base.
IMO exams are becoming too much the end of it all for our DC and it's good to fight that mentality.
DS skipped two piano exams (G4 and G6) but doesn't mean he didn't learn the requirements for that grade. In terms of tuned percussion he's learning G8 pieces and he's never taken an exam. He will take G8 but that's just because of UCAS points (which I am told are useless anyway!), and to have something to show on paper...

Exams are really tricky - a lot depends on the child. dS1 doesn't like them and doesn't do many. When he takes them it's usually just to establish a level. I think if he gets through the grade 5 percussion he probably won't take another exam in it until grade 8 and take his time getting there. He'll do the grade 6 bass guitar because his teacher thinks it'll be useful but he hasn't taken any other exams in bass. I think he wants to do the grade 8 at some point, though. Oddly enough, I think he'll enjoy the grade 5 theory exam but I imagine that will be his first and last!

Help, have just entered dd2 for grade 1 recorder...Help.
So amongst my dc about 7 exams have been passed (various instruments). They have either been done at school, or when at primary school (no exam facilities) I have taken them. Dd2 never had any recorder lessons but we have been playing together just for fun. Grade 1 pieces didn't seem to be too difficult. I then had the idea of entering her for grade 1 and dd2 is quite excited about it.So far so good...

Till I realised that the exams I have taken them to myself, were all piano exams, so never thought about needing someone to have play the accompanying part of piano (brass exams of dd1 were done at her secondary school).
Considering I am not a (professional) musician, I have not learned a new piece in piano for over 35 years, I am now panicking.

I have been practising for the last 2 weeks (dd2 nagging me). but although getting better, still struggling. I find it difficult to listen to dd2 as well as playing at the same time. And when I have to play in front of an examiner, on a strange piano, o no................

exampanic you need to pay an accompanist!

waffle I honestly think that if in doubt I would save my money! Especially in the summer term when you're likely to be busier anyway.

I think DD's piano teacher has given DD her obligatory audition piece too early and that it's going to be a struggle keeping it fresh and not-too-fast. I would hide the sheet music, but DD doesn't look at it anyway.... On the other hand the Chopin still needs quite a lot of work to get the fast passages really fluent.

exampanic I would be far too nervous to accompany my own dc. I think for lower Trinity grades you can use a recording? However for abrsm you need a live one.

exampanic Ring up the local music shop and ask for them to recommend a professional accompanist, or ask a local piano teacher if you know one, or the school head of music. I'll help in any way I can... if you're in the south west!

Goo has only practised the flute twice this week, so I think there's our answer. She's played it a lot at school, during rehearsals for a big concert tonight, hosted by the high school she is going to go to. But she certainly hasn't learnt the new scales. We'll see how her lesson goes tomorrow - I certainly don't want the teacher to think I don't trust her judgement because I do, but I just don't think we can fit it in.

It's ABRSM....(ds did rockschool exam and used a CD) And I don't think dd2 would want someone else to play with her. It would be too much an exam instead of fun playing with me.....
O well, I have 10 min to practise before I have to go to work....

exampanic I pay an accompanist for all the DC's exams (grade 4, the last one). But I practise with them on the piano. I think I can probably do it myself at a push and I think of it as a fallback plan in case the accompanist is run over by a bus or something on the exam day... (Paranoid, me? )

Exampanic there is going to be at least one pianist at the exam centre on that day, make life easy for yourself and book them. We've only ever needed half an hour run through a couple of weeks before the exam itself. Accompanying needs additional skills on top of playing, you have to work together and follow the soloist's lead. Yes, it's "only" grade one and you might well get it all together before the day but is it worth the stress?

DS took G1 in 2008, I can still remember the accompanist welcoming him in and saying "my job is to make you look good" and then discussing with him what they could do to make Postman Pat better. I was very grateful that one of them had taken an exam before and knew what they were doing.

Good luck to you both, whatever you choose to do.

Waffle I think saying the exam won't fit in with everything else sounds very reasonable and I'm sure the teacher would understand.
exampanic I don't think I could cope with the stress even if I thought I could play the piece! Good luck to both of you for the exam, hopefully it will be a fun experience. And if you decide to duck out of it before the big day, as others say, you should be able to find a piano teacher willing to step in, or the accompanist booked by the exam centre.

hm, I did mention about getting someone else to play. dd2 says "don't even think about it". When suggesting she might get better marks, "I don't care". and about possibly failing "I won't fail!"
So, back to more practising then