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!

musicmom

I can remember dh teaching dd how to practice effectively and efficiently and he has a saying
Practice shouldn't be about giving yourself a little concert.
This still tickles me.

I am not in UK and my DS wouldn't be giving 11+ but after reading all 11+ entrance preparation talks in this thread , I just downloaded past papers and gave my son "The Haberdashers’ Aske’s Boys’ School Elstree, Herts 2013" English paper and I must say it wasn't easy for him. One because he is not at all familiar with murder and all emotions around it ( some text from oliver twist) but I also found it to be pretty difficult for almost 10yrs old ( which I assume most of the kid would be when they start preparing). He also attempted few more past papers from same school and I must say to perform better in those comprehension, you need 1 year preparation as vocab and understanding classical text needs time and practice. I really appreciate DCs who do good in these entrance despite having busy schedule with music and other extra curricular. good luck Fleur and all all DCs who are preparing for it along with their dedication towards Music etc.

Thank you mom17!

I have to say I am quite relaxed when it comes to DD, she'll automatically gain entry to her brother's school under the sibling rule. We are just preparing lightly as she wants to try for the Girls Grammar school also (no sibling rule there) so I said she can give it a try but I won't "push" for it.

Musicmom you are lucky with the music provision in your area. I have to say I don't know how much about the music provision locally but there is one. I am not involved with it yet.

Misti I think you are right with regards to the best school in my area being a magnet for middle class supportive parents. I wasn't willing to pay the house prices to be in the tiny under 500 metres catchment area of it so I'll settle for private music lessons.

DD practises around 40 min to an hour daily. She doesn't time it (I just know as sometimes I need to rush her as it is close to her bedtime) and the practice is not time related but task related. So she'll have a couple of pieces to work on, a couple of technical exercises, scales and sight reading exercises. By the time she does it a few times the way her teacher instructed and then plays it "for fun" also the whole routine takes just under an hour.

She has downtime after school from 3,30 till about 6,30. Then a bit of homework or maths (not everyday, today I couldn't be bothered so she's been playing with her neighbour friend) then piano practice and then evening routine which includes reading to each other.

I still think we have a nice balance, from September though when the plan is to add clarinet and do a bit more structured prep for the 11+ I would assume it will become more army like.

my problem is also that we have 3dc who all do some activities and there is mostly only 1 taxidriver=me available, so dc have to wait for each other. So some days all have swimming but not at the same time. At least the 2 older ones can do their homework, but it gets late for dc3 who is often asleep in the car by the time we get home.

That must keep you busy exampanic.

Ds is using his bike everywhere he goes including school, only sometimes he asks for a ride but not very often. Everything is within reach by bike.

DD only has weekend activities so I am fine with it.

Newlife - what a great way of thinking about practice; will share with dd!

Fleur - we are in yr 5 and a heavy 11+ area. We have decided not to tutor (very unusual around here and I am starting to get pitying looks!) so we are keeping it quite light, and that works for us given DD won't give up music things and swimming. Music scholarship exams are generally a min of g6 to be allowed to enter, and include music theory papers (not good news!).

Mom17 - we are doing both state and private 11+ and the exams vary a lot between schools.

I went to school in the next county, which still has 11+. I passed, and would be astonished if Goo didn't (and probably with not too much effort, knowing her) but think Rara wouldn't pass without getting stressed, and might struggle a bit if she got into grammar (mild concentration issues and slow processing). Fortunately, in this county we have no such dilemma, and happened to move into the catchment area of the best state secondary for miles around, long before reproducing. However, two kids from Goo's class and one from Rara's have left or are about to, for the private school where I work. People ask me all the time if we'll send Goo there, but we don't have any income left over to spend on school, would more than likely have to pay full price for Rara, and feel that Goo would actually benefit more from the wider social circle she'll encounter at the state secondary. If music is her number one focus at 16, we'll look at other options for Years 12 and 13, but again, our sixth form college is good, and has a music enrichment programme which is open to kids studying A level music... and not.

NewLife I also love the bit about "giving yourself a little concert"! This is exactly how DD practices, when she is not composing / arranging. She would probably be quite good if she actually practised properly more often (she does know how to do it when she needs to) - but sadly she has no interest in difficulty for the sake of difficulty.

I have been only trying to lurk quickly everyday as things at work has turned out very messy, I told them I wanted to quit even they want me and I need the job, it isnt a good time to find a job in banking these days. The air hasnt been clear at work today and its distracted me from everything else, I could only manage to do minimum at home.

Feeling too guilty and usual thought that money could sort thing I wrote an email to our tutor this morning asking if a new good violin could help her to improve better. Our very kind tutor said no it wont, she hasnt got the technique right and its because her bowing position which unfortunately no bow nor violin could help. Well, I am home early tonight and America is ever (too) high!!!

Theory: I have no idea what she is doing, everything looks foreign to me, we did G4 past papers and she has around 80% on average. She started doing some on the G5 practise book today, a couple of pages I think as most of her afternoon was in the playground.

Piano: very little, almost none. She sight read on her all the whole Fur elise, work on some sonanita from some Russian musicians( our tutor is a Russian). We havent thought of the next step for piano as main focus now is violin and theory. I found her find piano as a relaxing time as violin is so much harder for her. She sits down with her headphone on almost everyday doing some pieces here and then on the piano.

School and academic. I plan for her much less focus on music in yr 5(yr 3 now). She is doing well at school with almost no effort, above exceeding in both maths and English, a book worm and very good mental maths still I havent got a confidence that she could pass an entrance tests of many super duper selective school in SW London. I havent found her a tutor yet, I dont plan for her to start till year 5. From next year we will do some writing, comprehensive, verbal reasoning and all maths related might be 30 mins a day. Lets see. For now I cant think/plan of anything rather than her G3 violin and G5 theory this summer. I am hoping for a pass in theory and again a Merit in violin. Thats our goal.

In the morning with the nanny we could never do anything as the kids wake up at 7.30 and they are very slow in the morning. Afternoon on 2 free of activities days a week then we currently do some theory(aka today). Evening mostly 30 violin these days even 45 mins( loads of tuning and rosin etc in between), piano isnt compulsary as she likes it now and we havent got any plan after G3 last term so whenever she likes it.

Personally I think the excellent academic and all rounded schools which we normally aim for our kids have very high achieving pupils hence the music quality then is high. Its normally both way. I am hoping we could win a place in one of these schools however very aware that the conpetition is fierce.

Thats all from me for now ladies, happy chatting, I will try to join and catch up with everyone whenever I could!

Musicmom we get funny looks also regarding the plan not to tutor. Even a close friend raised an eyebrow when I stated so. It is true, the sibling rule takes the stress away, but I am planning to really let her enjoy her hobbies and let her take the lead. I told her already: she has a place at a top school in the county guaranteed, if she wants another school she'll have to put in the work herself.

Currently (year 4) I am just reminding her it is a good idea to practice a bit of maths/VR, as of Sept I plan to remind her daily, but no way I'll stress about it.

The only decision we'll have to make is if to audition or not for a specialist music school. I said that if indeed she gets to grade 5 piano by next March (bare in mind she isn't playing any exam pieces and the plan is no exam discussion till at least September) and the teacher thinks she is indeed that level we'll discuss auditioning then.

We will visit all the schools this September so she can make her mind up: option 1. No extra work, sibling rule; option 2. Extra academic work for another 11+ school if she decides it suits her better or option 3. Extra music work to audition for the music school.

The good news is that all the secondary schools in question have fantastic music provisions.

Green good luck with all your future plans!

Fleur: thank you and you too. I have read here and realised you dont need to hire someone to tutor your child too early. Doing extra reading, writting, comprehensive, verbal, maths, and then nvr regularly is a key. You sound lovely and very close to your daughter and ifyouhave time then I dont think there could be a better tutor.

I don't mind to send her to tutor even as early as year 4 however I cant find anyone worth coming to yet and I find we have too little time to waste on the not so good ones.

I found a tutor where she could start from year 5, from her website she mentioned an entrance test where she picks up the best 20, well, so I consider her isnt really an option until we know if we could be one of these 20. Even though the tutor wont start until Nov year 5.

Mentioned in here many times however I dont (ever)think our daughter is naturally good at music. We starts seriously on music as she is just too bored with school as there isnt any stretching at her (outstanding) state primary. Even she is given extra work in maths than anyone else she is bored. Her love of learning is amazed me as she has the ethics. Last night we realised the homework wasnt done at 7pm and she stayed late till 10.30 to finish it( her yr 3 homework takes 20 mins normally). This morning before leaving to work I checked her bag and found the most beautiful drawing and a full page of all facts she researched.

Well I will fail her miserably if I cant help her to get into any of these good schools(things might be very opposite for our toddler who has a very very different personality).

Another one he says, but I understand it's only an opinion, so don't shoot me.

Don't practice anything for more than 5 mins.
No explanation, and it bugs me.
I ask why all the time

I have my first pupil and I'm scared to death.
It won't last long but will be some experience. A sax student of dh is starting clarinet as a second, but obviously she isn't starting from scratch.

Don't practice anything for more than 5 mins

Haha! My DD would like that one a whole lot better. I might use the "little concert" one, but I'm going to develop selective amnesia about the 5 minute limit .

PS good luck with the new pupil!

Same here! I didn't even read the "only 5 minutes practice" advice, don't know what you are talking about.

Interesting discussion, thanks all! DD (9 tomorrow!) is v academically able, and seems to be doing fairly well with the clarinet. We wanted her to start music as something that she would have to graft at to see real improvement - it's sort of worked, but she finds it quite easy at the moment. She started swimming lessons for the same reason, and 3 years on with that is really quite good. We're in an 11+ superselective area and she wants to try for the girls grammar, so we're starting to look at preparing for that.

She spent all day at a chess tournament at the weekend, too, which was interesting - her reaction to the whole tournament was rather surprising, and cheering. She was very unfazed by the whole experience, and took it all in her stride. I'm hoping that this carries through to her music exam in the summer! :o

Fleur, your daughter is just 8, so isn't it too early too start 11+ ? just wanted to know how old are DC when they give entrance, I thought they must be 10+. I am so impressed with these exams pattern that I want DS to do all material just for sake of learning. I downloaded lots of past papers and asking DS to do one comprehension everyday ( time given on papers varies from 30 mins to 60 mins). Bond books are really costly when they come to this part of world, just wondering if something really worth is available online ? i.e itunes.apple.com/gb/app/11-+-english-comprehension/id687303955?mt=8 as these are very reasonable. I am looking for high standard /advance material.

Interesting discussion! Our local primary has had kids get to grade 5 by end of year 6 but it's very rare - I know of one child who'll be there this year. dS's grade 3s are good but normal. Getting beyond grade 5 would be more than practising - they must start very early!
At local comprehensive (where ds1 goes and ds2 will follow) there has been an upturn in music activities due to shrinking catchment (cynically, that means more middle-class DCs who did music at primary school) and a very enthusiastic head of department. What's good for ds1 is that we also have the borough music hub and the percussion group he plays in there is around grade 7 standard so he's being really stretched and he wouldn't get that at school.
I suspect both DCs firmly believe that nothing should be practised for more than 5 minutes and ds2 is a prime offender with the mini concert so I have to keep an eye on him! practice overall is about 20-30 minutes of something each day.
I'm glad we chose our local comprehensive. It gives much more time for music and other activities after school and it's a good and friendly school. It won't compete with superselectives on orchestral instruments because a lot of the music kids do drums and guitar and some would rather play football! To be fair,there are also a lot of pianists. So the band is a rather eclectic assortment of instruments but they have a lot of fun and that comes across when they perform!

"Don't practice anything for more than 5 mins"

There's probably a lot of sense in that. I shall try that myself and let you know the efficacy.

mom17 DD is 8 yo but born in August therefore in year 4. So she'll be 9 in August and she is starting year 5. The exams around here are in September of year 6 so in Sept 2017 she'll take the 11+.

Being summer born is a bit of a disadvantage, and I didn't learn the first time, DS is born last day of July.

If DD would have been born a week later she would have been a school year behind which would have given her more time with regards to music achievements before secondary and 11+. But when she'll be 30 I doubt all these details will matter.

Fleur: our daughters only around 4 months apart however 1 year different. I used to so longing for her to start on primary as the nanny cost was roof high and I used to wish if there was a second child let her be born in the summer so we dont have to pay another year for nanny cost hahaha. Luckily my second child is March born so she meets between. I agree it is harder for summer born children with nearly a year younger than their class mate especially in primary school

I do tell dd2 that when she gets stuck on something to move on to something else, before she gets too frustrated. So from that point of view 5 min rule is not bad.

Green it was a bit of a shock when she started school just turned 4 but I wasn't one to think about it when trying to conceive. I only realised she'd be summer born once I did the maths after finding out I was pregnant. I did try to keep my legs crossed hoping to be a week overdue but my kids have fantastic time keeping, both born on their due date.

I am also telling DD to move on when something isn't easily achievable but she is on the stubborn side and she insists on doing it.

But once she tries to leave it till eg the end of practice, she might find she "gets it" much quicker.

Interesting as I think it's good dd2 is July born, as she is already ahead of others..

Mom17, DD will take the 11+ at 10, she's at the younger end of year 4, she's 9 today. Fortunately, our schools standardise for age, so she should actually be at a slight advantage in the exam - summer born, and top of her year academically. The exams are in 2 stages round here, the eligibility test is 2nd week of September, and the second stage is a week or two later.