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!

Don't forget that a young male teacher may not be used to lively little girls - they are a force to be reckoned with, and quite right too! My boys have three little girl cousins and they know resistance is futile!
I hope the stickers suggestion wasn't a cliche but I remember how pleased I was to get 2 last year for sight reading!
Theory is catching up with me now. My teacher has told me to get the grade 4 practice papers. She is going to set homework. Gibber!

Greenleave do we share the same daughter???
Mine does the same and yet, I have a strange feeling (which may be only my feeling and nothing to do with reality) that something is changing....But the main thing you aware of it and everything is under control :)

Fleurdelise, I don't know why but I am very pro Abrsm, and don't want to cheat on them with Trinity board :) I know a child though who recently moved to Trinity for this reason, don't know what our teachers will decide, but I personally would rather miss few practical grades....

Don't forget that you can use grade 5 jazz or practical musicianship to allow you to move on to grade 6 practical. My dd did practical musicianship and found it miles easier than theory.

lemanitoba I didn't know that, thank you! Something to consider

Hi all just found this thread, so cool to read about what everyone's doing - lots of talented dc out there!!

I am v. keen for DC to be musical and love music but that is in conflict the knowledge that if I am a bit pushy I will put them off - DD is on the list to be assessed for ASD and while she loves music I want to be careful she doesn't start equating it with stressful things! She has been doing piano since Sept and does do a bit of practice everyday as well as playing around with chords, black notes, sounds etc. She also does keyboard and recorder at school and plays the recorder in a wind/brass band at our local Music Centre on Saturdays. That is a bit of a weird one - I first took her along as a bit of a experiment and was a bit freaked out seeing her with her £10 recorder (I've since got her a better one!!) amongst all the really experienced flutes etc but surprisingly she really enjoyed it. She is the only recorder, bar the teacher who plays with her sometimes - I'm not sure what parts they put in for her but I imagine quite filler-y ones. Anyway I am glad she is kind of getting the orchestra experience which is all new to me.

Recently we went to a Noisy Kids thingy and she had an opportunity to play some of the instruments afterwards - was surprisingly good at the trumpet IMHO (in that it made the right sound and she played a few notes by twiddling (??) the valves. I was perhaps a bit over enthusiastic so now she wants to play the cornet. She is little for her age (just turned 8) so I'm assuming cornet is best? Again I don't want to put her off - she would probably stay on recorder quite happily to be honest.

Also have DS who is four and half and all about the willie bum bums right now so NO idea what to do with him :)

I think trumpet is fine at that age, as long as their front teeth have grown in. But cornet is great as they can join a brass band. Brass bands are amazing - they can play real music in lots of proper concerts almost as soon as they start learning, and it's either free or costs next to nothing. Schools are also fine with having cornets in school orchestra, and it's great for jazz band.

Hi Lucysnowe. My son started learning the trumpet at the beginning of Year 3 (at 7 1/2). Cornet might be best from a size point of view (if your DD is still quite petite) but ask a brass teacher for advice. As lemanitoba says, you can play simple and well known tunes almost from the start of picking up the instrument. Some of the DC on this thread are amazing recorder players though - don't discount it as an instrument in its own right. Recorder players have made it to the finals of Young Musician in two of the last three series.

Loose DS will also do the two year music GCSE. There was the talk amongst the parents at school that it was a waste of time for the students already doing music at a high level. But DS, who jumps with joy when he checks his timetable in the morning and realizes he has music lesson (the curriculum one), would not hear of not taking it. He's had the Head of Music teaching him the curriculum music lesson for three years and he's absolutely loved it in spite of being slightly ahead of the game. Personally, I am glad he chose it. At least that's a subject that won't clash with his other music activities.

RE PRACTICE talk on this thread, I once read that you need to add 10 min for every grade, so if preparing Gr6, you should be doing 60 min everyday. By this rule, DS would have to be doing 80X3: 240 minutes of practice everyday..... plus homework plus after school ensembles. On Monday he came home at 5:45 and had 2 and a half hours of homework

AaoograhaHoa I think it is normal to want to know how well you DCs are doing, not necessarily pushy.

I said even 3 years to get to grade 1 as it depends a lot on the level of practice at home. In all honesty the lesson is mainly for introducing new concepts but the real work happens at home practising. So if a child is explained something but not practising therefore not achieving the task the following lesson would be spend on practising the same task again. So not much progress. DD did grade 1 piano after 18 months but she did practise every day and generally achieved the previous task in order to move on. So progress in our case was proportional to the level of practice she put in.

onlymusic I feel the same about abrsm/trinity so if she does get to grade 5 practical and not ready for theory by the time she's ready for grade 6 I think skipping and taking the practical she's ready for after grade 5 theory is the best idea. But I won't push for it, I rather her enjoy her music regardless of grades at the moment.

Her teacher (piano and violin) did exams with both abrsm and trinity one instrument with one board and the other with the other board. She holds both in high regard, uses abrsm for her students mainly because it is easier to have them all on one board. But suggested that if we do get stuck she could do an exam with trinity until grade 5 theory is achieved. We'll see what the next couple of years bring.

I think music is the GCSE that DS1 was most determined to do! He has really enjoyed school music lessons, too. I'm a bit concerned about him doing art as well but only because he seems to excel at not finishing things. Hopefully, his teacher will impose enough interim deadlines.
Not sure we can ever match that practice. i think he does a reasonable amount along with groups but nothing startling. He is focusing on percussion at the moment as he has an exam a week on Friday.

Music GCSE - They have enough pressure on them in Y11, having one "easy" subject gives them a bit less to do overall. I got the impression that certain teachers saw it as a waste of a GCSE slot but it's not - what's the point in DS studying something that he's got no interest in (which is most subjects) over the subject that he wants to take to degree level.

Pro tip - keep your own copy of the sheet music they use for their GCSE performances. Five months after the recording the teacher had misplaced the copy we'd given them and we were running around trying to remember which band it was we originally borrowed the music from. It was not a fun time - if I can't be a good example then at least I can be a terrible warning.

Dd's violin teacher said that practicing should take for at least two hours but realistically it is about 30 mins . However, when I asked about routine and tried to implement it - it takes at least one hour! So I am trying to figure out what is the best way to deal with it....

Btw, how often your dc practicing scales and arpeggios? Is it every practice/mainly before the exam/few times a week/all of them/only some?

Fleurdelise basically agreed with your thoughts on theory exam and switching boards. Dd will be at least 9+ when ready for grade 5, may be even 10, so she may be ready for the theory exam by that time anyway or may drop all together! But as there is no music scholarship/music school/etc on the agenda I don't really care about practical exams, only about steady progress and enjoyment as we had huge issue with it recently, but sorted it out for the time being.

onlymusic DD (8 yo also) does about 45 min to an hour practice now. By the time she does all that was assigned to practice that is how long it takes. She does practice her scales every day but not all of them, so now she started grade 4 scales she only does those, I understand that all minor and major scales are needed for grade 5 so hopefully the previous ones will still be known by the time she needs them, I don't think she can do all of them as it would take a while and increase her piano practice by a considerable amount of time. But now that you mentioned it I may make a list of all the grade 1 to 4 scales and once every couple of weeks bring the older ones to life in a quick practice session.

What was the huge issue btw? so curious

Yes Onlymusic I remember DS1,s homework at primary school and certainly remember him spending the full amount of the time suggested, but 3/4 of that was tantrums and being persuaded to do it! DS2 was and is a lot easier.
Icouldbe thanks for the top tip! Just wanted to wish your DS all the best in all his GCSEs - I know music will go well!

Thank you Fleurdelise, does 45 mins include one or two instruments? We mainly ignore piano nowadays, feel like we are approaching new problem as piano is a bit difficult to her therefore regular practice is essential.....

The issue was a total refusal to practice (just as LooseAtTheSeams said 3/4 of 2 hours were tantrums, etc) and request to stop lessons eventually

Drummers , Loose, Icouldbe and Leman I am pleased there are others who have very musical dc doing GCSE .. It will be interesting to see how the boards vary.
Icould .. I am really glad your ds has enjoyed it so much. Dd's form tutor was a bit negative about choosing it as an option ( because dd is on higher grades) but we thought it would be the best choice because she is still so young (plus she most of her free time doing it anyway and I want her to have fun!)
Thanks also for top tip about sheet music
Dd is doing it in year 9 ( she's currently year 8.). The school pack a 2 year course into a year (do the same hours of teaching as a 2 year course but condense it into a year) .. So I'm hoping it will work out well 😊

onlymusic just piano. She gets assigned a lot to practice these days so it does take a bit. No complaints yet, but I am waiting for it...

trout one of dS's friends has grade 7 trombone and is going to do GCSE music and is completely happy!
It was nice at the options evening as the teacher was so encouraging and when she heard DS1 was doing grade 5 theory said briskly, 'excellent. That will get you on the A level course.' His face was a picture!
only the worst is when someone else's kid apparently is happy to "just sit down and do the homework in twenty minutes!" But I'd rather have a quirky child!

Drummersmum

I think that GCSE and A level music are good choices for advanced players, even if they consider it an easy GCSE.
At dd school even those who are taking diplomas post grade 8 have to take both GCSE and A level, it's as compulsory as Maths and English.

maybe because it is different to taking grades some see it as less important but even at conservatoire level they like to see that curriculum music was studied at school.
People are surprised that dd is doing KS3 music, it's a school and I'm not sure what they expect. All schools have to do it.

Fleurdelise thank you, then I should relax with our practice and not to worry too much about time spent but rather keep the momentum going....

LooseAtTheSeams you tell me! I know exactly how it feels and under no illusion that my dd may return to her old ways, but at the moment I just enjoy seeing her practicing if not with a great joy but at least without arguing! .

Fleur.

I laminated pieces of card with different scales on them and placed them in 2 jars.
In one were all the scales known/ past grades.
In the other were the latest grade being studied.
Scale practice was half of each jar.
Oh, a third jar was used for the ones she got right, when all were in third jar, she started again. In order to consider them right they had to be played 3 times in succession without mistakes.

It also helps with concentration and practising playing them right not wrong, because practice makes permanent, not perfect.

I've listened to some very good teachers in my time, this isn't my work at all

Oh, we had the jars too. DS took Trinity and could get away with not knowing his scales (there was an option to do exercises and he always chose that). When he wanted to audition for something that asked for all the G8 scales he needed to learn them in a hurry. We had two kilner jars with slips of paper in, I think he liked sticking his hand in and coming out with a handful of scales.

Right, that's it - I am doing the jars thing!
Cello teacher just wrote down scales pot. Now I see what she means! [ smile]