May/ June Music and Musicians Thread

[Wafflenose]

Welcome, everyone. I can't believe we need a new thread already, but I'm delighted that they now seem so popular!

I'm Waffle, I'm a music teacher and I have two daughters - Goo (10) who plays the recorder, flute, piccolo (a bit) and started the piano a month ago, and Rara (8) who isn't as musically inclined but plays the cello and recorder. She is plodding (very) slowly towards Grade 3 on both.

We're going on holiday this weekend, so will have to have a good read when I get back. For now, I'll wind the thread up and let it do its stuff.

Thanks a lot!

Green really good results in such a short time, I am impressed with minigreen!

Mamareptor DD would have definitely not been ready for formal music lessons at 4. She was ready for a lot of singing though and playing rythm games and so on. She started piano at 6 and she was able to concentrate for 30 min lessons.

Tonight I wanted to watch the EU debate so I told DD to skip practising music and do her music theory instead. She looked at me like I was from another planet.

Green that is amazing! I am in awe of MiniGreen! Also frankly if I'd done that well in a grade 5 theory paper I would be lying on the floor! Love your photos! I might try and take one of DS2 but I'll have to be very sneaky indeed to manage it and he won't let me film him playing.
Waffle if it's any consolation my 14-year-old - and otherwise deeply cool -DS1 is very capable of meltdowns close to music exams. This is why he doesn't do many of them! 😀

I told you all we are not musical, we only try to learn to play. We can never be good if we dont have our heart for it, and I dont see the passion yet(although I havent seen her constant passion for anything neither. Our teacher says almost in every single email now that he only needs her spend 30mins daily half as focus as her studying for the theory then she would be good. I am good at telling her what she is required for the day however I dont know how does she do it(today I asked her to practise violin only if she could however I think it wont happen, had it was theory then she doesnt even need me to tell). Our nanny told me that she brings the book to her room and stay for an hour or so, she doesnt need foods or drink during the time. Our teacher studied music in Russian system where they learn it in "do-re-mi" and he hasnt got and student who studied theory in the past so I was very worried at first how she could understand what he wanted to explain. She although has all the books I could find which I think she might need.
We are more worried about the violin test now however I try not to tell her( I always pretend that I dont care, she has her chance if she doesnt take it then she looses it).

Green thank you for the theory advice for 8 year old. He has made a start and I have all the book+pink book and am paying (a bit) for his 12 year older brother to teach him. They seem to both love it for now-it involves 30 min focused lesson then 2h footy/cricket in the garden. We'll see how it goes.
Well done to miniGreen, excellent theory results!
Mamarepor 4 years old is quite young and depends how mature they are, can they focus for 15-20 min? My other children started their instruments at 6/7, but my youngest started violin at just turned 5 with the Suzuki method. It is early days for him yet, it has only been 6 months with him learning, but he enjoys it and practices every day in the mornings before school for short spells of 10-15 min. In his case, he wanted to do violin and as everyone else in the house plays, he felt left out. It is hard work for me to teach him though...much easier when they are older 6/7.

mamaraptor - I don't think many teachers would recommend piano for a 4-year-old, simply because independent movement of fingers will not have yet developed at the level of strength that is required to play it. And hand & finger size is a problem at that age, because while you can some instruments like violin in sizes that work for a child, everyone plays the same (adult) piano.

DD was chosen for a special elementary school class for musically talented children that is integrated into the local conservatory, and there children start their instruments at age 7. Before then, they learn about music theory, operas, singing, etc.

Congratulations to all DC succeeding in their music exams

Our saturday music school take reception children for the "Introduction to music" classes where they make a noise. And if I remember correctly around year 1 (5/6 years old?) they get given 4 instruments over the year to try out to see what they like. I think they also have classes for younger ones but it would be singing, rhythm and such like rather than playing Rachmaninov.

I have so much admiration for the teachers who take these classes. At the end of the year and at Christmas the little ones do an item in the concert and they are SO SWEET.

OK that sounds a bit patronising but it's not meant to be! I'm sure there are many children who are able to start instruments properly at a very young age but having a more general musical education at a young age is also very important and stand you in good stead when you do start.

Cote I printed Les Sauvages and left it in the office. > My printer doesn't quite work ATM. Never have I looked forward so much to Monday and going in to the office again!

I started with Rameau's which of course is pretty easy. I might attempt Les Sauvages next. Meanwhile, I'm perfecting by Bach

Les Sauvages looks a bit daunting for me for now, but let me know how you get on with it I'd be dashing back to the office in your place.

Well done mini green! Scores sound excellent!

Green excellent G5 theory marks in past papers.... any recommendations from you, Pradaqueen or others to try and encourage an 8yo girl to check answers on past papers in theory? She says she is 'allergic to theory' and I am rapidly becoming allergic to helping her with her theory!

La Boiteuse sounds very good! May have to add that to my list. I'm a sucker for minor key things....

Pls do not take my advice until she has sat the test might be until we have the result. We have very small for theory, we are aiming for a pass only. I personally think its more important to have high practical result. We only are sitting for it because we aim to do higher than grade 5 in couple of years time and she isnt that busy right now yet(only 1 chess, 1 French and 1 weekend swimming on top of music, her school is super relaxed in terms of homework, we didnt have any last midterm and I received our teacher reply today she has 83% on test B2014. It varies, we had 62% on the first one, 74-76 on the next then 80-82. Then the last 4 papers were over than 92%. I think like any other exam what you perform on the day is very important especially a 8 years old who has never sat a writting test in her life, things can go well abd can go wrong. We keep telling her that we aim for 66% and even if we fail there isnt a consequence, we will take it as a mock and sit again next term. It hasnt occured to her as a big deal, I think she is more concerned about violin test as I made a clear point to our teacher that tell us if we are ready for any test if he is sure she can get a merit(which then if she has a bad day then it will still be a pass, otherwise we will carry on to practise). We wont apply for scholarship, the schools we aim for her only offer music lessons for free, compare with the pressure then it wont worth it for us. We are hoping to be in the school Orchestra and play well from beginning though

I shouldnt post when I havent reread it, will learn it next time. However what I meant earlier was my daughter school's homework is very little. She didnt have any homework for midterm. During the term homework takes her 30mins max. I dont want her to do any extra maths and English yet(many of my friends are, just my personal view) so after school she has 2-3 hours of her play time when she can spend 30 mins to read on music theory. We have to see the sight reading result after the violin test however theory has helped her sightread massively. She learnt Fur Elise by herself(not being able to play it nicely yet but gave no issue with sight reading, she isnt afraid when being given a new surprise piece to read). So there isnt a harm.

I learnt 1 lesson in our journey though which for my second child theory will be in parallel with practical in terms of grade, this however is hapening for everyone here. We didnt know it because our teacher isnt familiar with abrsm and it wasnt occurred to him. I must say this to justify for our teacher that even we didnt learn any abrsm theory before March however his teaching must be very good so that she read the grade 1-2-3 books for few hours each and did past papers and managed to get 90% easily. So she must have some level of theory solidly from the practical lessons. She found grade 4-5 are hard(this child has never said anything hard in her life). I think its because we are only grade 3 in practical, had we done grade 4-5 then it wont be an issue. Also I think for a secondary children, has done grade 4 practical then it might take them couple of weeks with no issue. So if you can wait, it might be better.

Stupid question alert: is there only 1 "music theory" or a set of exams for Music theory for each instrument?

DS is v keen about knowing the why behind everything, so I was thinking of getting him a grade 1 music theory workbook to work through just for fun over the summer holidays, but would I need to get him one for recorder, and then he would do it again when he switched instrument?

BeBeside yes, only one music theory, I recommend these books aimed at little ones and they progress quite lovely moving from introducing basic concepts to grade 1, 2 etc level. My DD loves them, she's on grade 2. The first ones have stickers, colouring in, matching pairs and so on which she loved when she started them age 6. They grow up with them if that makes sense so grade 1 has some pictures but no more stickers or colouring in for example

Music Theory Made Easy for Kids, Level 1 (Made Easy (Alfred)) www.amazon.co.uk/dp/9679856038/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_.cSwxbZG71Y5T

Just to confirm the order: it starts with the one above (level 1) then level 2 then "My first theory book" and it then moves into grades.

So my DD completed 4 books (including grade 1) by the time she moved to grade 2 theory but I find that it gives them a great foundation by repeating the same info in different format. You could jump over some of them though or move straight to grade 1 but the earlier ones are more fun for 6 yo.

Thank you Fleur, that is a brilliant recommendation. Amazon here I come...

Have just had conversation with dd teacher, well dh has.
Apparently, she is very lazy and they are upping the ante? anti ? next year.
She is getting good results and doing well in assessments, but sitting back on her laurels a bit.
Not sure what to think tbh. Dh reckons she needs it and she won't crack with pressure, but I'm not 100% sure.
She'll be playing 3 saxophones, clarinet, piano and singing.

I'm trying to get some sort of time structure for her practice over the holidays as they are still expected to work, but can't get it down to less than 2.45 hours a day, which is too much during the holidays.
She usually does a couple of hours but not everyday during the hols iyswim.

New That is a mind-boggling amount of practice! obviously school has seen a lot of potential in your DD.
In theory news here, DS1 is moving onto the grade 5 workbook so hopefully on track for Autumn term exam. DS2 was so tired he fell asleep in bed before the lesson and I left him there as he's doing CATS tests this morning!

I am yet to catch up with the news of this thread, but have a quick questing about aural test (grade 4). One part of it is "To sing or play from memory a melody played twice by the examiner". The teacher told me that dd will be playing from memory. I know she can do it but it still worries me as I understand it is less conventional way of doing things. Is there anything I have to be particularly aware of?

By the way, we tried aural books app for this purpose and it still works, does not matter if a child sings or plays on a musical instrument.

Another question is - how many rehearsals do your dc have with the accompaniment (where applicable)?

Newlife: music school is tough, miniNew is doing really well, I cant imagine mine is practising that much
Only: our teacher and my daughter have been practising with piano the last couple of lessons. I asked my teacher to come 45 mins early so we could do 20 mins practise just before the test then go to the test centre together. Best of luck to miniOnly

Onlymusic

If she is playing her pieces from memory make sure she is familiar with the music markings as obviously she won't be able to see them.
Things like speed, change of tempo, dynamic, any crescendos etc.

Yes, the examiner will play a short phrase and your dd will sing it back or play on instrument whichever she prefers. Most people sing it back, but
either is acceptable.

Now, dd would have a few rehearsals as she has an accompanist allocated to her, but previously with the LA she got one rehearsal in a 20 min slot, but if there were any problems the accompanist would continue until you were happy. Even it it meant leaving the next person a little late.