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.

Which piano transcription, NeverEver?

I have been giving a lot of attention to La Boiteuse and the Bach prelude I linked to earlier. I played the prelude about 100 times today, I think. Not sure what the neighbours thought but DH did look a bit unhappy towards the end of the day I also started Le Rappel des Oiseaux and you know what? It's not that hard!

Loose and Prada - congratulations with the exam results, your dc are and enjoy the rest of the summer!

Exam or no exams????Well, I only had piano lessons for 3 years (played few other instruments but piano favourite). Some of the pieces I played are in the current syllabus, Inc Chopin grade 8. Didn't do exams ( not from UK) , would never have passed any exams. And although in number of pieces I may have played more than DD 1 and dd2, they play from a much wider repertoire than I have ever played, just by doing exams. I have never played a modern piece or" part c piece".
And for what it's worth, 35 years later, I can hardly play anything at all.....
As it happens, both DD like doing exams, while dc1 has only done 1 exam and hated it.

Cote Like this: .

I linked to some earlier. Will try to find them.

Fleurdelise, If a child starts at 4 and progresses with an average speed of a grade/year - it is grade 8 at 12... Not all children would do it but I believe there is a fair number that would.... And one year is quite a long time....
I am not sure if I would like my dd to become a musician as I think it is a very hard work for a female, but if I have to choose I would rather dd to be a musician than ds

Good luck with 11+ ! (in a future) I consider it too but not sure as it means moving out of area.

Thank you CoteDAzur, will look at the recommended music. I am trying orchestral suits now, I must admit-it is a bit heavy for my not so trained ears :) but last time I listened to it I noticed I almost enjoyed it :)

*Cote petrucci.mus.auth.gr/imglnks/usimg/c/ce/IMSLP07753-Busoni_Bach_Ten_Choral_Preludes_KiV_B_27.pdf

So Le Rappel des Oiseaux is doable, eh? Hmm. My list is getting a bit too long now ...

Talking about exams again - what do you guys think about examiners who assess instruments other than those they play? Do you think their judgment is mostly fair?

Phew! I am fully updated with this thread now!

I don't think very hard about exams. I did lots of them when growing up but also played lots of other things. DC can do as many or as few as they wish ...

(must live in another world. I, in our primary school. There have been hardly a handful that have passes grade 3 in the last 10 years)

Thanks for that NeverEver. I'll get DH to print them and have a try.

Some of them look a bit... um... unreasonable, though, especially where it says to press keys across a full octave at the same time.

loose and Prada, I've lost the page with the results, looking for it now.
Congratulations to them both, a well earned rest is due soon.
Now I'm going to scroll back to find them.
I was only saying in a pm the other day, i seem to miss a lot of posts and don't congratulate and then thread has moved on next time.

So, CONGRATULATIONS! and/or Good luck to those who are later part of session.

Cote Watchet Auf was my first experience in playing a transcription. I tried a few different transcription - some are more unreasonable than others. But in all it feels like you have to have at least 3 hands. I'm trying "sheep may safely graze" now ...

But I think that version of Watchet Auf is playable...

onlymusic I like generalist examiners - they are meant to examine what they hear, although it's OK to comment on not enough bow/ inappropriate breathing, phrasing, etc. Many have been heads of music departments previously, or professional performers who've played with various other instrumentalists, or festival adjudicators who have seen it all. There's often been mention of employing specialist examiners, and that thought always fills me with dread. They would know EXACTLY what fingering you should have used, where you should have taken a breath (or whatever), and for Grade 2/3 clarinets (of which I have a few right now) they would be right on the case, if the child should try to use the tongue to negotiate the break. I think it would impact negatively on results, but I realise that's a very unpopular view! However, I'm just an ordinary teacher, and know full well how hard it is for beginner strings to play in tune, and for little flautists to conserve their breath, and pianists to use all four limbs. I'd like to think I'd be a sympathetic examiner!

On a side track, Anyone of you Bach fans watched the ( now old) movie Amadeus? And Mozart 's not too flattering interpretation' s of Bach. Just thinking of it as ( when looking for the aural exam cd few days ago) found the dvd.....

Oh... so back to your question... I have taken 30 music exams, and entered 300-400 candidates over the years. On all but three days, I've felt the results were fair. Once with ABRSM (about 15 years ago) the results all came back about 10 marks too low, and by the time I realised it wasn't just me, it was too late to do anything about it. Maybe 5 or so years ago, I had the same with Trinity, and boss (who'd entered them through the school) basically said, "Oh well, tough luck". The following term, the Trinity marks were unduly generous. Nobody was complaining then... but I was slightly annoyed that pupils who really hadn't worked hard enough were all rewarded with merits and distinctions! In a career spanning nearly 20 years, though, I haven't had many surprises from the major exam boards.

exampanic I think I remember the bit - was it when he played lying down at the party and then his father turned up?

Amadeus at the National Theatre.

Ha, yes that's it. Interesting it's running in theatres. When dh travels to his home country he always buys lots of DVDs but struggled to find this one, took him a few years/ visits!
Planning to watch it with dd2

Gosh I am loosing track with the thread, I am mainly typing from my phone so when it moves on so quick it is hard to keep track, apologies if I am loosing any good news without congratulating DCs.

Waffle that was what Dd's piano teacher was saying last time that all her students have been about 10-15 marks lower than expected, she was happy that she only puts them in when she thinks there is a high merit/distinction as in this case it was her safety net. All her predicted merits became passes and all the predicted distinctions became merits. She only had a couple of distinctions but she was expecting a higher number.

CoteDAzur
Some of them look a bit... um... unreasonable, though, especially where it says to press keys across a full octave at the same time.

Wafflenose thank you for you opinion and insight. It is interesting, I have to think a bit more about it :)

exampanic I don't think I watched it though it rings a bell.... Or was it a song called Amadeus long time ago?....

Wafflenose there was a situation recently (few terms ago) where all the people I knew as well as friend's students seemed to get distinctions. Dd also had distinction and I must admit I felt very skeptical about it esp it was pretty low distinction.