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.

Icouldbe I hope you are enjoying the new instrument.

I am also impressed by 8yo grade 7 violin, well done to her! What age did she start?

Quickly dropping by to thank NothBothered12 (good luck with the move and dance exams - aaaaghh!) and MusicMom concerning cello make and ideas on quality strings - much appreciated.

Hi Green, definitely get the G3 aural CD it has all the tasks expected on it x

Prada, we have it will put it in the car for the trip next week, thank you. (it wasnt even listened once for piano G3 so we well deserved the fail in aural)

I have dd aged 9 who did grade 2 clarinet last term. Myself and her teacher were happy for her to bypass 3 and go to grade 4 but she doesn't want to so we are doing some learning grade 3 scales and practicing some higher notes (sorry neighbours!) whilst playing non exam pieces and we will maybe look at them in the autumn.

I thought we were having a quiet term but have had a letter today to say she has been selected for an orchestra in a day thing, and she also has a big concert in July as well as a performance in the park with her band in June so not as quiet as I thought!

She is also nagging about a second instrument but is still undecided what. We haven't been able to try a saxophone which I think is probably the current favourite and I think that's holding back the decision at the moment.

Have a good trip Green! I won't be sad to never listen to those CD's again....'

woolley can I ask what age did your DD start clarinet? Good luck with the concert and orchestra, sounds good!

Enjoy the cd Green we found it fun and joined in with the clapping and singing.

We finally have the date for DD's audition - 15th June. Which is good as it gives her nearly 3 more weeks to prepare including one week when she will be doing work experience at our local GP practice and will have either morning or afternoons free (she's doing shifts 8-2 or 2-8).

She's playing a Chopin nocturne (the easy one, op 73 in E minor). She's never performed such a long piano work before (actually she's never really performed ANY piano work before LOL), and I was wondering if anyone had any advice for perfecting long pieces. She knows the whole thing by heart and the first two pages are nearly perfect. There are still some parts of the fast section where she is not at all full speed (long semi-quaver runs with triplets in the LH), and there are some hesitations on the final page which I think are more to do with lack of stamina/ concentration.

What is the best way to work it? Obviously I want her to work at the whole piece as well as individual phrases which aren't quite there yet, but it's a question of balance. What's the best use of her time in the run up to the performance? Any advice more than welcome!

What my teacher told me: concentrate on a few phrases at a time. Half speed until you can do it perfectly at least 3 times. Then up the speed by 20 or so. Play till perfect at least 3 times. Then up speed. Repeat till your family or neighbours kill you ...

That was ages ago. I expect the advice still holds...

Mistigiri
don't always start practice at beginning of piece. Start with part which still needs work. Dedicate most of the time to it.
At the end of practice, play all the way to the end from the beginning never stopping even if you make a mistake, like in the real thing

Fleur, she started at just turned 8, will be two years in September. She was very set on playing the clarinet having tried one about two years earlier, even though it meant waiting longer than her friends to start playing an instrument. She is developing a real love for Blues type music and having been to some concerts with her band that they have shared with others she is glad to be playing a wind instrument as she loves the music they play in general.

We had happy tears on the way home from school when I told her about the orchestra day because"it's always strings that get in" and she was competing with up to year 6 to get a place (she is year 4).

Misti same advice from Dd's teacher usually, identify the bits needing work, play those bars mostly till the results are as desired, move to the next bars, play the whole piece at the end of the practice session by adding it all back together. Always break the piece down into small chunks to practice until happy with the result before moving on to the next part.

Woolley well done to your DD for getting into the orchestra! She made very good progress since she began if only playing for less than 2 years.

She's at the stage where slowing it down just introduces errors (except in the fast bit).

Obviously she does practice it in sections, but the issue is that there are bits she can play perfectly in isolation, but where she will make errors if she plays from the start (loss of concentration?). Not sure quite where the right balance is between working on phrases and sections and playing the whole thing.

Hi Woolley - your DD sounds very good and committed; have you thought of auditioning for the nco in the autumn - orchestras are always on the lookout for strong wind players to keep up with this strings😉

musicathome76 I highly recommend the Aural CDs - perfect for car journeys

Fleurdelise; thank you! She started 4 years ago just before her 5th birthday and is now coming up to her 9th birthday - she got to Grade 5 in 2.5yrs and has then spent 1.5yrs working up to Grade 7 (and G5 theory!). Despite high marks all round she wants to be a ballerina (not quite as talented but totally inspired!). Violin is 'just a hobby' whereas ballet is her passion

Looseattheseams and Pradaqueen - thanks re: house move. I have a big car... big enough for instruments, music, stands - just so they don't get lost or injured!

Misti I know what you mean about errors when slowing down. If it was me I would be bloodyminded enough to do it slowly until the errors disappear.

Sometimes phrases are OK on their own but not in context - for those I would learn the "crossing" of the "borders", making sure I can do the end of one phrase through to the beginning of the other. Did you say it was Chopin? Is there a particular type of thing that she gets wrong, like leaps or strange chords?

I'm only saying things from my experience of playing myself. No idea how you teach ...

Our clarinet (Colin) usually stays together Saturday to Wednesday every week and it does help with spontaneous practice.

MusicMom, dd's two best friends are very talented strings players (who also play the piano and sing) and she is the only clarinetist in school so she often feels a little in competition with them.

I'm not sure she is up to NCO standards, I think she would always be playing catch up to the grades they expect.

Does anyone know of any good Saturday music schools in the south east or at a push London (for a grade 2-3 player, all the London ones I have looked at are for much higher grades). Dd loves her wind band and wants to do more ensemble stuff, and I would like it if she could do some theory/musicianship stuff.

Fleur.. We generally leave dd's clarinet out for 5 days out of 7.
We haven't had any problems.
We usually clean it in sections and regrease the corks ( we use pure lanolin) at the same time.
We've oiled it once since we've had it.. But it was recently serviced and they oiled it again

Leaving it out makes a huge difference to practice I think. Dd practices a lot in passing...but then will pick it up for a big session to backing music.

Misti
I was going to recommend working on the transitions too.

So when DD plays perfectly in isolated bars but makes the same mistakes when putting the whole piece together (admittedly not on Chopin level but I guess it is the same principle) her teacher asks her to isolate the piece earlier so start a bar before the mistake occurs, play that on repeat a few times (sometimes she says ten times in a row without mistakes for the muscle memory to erase the mistake and play it right) and then try the whole piece again or move a bar or two earlier in the piece until you build up to the beginning. Does it make sense? So you start where the mistake occurs, play it perfectly and work your way backwards to the beginning.

Musicdoc that is great fast progress, well done to your DD.

Thank you all for the clari advice, we'll leave it in one piece for a couple of days.

Woolley - not necessarily so, esp if she is used to orchestra playing and sight reading....

Fleur - we use a stand but I do clean (dry!) before it goes on the stand; best gadget we have bought sling with the cello stand! On stamina - it took DD a while to get up yo stamina and even now we will need to put longer sessions in ahead of the nco summer course or else she will atryggle with long playing days. However DD is asthmatic and clatinet and swimming have improved her lung function hugely

Musicmom thank you! Tonight I actually heard the notes properly, firm and beautiful. It seems like the before and after piano helps as she doesn't get frustrated loosing her breath. She does her little song (ffdfffeed) about three times, then piano, then another three times after and she is now happy.

Dd's clarinet has a name, are you all ready? May I introduce you to .... (Druming.....) Claire the clarinet!