July Music and Musicians Thread

[Wafflenose]

Welcome to wet July (well it's wet here) and a new thread. This is the place where we can talk about all things musical, like music lessons, exams, practice and new instruments. I am a music teacher (woodwind) and have two daughters. Goo is 10 and her first instrument is recorder, although on paper, flute has now caught up. She plays flute in NCO Under 11s, has just received the difficult bits she's meant to work on, so is finally cracking on with sorting out her piccolo. She started piano lessons at Easter and is going fast, currently playing Grade 3 pieces, and working through the Grade 2 sight reading and Dozen a Day books. Rara is 8 and far less keen - we are still currently trying to figure out what she really enjoys so that we can encourage her. But for now, she's learning the recorder and cello, and is between Grade 2 and 3 on both.

Goo did her flute exam on June 23rd, and now won't have any until at least March, or next June if I can push for that. Rara will probably do Grade 3 Recorder at Christmas. I have had a quiet exam term for my pupils - 7 altogether. 4 are already safely through (3 merits and a distinction), we are awaiting results for a Grade 6 Theory, and I have a couple of clarinettists still to go on Monday.

All good in the raspberry household! Very happy DD.

Temporary diversion over, back to thinking about music events next term now!

I am abroad! A quick YEAH!! for Prada and Raspberry!

Just catching up - well done MiniPrada and MiniRaspberry! I bet it feels good to have the results out of the way!
DS2 took his keyboard on holiday but only the music for The Entertainer. I no longer like it as much as I used to! I have heard it slightly too much...

Thanks guys! 11+ next stop 😱

Back home. Sad the holidays are over... DS has grown so much during the summer, I think it's the sleeping. Back to school on Thursday already!
Prada, the 11+ was tough but actually quite exciting and packed with things to do and things to hope for. Looking back now, it was an adventure far better than the tediousness of other times in our lives. I don't know if other people feel the same way about it, though

onlymusic I forgot to say that "To Music" has been my holiday book and I loved it. At first, I thought he was repeating himself too much then I understood that he writes as he composes, so repetition is actually the return of a theme, like in music, and the overall effect is quite spellbinding. Thanks so much for the recommendation!
I truly recommend "Body and Soul" which is a superb book about a similar gifted boy and his piano career. Very beautifully written.

Hi everyone, was away so need to catch up with everyone's news.
drummersmum I am glad you liked it, I am going to order "Body and Soul" too, wanted to check if it is available in the local library first, which is not.

I need some thoughts please. I was thinking about our piano lessons, I really cannot see how we can manage two instruments on an equally good level. She is due to sit piano grade 4, hopefully, but it takes so much time and she could dedicate this time to her violin. And she is clearly not a pianist. Even if she gets good marks she is comfortable grade 2 to 3 and definitely not grades 3-4. After some consideration I decided to speak to the piano teacher and ask her to carry on lessons for few years without taking exams, etc and when violin is done or she is older (she is 8 now) to start taking exams again-by this time she is stronger, more mature and hopefully more responsible and organised. Meantime just to play some staff for fun and without any pressure. Two things that bother me

1. how teacher may react? I think teacher realises that piano is not her main instrument but if I were the teacher I would probably be upset. This is not to mention that it looks like I am telling her what to do
2. dd actually likes piano, but if she is ever good at music it is clearly not going to be due to her piano playing Do you think I should speak to the teacher? Or just leave everything as it is? At the moment we are progressing grade/year with piano but I feel we spend too much time preparing grade pieces whilst she could just play something easy without spending too much time polishing the pieces. But my main worry is her violin and how piano lessons affect it

Hi Only DD1 started violin and piano at 7. I taught her both so didn't have to negotiate with a teacher and didn't bother with the exams at the early stages. DD1 found piano challenging in the early stages. She was much better at violin to start with and preferred it, but the opposite is true now. It is absolutely possible to skip piano grades but in order to progress you eventually need to be fluent in all the scales and put in the tedious work to make pieces fluent.

Our experience at least is that, if you keep practising 10-15 minutes most days piano will progress without becoming an overwhelming chore. Then it is pretty straightforward to start taking it more seriously if you want to / have time.

I worried about teachers finding me interfering but it has never been my experience. My 2 have me teaching strings, a piano teacher, a brass and woodwind teacher respectively and input from various ensemble leaders. So far there has never been a clash and the collaborative input has been very positive. I do make a conscious effort to manage communications and the demands on the DDs though.

Only I think the piano teacher will be ready to listen and understand your input. You're making a very valid point and they should be open to it. DS2's exam results would be better in cello or piano if he only did one but he loves both, even if his practising is a bit haywire! But I am wondering about the next stage for piano and whether he should have a term of playing non-exam pieces, using that to build up a good practice routine. (He plays piano a lot but it takes a while to switch him to what he should be doing!)
Not the same thing, but DS1 has put exams to one side on drums and focused on technique and I think he is way ahead of where he would have been otherwise! He is doing exams in two other instruments but keeping them at least two terms apart!

Alexandra 😱😱😱😱😱

Only - I would speak to the Teacher. A good one will understand but my experience here is that you can keep both on a similar par even if there is a preference for one over another.

Alexandra just as well you caught up with him! Good to hear he's recording his songs. DS1 now has 2 very different bass lines for his EPQ composition and no clue what to do with either of them.
In other news he's got to L in his alphabet project for art and he has one week left to finish it. Luckily I am away for work for a few days and he will be at grandparents so hopefully he can get most of the rest of it done before next weekend, when I predict wailing, recriminations and much flinging of self on sofa. And that's just me

😂😂 Alexandra and Loose!

Drummer, I'm hoping I will see your point of view in the future. Right now, I'm like wtf is the missing word in the sentence / shape in the sequence I don't know either....grrrrr.

OMG Alexandra

only All DS's music teachers (on all instruments) were very happy when I said that we don't want to do exams.

Alexandra I'm afraid I giggled at the idea of your pants getting 53 views. Almost all our photos have laundry in them ...

Only - ditto - dd's teachers are v happy not to follow the exam route, or to do so infrequently.

Prada - dd's first secondary school entrance exam on 10/9......I fear we are not ready 😳

Alexandra

Only none of our teachers have insisted on exam route.

Anybody's DC going to NYO Inspire day at Leeds?

We are dithering about buying a violin ... Not sure why ... Probably just the weather ...

Musicmom first exam 10th here also 😳

Thanks everyone for your opinions. Spoke to the teacher, she was very understanding and it was decided not to do any exams in the foreseeable future, only to learn scales and play for fun. November exam is scrapped too. Very glad about it as it is less pressure now.

onlymusic I'm not surprised at the teacher's reponse. The only UK piano teacher I know well (my Japanese pianist friend who teaches in London) would be delighted to have fewer exam-oriented students and parents as she feels it sucks the pleasure out of learning. Tbh I think with solid basic technique and musicianship, it's possible to progress very quickly on piano at a (much) later stage - perhaps not if you are aiming for serious piano study, but as a second or "fun" instrument you'd be surprised how quickly older students can come on.

DD finally got home from her travels this evening - a week in the Atlantic Coast with her boyfriend's family then a long weekend in Paris. She has come home with a new pedal (donated by boyfriend) and lots of motivation - he's also a guitarist and they have been playing together a lot. She's experimenting with the new pedal and her loop station right now - I will need to tell her to turn the volume down a bit out of consideration for our neighbours (though I don't think they will mind really, they are a family with adult kids).

Alexandra: ha ha ha, luckily you found out!
Loose:
To everyone's gcse result and time after so much hard work.
To Music and Prada: loads of forthe 11+. I will be in your shoes in couple of years time, only thinking about it now has made me sweating.
Only: I like exams, I think exams are great in terms of keeping motivation and having a goal to work toward to, however it might not be great for a child who doesnt like being competitive and stressed. And yes, I dont think any professional soloist even bother with abrsm exams

Mistigri, your dd is one of those who inspired me to take a risk with dropping the piano :)
Greenleave, actually she loves doing exams, she just doesn't like practicing (surprise, surprise!). We had about 1.5hs of violin practicing today and I felt so relieved, firstly because I didn't have the pressure to stop earlier than she was done and secondly that she would need to do another hour of piano. She started to moan that she wants to do exam in November so I had to ask her if she wants to carry on practicing piano. The answer was-NO! we went to the park and the whole issue was sorted ;). I have a huge admiration for children who can get away with 15 mins of practicing but it is not the case with dd. It takes her at least 15 mins to warm up with scales not to mention pieces....

My teacher asked for 1.5hr a day for a quality practice starting from this term. I kinda was expecting this, as the only way to have a quality playing is practising. My daughter didnt touch the violin for 2.5 weeks holiday and last night it was terrible. I spoke to my husband last night when I was organising her new year calendar and I realised she might be too busy. She wont be able to practise 45mins a day each instrument not mentioning my teacher requirement for piano only. We will also have to choose the one we'd like her to focus if we want quality playing. I am delaying any decision taking right now and 'd like to wait and see how it goes the next coming months.

Another thing I am worrying is her academic life where I made the decision of not tutoring this year yet. It could be a risk it might be too late to wait until Nov last year as all my friends year 4 is having tutors starting this year(yes, ALL of them, London is madness and none of them is doing 2 instruments)