October Music and Musicians Thread

[Wafflenose]

I thought I would start a new thread, as September's is looking unlikely to last for another month.

The music threads are open to all musicians and parents of musicians, no matter what their age or level might be. We have quite a few kids on here who are very serious about music, and plenty who do it as one of many hobbies.

For anyone who's new, I am a teacher of woodwind, and mum to two girls. Goo (10) plays the flute and recorder to a similar level (Grade 7 on both), and started the piano in April - she won't be doing exams on that. She is hardworking, committed, highly strung, and a stubborn little madam. Rara is 8 and far more laid back. She is taking Grade 3 Recorder this term, is a little behind that on the cello, and just this week started learning the clarinet. I don't suppose she will carry on with three instruments in the long term, but we'll wait and see which she loves!

We are also in the process of sorting out rooms. When there is space I think I'll get a cello stand too. The cello hasn't been out all week ... But I'm on the case with practising the piano. I'll make him play slow if it kills me ...

I got a cello stand from Amazon. It makes a significant difference to the amount of practice. Apparently unzipping the case is a major impediment!
Yes, DS2 has shot up this year. He's taller than me, which isn't too difficult.
DS1 has abandoned notions of playing Bach on bass guitar. (No comment) However he is now questioning notion of playing bass for GCSE at all. He thinks guitar would be better. I pointed out he doesn't play guitar. He claims he does.
Whatever the school pays his music teacher isn't enough!

Morning all,ds is about to explode with excitement as we're off to Suffolk to go violin shopping!! It's a 2 hour drive from us.
Wish me luck,it could be a very long day!!

"I pointed out he doesn't play guitar."

A minor point.

Yes Loose that is such a minor detail I don't even know why you pointed it out.

How exciting disorganisedmummy! Happy shopping!

Waffle looking forward to the Halloween surprise from Rara!

It does rather sum up his attitude to life! he's got a choice of bass, drum kit and xylophone or even snare drum - all at least at grade 5 - but hey! Why be logical!

Can I join in?
My dd1 has dropped all her music, but thats because she is totally focussed on her art for now.
DS is taking it slow - he's 14 and doing grade 4 piano. Its really just a hobby for him, he loves messing around on the piano, trying to write the notation for the things he wants to be able to play.
Dd2 is my little musician. She's 12 (in S2, thats year 8), grade 3 piano and grade 4 violin, but right now she's working for her National5 (Scottish GCSE equivalent) which she'll be taking in May. The school are great about putting talented musicians in for exams early, and we're grateful for the opportunity for her. Long term she wants to be a fashion designer, but says she can't imagine not doing music too!

Morning all, trying to catch up with the thread. Hope everyone is well and practising hard in the hols lol.

Ooh disorganised mummy- are you going to Woodbridge violins? Have fun. Brilliant there. We have had a growth spurt so a full size is likely for next year...

Looking forward to the Halloween surprise waffle!

Gilly - omg! What a list!

Loose

Welcome weegie!

Green - what a shame about the violin teacher. The fantasy sounds great though.

PradaQueen Yes we're going to Woodbridge Violins. I have to confess I'm a bit excited too! This is all to get ds ready for Junior Guildhall auditions in the new year. Going to look round Guildhall next Saturday.
It's going to be a very expensive afternoon I fear!!

disorganised Happy shopping! Are you going for full size? We did a 3/4-size shopping. I looked on websites, phoned up shops etc and then when we went to the shop DS2 tried a couple of violins and went for the cheapest one. It was a bit of an anticlimax. But we had lots of spare money (!) to spend.

So, another attempt in trying to understand why there are arguments about practice. I made him slow down, and demonstrated, and he said "that's not how I want it to sound" - and I had to repeat quite a few times that practice is not performance ... Maybe it's just that he doesn't see how slow practice will let you play fast nicely later ... I tried the nuts-and-bolts explanation I read somewhere - that practice is tightening the nuts and bolts on your plane so that when you perform (take off) your wings don't bloody drop off. But I don't think he believes me. Maybe it's just an experience thing. He'll just have to see it for himself and we will continue having arguments until he sees it.

Why don't I have obedient children??

Obedient, compliant children are SO over-rated Neverever

Neverever that sounds like me talking to dd2 about her practice! She's always slower than her teacher, but yesterday it sounded like a wee string quartet was playing in our lounge (teacher playing the piano part).

I find making her practice hard, though once she's doing it she loves it. Her violin is a 1900 Scottish maker ( my great-great uncle was a violin maker) and when she does it right it sounds really awesome. But she fights it. Though once she's doing it, it sounds awesome - her current piece is "over the rainbow" and it is brilliant.

Prelim rehearsals are next week, so we'll see how it goes (actual prelims are the week they go back to school in Jan) then the practical exams at the end of April. She's already up to speed on the practical side.

Weegie: we learned over the rainbow last term too and I have a 2 years old singing the whole song while her sister was playing it, it is so classic and beautiful.

Never: We always have the problem of learning the pieces too fast. For example this week we are only allowed to practise on 2 phrases. And on top of it we are only allowed to put 2 hands together in the very end of the practice(Well I am not supervising it so I dont know if the instruction is followed). The playing too fast worked well with the etudes we learned earlier though

Same problem here Green I think it is the lack of maturity to be fair. As they are approaching higher levels in their music it is not about playing the notes and a few dynamics, there is so much more in every piece, the phrasing, the abundance of dynamics, so much to consider that I suspect a youngish child just doesn't have the patience for it.

DD started one of her grade 5 pieces (Slow Air) and her teacher asked her to only play 4 bars in her left hand, explained her this is not about learning the notes but ensure the music is properly interpreted.

On top of that her festival piece is well known but it is now literally taken to pieces to make it perfect. So back to hands separate, slow practice, bring the dynamics in properly. Gosh I hope DD will not get too frustrated.

Well, she has had a go on dh flute last night and today, there has been more air through than notes but she has managed to get something sounding like a note today.

Please don't anyone be too impressed with the list, as I said upthread, the same effort can't be applied to them all.
I haven't had it confirmed yet, but I believe the Clarinet and flute will be a ten minute part of her 90 min lesson for first study, so there will be no coming on in leaps and bounds, taking exams etc, until later grades.
Piano and Singing are 30 min lessons per week each, the former she does the bare minimum which they are happy with, perhaps 20/30 mins a day at most, so grades are slow here, due for grade 3 in the spring.

Disorganised
Good luck to your ds, I know why you are excited too, it's hard not to be.
It may be wishful thinking but maybe not as expensive as you believe.

Just wanted to add, as Disorganised prompted my memory.
I think all the JD's attract the funding from the MDS for anyone with a low (ish) income, hoping for their dc to audition.
If anyone knows anybody who would benefit, if they would kindly inform them. I'm really passionate about provision of musical education.

Hi everyone. Hope you are all well and enjoying the hols. I'm interested in your diploma conversation shakyisles. I like both the ABRSM and Trinity diplomas the associated board have just brought a new diploma out called the ARSM performance diploma which bridges a gap between the grade 8 and DipABRSM, it is on similar lines to the Trinity diplomas. All teachers are different with my older kids 16 up I give them the option of working for either for younger ones i go with the trinity. Your teacher will have a preference but I like either. Hope that helps Nicky

ealingwest Some obedience now and then would be quite nice, don't you think?

We are definitely going to have to invest in a bassoon stand I think, might have to be a Christmas present. Having it put together has made a huge difference to the levels of practice this week though dd is starting to get a little frustrated with only knowing four notes!

Clarinet practice going quite well also, I really can't see dd playing these pieces til potentially March though, I guess we will see!

Gilly - that is a really good point about MDS for JD; i think they are all CAT centres but have found the MDS are not well advertised, so anyone interested should ask. There are also odd pots of scholarship money that pop up from time to time, not necessarily at any obvious time. So again make sure they know you would be interested!

Goo has a MDS scholarship to a 'virtual' weekend music school, and we are so grateful - it pays for her flute lessons, six workshops per year and all her mentoring. It's brilliant, because we could never pay for all of that (especially with Rara probably having a go next year too) so I, too, would recommend looking into this type of funding for anyone who thinks they can't afford JD or similar, or even full-time music school. I know that (at their discretion) Wells are allowed to fund up to 100% of music places this way. Goo's mentor thinks she might get in, but we have decided that boarding school wouldn't be right for her at this time. She is going to the local school, which has loads of music (and four foreign languages in Year 7, which she is looking forward to) and we'll look again at 16.

One problem we have is that miss 12 doesn't want to do anything with her music for a career. She wants to go into medecine. So I always wonder how much time she should use for her music, when her real passion is maths and science. She does want to get at least one diploma - bu not for a while.

Miss 10 wants a career in music so it is almost easier to help her. She is concentrating on saxophone but plays piano, guitar and sings for pleasure. She is working hard on improv but I've got that joy to take her through more formally. I've got two thick tomes on jazz improv and so that will be my holiday reading over Christmas. Unless anyone here can help and tell me which one is better? Jazzology?or 'how to improvise'?

I am classically trained and never had any real improv training. I'm taking her through her grade 7 theory too and helping her with composition. I do admit to being a little out of my depth with jazz scales and modes. She isn't old enough to be allowed to join the local jazz bands.

Morning all. So we went to Woodbridge Violins in Suffolk yesterday which is about a 2 hour drive from us. It is like Ollivander's wand shop from Harry Potter!! Ds1 was beside himself with excitement! Even ds2 was bowled over by the place. The chap (Russell) was lovely and gave ds 5 Violins of all different prices to try in a quiet room away from the main shop. He didn't tell us the price of any of them. Ds took his audition pieces and played then on each one. He narrowed it down to 2 and from there he chose the one that sounded the best. It has a beautiful rich tone. It was clearly an old violin. Even dh,ds2 and I could hear the difference. Ds1 was absolutely clear he wanted that one.
Than came the clanger,it was the most expensive!! A good few hundred pounds over budget!!
To be honest though it was a no brainer. The sound he gets from it is amazing. It's a French violin dating back to 1860!! So we have a very,very happy ds and very poor parents now!!
He hasn't put it down since! The great thing is that it's a 3/4 as he's only 10 but when he's ready for a full size we can exchange it in full and only pay the difference (if any). We have this in writing. Very happy with the service.