November Music Thread

[Wafflenose]

Let's have a new thread for November... I'm not sure if the old one will last long enough. This is a place to talk about music lessons, practice, exams and anything to do with learning instruments/ singing. We have beginners and advanced players of all ages.

I am mum to two girls - Goo (newly 11) - Flute, Recorder and Piano, and Rara (8) - Cello, Recorder, and one month of Clarinet so far. She won't put the clarinet down, so I think we've found The One.

Fleur we loved the young musician recorder player as well! I do like recorder music anyway - there are some really beautiful pieces.
I would usually rather postpone an exam than try and wing it but sometimes that can be a wake-up call!

Music exams are non-compulsory in this house up until the moment I hand over the cheque!

Exams: all of DS' music teachers up to now have refused to sign him up for an exam till he was ready. The advantage of course is he gets good marks, lower stress levels, more UCAS points, etc. The disadvantage is the two to three months between registering and taking the exam are spent waiting and playing the pieces again and again -- slower progress and more limited repertoire. It's a Cash 22 really.

Piano teacher has set date for Grade 8 exam: summer term, because he wants DS to have performed each of the three pieces in public on three different occasions before the exam. Interesting.

Waffle so nice to hear about Rara and the clarinet. Nature or nurture I wonder?

Alexandra congratulations to your DS on passing to the next round of the comp!!

That sounds quite harsh. I mean I'm not bothered about them doing grades, it's up to them. But when they decide to do one, they are expected to commit, injury or unforeseen circumstances excepting.

DDhates them but was determined to do
Grade 8. She worked hard and knew if nerves got the better of her, I'd said it was fine and I'd pay again.

DS knew he needed to work hard for that exam and didn't. I was actually proud of him for giving it his best shot on the day and reading the comments, it was his musicality that tipped the balance. He confessed later he expected to fail it. It's not a mistake he's made since!

The harsh was in relation to my brief first post!

Yes, I would agree about being ready. The piano exam was different in that it was his last opportunity as he was stopping after that term and asked for a shot at it.

Neither the teacher or I will do that again!

Raspberry I agree to that method, that is the reason for which I hand over that area to the teacher, I never ask when is the next exam I let her make the decision and she does enter her when she believes she's ready, if anything I think she enters her a bit late but I understand she has her own stats also and she doesn't want it messed up by her pupils. Saying that at this age (9) if I would personally believe DD would fail and her teacher would agree to some extent I would withdraw her. When she's older I do agree, once DD commits to an exam she'll have to take the responsibility herself and if she'd fail she'd learn her lesson.

We are now trying to decide if DD should be entered with a grade 5 piece in the festival or not. She'll know it by then (January) but it may not be enough time to polish it to her teacher's standards. We'll discuss it in the next lesson.

drummers DD's grade 5 piano is also planned for the summer session, DD kept asking what if she's not ready. Her teacher explained to her she won't enter her in that case which put DD's mind at rest. She on the new syllabus anyway which means she'll have two years to take the exam (of course that would be crazy but with secondary school exams in sight you never know what happens).

So a Yamaha flute costs £500+!!??

This is part of the reason we missed the cut off for entering grade 3 this term. It's so hard to know if they will be ready in a couple of months time. I suspect dd could pass now, depending on which scales they asked for! But hopefully next term she will get a merit or distinction.

We all have different parenting style and it's dependent on each child personality and also under each family circumstances. I dont think I have the same approach for my two children (even both of them dont listen to me and dont follow my rules).For now, I know their strength and weakness so I will have my tactic built on it, each month this needs to be updated with other priorities: works, personslity grown/changed, childcare etc. She can make it if she practises mindfully 30mins aday (it could be even a distinction as she played Prelude in C very nicely on Sunday). For us apart from enriching her life with being able to play couple instruments(and having fun and making new friends blah blah blah) appreciating hard work, good attention to details, understanding the importance of some "boring tasks" are the reasons we wanted her to take responsibility of her commitment. Usually suggestion comes from our teacher(except theory), he fully believes she can do it. More than 2 weeks is alot of time if she is committed.

Been shopping NeverEver?

Exactly Fleur, you can't be responsible for ever.

All this Festival talk is getting me excited already. DS2 went round to his teachers last night to meet up with girl he duets with, and they've picked one out, ready for him to start after his exam.

We got a second hand Yamaha 211 for £280. Goo is now keen to have something better, but I really don't see the point until her teeth are sorted out - a flute which suits her mouth/ jaw now won't be the right one in the end. We'll look around when she's about 13. 9 months of huge blocks braces are almost over, and train tracks go on in 15 days!

Waffle I am genuinely amazed at how well Goo has coped (and how beautifully she plays) with those braces! I imagine getting rid of those blocks will feel fantastic!
Just came back from parents' evening for DS1, which had a lot of positive comments about music. I can tell he's feeling ok about his bass guitar exam on Friday because he actually smiled when talking about it!

raspberry DS1 wants a flute and I told him to ask his teacher and that's what the website the teacher recommended said ... Maybe second-hand is the way to go! But I don't know anything about woodwind instruments. I guess if I buy from a reputable shop it should be OK?

Waffle Would you have any advice what to look out for in a flute?

I'm really not an expert, but I know that is a good, solid, reliable model. We've been told plenty of students get to Grade 8-ish on them. Goo had a Jupiter model before that, which we bought new for £365 (it didn't seem overly robust) and a £30 ancient curved one before that! Remind me of the age/ stage and I might be able to help more, or someone else might be along soon.

Ah, if it's for a beginner I wouldn't get the Yamaha anyway!! A JP model, or the Jupiter or Trevor Wye would probably suit for a few years. The 500 quid Yamaha is a step-up model.

Consider yourselves lucky, wind ladies. The cheapest decent ride cymbal they had the other day in the shop we went to check out was 300 pounds. And that's just one cymbal in the kit...

Waffle Year 7 and going for grade 2. He does play quite nicely.

drummer DS2 wants a drum kit but there really is no room. We may consider an electronic kit.

What does open hole and closed hole mean?

I have now googled that! Haha...

Well DD keeps putting the clarinet sideways and pretending to play the flute... I told her not to even think about it.

Happy shopping NeverEver! I love instruments shopping.

I think we're going to be flute shopping soon too