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.

Thank you ladies!

Green good luck for next week I am sure mini will do amazing.

Waffle are you not tempted to skip straight to grade 1? How is Rara dealing with her and her BFF doing the same instrument? DD's BFF will start clarinet and I am worried about negative competition.

Good to hear your feedback Waffle and Radio, somebody once stated her DD got lower than expected marks because her DD's exam was moderated and it got stuck in my head that this is the case.

skip to grade 2 I meant Waffle*

It sounds like that set of results wasn't moderated properly then - the idea is to weed out examiners marking too harshly or too leniently, or to provide them with extra training!

Too early to say about Rara, as she's only been learning for about five minutes (well, a couple of months) - she is a very long way from Grade 2 though. She's too small to cover the thumb hole and register key (for the high notes) at the same time, and we're not in any rush. All is well with her and BFF right now - friend has been learning for nine months, the girls are pretty much on a par with each other, but we're pretending Rara is still quite a beginner. They are competing against each other in the festival (and some of my other pupils) but they both think it's just a bit of fun. Friend will do better, as she's so technically perfect... although rather slow to pick things up. Neither of them will win. They're also playing in a Duet class together, and we'll make sure that the friend gets to play the tune, or Clarinet 1 part. I don't foresee any issues for a while unless Rara does better in Grade 1, but then she can use me as an excuse! Friend begged Rara to learn for months and months, so I'm sure the benefits will outweigh any problems. I hope that both will audition for South West Music School next year - Rara would have to go in as a cellist/ recorder player, friend would be recorder and clarinet.

Fleur was that clarinet exam?

Well done drummerson! What a fab mark!!

Yes it was drummers!

Waffle DDs BFF is a bit competitive as she does piano also so I am dreading it, hopefully all will be fine, I told DD not to engage in conversations about music. She said something really mean to DD the other day and I am still considering if to pick it up with her mum.

Well done Drummersboy.

Another one out the way Fleur.

DS2's exam is Tuesday. Pieces sounding lovely. He just scraped a Distinction on his mock, but we will see. It was his birthday today, but he has had his usual lesson and also practised.

It will be just nice timing to be out of the way before the Christmas concert madness begins!

Drummers - brilliant!

raspberry good luck to your DS on Tuesday. I quite like this exam session as it gets it out of the way and you don't have time to stress as Christmas is just around the corner.

I was trying to tell DD it would be a good idea to skip some grades on clarinet now and she is adamant she wants to do all of them in order. Hopefully her teacher will convince her otherwise.

What about a bribe Fleur? Exams are so expensive, especially as you go up. Cash/ some nice music/a clarinet T-shirt when teacher says they are at that grade!

It's not a problem I've had, mine have been happy to skip, but I think I would have resorted to that if necessary.

raspberry she accepts the teacher's decision (with piano she did 1, 3 and now she'll do 5 next) but if I suggest it i get a big fat "NO". Bribing sounds like a good idea, I think I'll suggest that but obviously I need to talk to the clarinet teacher to ensure she doesn't suggest taking them in order otherwise she trumps me, DD will always take their word as "law".

Fleur I think you're right - avoid arguments and coordinate with the teacher! if this one has gone very well, and I bet it has, then I think the teacher would be keen to skip a grade anyway. Is it about collecting certificates or being worried people won't know what level she's at?
Good luck to MiniGreen and miniRaspberry with exams - nearly there!
I'm looking forward to a Music service Christmas concert next Saturday and the school one towards the end of term and that's quite enough for me!
Meanwhile, I'm thinking about joining a community choir to help reinforce aural practice. Does anyone else do this? There's a local one where you apparently don't have to audition!

Congrats to Drummersboy ! Fantastic achievement.
Out of interest, is there anyone else here who struggles getting teenage Dc's to do adequate schoolwork (eg. Not rushed and bad at 11pm on Sunday.. ) My Dd never revises enough for tests and always puts practice first. This is fine by me as she wants to be a musician but I'm a bit worried with GCSES coming up. Hopefully she will work it out.....

Loose I think it is a combination of both, she likes the certificates but also she feels she isn't the actual grade till she takes the exam, for example she was learning grade 3 pieces but stating she is grade 1 level as she didn't pass grade 3 yet (or taken grade 2 exam).

She is modest though, there are still kids at her school who don't know she plays any instruments, so I think she feels she is achieving something when she sees the certificate.

Musical at least your DD practises instead of revising my DS has no clue what he wants to do and revision is very little.

Musical i have this problem with my son, though because we are not in the UK there is somewhat less at stake - there are no high stakes exams at 16 here. He knows he will pass his school leaving diploma (and I know that it doesn't matter much anyway though I am not telling him that). The issue for us is that French senior high schools require enormous levels of commitment from students if they want to do well (the average mark in my DD's maths class - which is a good class! - is under 50%!) and post-18 recruitment is based not on your baccalaureat result but on your coursework marks. DS is going to have a horrible shock next year. If anyone has a solution for lazy teenage boys I would love to hear it.

DD could do with studying less but that is quite another problem :-/

She has just finished some new videos, both original compositions (the first is brand shiny new, the second one is quite old now but we somehow never got round to polishing up a demo track she did a year or so ago).

Mistigri: looking forward to see the track once I have wifi.

Loose, Fleur, all: thanks, I had some scales revision this morning, honestly, the whole g5 is all about scales. We found it tedious because I have someone who doesnt like repetition and easily gets bored. However thats all the reason I'd like her to get over and appreciate the repetition requirement of abrsm scale exams, to increase her resiliency too. Lesson for higher grades, during the breaks time between exams, practise some scales wouldnt hurt, it will reduce work load later on.

Regarding to academic works, we are so hopeless these days, I told myself that we need to start picking things up but we just havent found time. She reads though, during the day she plays and reads, in the evening then 30-45mins piano. I mentioned long time ago in the previous thread that we simply just need to cut time spent in the loo mindlessly, taking ages to wake up etc so there are more time to play and some time to study. Its so hard to keep up and being on the same level with prep primary where children has (little) work to do each day, being pushed at school and parents can be relaxed(a little more). State schools, there is only 30mins homework and with these homework there isnt a chance for 11+.

mistigiri I absolutely loved them! Is the guitar solo on Sugar played by her? Sugar has a real jazzy thing going on there and it's so good. is her dream to make a career out of composing and singing? I know it's tough, but she's got so much to say and such a lovely voice. She's what, 17 now...?

Raspberry good luck with DS exam. I completely forgot grade and instrument. Am I the only one that's completely unable to put names with ages, grades and instruments in this thread without it becoming a big muddle? Please say no

Re academic work, oh, the big issue! I can't say I have a problem, as DS loves doing well and enjoys some tasks (essays mainly) so he will struggle to fit in the work and usually spend twice the time expected on the things he likes. But would he prefer to practice instead? You bet!! In fact, the first thing he wants to do when he comes home (average arrival time is 6pm because of ensembles and rehearsals ) is to practice, not sit down to do homework. But he does all the homework, sometimes till 10pm which drives me crazy as I take sleep as seriously as food and water. And then on Saturday AND Sunday. Would anyone who has just spent 9 hours in an office want to come home and sit down to do some more accounting and then fit in seven more hours on the weekend? Then why do we inflict that in our children I wonder? I hate homework so much. It gets in the way of music, reading, hobbies, family time, life skills learning, outdoor time... The list is endless. Oh well.

drummer thank you! The solo was done by her boyfriend who is a different sort of guitarist (more rock). DD is only 15 though quite a grown up 15 ...

Would anyone who has just spent 9 hours in an office want to come home and sit down to do some more accounting and then fit in seven more hours on the weekend? Then why do we inflict that in our children I wonder? I hate homework so much. It gets in the way of music, reading, hobbies, family time, life skills learning, outdoor time...

And this, totally. DD's school day inc transport is 6.45am to 6.30pm (7.30pm two days a week). And then homework, including at least 4-5 hours at weekend (usually more). She is aiming (academically) high but I secretly wish she would consider doing something to do with music ...

mistigiri Omg she's only 15. You'd never tell. Ah, yes I noticed the change in registry in the guitar solo. Nice playing too, boyfriend

Yes, he's very good. They met at music camp. Nice lad, but lives a 6 hour train journey away so not too much distraction in term time .

Drummer it's Grade 7 piano. And you'renot the only one. This thread is so well used, which is lovely, it's difficult to keep track!

I'll listen to the tracks when we get home Misti, chaperoning advent carol service this afternoon.

Schoolwork. Older DC prioritised schoolwork. DC2 is Y9 and not as enthused. However, he frequently has time out for various music related things and the deal is school must be ok with work done.

Drummers: opposite here I am a big fan of home work or anywork given by school/teachers and even better if its can be done at school, I think revision of the concepts learnt is the key, challenged to higher level of concept understanding is all another key. I know I am living in a dream land where when I got home from work some practice has been done, a tiny bit of extra work for either maths/english have been given and completed and supervised by teachers(this could have happened if I could afford prep schools).

Ha! Best kind of teenage relationship, Mistigri! Seriously, though, I loved 'Sugar' - both the songs are great, but that was quite special. And her voice is so mature!
Fleur I would have thought the same way as MiniFleur at her age - though I really wasn't as talented!
Totally agree on homework. Primary school was a series of arguments and cajoling with DS1 over mostly pointless homework. (I actually walked out of the house once for 5 minutes to avoid swearing at him!) Luckily, at secondary school, he just rushes through most of it at lunchtime. Poor DS2 - he gets on with it without the attitude, so gets less attention!

Green - that kind of homework would have been ok - what we got for most of primary school was get mum to do this with you type homework or research random subject on the entire internet homework, leading to mum saying no! Don't cut and paste from Wkipedia and if you must Google at least put KS2 in the search!
I was just miffed because when they needed to do research we usually had a book in the house on the topic and they wouldn't use it!