December Music Thread

[Wafflenose]

A new thread for December! Musicians and parents of musicians of ALL ages and standards are very welcome! I do try to keep up with the threads, but am struggling to remember who plays what sometimes. Might it be helpful to have a different thread where we could list them all (for people that want to?)

I am Waffle, teacher of woodwind, and mum to Goo (11) - flute, recorder and piano, and Rara (8) cello, recorder and clarinet. Rara has her Grade 3 Recorder exam on Monday, and I have quite a few other pupils entered, but no other exams for us this term. Goo has had a crap time recently, with a wrist injury, mangled fingers and now new braces, so I've pretty much written off any musical progress this term. We have the music festival at the end of January, so maybe she'll be all healed and ready to move forwards in time for that!

Well done to all the theory passers! And sorry to hear about the NCO prada and green, I imagine it is super competitive and comes down to luck on the day more than anything.

We have just had the official planning sheet for the concert next Wednesday and its suddenly got a bit real and scary. DD is invited to eat dinner with the headliner and crew, she has her own sound check slot, and we have to supply details of her set to the venue so they can prepare a light show. It's all a bit "OMG this is really happening".

DD not too bothered yet. Rehearsal at the venue on Monday went OK...

mistigiri so exciting!
prada and green, sorry about NCO but it's very true that sometimes a no at something is gold for an educator/parent to build on because you have your DC's full attention.

Well she came out fairly happy...now we wait! I have said she's not retaking it even if she has failed...not unless she learns 3 different pieces!!!

On to G4 cornet and G5 theory next term now!!!

Someone took the news well,after dinner she just went to wash up quickly then tuning her violin now. We have very short however expected comments.

Petra: fun time planning for next term.

Mistigri: all the best to the real thing, please tell us how it goes

Misti - wow that sounds so exciting!

well done to all theory results :)

Meant to say it was DD1 who passed her G5 theory with 88, not DD2. Good news day all round though as DD2 got into NCO U11. She's really pleased as she found the whole audition experience much more stressful this time as she knew what she was working towards. Last year was blissful ignorance and a late, more laid back audition.

Well done to everyone who has passed an exam or audition, and commiserations to those who haven't. I mentioned on the other thread but forgot to say here that Goo got into NCO Under 12s (Flute) and one of my pupils got into Under 10s (Clarinet) so we are very happy. They will do regional together.

That's lovely news, Waffle, well done to Goo!
Congratulations to everyone on exam/audition success and for those who are going to try again next year for NCO, I will be cheering you on!
Glad to hear Mending's lessons got sorted out even if it was at greater cost and Mistigri's dd's news sounds very exciting indeed.
Still haven't got the theory result - I asked DS1 to check at the music centre but they say they can't see them yet.

MrsWombat DD played two of those too, El Cortejo is quite hard I think, I can't wait to see DD's marking sheet to see what she got in this piece as it was always going to be a surprise performance (sometimes she would playing amazingly well and sometimes it would be a mess).

Sorry to hear about NCO Prada and Green there is always next year.

Waffle great news well done to Goo and your pupil, how lovely!

How does everybody afford the NCO? It looks quite expensive but maybe I am looking in the wrong place? Don't get me wrong I would pay if DD would get in but it isn't cheap.

Loose did I imagine or did you say you were using the "improve your sight reading" books? I wonder how do they compare to the actual exam, are the grade 3 for example easier or harder than in the exam? Very proud of DD, she'll finish the grade 4 book soon and start the grade 5, such s massive improvement since her grade 3 when she literally failed the sight reading part. She really worked hard, she does around 3/4 exercises a practice session and her sight reading is now so impressive.

Congratulations to those minis who were offered NCO places and hugs to the parents of minis who didn't. But...can it be to the best? Your minis are SO busy already... May be another year will be less busy?

Had a very aggravating day!

Still couldn't access DDs Grade V theory result so called the ABRSM. Called loads of times and spent ages and ages on hold and finally someone answered at lunchtime who told me my application number hadn't been activated (I seem to have acquired 2?) even though the one I had been trying was the one on the letter for the exam and the e-mail I received yesterday.

Bloke on phone told me it was now activated but still didn't work and again couldn't get through on the phone.

So I tried the other application number with a password I found they had sent me months ago and finally got her result.

To my astonishment she passed with 77%! A few days before her exam she was getting half marks!

She hasn't even studied any of the lower grades (although she has both GCSE and AS in Music.) She has had no formal theory lessons and I have only done a few sessions with her which went disastrously! As a singer she doesn't even really read music that well as she learns mainly by ear!

Have no idea how she did it!

Well done purple and to all the minis with NCO yesses!

Well done on exam results and nco places. I hope the kids who got a no from nco this time round dont take it too hard.

Mistri- concert preparations sound almost daunting, well done to your dd for being so cool about the whole thing

Well done with all the exam and nco results ( and fingers crossed for those still waiting). Hope those who didn't get into nco this year aren't too upset ds did get a place playing trumpet in the under 12s so he's happy . Misti that sounds so exciting , though I always think it's worse for the parents having to watch and worry. First concert of many last night and ds's jazz ensemble were amazing so looking forward to more on Friday

Fleur yes, I use the Paul Harris books along with the abrsm specimen sight reading books. I'd say PH begins with a recap around the level of the previous grade, then moves on to the current one. However, by the end of the book the exercises to my mind are more demanding than what you get in the exam. My teacher thinks the specimen ones are also slightly harder but of course you just don't know what you'll see on the day! But if you can do what's in the book I think you can definitely do the exam piece.
DS2 doesn't like the books, does bits from it but never finishes it, does a few specimen exercises and then does fine in the exam. I assume all his downloading and self-teaching of video games music has paid off in some bizarre way!

Purple well done! Great result!

Trumpet well done to your DS!

Loose thank you for your opinion. DD started with the grade 2 sight reading book immediately after her grade 3 exam just to give her some confidence and finished it at the speed of light, then grade 3 and now we crashed coursed grade 4 book also, almost finished it going to start grade 5 book soon, I find it makes such a difference, you can see the improvement massively. I was asking how does it compare as I want to make sure it covers the same format/difficulty.

I keep thinking she'd probably be ready for grade 5 by the March session but I don't want to rush it as she has the festival also in February.

Fleur sounds like Minifleur will have no problem! She should find the exam piece will seem quite easy when she gets to that point. Also the way she is practising is exactly how my teachers recommend you do it, so 3 or 4 exercises a session is perfect! It's really worth it. DS2 isn't doing that at the moment but I think once he's learned his third piece for grade 4 I will be making him do that.
Or trying to. It is very hard to make DS2 do anything!

Yes I think practicing sight reading is the key. we don't use any particular sight reading books but ds used to be hopeless at it so I always try and force /encourage him to do lots before exams/ auditions . he obviously has to sight read lots in the bands etc that he plays in but when they are quite young I think they actually need to know what to look for when they are given a piece of sight reading rather than just launching into playing

For piano it is a bit harder I think as there is no band playing and if you are a good memoriser like my DD it becomes a nightmare without the specific sight reading exercises. But now I am happy she caught up, seeing where she was in March when she'd literally cry if you put a piece of sight reading at around grade 2 in front of her, and where she is today doing grade 4 exercises and actually saying she enjoys them it is such a difference.

The good thing is that her clarinet sight reading is amazing, her teacher told me she was doing grade 2/3 sight reading with her last week and she is managing it so well. She needs to learn more high notes though.

Yes and I think for piano you probably do end up memorising stuff quicker to get your hands around the music !! Well that's what my 2 seem to do. Ds also just used to freeze when he got given sight reading for brass which I why I make him do lots

waffle and trumpet congratulations on NCO!

well what a week - DD is back in the NCO for the Under 12s and will be thrilled; also two major and very generous music scholarships offered for senior schools.

but best news of all - we are done with exams! nothing now until g6 clarinet in the spring session, and g8 cello in the summer. But if the prep stops being fun, then we won't take them. We need some fun!

Fantastic well done stringchilds dd
Well done trumpetboysmum, Kent boy, waffles dd and anyone else I've forgotten

Well done stringchild!

Good news here with G5 Theory... miniprada scored 90 up from a scraped pass in the summer so proved me very wrong in letting her try again onwards to G6 methinks....

All amazing news here, many congratulations!