January Music Thread

[Wafflenose]

Happy New Year!

Sorry I'm a bit late starting this thread - I've been away for a few days without internet access. Anyway, this is our monthly thread for musicians and parents of musicians of all ages and all abilities. It's a great place to chat, or to ask questions about lessons, practice, exams, auditions or anything music-related.

I have two DDs: Goo (11 and in Year 6) who plays the flute, recorder and piano, and Rara (8 and in Year 4) who plays the cello, recorder and clarinet. I think we have Grade 7 Flute and Grade 1 Clarinet coming up this term, and also the local music festival and Junior Young Musician competition for Goo. Grade 7 Recorder and Grade 3 Cello are tentatively pencilled in for the summer, but we'll think about those nearer the time. Goo is also in NCO, and lives for it... it's all she talks about, she loves writing to and texting all the friends she's made there, and she is in Under 12s this year. I am a teacher of woodwind and have a little clarinetist who's just got into Under 10s. I hope to have a few more trying out next time.

Kutik - will be worth making sure DS knows to explain that his teacher doesn't do full scale work with him when he goes for audition/pre-audition; i think generally they are asked to play scales, so he should def speak up and tell them the scales he has covered with his teacher and that he can play for them.

Our teacher also teaches scales by memory. The list of the scales for each grade can be found on abrsm web site. And arpeggios of course

Ah, btw, this is an old thread about music and maths relationship
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/gifted_and_talented/a2079301-Music-and-Maths-relationship

So it's unusual to do only one scale?

Grade 3 for example has 7 scales plus chromatic to play from memory. My daughter hates scales but has to memorise them all

Do they learn arpeggios, Kutik73?
Here are Gr5 requirements
us.abrsm.org/fileadmin/user_upload/syllabuses/violin0516.pdf

Well, my understanding that all pieces are a combination of bits form scales and arrpegios... and this is the reason why it is considered to be important to practice them regularly... Therefore yes, I would say it is unusual to do only one scale...

howtopractice.com/music-practice-resources/articles/10-reasons-why-scales-are-important

"Building Blocks of all music – If you hadn’t realised it, scales are the things from which most music is made. Just look at the pieces you are currently learning and you will see scales or parts of scales all over it. Their importance cannot be underestimated, be good at scales and you are likely to be good at your instrument."

Oh dear...

Only, thanks for the interesting post, never like scales, wish we didnt have to learn them however we accepted that it is there for a reason. Maths can come with little practice although musical is alot of labour, hours abd hours drilling in. We were on 45 today and only be able to: rosin the bow, tune it, 2 scales and 2 lines of the first piece. We have never studied anything so hard.

Kutik73, I am sure he will be ok, it is not as scary as it seems, promise

Hellooooo everyone! Another indie music scholar audition done thank the lord. Having 🍷In bed. Bloody knackered.

Welcome Kutik! My DD is 10 and hopefully doing G7 violin this term and G6 piano. We also have been taught to do the looooong note scales as a way of warming up. My DD hates these as she has inherited my levels of patience 😂 We've only done two pw at any time and our teacher is a stickler. It would be unusual for scales to be asked at an audition I think? Sight reading (which is miniprada's weak spot) is much more important I think?

Big news for us (apart from the bloody never ending school exams) is she is joining her violin teacher's orchestra as well as leading the other one now her teacher is back to work as head of a music service following mat leave. This should help the sight reading we think. She is very excited bless her and the teacher is putting together a little quartet so she can play her electric violin.

Green 😱 Re violin size! Did the teacher not tell you to go for 4/4?

Thank you for welcoming me, Pradaqueen. Your DD sounds like she has lots of playing opportunities. Playing in an orchestra is one of my DS's dream...

It is snowing pretty badly here, I wonder now if it will settle so we can go to our piano lesson. DD is becoming more music focused by the day, she is joining the school choir/music workshop also so I feel like our life revolves around music.

She now has Choir/music at school mondays, wind orchestra Tuesday, piano lesson Friday, clarinet lesson Saturday.

Erm... I need to find some time for maths/verbal reasoning practice, I have a feeling once a week isn't enough.

Decision has been made, and tuned & orchestral perc teacher has finally decided DS can be ready to take G8 in March. So here we go...

A slightly late welcome Kutik. I loved your post, isn't it amazing how our kids just keep surprising us? I don't see you have a choice, here. He wants to have a go and if money, commute or time isn't a problem, then I think you have to first, talk to violin teacher to really define what standard he is, and if it fits their requirements (piano already does), sign him up for the audition. Panels are usually very understanding with young children in terms of no exams to show and things like a teacher who wasn't teaching scales. This understanding would not be the same for older students! I understand your fear re disappointment but he sounds like a mature boy, so you just have to prepare him very well for the scenario. I remember DS when he had to sit music scholarship auditions and of course the 11 plus, we had to have many of these chats just in case it didn't work out. We told him how outcome won't always reflect your ability, that it's a specific audition to a specific person/group, and if it wasn't to be we would find other ways to make things happen.
Another things I would add is now is the time! Not only it gets harder to get in the older they are (so they say), but when they start secondary school things get much more complicated, homework piles up and free time becomes like a rare food you dream of and never taste. So Year 6 would be a nice year to give it a try and then decide if he really wants to continue.

Omg it's snowing outside my window.

Ooops I forgot Prada, this is for you

Kutik DS2's old teacher used to get him to do scales like that - one long note, then 2 notes a bow, then 4, the 8 then 16 etc. Apparently it was fun... But if you look at professional performers this appears to be exactly what they do. They seem to measure the length of the note with the length of the bow. It's very interesting.

Fleur: its wet and cold in Canarywharf, I hope my train is still running this evening so finally the week will close for us.
Drummer: good luck with the prep for G8.
Prada: you are my hero, I will have to follow your footstep in 2 yrs time and I am gunning myself up(we will skip music scholarship option though).
Violin size: we were told 3/4 however when we were there she didnt like any of 3/4 and really liked this 4/4 and it didnt look much bigger compare and R and us thought it was ok. I emailed R and he said we could return for a full refund including the new bow. We will keep it as we have felt in love with this beauty.

drummersmum - Thank you so much for your very wise advice. I can be very cautious (although can be totally opposite), so I may have been thinking and worrying too much. I will talk to the violin teacher. Things will start from there.

NeverEverAnythingEver - So glad my DS is not only one who is put on this scale scheme. Although I guess your DS2's teacher taught him more than one scale! My DS does a loooong note, 2, 4, 8, 12 then 24 notes per bow, evenly and dotted rhythm, with and without vibrato, sadly, happily and non-characteristically, and so on. There are lots of variation yet only ONE scale. He does those as a warm-up.

Greenleave - My son went to a workshop two years ago. There, he had a chance to have a quick lesson with a well-known violin teacher from US. During the lesson, the teacher told DS his violin was too big for him (he was 7, and just got 1/2 at the time). The teacher said when you were not sure or when a child is sort of between two sizes, it's always better to practise with a smaller one, and advised me to go back to the smaller one and keep it until it got a way too small. However, DS kept his 1/2, and he quickly grew into, and out of it. We needed to get 3/4 before summer last year!

DS2 also did the varying of rhythm thing. I do it myself for learning runs of notes on the piano too.

But he did do more than one scale ... It's probably quite odd to do only one scale, especially on instruments where different scales can vary quite a lot. Perhaps the teacher was just concentrating on certain techniques first.

There is noting wrong to practise just one scale. Finger pattern are all the same (of course, major minor are different). As long as you master one, all the rest are there already. I like the way this teacher is doing.

Thanks Kutik for your advice, we were advised to carry on with this 1/2 then switch to the 4/4 once we can. I wont have to do anything now which suits me just fine. Regarding to violin scales, we do find it (much) easier compare to piano( we did struggle with piano scales) so your teacher might be right, they are all similar and could be learnt quickly.

DS2 found out today that he got merit (127) in his grade 5 clarinet. I'm quite relieved, as I don't think I could have listened to those three pieces for another term.

Lol thesecond.... We've all had that feeling. What a great score! Congrats to your DS