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.

Gillybeanz - DD is same as Trumpetboy; will happily do any performance however scary, incl busking, but will not sit and play for visiting relatives or even us quite often.

Gillybean: mine is the same, when no one notices then she sits and plays, she likes to try all my friends' piano. However when she realises someone is watching then she will roll away.

We had a zero practice December month and I feel everything is falling apart. I havent had my research done for secondary schools and we havent started with any routined studying(aiming for 30mins a day at first and/or couple of hours at weekends). We are now focusing on dd2, who starts nursery from this term and at 2, she needs alot of attention still. We both do long hours and chances of losing job if not performing is real high so altogether it doesnt help to reduce the stress. I am a typical moaner so dont let me let you down, things has always been like this the last more than 10yrs when we moved to London. Plan for this week is to finish all the washings(piling up after 2 weeks holiday saving from the ridiculous laundry cost), tidying up all rooms and fiingers crossed for dd2 heavily coughing is going away and dd1(9 yrs old who plays violin and piano) settles back with school/new term. Then music lessons will be back next week, by then hopefully I could plan more for this year in terms of festivals/exams. We were told no place availble for school choir, which is a shame. We hope to be able to join in the future even our school is a normal state primary which neither music nor choir is strong.

Green I can imagine you are quite tired, I feel your pain, we are also working full time both parents and sometimes I feel like I am on a wheel trying to get somewhere but never actual reaching my destination. But keep focusing on what needs done first and it is vital the rest will somehow fall into place.

We have a difficult year but I am trying to distance myself a bit, DS's GCSEs which he is working hard to fuck them up, I decided to provide him with all he needs and take a step back. DD's 11+ in September, doing some work but in all honesty not enough, something has to give and I am not willing to change all the routine for it, still doing more music than academics, I am torn on this...

Gilly DD has moments when she asks to be recorded but most of the times she refuses. She needs to feel her performance is perfect or otherwise I bribe her to let me record her.

Fleur I think so many Year 11 kids could just do with a bit more time to grow up and grow into studying properly. My niece is the same age as your son, and not working hard enough either. Hopefully it will all come together in time!

Goo didn't want to play the piano for relatives over the holidays, but one uncle insisted, and thought she was really good. On the other hand, she hates practising without me there... she likes an audience really! I need to find out when flute lessons start. We're back to piano and cello next week. I think they only have three lessons between them (other than the bits they do with me) because otherwise I'm forgetting something!

Mine won't play for relatives or camera either! Apparently the larger the audience the easier it is!!!!!

Fleur, our school advice was it was our responsibility to provide workspace, equipment etc, but the responsibility to do it was theirs. They also said don't fall out with them. Because if it does go pearshaped they will need your support to help sort it.

We had a really supportive group in Secondary Ed last year.

I would find a different approach Fleur regarding helping your son with gcse. With their teen hormone, they dont understand or care how important it is to their life. I remember I even wanted to kill myself once and asking my sister to plan it with me just over a row with my dad (and I am my daddy's girl, dad would always give up everything for me and be with me). I just didnt understand or care about many things by then. Luckily I still did well in terms of academic, my parents werent in anyway pushy however always there constantly remind me of what should be my priority at times(they are the most relaxed in South east Asia that you could find). They just kept repeating to me that they are proud of my hardwork and I should always aim high and provided me anything that I need(books, extra tutored, time) and when its needed, reminded me how lucky I am and I shouldnt take any for granted. They were also firmer during my exam period and checked on my progresses. I copied their parenting and using it in mine now. (Many times I am lost in what to do still)

I have decided my priority for her this year and next year will be back to academic however keep up with the quality of the extra curr activities(music, sport, entertaining). So my job is switching back to her maths and english while hopefully still maintaining current progress in activities(45mins music a day, 2 hours foreign language a week, reading daily and 30mins maths daily and/or 2-3hours maths a week, swimming twice a week at least 1hour each). How to do it and any milestone tracks(exams, test, competitions, festivals), I dont know yet, I might have to put all in a spreadsheet and do research in each. Priority now is researching for secondary schools(in terms of entrance requirement, travelling, cost), it will take longer for me for these simple things as we wasnt educated here, not familiar with this country education system and have been working long hours even before our children came in so no connection with school gates chit chat.

Thank you all! Luckily DS is quite academic so not falling hugely behind, I don't think so yet, mocks came through at an acceptable level, still predicted an A, 5Bs, 3Cs and a fail in Computer Science which he hates because it isn't what he thought it would be. But this is with no effort whatsoever and with predictions of 9 in maths, 7 in English and straight As in the rest of his subjects. So this was his prediction end of last year, the new predictions are based on mocks.

He won't mess them completely (as in not getting into sixth form) but it is still massively frustrating. Backing off is best for our mental health really.

DD is doing Year 6 maths already at home (currently Year 5) and quite advanced stuff so not worried as such, it is just that she should do more of it. Music takes a lot of her time now so we are only left with weekends.

Green you have my complete sympathy and I don't know how you fit it all in! DS1 breathed a sigh of relief yesterday when he realised he has two evenings free a week now!
Fleur if it's any help, the headmaster at my DCs' school says the typical thing for boys is to cram in the Easter term and holidays and they seem to do OK with that, so who knows? My fear with DS1 (year 10) is that he's got so used to having a good memory that he doesn't realise his limits! He is too complacent but I have to pick some very small battles as otherwise he won't listen at all.
It will be interesting to see what DS2 comes back with today. First day of new term and he didn't know what sport they would be doing in PE so needed rugby boots and trainers. These won't both fit in school rucksack and I suggested a separate bag, which he grudgingly agreed to. On the way out he said, I Don't know if I can remember to carry two bags around all day! I told him it's a bright yellow bag so it's hard to miss and he's not at primary school anymore! He's already lost a nice pair of gloves and two hats - he better not lose the trainers etc as he has wide feet and it's a nightmare buying shoes etc for him!

I fear for Rara when she gets to secondary! She's laid back and forgetful, so I'm not sure if she'll work hard enough, and certain that she will lose things every day. She's 8 and still doesn't remember to bring all her clothes home from school.

Ds starts secondary school in September though it's slightly different as he will be staying at his lovely,supportive Indie school which goes up to 16. They're not great for music however so hence why I'm trying to sort his extra curricular music out which is proving to be very stressful. I'm now wondering about the Centre For Young Musicians which is affiliated with Guildhall. Does anyone know anything about it or know anyone who goes?

We have the other Centre for Young Musicians nearby, affiliated with the one near you. I know lots of kids who go and enjoy it, but it's not a gifted programme (or at least, ours isn't). It's a place for all comers on Saturdays and they can have their instrumental lessons there, theory and aural if wanted, choir, ensembles etc.

Thanks Waffle,I've got myself into a state worrying about what to do with ds. I'm so tempted to contact the Head Of Strings at Guildhall to ask his advice bu don't want him to think there's a problem. Can't decide whether to defer it for a year or not. Ds says he quite fancies CYM. I'm not sure he will cope with the pressure of Guildhall in top of starting year 7.

Well, amazingly the trainers and rugby boots returned, although DS2 admitted they had spent two periods in lost property before he retrieved them at lunchtime! He tells me it's a bad idea to trust him with two bags!
Waffle both of mine used to leave quite a few clothes at school! I am amazed we haven't lost any ties yet!
DS1 has bass and drum lessons this evening and is very chirpy about it!

I must have mentioned it somewhere before, but I really liked the 10 min practice tests when my children were preparing for their their entrance exam.
Well, end of Jan we have 3 music exams.
dc2 has 2. One (grade 5) she practises at home twice a week, and the other instrument once a week. She has picked up her brass twice these holidays.
dc3 has recorder exam grade 2 but has only started formal lessons with it in Sept and can't reach all the required notes.
Oh, and I have just received the invoice for all the lessons.
Anyione surprised I had a shouting match about it earlier today???

Wow lots of messages here already. I have ds (7.5,year 3) who plays double bass (doesn't do exams but possibly around g2) and recorder (has learned some g2 stuff but possibly taking g1 this term as his treble clef sight reading isn't there yet) and he sings. He does ensembles at school and on a Saturday locally. It was interesting to read about when to start piano - I am a bit sad that ds doesn't want to do it but hope he will when he's a bit older (has taken his motor skills a while to get good so it wouldn't have been a great thing for him at 5 or 6). He's doing recorder partly because I think he should be able to read treble clef! I don't always keep up with these threads but find them very useful despite that, so thanks for keeping them going!

Disorganised waffle is right about centre for young muscicians the one in London might be a bit different ( as it's been running for so long) but we visited one close to us recently and although the people were lovely the ensembles were no better than those which ds attends locally ( they are of a very high standard though) and ds would have outgrown it quite quickly I think it was still quite a drive for us so not really worth it

Loose: great news that ds2 got everything back. We are a very forgetful too. For girls it also means clumsiness, I stop labelling her clothes as it isnt a point anymore, only labelling coats now. They dont even feel cold as she could easily got home on a t-shirt on a cold day like today.

I am sitting down with her for some maths right now and its lovely. Its so much easier compare to music where I could be able to tell what is what. She was told today that she is free every afternoon to do any reading that she likes and try for 45mins music practise. I have switched the 30mins in the evening with me for academics now. Hopefully, I am doing the right thing.

Hello everyone. Sorry for hardly posting, we have all been ill and I am so tired :( Back at work but not v productive this week.

I have DD 15 who is a composer/ songwriter/ singer and plays several instruments (though only has formal lessons right now for piano) and DS 13 who doesn't play anything at all except computer games. I imagine several of you will nod your heads in recognition at this!

Big academic year for DD in equivalent Y12, as she needs to make sure she has a good "dossier" for applying to selective higher education courses next year. (French HE admission system is based on continous assessment not final exam marks). She also has her French baccalaureat exam this year. Music has been suffering a bit, in terms of v limited practice time, though weirdly she has made a lot of technical progress on the piano in the last term. I suppose it is just the result of playing a lot of quite hard repertoire (hard for her, I mean).

Fleur you have my sympathy. My DS has his middle school diploma exams this hear. Fortunately it's not as big a deal as GCSEs since he's not doing a great deal of work towards it! Mocks in less than a month and I am trying to prod him to answer a couple of practice questions every day. He will pass easily, and it doesn't really matter what grades he get, except that if he doesn't get into good work habits soon he will struggle at senior high.

Happy new year everyone (thanks for new thread waffle). Coming out of a miserably ill December for all of us, though DD (13, Y8) did practise lots over the break on both violin (G8 level) and piano (G7 level). The holidays makes up for the lack of time during school term due to hours spent during/after school on music ensembles and sports.

No exams apart from G5 singing this term, but she continues to work hard at technical skills on violin. There's been no focus on violin exams for nearly 3 years which has been a godsend, as she's not hung up on what level her repertoire is at, just plays them because they're varied and stretch her.

Can anyone recommend music theory books other than the Abrsm which you used for your dcs to take them to grade 5? I am a bit reluctant to get the ABRSM pink book as I feel it is aimed at adults rather than kids.

Do Trinity do theory books??

Trinity do, and we got them at another posters recommendation.

DCs did a bit of them, but reverted back to ABRSM.

They were a bit more child friendly I think

On more child friendly theory books have a look at the ones by Lina Ng on Amazon.

My kids use "Music Theory for Young Musicians" by Ying Ying Ng
There is a book for each grade 1-5.