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Extra-curricular activities

Find advice on the best extra curricular activities in secondary schools and primary schools here.

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February Music Thread

746 replies

Wafflenose · 02/02/2017 21:51

Overdue again, this time due to our local music festival. I put in 32 entries, and am now finished for this year, but haven't had a lot of sleep recently!

I am a teacher of woodwind - mostly recorder and clarinet at the moment - and have two DDs. Goo (short for Kajagoogoo in case anyone was wondering - and no, that isn't her actual name!!) is 11 and plays the flute, recorder and piano. Rara is 8 and plays the cello, recorder and clarinet. We are heading towards a half size cello soon, and I think we might have found a suitable one. We're going to try it out this weekend.

The girls have been entered for Grade 7 Flute and Grade 1 Clarinet this term, and I am really regretting it, as they are so under-prepared. But hopefully after a slightly quieter weekend, we can all get back on track.

Please jump right in, ask questions, moan about practice/ scales/ attitude, tell us about your DCs or your own learning... and new members/ beginners are always welcome!

OP posts:
onlymusic · 13/02/2017 23:58

Does anyone have any tips on learning music periods in one month prior to exam? Hmm I feel it is going to be a problem....

DelphineCormier · 14/02/2017 00:43

New to these threads! I have Lollie (6, not her real name) taking grade 1 piano in the summer term. I am not remotely musical and pretty clueless. She would like to take up another instrument and keeps talking about the harp Shock I keep putting her off at the moment because I don't want her spreading too thinly across two, at least until after she's done grade 1. Also wonder if she's a little young for another instrument, but again I'm clueless. At the moment she will practice unprompted and I don't know if that would change with two to practice. So sticking to piano for now!

hapsburg · 14/02/2017 05:49

What grade only?

EnormousTiger · 14/02/2017 07:14

I think 7 or 8 is a better age to start a second instrument Delphine and it is right your daughter just sticks with piano for now. Good luck with the grade 1.

Some schools are particularly interested to have children learn certain instruments because they need them in the orchestra. The harp is very hard to move around so something lighter might be a bit easier. I don't know if she would have the chance to play in an orchestra at school when she is bigger but I have tended to prefer something traditional orchestras need although that was slightly because 3 of my children won music scholarships at 12.

NeverEverAnythingEver · 14/02/2017 07:40

Delphine I know one person (grown-up) who played the harp and I know of another child who does. The family of that young harpist had to buy a Seriously Big Car Wink to transport the instrument, but I think they also have a smaller harp for other occasions.

I would steer her towards the violin. Grin Even the cello is a bit troublesome, though you can transport it in a little hatchback if you don't have more than one passenger...

My DC have always had piano in the background (I teach them) while having "proper" lessons in other instruments since about 6.

hapsburg · 14/02/2017 07:43

only have pm'd you.

Kutik73 · 14/02/2017 08:11

As a non-musical parent, one (piano) seemed enough so had never considered introducing second instrument. But my ds happened to take up violin 6 months before he sat grade 1 piano so he was not particularly advanced in his first instrument yet.

Practising two seemed too much especially when music was just another activity among lots, so I always saw violin as 'extra' and it was pretty much in the background for years. Ds only started practising violin properly last summer. Now piano become more in the background as a result! I admire children (and parents) who are perfectly a multi-instrumentalist!

My ds also wants to learn harps. He has been saying that since he was 7. I don't think it will happen here...

LooseAtTheSeams · 14/02/2017 08:33

Delphine Maybe consider viola? DS2 is toying with the idea! But the harp is a lovely instrument if you've got the transport for it.
I think we're taking the slow but steady route with theory - his piano teacher is happy to work through the books with him and have a big push on it in the autumn term. I'm thinking of getting him to do the grade 3 exam at some point as well as grade 5 theory as a sort of progress check.
Meanwhile guitars keep appearing in my front room. DS1 seems to have picked up a lot of tunes (judging from the number of impromptu 'concerts') although physics revision looms!

Trumpetboysmum · 14/02/2017 08:41

Only is this for you or dc? I will watch with interest for any advice ds has far far too much going on in the next few weeks and didn't have the best music lesson yesterday so I'm now starting to panic ( he isn't) . it would all be fine if he hadn't decided to play a tricky grade 8 piece for his AYM audition which is not ready. they want to see a work in progress ( but I would feel happier if it was more ready than it is at the moment) Smile

raspberryrippleicecream · 14/02/2017 08:47

Two questions really, a second instrument and harp.

My God daughter started harp at about 7 as her first instrument (Mum was learning and they had one at home ). She got to about Grade 3. It was very difficult to transport and playing opportunities locally didn't exist then. Ten years there is local folk group with cardboard harps among other things, have a good search locally.

God daughter gave up at 9, tried violin and sax, ended up with flute and trumpet. Grade 8 on both, so as a side note it's worth persevering to find the right instruments!

Second instrument, my DS2 started piano at 6.5 and did Grade 1 piano at 8. He started clarinet at 7.5, so before Grade 1. Practice on both at that stage was doable and he was quickly able to join local junior orchestras.

onlymusic · 14/02/2017 09:05

hapsburg, thank you!

onlymusic · 14/02/2017 09:11

Trumpetboysmum, for dd, my brains are dead to consider any theoretical exams....

onlymusic · 14/02/2017 09:19

Welcome DelphineCormier! Sorry to contradict everyone else, but doing piano grade 1 at 6 yo shows certain level of skills and abilities and therefore I would definitely consider second instrument (which actually I did with my dd, even before she did any grades). She started piano quite early and violin 6 months after (it didn't go smoothly at first though, but eventually it worked out).
Re instrument - children have their ideas about what they want but they don't have practical experience and we, parents, end up paying for their experimenting. With something cheaper - I would go ahead, with smth as "exotic" as harp I would take into account all the points brought above, + cost.

onlymusic · 14/02/2017 09:21

Just to clarify - when dd started violin-it was physical aspect she struggled with, but music wise it was very easy to do having piano lessons

Fleurdelise · 14/02/2017 10:52

Welcome Delphine! Dd started clarinet last summer as a second instrument, I didn't want another one immediately after piano as I wanted to establish a routine and understand if music is here to stay.

When looking at a second instrument I took into consideration the starting age so 6 is a great age to start violin, 8-9 not really as the majority of the other pupils will be quite advanced and dd would feel left behind, in the end we chose clarinet as the starting age seems to be 8-9/10 (with the occasional pupil earlier than that).

In the meantime the piano routine has been established fully, she concentrated on it as a priority and got to grade 3 before starting a second instrument.

I feel it worked best in our case.

Fleurdelise · 14/02/2017 10:53

Oh and I am also interested in Only's question regarding music periods.

violinandpiano · 14/02/2017 11:00

I am new here. My DD(age 8) learn violin and piano. She just bought a 1/2 violin, but still use 1/4 bow. We are looking for a 1/2 good quality bow now. May I ask you where I can buy a good quality 1/2 bow? Thanks.

Kutik73 · 14/02/2017 12:17

Welcome DelphineCormier - sorry I forgot to say this first. My last post was in reply to your query about second instrument!

By the way, what's the problem with learning music periods? If you are talking about grade 5 level, then I think it's nothing complicated. Anyone who are ready to take Grade 5 should have played most of the periods asked in the exam. So just a quick explanation of major characters of each period linking to the pieces they played in the past will be enough to give children a rough idea? I was told that ABRSM won't ask you any tricky question so they are usually straightforward and very obvious. My ds read through two pages of explanation in a text book, and after that he practised by guessing the period of pieces he heard on the radio and so on by using the information he gathered from the text book.

We are probably not a great example if you are talking about learning the subject deeper than passing the exam. But ds got 17/18 for aural by this very shallow method.

Kutik73 · 14/02/2017 12:26

We think ds missed a point in aural for answering wrong meters. He forgot that he would be asked it so didn't pay attention to find out the meter while the examiner was playing the piece so when he was asked he just gave a quick guessing instead of trying to think it carefully. If your dc is like mine then it may be a good idea to remind them to pay attention to the pieces the examiner will play in the aural section, rather than, well, just listening...

Welcome violinandpiano - I heard there is a bow specialist in Earling or Acton. Maybe someone on this forum can tell you more details.

onlymusic · 14/02/2017 12:38

Sorry, I automatically assumed that everyone knew what I was asking about :). Yes, music periods for grade 5 exam for my dd. Spring term. Don't know what is the problem, we listen to the music all the time and she knows periods and composers, but when I downloaded aural books she seems to be unable to give a right answer most of the time.
It is only one month left so I need to sort it out quickly.

onlymusic · 14/02/2017 12:42

OMG, Kutik, what is meter in an exam context?? Didn't come across this term at all when reading the syllabus description Shock. Is it the same as time signature?

onlymusic · 14/02/2017 12:45

violinandpiano welcome! When dd played 1/2 violin bow came with it, however this lady is very helpful and I understand she can send you few bows to choose from as well as advise on the best one. We already used her services and I cannot recommend her highly enough.
elidaviolins.co.uk/

Kutik73 · 14/02/2017 12:46

Yes I meant time signature, so don't worry, nothing new for your dd. I'm not sure what's the correct word for that in music term. I thought we call it 'meter'. Very sorry for the confusion!

onlymusic · 14/02/2017 12:52

Oh, may be it is a correct term, it is just none of our teachers used it (or I have not heard when they did as I miss occasional lessons), hence I was scared that I missed smth important. Something new I learned today obviously :)

Fleurdelise · 14/02/2017 12:57

We didn't even start practising with the grade 5 aural app, dd is of course discussing music periods in lessons but not necessarily in the aural test context so I wanted to know if there is a trick to explain it.