February Music Thread

[Wafflenose]

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!

Drummersmum -apologies - I didn't know you live near there. London is not the only polluted city in UK....

The countryside is not perfect actually - people who live close to fields of oilseed rape get sore throats! Even in a nice suburb of Glasgow I sometimes can't put my washing out in the summer as the smell of slurry from the fields a couple of miles away is too bad.

The application form for living in the guildhall hall of residence, which is right beside GH (fantastically convenient) asked if you mind having a room on the ground floor. DS said no - it would be handier with his bass - but it might be healthier to live a bit higher up.

No need for an apology! Anyway, I'm in London but not near the Barbican. Years ago, I dreamt with living there, thinking you just go down the stairs and bingo, all the culture you may want! And DS could just pop down to Guildhall. It never happened, obviously.

Cw has a soulless feel to me, although I do like the Barbican. Can't explain why

I'm very fond of the Barbican and Guildhall (near some interesting historical places, too) but not a fan of the wind tunnel effect of CW! Agree about pollution and buses too.
Well, I have been put in my place by DS2. I was playing yesterday with headphones safely on. DS2 looked round after my dramatic finale to 'Indian Pony Race' and said 'Are you all right, mum?...pause...is the piano all right?!'

My ds is going to learn his very first Chopin piece. He started this in Jan then stopped in Feb, but now I think he is going to go back to it.

His teacher wanted him to learn Mozart's sonata first but ds rejected and insisted he would do Chopin! I am not sure if it's a right attitude... Luckily his piano teacher knows him very well so she didn't take it in a wrong way. However I have to teach my ds to respect his teacher's choice more.

The teacher said the Chopin piece was not technically demanding but it requires certain maturity to deliver the mood. My ds may still be too young to achieve it. Let's see!

For our family, my working is for our living, I dream of a day when I don’t need to work anymore. I have been working in CW for 10 years and all these years being a working mother means I don’t really need/care about night life, eating out which City is way better to compare. I do go out with my friends and by then we usually end up some where around Soho near all these theatres and restaurants. I don’t complain about pollution because I came from one of the SE Asian’s capital, we didn’t have a garden and the noise and pollution level are much worse than London now(I live in Richmond and you will hear everyone complains about airplanes noise in the early morning hours etc too which could be getting much worse with Heathrow expansion).

Ealing, it’s a wonderful news especially for piano as it is a lonely instrument.

I avoid playing in front of my musical DC too - DC does a hilarious impression of me actually.

One of the challenges of Indian Pony Race IMO is to avoid rushing -which is quite ironic really given the title

I was impressed with the Barbican restaurant. Very nice food, not as expensive as I thought it might be (I'm Scottish) and pleasant looking out into the courtyard. Haven't been to any performances there. DS thought it seemed like a nice venue to perform in. As a double bass player he is very picky about venue acoustics - much faffing with pick ups/mics should he just play on his bass guitar instead etc I feel very ignorant, but do find it very interesting.

Go for the Chopin, kutik if it's what he wants. DS did a Chopin waltz before embarking on the Mozart sonata and he loved it. Mozart is devilishly difficult and IMO it requires maturity too as it has so many different ways to take it. I've had Mozart sonata practice for over a year now...

Loose

Mozart is devilishly difficult and IMO it requires maturity too as it has so many different ways to take it.
That's very true.

My ds loves acting like a teacher to me. He tells me 'don't worry, try again SLOWLY', and so on like his teacher says to him (but it seems he forget that when he plays himself). He even gives me homework...

I would love to be able to play the Chopin.
Rogue I hope DS2 doesn't do impressions of me - I usually manage to practise when he's not in the room!
I think they love to be teacher!

According to my ds, I have 'potential' so 'teachable'. My dh on the other hand needs to prove how 'seriously' he is before ds can consider taking him as a pupil...

As a westerner when on average compare to many other places in the world you are so well off, having inheritance, savings and/or having an infrastructure support you to have a choice of not working compare to Asian countries, the cultural concept of working or not working is very different. It never occurs to me not working. My husband lost his job twice, eventhough he found something else straight right after still we know the risk, we are at the same age, working in similar role with me even slightly senior than him so there isnt a question between us that either if us ever stop working first. We dont have any family here so without our jobs we will loose our standard of life. I can although choose to switch career, it might happen when the children is more grown up and we have some savings. I am moaning here although just keeping our job proves to be challenging so we are keeping our heads down.

Can I ask any one you whose children have finished abrsm grades then if they have lessons at home anymore. If they choose to be amateur however still wants to improve their play then what do they do. I am dreaming of a day when the abrsm grades are done then what we could do after(we still have a longggggg way to go).

Green I continued having lessons after I finished Grade 8, but didn't do any more exams. I do know of many people (mainly nieces and nephews) who just stopped. Some of them play just pop songs with friends, but not classical any more. Probably sick of it ...

I love Chopin when I was young but now I just don't like most of them. I would only invest my (very scarce) time in a couple. Mozart - well ... On the one hand the sonatas are usually quite learnable. On the other hand, it's difficult to make them sound right. But I'm only interested in his A minor sonata...

DS1 continued lessons on both his instruments after Grade 8, until he went to uni.

DD is still playing in bands, but is having lessons on another instrument.

DS took G8 three and a half years ago. Lessons have gone on as usual. The time to stop lessons is when you reach the stage where you're not getting anything out of it, if you're still progressing then it's worth the investment in time and money.

I know professional musicians who still pay for lessons with certain people to keep improving.

DS is playing the timpani at a concert tonight. Looking forward. He's been coming home at 7pm all week with rehearsals then homework till 10pm..

I am also dreaming of a day when ds finishes g8 piano, so he can focus on violin more. It's a constant juggling with his priority at a time - study, sport, music, his Saturday school commitments, cubs, and so on... I am scared of the academic side getting heavier at secondary... Once piano is done, he can invest his very limited time on learning the instrument he loves more. I think he will continue piano lessons as g8 is still sort of the beginning of being an advanced player so shame to stop there. But no pressure for passing exams would be nice (no intention to pursue the diploma level at the mo).

Hello everyone! Sorry for the radio silence but we have had 11+ entry scholarship callbacks and auditions galore which has been time consuming to say the least! I haven't caught up with everyone's news as yet as I have been focus in on the school offers. I am now sat in the violin lesson nursing a toothache which with 4 octave scales is not a great combination....Anyway, we've made a decision to take the place at the London super selective over our side of London which ironically is right next door to the guildhall (a factor in the decision I have to say plus she can keep the same music and dance teachers ) so I may well be house hunting in the time warp that is the Barbican for a crash pad... We apparently can commute until then in mum's taxi I'll then have to deal with Green's problem of practicing and close-proximity neighbours . I hope everyone is week. Green I have your cold so much sympathy to you

Four octave scale on a violin! You have my sympathy!

Congratulations to miniPrada!

Prada, so you now can plan for Easter and this summer treat!!! We are following your steps soon and I am very scared.

We have sound proof at the back of the piano installed which I hate as it reduce noticably the sound and loosing out the strong powerful sound that it has in the past. The thing is you cant choose your neighbor, even you thought you got a good one then that could change too. Its just part of an urban life that we need to live with.

Exams or not... thanks for all your replies, mine does need some kind of exams and/or competition to keep her practising. Luckily there are festivals there, plenty where we live so I hope mine will carry on learning after. (Thinking of grade 7 piano end of this year when discussing with our teacher last lesson so there is a chance that we might finish grade 8 when she finishes primary)

Our piano is placed against the neighbour's wall (fireplace on their side). I really hope we will never need to consider insulation of sound proof. So far no one have said anything...

By the way, I suppose you all know Vivaldi A minor as it's so famous and so popular among young violinists. Can you tell me the order of the difficulty for each movement? My understanding is 3rd is harder than 1st. Do you agree? And, how about 2nd? Is it the easiest out of 3 movements, or actually the hardest? Anyone has the answer to this???

And how about Brahms's Lullaby? I have the Russian version. It doesn't have double-stops like I saw in grade 7 a while ago, but you have to be very comfortable with 1st, 2nd and 3rd position changes, and secure vibrato, and also good bowing to play it well. Do you have any idea which grade it can be? We don't do grade exams for violin so no idea.

My 4yo (5 at the weekend) had her first piano lesson at school today. She announced it was 'the best lesson of any lessons, ever!'.... I think she liked it

As she is so young we only started them on a trial basis after she begged for lessons. I hope this is the beginning of a life long love of kusic!

Wow Green - G8 before leaving primary is fantastic! Congrats to minigreen!

Chilver - that sounds promising!

Kuitik I can't help you with the difficulty, but double stops are definitely a feature of G7 violin.