April Music Thread

[Wafflenose]

We've managed to fill up the March thread, so I give you April's, around 10 hours early. Don't use it all up at once!

The music threads are for learners of ALL ages and stages, including beginners and adult learners.

My kids Goo (11) and Rara (8) break up from school today, thank goodness. Rara is off sick at the moment, in any case, but they both need a break. They did their music exams this week. Goo got a distinction for her Grade 7 Flute, and we are awaiting the results of Rara's Grade 1 Clarinet, plus a couple of my pupils. They will probably come on my birthday - the ABRSM ones often do.

Next term, we have a big community concert at the local high school - all the feeder schools take part. Goo could do Grade 7 Recorder and/ or Grade 4 Piano, but I don't think she wants to. Rara is doing Grade 3 Cello. My Year 6 Recorders have been asked to play in the local Festival gala concert, and I'm sure there will be primary school leavers' performances too.

Waffle: one thing I learnt from more than 3 years supporting her learning music is the ultimate goal for an amateur is how long do you keep playing(although to a good standard level). Which means I hope she knows how to play and can occasionally enjoy playing during her adulthood and she will appreciate music much better than us.
We dont aim for a musical life/solo career so it makes it simpler---I hope I didnt demotivate any of you here, its just our ability/life style/circumstances. I although leave the choice to her if suddenly she thinks she is into it. Right now we are making Easter eggs nests and once we finish, there will be a bike trip to the park then dinner with a friend of mibe who come to see us for this evening only, we have to vent over the weekend as our week days are tough.)

Talking about the light at the end of the tunnel - yes, I suddenly realised that we will be done with violin at 11-12yo - only three grades to go -and it feels great! Also, as she likes exams it is not really a burden to do them.

Saying that I already see a diploma on horizon :).

Piano - I don't have any plans for piano at the moment, I really see it as a supplement to the violin, I would rather not to do any exams at all on piano and only grade 8 at some point. But what I really would like her to do is jazz (piano) - apparently she is very good at smth like that - but initial approach to the question indicates that classical piano education is still important. If we had more time I would send her to jazz lessons straight away, but.... not yet :(

With number two-does not look scary as he is quite compliant. So for the next few years I don't anticipate big problems with him, it is only when he gets older he may resist as he can be very stubborn at times....

Btw, this is rather funny-when I told our violin teacher than dd starts piano again and ds will have lessons too-he was not happy bunny :) Was rather grumpy and worried that it will affect their violin learning :)
He support the idea about jazz though. Perhaps because it does not require such timely practicing :)

Goo won't get any grade 8s for a long time. And definitely not at primary school - she's he leaving soon. She is also never going to take a piano exam, she tells me. I don't actually care, it's just good for her to get some knowledge of the piano.

We must do some practice today. Goo has a bit of end-of-term-itis and hasn't played the piano since Monday or the flute since Wednesday (except in her lesson). Rara hasn't played anything for a week, due to being ill.

I'm also a non- playing parent. I can read a few notes and that is more or less it.

I did sit in on DS2s piano lessons at the start, and helped him at the beginning, but that time is long over!

I help with aural by looking at the answer book and telling them what's right or wrong.

Having said that, I do some remote supervision for DS2 piano, usually to remind him to stop playing a concert!

All organ practice is supervised as DS2 has to be accompanied in organ lofts and empty churches, this was a safeguarding condition of being allowed practice rice time by the respective Cathedral/parish church. I also sit in on organ lessons, as Cathedral policy states 2 adults at all times.

That should just say practice time don't know how the rice slipped in!

As for teatime. DS2 was a Chorister at 9, so tea was after 7.30 those nights. Other nights it was ridiculously early to be at band practice for 6!

Waffle I know one girl who has just done her grade 7 at 8.5....(strings). Very bright confident child, no pushing or whatsoever. Her mum does not think she is particularly talented though (mum is a musician too) as when this girl took part in NCO last year (at 7yo I think) she said there were far more advanced children at this age
Saying that I totally lost interest in grade race now. I watched that girl playing-she is indeed brilliant but something (I would call it life experience) is still lacking. I just was not blown away. She needs to grow up a bit to make it. I also wonder- what is next? Dd had grade 2 in both-violin and piano at 6yo - in retrospective - I don't think it was worth it. I had my moment though - showing off, etc :):):) I used to think - when do we finally move to the next grade, nowadays I am the cautious one-when teacher suggests doing exam - I am the one who is asking - are you sure? Cannot believe how my views changed over the years :)

only I am with you. I told Goo and her teacher that I thought they were completely crazy to try for Grade 6 and 7 when they did. I have now put my food down and said absolutely NO more until at least the end of Year 7.

I know what you mean only - my DD is now 16 and doing G6 TOMORROW - arghhhhhh,

but her playing is beautiful, heartfelt and soooo much more "musical" than it was even a couple of years ago. All of her playing has character, drama when needed, there is just a lightness of touch, a gentle emotion in playing that comes through with age and the experience of playing many varied pieces. Even her scales sound more rounded, more body to them - less going-through-the-motions. She feels it too.

If only the A pieces suited her playing style and temperament more! Still, exams are there to test the whole range. hey-ho.

If it goes comparably on recent years it will be 25+/30 for both the B+C, 15-20/30 for A, 17-19/21 for scales, 12/21 for sight reading (it needs work - but it seems to be a mental block thing - she plays a whole load of sight reading beautifully at home, but in exam can't get rhythm right let alone dynamics in there!!!) , 14ish/18 for aural.

A middling pass.

I did my first Grade 6 in Year 11. :)

I think dd will probably do grade 6 piano by end of primary. That if she does grade 6 at all but working on a grade a year and doing grade 5 now I'd say 6 next year. Which I would be more than happy as she is summer born so if she would have been born two weeks later she would have probably done grade 7 by end of primary. Saying that she didn't do a grade a year as she skipped the even numbers but she'll be grade 5 after 4 years of learning. I am quite happy with this as I don't feel she skipped any skills, on the contrary she had more time to learn it as she wasn't slowed down by exam prep at each grade. Clarinet should be grade 4 by end of primary also again if she does a grade a year.

On the other hand I can see she's not mature enough to play at this level, while she can obviously copy and follow instructions from her teacher as to how a piece should be interpreted and somehow I can see a bit of a personal input with regards to interpretation, there is a certain level of emotional maturity lacking. Such as sadness in a Chopin piece for example, her teacher had to find an emotional example for her to understand, they started talking about abandoned kittens and how sad it is they aren't with their mum, lol. This after the teacher explained the composer's exile and missing his country and dd couldn't fully get how that was sad to that extent.

Anyway I digress, bottom line is that if you give her a piece with a high emotional charge she will not do it justice at the mighty age of 9. And while I am proud she's advanced and capable of passing higher grades compared to some real life dcs I still wonder how a piece may sound if she would have been 16 for example. Maybe she'll slow down after grade 5, I think that's her teacher's plan, to skip 6 maybe but do 7 or 8 when she feels she's emotionally mature enough.

That obviously doesn't cancel the high achievements of dcs getting to grade 8 or diploma level before the age of 11. It is impressive.

beyondthepage. That's interesting to hear about cramps etc. dd2 has no problem with pedalling, but dd1 who is taller struggles with it, and pefers wearing something highhealed. She has always had "funny-looking " feet....

My pupils take 4-6 terms to do Grade 6. It's the biggest jump, and most of them are non-practisers. The majority of the kids on here are so different! Doing Grade 6 in a year is very good going by anyone's standards, and getting Grade 5 or 6 during one's time at secondary is fab, as they are level 2 and level 3 qualifications.

This is exactly what I meant BeyondThePage.
Fleur, cannot stop laughing at kittens example. It is sort if stories I am telling my dd to understand the mood of the piece :)
Practicing with my no 2. He SO struggles with G major two octaves scale :(. Fortunately dh and dd can help but I feel I overestimated my future prospects with him :(

There were 2 children brother and sister that we knew before dd went to her present school and they were 8 when they took and gained distinctions at grade 8 Piano.
I've spoken about them before, their mum didn't know anything about music and trusted the teacher, who issued the next grade or one above as soon as they'd finished the previous grade.
They were excellent players, but obviously no emotion or repertoire other than graded pieces.
Lovely family though, I haven't seen them in ages. They probably both have diplomas now and will be 11 and 10 respectively.

Dd is home for Easter after last nights Big Band gig, got up at 8.00 this morning and at 9am knocked on neighbours door and asked if she could start.......Piano practice , she did an hour, then 45 min singing, then we went clothes shopping.
Dh has a TV recording in London tomorrow, so is doing long notes atm, then no doubt they'll be playing duets. We are so lucky to have good neighbours.
I'm cooking Sunday roast but it's still a bit warm for me for hot food, so we'll have it later.
Just grade 3 Piano left this year, it's an uphill battle but she's getting there. Perhaps if she found some inspiration for playing it she might progress a bit quicker

Does anyone know anything about Lutes, please don't laugh.
She wants to accompany herself with a lute when she sings Baroque.
Presently working through grade 8 singing syllabus and "If Music Be The Food Of Love".

All of your DC are so good!

My DS is in Y8 and just took G3 sax this week after learning for a year.

He loves it and has dreams of being a musician.

But I fear he started too late. And will always be years behind children like yours who left primary on such high grades.

Salty, there is a book called 'meet the orchestra' (very enertaining reading). According to this book there are some instruments which are ok to start late. Perhaps should worth investigating.

Salty grade 3 after only learning for 1 year is pretty impressive in my book. Dd is also doing grade 3 after a year on clarinet but she is grade 5 level on piano so she could read music notation when she started.

Also if your DS is Year 8 he's 12, I don't think he started late, my dd's clarinet teacher is also a sax teacher and told me once that she only takes 10-11 yo based on their size as it could mess up their backs. So if you take somebody starting at 10 and doing 1 grade a year the average child would be grade 2 by 12. So please don't feel like your DS's achievements are not great.

Piano and violin are usually started early, 4+ in terms of age, if the child has any inclination and supportive parents and prioritieses music to a certain extent compared to other activities I do believe they can achieve higher grades by end of secondary but not all instruments can be started that early.

Waffle did you mean 4-6 years?

Only at one point when dd kept making a Chopin piece very jolly indeed her teacher had to shout "no, not like that, imagine how you would feel if all those kittens died now!"

Salty

You can't really start too late for a career in music.
My dh took one grade 6 after doing grade 5 theory. This was enough to gain entry to his chosen music college, where he excelled, won the memorial prize for his year and is now a leading name in his particular field.
He never took any more music exams.
He also started playing at 14, becoming serious at 16 when he worked his socks off for college audition.

Oops, I read Salty's ds did grade 1 after one year, not 3! totally agreed 3 is very good! Still worth reading the book for inspiration :))

Oh Fleur, you made me laugh even more! Dd at such a stage now that if she hears someone died she may start tantrum . So if her teacher would mention dead kittens the lesson would be finished. Had to tell her violin teacher not to mention where composer has died already, she would know that of course, but pretends she does not :)))
I usually talk about brokenor lost toys :)))
Honestly, this is so hilarious :))))

After few weeks My DD will be 9. She is learning Mazurka by Chopin, Sonata in D by Haydn, Sonata in B by Mazart and Bach French suits etc. She has followed this piano teacher for 2.5 years, but did not do any grade exam. Her hands are very small, So it is very hard to choose piano piece for her. Do you have any good pieces for small hands? Thanks.

gilly, to be fair the later you start in music the more limited is a choice of careers (I am not talking about exceptional talents of course). I don't mean Salty but generally speaking. It is essenatially limited by teaching/sound engineer (as I understand it). Am I right that your dh is a jazz man? This is probably one of the areas where talent is most essential, as well as composing.... He is clearly one of those exceptional talents....But say violin performance career... no way :)

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