May Music Thread

[Wafflenose]

Hello, and welcome to the May thread. It's a public holiday in the UK, but my school is open and I had to work today, which is why I've only just got round to it! This is a place for parents of musicians of ALL levels, and adult learners, to chat about lessons, practice, scales, concerts, exams, and whatever else they'd like to! We have lots of regulars, some occasional posters, and sometimes people who just pop in to ask a question. It's a friendly place.

I have two daughters. Goo is 11 and in her last term at primary school. She's working towards her Grade 8 Flute (some time next year) and playing from the Grade 4 Piano book (currently refusing to take any exams, and putting off the first proper performance!). Rara is 8, may or may not be doing Grade 3 Cello this term, and is approaching Grade 2 Clarinet.

Both of them played the recorder for years, starting as preschoolers. They reached Grades 7 and 3 respectively, but sadly neither has really played since the music festival a few months ago. They are obsessed with their Flute and Clarinet, and really enjoy Piano and Cello. There won't be many opportunities to play the recorder at the secondary school they will attend, so much as I love it, it's probably a good time to quietly drop it. Recorder has given them both lots of opportunities, confidence, reading skills... and festival prizes!

Goo does NCO and South West Music School. Rara isn't that level at all when it comes to music, but is gifted with her hands. Instead of practising the cello and doing her school spellings today, she completed a lovely sewing kit without bothering to look at the instructions, and also made a lovely crafty construction from card and coloured paper. Both girls are keen on drawing and playing computer games. Rara swims and Goo plays sodding netball and dodgeball, which have both been responsible for multiple injuries over the past few months!

Hahaha double not sure if I'd be as happy as you sound.

I am trying to think about the logistics of the exam day, do I take dd to band day all day and then pick her up at lunch time to take her to exam? Do I take her to exams first and then, providing the band is happy with this, take her to the band day after? Do I cancel the wind band day for dd on the basis that she'll be to tired for the exams after? What would you do?

So band day is 9,30 till 3 pm, exam at 2 pm. How would you do it?

Go to band until lunch as long as you don't think it will tire her out.

I'd do band in the morning and take her out at lunchtime for the exam. They will know how little control you have over the timing of exams, these things happen. I can't see that she'll be too tired for the exam as she would have been playing for even longer had she stayed for the whole day. If they exam is at 2 and band finishes at 3 I wouldn't go back after the exam, there's not enough time to make it worthwhile. I'd be off out for the after-exam treat of choice instead.

Thanks for the advice. The teacher has the option to move the exams around, not the day but the entrants as she has a few, I have asked if she can do it 4pm, I am waiting for her reply. She could also move it in the morning but I wonder if that's worse as dd would miss the first bits in the morning of the band activities.

Definitely go to band. I had to take DD out of Junior Instrumental week for a violin exam 2 years running, and it was fine.

fleur I agree I would still send her for band day- I don't think it would make her too tired. It's something she'll enjoy doing & will have her well warmed up & not at home fretting about the exam. My monkeys next exam is 2pm on a school day and she has to go to school beforehand. Bands better prep for the exam than that I'd let her go back to band after the exam if there's an end of day performance but otherwise I wouldn't bother
Xx

Thanks ladies! That's what I had in mind also but then a friend raise the question if she wouldn't be too tired for the exams after so many hours playing in the band so I started doubting myself.

One of dd's piano pieces still sounds shapeless and the tempo is not right I really hope she'll peak at the right time in two weeks, I did have a conversation with her telling her not to expect a distinction/merit as the time of preparation is so much shorter than previously expected and she also has form of messing up in the exam.

Hi all,it's been a long time since I've posted for various reasons. Many congrats to all your fab children for all their achievements so far this year. If you recall my ds who is 11 in a few weeks was going to audition for Junior Guildhall. He had an assessment there before Christmas and was told he is definitely gifted and could be exceptional but needs to be practicing for an hour a day. We were told to come back and audition in the Spring,so now and they were pretty certain they would offer him a place.
Fast forward 5 months and ds has decided not to audition this year. He may donit next year or year after. He was massively struggling to do the hour a day plus (due to his Aspergers) was getting quite bogged down with SATS practice and other stuff. We felt that he wasn't ready emotionally. He is very passionate about music but his really passion in playing in orchestras/ensembles. He has just been offered a place at a big county Orchestra without audition based on his "cv" which he's quite chuffed about. They do 3 residential courses a year which will suit ds f me as he can still be involved with the other 2 orchestras and string ensemble that he loves so much. He also attends our local music school on a Saturday morning.

Anyway,hope you're all still with me. I'm told by his teacher that he is now a grade 6 standard (practical). He won't do Grade exams and almost through the grade 3 theory book (he has 1-1 lessons). He has flat out refused to play from Grade books but he wants to play concertos/sonatas/studies and that type of thing either duets or solo. His teacher says he can still progress very well. He is starting on grade 7 scales. It might be worth me saying that he is especially gifted aurally and has perfect pitch.
My question is (if you're still awake) is do any of you have children who have progressed well without using the grade books? His dream is to go to music college but he is only in year 6 so a long way to go yet but he has a lot of orchestral experience.
Thanks so much for reading.

Welcome back disorganised! Dd is doing the exams but from experience and what I see around me there is no reason whatsoever to believe that not doing the exams will hold your DS back. On the contrary, I think that the time sometimes put into preparing for an exam can be used better to progress. There's no reason to take the exams or play from the graded books, he would already play pieces that would be in those books as he progresses, such as Bach's inventions for example.

We do the exams as it is a nice way for dd to measure herself and she loves the certificates. It is also helpful in the way that she learns to polish a piece to perfection (albeit this time perfection is a long way away). Other than that I can't see any other reason for which you need the exams.

The exams are there to measure progress not as a teaching material.

I don't think you have to have done the exams ( just be at the required standard) though ds's teacher thinks that if you don't have a well known teacher for your instrument ( so having lessons say at a jd) then it's a good idea to have at least grade 8 so that potential music colleges will have some sort of "proof" of ability alongside your cv

I think if grade exams don't motivate the child then don't do them. I would imagine just doing grade 8 is fine as well. But what a lovely thing to get into the county orchestra and have three residentials! He must be over the moon!
DS1 is off to rock band boot camp this afternoon. It's at the college where I work so I'm going to hide in the office while he makes a lot of noise! DS2 is doing tennis for two days.

Loose,ds is so funny- he was quite unemotional about it but I suspect that's nerves in a way. He has a full day rehearsal on Saturday an hour away from where we live so we're all going up there for the day. They're rehearsing for a concert on the 1st July and the Orchestra leader said that he would be fine to play then after 1 rehearsal and will send him home with the music but ds has refused to play in the concert and said he will watch but I'm hoping he will change his mind once he's there. It's a big step for him.
Re his teacher-her reputation goes before her locally. She has a waiting list and all the sectional tutors at the 2 orchestras he is in said she is one of the best in our area so v lucky to have her.
Thanks for all your advice so far. So good to know that we don't have to have grades. The one thing ds has said is that he'd like to be Grade 7 standard by the time he starts Year 7 in September which his teacher has said is achievable. He loves doing theory which is great and he leads the second violins in the 2 orchestras and string ensemble plus music school so hope this will help. The only issue is that he is so far above nearly all the kids in the senior school already (he is at an Indy school that goes up to 16) that he will likely be bored stupid in music lessons for a while but we will have to see how that goes.

Disorganisedmummy we're looking at conservatoire/university for 2018 entry. Whatever I tell you know will be so out of date by the time you get to this point that it will be useless, as time goes by you need to keep an eye on the entry requirements for whatever he wants to do so that he doesn't accidentally close off any of his choices. As I stand here now, the conservatoires DS is looking at talk about being at least of G8 standard and they will determine that by audition. The universities (some of which offer courses with a large element of performance) ask for ABRSM G8 or equivalent qualification. My sweeping generalisation is that if you're aiming at conservatoire you don't need the exam, if you think you want to study music at university then you do.

I wouldn't worry about it until after GCSEs, there's still plenty of time then for a swift G8 if needed. He is still very young, exams are not all there is to music and if he is set against them there is nothing to be gained by pushing him down that route. Everything Ds has auditioned for has asked for a certain grade standard, for those not taking exams a letter from their teacher is the equivalent.

..and congratulations on the seat in the county orchestra.

Disorganised that's great, the county orchestra is great news, as that's what he really likes. Being ahead of your peers in music at secondary school doesn't necessarily mean boredom. It depends largely on the teacher. DS has loved the music lessons, because they did fun things like composing soundtracks then shooting videos to go with them, etc. The activity was fun and that's what mattered, even if the content was below his level. Now he's really enjoying gcse because they listen to different historical periods, talk about them, analyze, etc and then of course he's composing a lot which he already did, but the composing is something each child does to their level and the teacher is never going to bring their level down, on the contrary. What I'm trying to say is that the fact that he knows most of what's being said doesn't impact on the enjoyment because he loves music, so who wouldn't want to be talking and working on what you love most?

Drummers and Rapidly - agree with you on the wide range of ability and the fun in GCSE music! DS1 loves it - he seems to have taken to the composing despite being a bit slow to get on with it! The historical periods are really interesting. He's got a couple of friends in the group who are also at the grade 6-8 range but they definitely don't feel they are being held back.
Interestingly, though, the school has decided to set music from year 8, which didn't happen before. I think it's got more to do with behaviour rather than ability - some of the beginners are really keen and get on with the work but some aren't and don't settle very well in class. I am pleased the school takes music lessons seriously, though, there are a lot of demands on their resources but they do see it as valuable,

Hi, everyone,we need your advise. We need to choose grade 7 violin pieces. I wondere if anyone had yet formed any views about these pieces. Which pieces would best suit a 9 years old DC. Advice and suggestion would be most welcome.

Disorganisedmummy my thoughts on grades for what its worth is not too worry and as a general comment we are too obsessed with grades in the UK. This is especially true of many parents who can't see beyond ticking off the next grade. I have experience of other countries that produce a lot of wonderful musicians and they don't follow a similar system. If your child is progressing in the right way and having fun that is the most important and even auditions for NYO and BBC Young Musician don't actually require that you have taken grade exams.

Hi Violinandpiano - miniprada just did G7 violin and she did the Mozart and the Bohm and then chose the Gershwin from the alternative list as the teacher thought that these were a. Technically the most challenging and therefore she would learn the most techniques and b. A diverse repertoire for festival use.

Hope that helps. The Gershwin is a bugger by the way and sounds terrible during the first stages of learning!

Drummersmum that's really great to hear. Thank you for your message. I have bought him some Bach concertos to be practicing at home with a few to finding some other similar ones so if anyone knows of any concertos/sonatas/duets or such like that are that kind of level please let me know. He adores Baroque music and has an almost encyclopaedic knowledge of what composer is from what era of music and knows a great deal about each composers' works so should all help.

Thanks, Pradaqueen. It is very very helpful. My DD really like Bohm from List B. Your DD choose this as well, so I now think that may be a good choice for my DD. About List A, she would like to choose Bach, but I like Mozart. List C we still have no ideas.
I will tell my DD about your list C piece and ask her if she want to challenging herself.

I havent been able to read all posts in detailshowever wanted to say that I feel sad that you are leaving the training Orchestra. Petra. I so agree on every term time 2 hours Sunday, it is ALOT to us, many times I memtioned here that I hate to loose her any weekend minute. However, for the last nearly 3 terms with the Orchestra, we love it, we love everything about it, we joke about a piece that we "dont like", about some days we dont get the jammed cookies during short breaks. We are very looking forwars to the rehearsals/concerts.

On the other note, there hasnt been music practice however someone is enjoying her books so much that I had to stop to get her few more for this mid term break

Just poking my head round the door to say "hi" ...

(We're moving and I'm up to my elbows in paster and paint).

DD has her first ever serious music exam tomorrow (end of French conservatoire second cycle for piano). Has been a bit of a rush to get ready in time with school trips and visits to her boyfriend. Plus she hated the compulsory piece, a very contemporary piece by Christian Manen which even after 4 weeks of repetition I still can't tell if she's playing correctly. At least she has spared me the expense of buying the music by playing it from memory.

I feel for the neighbours (though less so since they spent the whole of a Sunday digging up their drive with a pneumatic drill lol).

She is also playing Debussy Arabesque No 1 and a Schubert impromptu. Much easier on the ears!