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Extra-curricular activities

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May Music Thread

784 replies

Wafflenose · 01/05/2017 15:59

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!

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violinandpiano · 03/05/2017 10:51

My DD is year 4 (age 9), she started violin and piano together from the beginning of year 2. She has never done any piano exam, but she has learned all of the piano scales and is playing grade 5 & 6 level piano pieces. She did violin grade 3 (D)at the year 3 autumn term and got a offer from JD at year 3 summer term. then got in NCO training orchestra at year 4 autumn. Now we are planning to do theory exam at November.
Her progress is very quick but she can't play a piece to outstanding level( not only violin but also piano). I guess maybe she is weak of aural, so she can not play pieces very well. When the teacher show her how to play that part, she can follow very quickly, but when she goes back home to practise, she still play as before. It makes me worried and I would like her to slow progress but can polish a piece to high level.

woolleybear · 03/05/2017 11:35

Fleur, we decided to play without accompaniment this year, as we didn't know anyone who could do it for us it would have meant hiring someone and it would have made it a much more expensive day. The clarinet piece does sound better with the piano so we will have to see how it goes, we will also get to see what the majority of others do.

String, no not a C festival but an R one!

Kutik73 · 03/05/2017 11:38

I hope minitrumpet gets well soon. It reminded me when DS broke his collarbone. He broke on the left hand side so had to stop violin completely. He missed the important performance which he had been longing to take part for a loooong time. I felt so sorry for him at the time. But looking back now, it appears such a tiny thing in a larger picture. In fact it did a favour for his progress as he was so keen to go back to play. Smile

violinandpiano, I don't think you need to worry about her unpolished way of playing. It's very normal for younger ones. It may be magnified for you as she is progressing fast. But I'm sure her playing standard will improve as she gets matured.Wink

Kutik73 · 03/05/2017 11:39

I hope minitrumpet gets well soon. It reminded me when DS broke his collarbone. He broke on the left hand side so had to stop violin completely. He missed the important performance which he had been longing to take part for a loooong time. I felt so sorry for him at the time. But looking back now, it appears such a tiny thing in a larger picture. In fact it did a favour for his progress as he was so keen to go back to play. Smile

violinandpiano, I don't think you need to worry about her unpolished way of playing. It's very normal for younger ones. It may be magnified for you as she is progressing fast. But I'm sure her playing standard will improve as she gets matured.Wink

Kutik73 · 03/05/2017 11:42

Oh, sorry, somehow double posted!!

drummersmum · 03/05/2017 13:36

Great, new thread, thanks Waffle!
DS (15) plays piano, drum kit and all percussion. Has done to G8 exams this year, and has one more to go (piano) in two months.
Last night he played piano at a concert, the Mozart sonata movt he has been preparing. I am going to embarrass myself here by saying that he played it so well and with so many colours my eyes filled with tears and I had to hold them back. Not only I was happy for him, but I have witnessed the work over the months, the sheer tenacity so I guess I was overcome by emotion! That's one that's going on his YouTube channel...
Jazz concert tomorrow night and orchestral concert Saturday night at Waterloo (a last minute thing he has been asked to do).
violinandpiano I thing the only way to get a piece to the standard you mention is dedicate a lot of time to it. This is fine with certain personalities, others prefer to work on more repertoire quicker and will settle on something later on as they mature, like kutik said. But there are no shortcuts to polishing a piece!

Fleurdelise · 03/05/2017 13:43

woolley it makes sense, that is what I was thinking of, I didn't want to make a huge expense out of the festival last time so I kept dd on the piano classes only, I know if I would have asked her piano teacher to accompany her on the piano she would have offered to do it for free like she does with the clarinet exams, I wouldn't have liked that as it takes away from her free time and hiring another accompanist would have made the whole event pretty expensive. I'll look at the festival next year for both wind and piano in this case.

violinandpiano I don't think a piece is ever polished enough. Dd did a Haydn piece for grade 3 last year and got a great mark. She then dug it out in January for the festival in March and by the time it was performed it sounded even better, obviously she's grown since last year, she's worked on a lot of technique since then so polishing it further it sounded amazing. One of those experiences when you think "omg it sounds so much better than last year I wish she would have played it like that in the exam". I am pretty certain that if she plays that piece in two years time it will sound Devine, even better than now.

So ultimately if a piece has achieved its meaning, to teach the dc something new, I think that is all that matters.

Very often you will see a piece in the exam syllabus that if you listen to a professional recording on YouTube for example it sounds nowhere near the expectations of the exam performance. This grade 3 Haydn piece for example was played much slower on the Abrsm recording (we always buy the cd with the book) and had less ornaments, when I listened to it on YouTube it was way beyond grade 3 performance.

Fleurdelise · 03/05/2017 13:47

drummers when the piece goes on his YouTube channel can we listen to it? I can imagine how proud you were, well done to him.

DH sat behind dd last night when she was practising her pieces, he was in awe with her and kept asking her after "how can you do that?". Grin

No comparison to your DS drummers but I could still see DH being totally amazed with his little pianist. More so as he rarely takes any interest in her practice so watching the fingers move was an eye opener to him.

drummersmum · 03/05/2017 13:58

Fleur why no comparison? DS in in Y10 and your little one has not left primary school! If your DH is not following her day to day, I am not surprised he was in awe, as she progresses so fast and works so hard. Just wait to see what she has in store for you. She sounds so determined. And the same goes for so many DC on this thread. I think we come here because that dedication requires a lot from ourselves too.
Loved hearing about miniealing future plans and her parents shock! Welcome to the club! Wink
Forgot to wish minitrumpet a quick recovery!!

drummersmum · 03/05/2017 14:03

And of course we also come here because it's the only place you can confess to have almost cried during a performance of our child and it's OK Flowers

Fleurdelise · 03/05/2017 14:11

drummers of course I am very proud of her and as you said she's still little, no comparison skills wise but she'll get there. I am yet to see a public performance of hers when she doesn't make a mistake (loses her way, stops, recovers) even if it is all impeccable at home. But she'll conquer her nerves one day, I'm sure.

Fleurdelise · 03/05/2017 14:16

Oh and the headteacher authorised dd's absence for the wind band day. Grin I wonder if she went "I didn't know we have kids playing instruments in this school!" Smile

Kutik73 · 03/05/2017 14:16

drummers and Fleur explained so well of what I wanted to say! DS was in both situations you two described.

DS was a quick learner with little patience. So he moved very quickly from one to another at the beginning. He seems to have matured a bit and gained some patience these days and it started reflecting the quality of work he can achieve.

And like miniFleur, DS did the digging out the old piece thing for an audition this year. He played it so beautifully. I didn't think he could improve that much as it already sounded fairly good a year ago. So no end of improving, I agree!

ealingwestmum · 03/05/2017 14:46

Oh I can see you would have liked that Drummers; caught well and truly with my pants down on that day Grin. So pleased your DS's Mozart sonata went so well after all that effort he's been putting in, enjoy this week's run of concerts!

Well lots of controversy behind DD's recent ABRSM school exams. She came away with a very respectable 125 for the G5 singing (she was not happy), though a week on of results being issued the teachers are all still up in arms over the harsh marking of most of the students across all instruments. If they included comments that native speakers could not pronounce their lyrics properly (in their home-tongue pieces), then something does sound slightly amiss!

Hello to the newcomers. It's a growing family isn't it?

Trumpetboysmum · 03/05/2017 14:48

Well no phone call from school so ds has obviously survived the day with his sore wrist goodness knows what he will remember though seeing as he can't writeHmm He's got a lesson later ( to work on aural) so maybe we can make a plan for when it starts to improve. Thanks again for all the encouraging messages I'm just hoping he recovers enough to take part in all the things he has planned music wise over the coming weeks
So pleased they authorised the day off fleur dd is in a musical later this term and may need to leave school early on a couple of days . We shall see if school are supprtive or not but I will be pointing out to them that seeing as they couldn't find the time for a year 4 production or any drama this year we are just filling a gap in the curriculum Grin

ealingwestmum · 03/05/2017 14:52

Also hoping *minitrumpet's injury is heaps better today. We are injury-central in our household, can sympathise totally on wrong timing!

ealingwestmum · 03/05/2017 14:52

ah, x-post!

Icouldbeknitting · 03/05/2017 15:07

I found the supporting letters for absence were so much easier after I'd learned to cheat. If you google the benefits of team sports and rephrase it so that it relates to music you can have a letter written in no time flat. Today's first search covered:

friendship and camaraderie
cooperation and teamwork skills
leadership skills
appreciation of different abilities
respect for team mates/ opponents/officials
a sense of belonging/team membership
social interaction skills
physical skills
self-esteem and self concept
team goal-setting skills
self-discipline, patience and persistence
resilience through sharing positive and negative experiences.

A musical ensemble is a team game too.

Trumpetboysmum · 03/05/2017 16:30

Love it icould !!

MomOfTwoGirls2 · 03/05/2017 16:32

Hello everybody, I usually lurk but never manage to keep up. This is prob my 3rd post since Sept..

DD2(13) is a Suzuki violin kid. She just did her first violin exam today, Royal Irish Academy of Music grade 5. Pieces were fine, her teacher said her Mozart was the best she ever played it. Scales were only ok, some excellent some not. Sight reading was hard. Aural was fine.

We took advise from kind ladies here and did lots of work on aural this year. Sight reading has improved lots but not quite where it should be yet.

I think it's back to Suzuki to finish book 5 and 6, and maybe try for Grade 7 after that, maybe in 2 years time. While continuing to work on sight reading, and spend 18 months or so in Grade 7 scales...

Phew!

Fleurdelise · 03/05/2017 16:42

Love it ladies, I'll use that phrase if I ever get refused, I may have to ask for another day/half day off depending on the exam date, I'll use the "I am just fulfilling the curriculum gaps that the school seems to have created". Grin

Pretty sure music is on the curriculum though I can't see what they actually teach them, hopefully they won't take any credit of dd's music achievement in her end of the year report.

Well done to your dd MomofTwoGirls!

Trumpetboysmum · 03/05/2017 16:57

Great news mumof2girls. I know at DD's primary the only music they do is the whole class brass lessons and i'm pretty sure if they don't let dd continue (because she has lots of opportunities outside of school apparently !!) then she won't get any music until high school. It's depressing. Sport is important too- and both of mine really enjoy that too (hence the injured wrist!) but I'm fed up with music and drama coming second. High school couldn't be more supportive- they do masses of music at school and still let ds have lots of days off for extra music

raspberryrippleicecream · 03/05/2017 17:45

We are obviously luckier with our Festival than I had realised. Accompanists are available free, and will have a practice session with you beforehand too.

Drummers that sounds amazing

drummersmum · 03/05/2017 18:04

Jd has been accepted by the way. From now on time is going to be scarce in this household not to mention money Confused Momof2 that's great news for your DD. fleur that authorization was due ! icould i like your thinking

LooseAtTheSeams · 03/05/2017 18:18

Drummers what a lovely experience and of course you had tears in your eyes! We look forward to seeing him on YouTube!