June Music Thread

[Fleurdelise]

Hello all and welcome to the June thread! Waffle did me the honours of asking me to initiate this thread as she has no access to Internet while on holiday.

This thread was first initiated by Waffle when Goo was 6 and now she's 11. It is a thread for all the musicians, big and small, to share their love (and frustrations ) during the long path of learning an instrument. I first joined when dd was 7 and in the process of preparing for grade 1 piano for moral support. If you read the ending of the May thread you'll realise I am still a nervous reck here we are now, two years later, Dd is 9 and preparing for grade 5 piano and grade 3 clarinet, the exams are in exactly 13 days. I also have DS 15 who is in the middle of his GCSEs at the moment, he has no musical interest.

As I couldn't leave Waffle without an introduction, below is a quote from the May thread. The only correction is that I believe Rara has now turned 9.

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!

Minimus well done, fantastic result! Stay with us, this thread is for all musicians, all genres, all instruments.

Talking about jazz, dd told her teacher she likes jazz, she is learning more, I know there are jazz exams and also grade 5 jazz is on a par with theory, you don't need to take theory if you have grade 5 jazz.

Do you really have to start the Jazz training fresh or is there a way to transition from grade 5 piano to grade 5 jazz? What does it entail, does anybody know?

Thanks so much for the lovely kind words all...yes, it is a long haul isn't it, (particularly on the finances as I am LP, big relief now!). And drums are so big....when I am waiting in a dark carpark at 11pm or loading on double yellows after yet another gig I often wish he played the flute! Great as well that there are some other drummer parents here who know what it is to cram all the cases into the car. What has made the difference for my DS is doing the minor performance stuff for years...the local authority music schools, little events at school, local youth jazz orchestra and now small jazz and rock gigs. I tried him with orchestral percussion a few years ago but he found it too formal. Great that your DS is taking that as well Loose as it is so much better for for confidence later. Playing both bass and drums is amazing , does he play in a band or just for fun?

Fleur just noticed on abrsm website there's a 'Jazz for beginners' article - link is on the front page. If you scroll down it starts talking about the exams in more detail.
My non-expert impression is that grade 5 jazz would be harder than standard grade 5 because it involves improvising but your dd has plenty of time to do it and it sounds like she'd enjoy it!

Mininus he plays bass in a concert band, which he loves to bits, but hasn't formed his own band yet! It's only a matter of time as he does play with friends at school.
At least he can lug the bass around on the tube! I'm impressed with your DS organising his gigs but feel for you having to ferry all the equipment around!

I think it is really inspiring to hear about all the different ways the dc are going / exploring music-wise. There are so many possibities. Dd1 plays violin but the talent development program she's on is pretty band based and rigging up/down is standard fayre for her - everyone is expected to pitch in (although i must admit that personally i find the violin pleasingly portable but I'll get my comeupence at some point seeing as ds plays drums!)
The kids are pretty much finished for the summer now, and dd2 was accepted in to the same talent development program as dd1. Now all that left is to sort out lessons for next year, i think we're going to be ok but it's still a little up in the air.

fleur DS started jazz piano when he was about grade 6 classical. The way I see it, it's very different, the scales, the chords, the notation and then the concept of improvisation. This is all different from learning the occasional jazz piece as part of piano exam or learning. I would find it a bit difficult to combine both with one teacher. It's a different way of thinking about the instrument. DS has separate teachers.

Awesome result Miniminimus! Lots of our children are trying to break into different genres so great to hear all kinds of music learning!

Just caught up with our channel. Wonderful company to have a cup of tea with. DH came in half way through, asked what I was watching and whether he could join he was so moved by DC clips.

Rejected. Not a contributor to the thread, access denied

miniminimus well done to your DS! Mine did g8 last autumn. I wonder if they played the same pieces . Was it Rockschool or Trinity?

to drummers and Mr Drummers, very well done.
Minimini: many wellcome here, many congrats on the great results. I am dreaming of a day mine finishes G8. Then she will be on her own (and I might have to start all over again with the second one).

Fleur: I usually take 2 weeks break even no lesson to cool off after exam. This might be better next week.

Mine is having the last Orchestra rehearsal before this term concert next Sunday. I have a week away from very early morning after for a week then the week after will be her violin exam.

Nothing to report here and mine practise for 30mins violin this morning. Grand patents are here and a massive distraction to the household usual routine(however I am loving it).

Just watched the new videos and they are all such a treat, thank you for sharing.

(And Fleur you have a medal for your great idea!)

waffle loved to watch those again. I marvel at Goo's school performance.
ealing what a treat that video was!!!!

Well that's it - last lesson before tomorrow's piano exam. And it was via FaceTime from her proper teacher, not the temporary substitute while she's away. I have a happy wee pickle.
She's extra happy as her teacher told her the clarinet piece she's loving and doing a good job on for festival in a couple of weeks is a grade 5 piece.

Congratulations, lovely results coming through.

We went to DS1's uni music society's summer showcase last night. Uni does not offer music, so no music students involved. It was fantastic, and totally lovely to see over 130 students playing for pleasure.!

Drummers; thank you. She said after filming; they'll know I'm only messing, right? I said; yeess; they'll know

So hard to get any kind of footage. I also love the reference to they. She hasn't a clue who these mystery people are

ealing that was great! I loved it! Tell miniealing she has a beautiful voice and if that was just messing about then I wish mine will mess about like that too.

Lots of beautiful playing. If/when dd's pieces get more polished I promise to post something

Good luck with the exam tomorrow minimama!

Green I wish we could have a break but dd tends to get even worse if we take a proper break, I allow her to ease off on practice for a bit after exam but even that is bringing back worse habits as she then assumes she can only practice twice a week as a rule. She'll have a two weeks break in August as we are going on holiday.

Good luck with the piano exam miniminimusician !
Hope it goes v well
Looking forward to catching up with vids on channel later

Fleur - we are still on a post exam break from practice.... we went to the golf range today as a treat; dd has one amazing bicep from bowing which means she can hit a ball very far....unexpected consequence of music:). She will however be practising when we go on hols

Ooh, I will be having a look in a minute. Goo won't perform for anyone currently, refused to play for her mentor today, has dug her heels in about Grade 4 piano (not doing it) and won't let me film anything either. I think it's a phase - she says she hates playing solo/ hates being watched etc, but she's fundamentally confident and just going through a funny phase. I will video Rara's cello pieces when they're a little better - she was in tears over the arpeggios tonight, so not in a good frame of mind.

Goo, her teacher and I have settled on March 2018 for her Grade 8. Teacher thinks she could do it next term (I think so too) but it's just not fair, with the transition to secondary school. I was hoping to drag it out until next June so the braces will be off, but she has now learned 5/6 of the pieces, and all of the scales!! Her aural is good, and sight reading always perfect. So we've compromised on March, which is what Goo wants. I suspect we will have Rara's Grade 3 Clarinet in the same session, aargh! I will make sure they do different exam boards on different days again.

Waffle - braces off next summer? wow, wish they would tell us when dd's are coming off (actually still need bottom ones put one which we will do in next week or two). we did g8 this session partly to avoid the transition to yr 7. Goo sounds super prepared for whenever she takes it :)

Well tonight Dd has had an amazing practice session, reminding me again why she does it and how good she can be at it (in all modesty) when she really wants to.

She's done a total of 45/50 min on both clarinet and piano, good clarinet practice but piano was amazing. She did what she's required first thing, all the dynamics and tehnique there, there was no argument and she even repeated two bars that need a lot of repetition 10 times on their own as she wasn't happy with the sound. So we're happy.

Oh and tonight we had the "am I grade 6 now?" answered with "no, but everything you do is preparing you for grade 6".

She then went on: "when I am ready for grade 6 maybe I should take the exam as it would be good to get the certificate".

What did I tell you?! What did I say?! She is going to drive me insane!!!

I did say that we won't make any plans but just learn pieces she likes and see where that takes her.

Fleur glad she is motivated again!

String yes, around April, although these things do tend to get delayed. That will make 9 months of blocks, plus 18 months of train tracks - top and bottom went on together. On her next visit, she gets elastic bands to correct her bite, and power chains to close the gaps.