July Music Thread

[Wafflenose]

I was celebrating the end of a VERY busy week with a glass of and realised it's now just past midnight, and therefore July! Have a new thread!

The music threads are for ALL musicians, young and old, beginners and advanced, and every style of music!

I have two DDs, Goo (11) who is currently stropping and eye-rolling her way through her last few weeks at primary school, and Rara (9) who is funny and creative. Goo is working towards Grade 8 Flute, and has been playing the piano for just over a year. She is refusing to take any exams or perform on it though. Rara has her Grade 3 Cello exam coming up soon, and is just moving beyond Grade 2 Clarinet now. Both played the recorder from age 3/4 and got to a really good level, but other than helping out with my school groups, they don't really play any more - they are particularly obsessed with the flute and clarinet.

I am a teacher of woodwind - currently about 80 recorder pupils (many group taught) in two schools, plus two private flute pupils and six private clarinet pupils.

Yay!! for MiniNotEven ARSM !

Well done MiniNotEven!
Bass guitar exam is a week on Friday and DS1 has lost the book! grrr - not sure it's labelled...
Enjoyed school concert last night - DS2 played cello very nicely! Sadly no recording g as I'd left my phone at home!

MiniNotEven - Very big well done!

Hello all.. trying to catch up.. failing miserably
End of term always frantic here
Dd just back from D of E with bruised hips ( rucksack moved too much on day 2 I'm guessing)
Re instrument labelling..Dd wouldn't let me stick neon stickers on her newer clarinet as I did the student one. The case is heavily stickered/ tagged though
She has yet to mislay/leave it at school etc in 3 years.. so all good so far.
It's insured but even so.. the thought of any loss or mishap with it makes you feel a bit nauseous 😱

Hi to new contributors
Ringle .. another northerner here too

Alex while hunting for grade 8 we found two grade 6 books - the 'lost forever' one and the replacement.
He has also 'lost' his cashpoint card. He goes on tour to France tomorrow and I will be having a massive sort-out of his room, although the most likely outcome will be finding a mind-boggling number of socks!

Re labelling instruments - we used to sew a cashes name tape around the least annoying bit of keywork or the thumb rest if it as a loop on it.

Oh my goodness I so identify with all the lost music books etc.

It's so nice to think of the children and young peeps all across the land doing music camps/touring. They're really very lucky. Such amazing opportunities.

DS had a great time at NYJOS Alexandra - lovely of you to say you enjoyed last year's nyjos prom. I've never seen a nyjo concert. That would be amazing. One of the 'horns' at this year's nyjos is an ex chet's pupil who also plays in nyjo which was especially nice for the Scottish-grown students to meet someone from 'down south'. DS, was sure that Chets is "Well hardcore" He was very impressed. It was also great for him to chat with the students who have already started at the Guildhall.

Confirmation of his place in the hall of residence finally came this week. What a relief. The thought of finding accommodation in London for his first year is too awful for words. It's beginning to feel 'real' now.

He has a new double bass on trial! Really hoping his jazz bass teacher is available to give his opinion, but I think he will go for it anyway. He is buying it from his classical bass teacher. It's new - Hungarian (or Romanian?) According to his teacher it's getting more difficult to sell older basses as some of the new ones are so good. He will adjust the action, fit a pick-up and string it with DS' choice of strings. New bow too. DS' teacher said his own bow was good.....for using as a cane to keep tomato plants upright [laugh] DS is, as they say, 'buzzing'.

Many congrats to mininoteven!

Never thought of labelling, violin and case are ok/easy, how about the bow?

Any of you bribe your child for their practice, I am so shameful of thinking about it as mine refuses practice without an exam and we wont have any for violin. Next lesson is in 2 weeks, I just need her twinkle twinkle 10-15 mins/day so she wont forget things. Awggg!

Well done mininoteven!

Amazing to hear about all the summer projects, dcs going on residentials and touring, I hope mine will do some day.

Green dd is the other way around, she needs bribing to practice before exams not because she doesn't want to but because she doesn't do it effectively so in order to maximise the time I bribe her. Shameful but I can't stand hearing the same three exams pieces played with the same mistakes on and on again and call it practice.

The bribing method is the following: deciding on a prize after the exam for which she needs to save X amount of money. If she works hard she gets a set amount every week to enable her to save.

I don't feel guilty as I don't feel I am bribing her into music, she loves her music, she just doesn't know how to practice. So I am bribing her to avoid conflict and get her to do it right.

Forgot to say, now after the exam the bribing is off. She is learning 4 pieces, I remind her each evening what her teacher asked her to do, sometimes she prectises effectively (e.g. Isolating the issue bars and practising on repeat) sometimes she just plays the same mistakes twice and calls them practice.

As there's no deadline I don't mind, she's still progressing really well.

We're trying to decide which of the four pieces to play for the audition if she gets to the second stage for secondary admission. She wants Cool, I am worried it is too modern.

green to label bow, I make extremely skinny label and stick vertically on bow, on outside on the wood towards heel of bow.

Seems to be still holding after 2 years, though getting a bit grubby. Probably time for fresh label.

I bribe!! At this stage I bribe for doing things outside Comfort zone, such as doing an exam, taking part in additional workshops and music camps, playing a solo (when it's optional), and for sticking with strings orchestra.

I think my two just got used to practicing over the years. We used to have battles! They still need reminding ALL the time, but so long that I give them a little notice (10-30 mins), they will practice when asked. I do get pushback on what needs practice! I often get told 'only a short practice'. And it took a long time for DD2 to practice 'tricky bars' on their own.

DD2 had tears today. Her Bach Double was coming along well before the holidays. After 2.5 weeks with zero practice it was not good today. We had tears of frustration. Ah well, 3 more weeks to practice before Suzuki camp.

DD1s new strings are still settling in. She hands me violin to tune when the pegs are required! Which means she has to wait for me to return home from work until she can practice this week... She still hasn't cut her now very long nails and is back with an old nasty bow hold that was just getting sorted before her 3 week break, after working in it for many months! Ahhhh!!

Fleur, I personally avoid exam pieces for auditions out of fear of being over played. Having said that, many children seem to revive their summer exam pieces for NCO's audition and get a place so my fear may be totally unnecessary. The most important thing would be love and passion. If your DD loves it and is excited about it, then it should be the one to go for. Cool is a nice piece.

DS had one of the most fabulous evenings yesterday. The rehearsal started late afternoon, and the concert started closer to his bedtime which lasted for two hours with a short interval. So it was a long, tiring day for him, yet he didn't want it to end.

He was absolutely in love with all the pieces he played (he listened to them every night at bedtime) so it was utterly pure pleasure for him to play each note of them. He was just incredibly happy being able to play those beautiful pieces with those wonderful people. When the concert finished, he was sweating from all the excitement and the effort he put into the performance.

Getting back home took nearly an hour so he was clearly exhausted - but it was rather happy exhaustion. His cheeks stayed in red till he finally slept.

Morning all. I would like some advice from you all please. Ds has just finished Year 6 and is now on summer hols. He is shattered. We've had all the usual end of term madness plus saying goodbye to friends and teachers to contend with. He has Aspergers so finds goodbyes very stressful and upsetting. Anyway, he has barely picked up his violin over the last month apart from a concert he had with his County Orchestra and a few school things he had. He's doing 2 summer music courses though one is more him helping out (school based one) as it is aimed at younger kids. He will carry on having violin lessons and theory lessons throughout the hols. He seems to have lost his mojo a bit. He is currently grade 6 standard though doesn't do exams and has said he's like to be grade 7 standard by September. His teacher thinks this is possible but I can't work out how to help him practice. He moves through the grades very quickly and I do have absolute faith in his teacher but he will not progress if he doesn't practice. I don't want to put him off but at the same time I don't want to see such talent disappear.
Any ideas or advice anyone please??

We're trying to decide which of the four pieces to play for the audition

DS2 didn't play any instruments apart from descant recorder, and had a nice treble voice, so he decided to sing World in Union (the rugby song version of the tune by Holst). He scored 33/45, which he was pleased with, especially as he hasn't had a single singing lesson in his life.

After performing his piece, they asked him about what instruments he played and at what grades. He told them he had done his ABRSM bronze medal on the descant recorder. He said they seemed amused by this so he realised that is not the level they are used to hearing about and went on to explain that he was very keen to start the clarinet as soon as his hands were big enough.

He said that they were nice, but felt their reaction was a bit condescending when they realised he didn't have the graded exams they usually see. The places are supposed to be for musical aptitude, and open to children who don't have access to individual music lessons, so hopefully they will have improved their attitude by now.

This aspect won't apply to Fleurdelise's DD, who is already an accomplished musician for her age, but it made me a bit cross at the time.

Kutik73 what a fabulous experienc for your DS!

disorganised would it help to work on a fun piece for a few practices, keeping practices short to start with, perhaps also cover anything that needs to be prepared for camp. And increase length of practice bit by bit??
DD2 just did Grade 5 this year, the first grade she has done. Once exam was over she spent some time playing Beauty & The Beast medley we found on YouTube, and various tunes from Mathilda the Musical. She did that for a few weeks, then we went back to normal'ish practice as she has repertoire to revise and memorise for Suzuki camp, and a solo to prepare. But she enjoyed those fun pieces which gave her a break without stopping practice.

Kutik, I wish mine had a small but of your son energy and passion.

I didnt believe in stickers and bribing, however since taking Loose advice on awarding her a sticker for each good/well behaved lesson then she no longer roll on the floor in each lesson. I have been having a very tight week and only get a glim of her just before bed and ofcourse the violin is still in the case (probably from the exam day). I asked her why not play 1 scale well a day, anything of her choice and she said there isnt an exam, no lesson, why she has to do it(which I even find it making sense as a non-musical parent. Unfortunately, for many years of sitting down with her music, I know how good playing can disappear with practising).

Momoftwo: thanks for sharing, will copy you this weekend on labelling. I feel for you having 2 stringers. Violin is so much much tougher to us than piano(possibly because of not being able to settle down with a teacher).

Fleur, I know what she loves, few fancy drawing pencil cases and loads of time drawing, I will have to set a goal for her to earn it though. What I am looking for right now is just a small amount of practice so she doesnt forget each day. Might have to do sticker again, however I dont want to ruin/compete the current sticker scheme from our piano teacher.

Kutik good point about exam pieces. The funny bit is that she didn't even play Cool for her exam, she's learning it because she likes it. We're keeping Summertime going as well playing it once a week just because it is a nice repertoire piece and while it is on the grade 5 syllabus, it is on the additional list so not in the main book, less chance for somebody to play it, maybe she should play that.

Considering we're on holiday two weeks over the summer and then the exam is two weeks later maybe we should stick to what is already known. I'll talk to her teacher on Friday.

TheSecond I really hope she'll get to audition stage as she's all over the place with the MAT scoring. Everywhere between 39 and 51. Very hit and miss. Her teacher advised us to listen to the chords section with the answers in front of us to hear the difference between 2/3/4.

Disorganised I think he needs a lot of fun. Everybody needs a break from time to time, more so after finishing primary school I guess as there is a massive change coming his way. Dd is now doing her allocated pieces as a must but also spending time playing some easy sight reading Disney pieces, we've spent about 30 min last night singing along to Cruella de Vil, A Whole new world and had a great laugh. Moments like that are reminding dd how fun it is to play an instrument.

Green why don't you reward practice by telling her that if she's practising her violin 3-4 times a week she can go and choose something she likes (within budget) at the weekend? It is a bit of a dangerous game but I don't believe many 9 year olds will motivate themselves even if they like their music.

I remember DS when practising for his 11+, he was/is academic and sitting down to do some maths was easy for him, but why do it when you can play on the PlayStation instead?

As far as practice goes, we don't have any lessons. So we spent some time just looking for some fun pieces to play. First we looked on youtube and then I got the piano sheets for it. However while it works with piano it doesn't work with instrument 2....

Fleurdelise differentiating between 2-3 and 3-4 is very difficult, especially with that tinny sound. The only way DS2 was able to do it was by isolating each pitch individually and counting them (quickly).

Regarding summer holiday instrument practice, I'm encouraging free choice, especially as they have both just done exams.

DS2 wants to start looking at the Grade 7 pieces and also try some music from the Star Wars & Harry Potter films.

DD has decided to start with Let it Go from Frozen. 😒

TheSecond - dd played let it go in a school concert and all the moms started singing along impromptu!

Fleur - sounds like wise to stay with what is going well? Your dd is advanced so Less chance others will be playing the same anyway I would have thought?

On the other hand dd has thrown herself into one of the most famous cello pieces as her summer treat (3mnths without lessons) I fear she intends to use it for autumn auditions...