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.

Green, that's fabulous! What pieces did minigreen play?

Ooh drummers that sounds like my kind of holiday!

Wow Green - I think that's three Grade 5s she has already? Rara is working for her third (practical) Grade 3 and I think she is doing well, so your DD is amazing. The list C piece is a distinction mark, aural a pass mark, and everything else a merit.

Love it, String. I am definitely going to make some videos this week.

Well done to MiniSE22 on her theory result too!

Oh, seen the pieces Green! The A2 Allegro looks like a nice piece.

Thanks everyone, deep down I don’t think we deserve it, I am although very glad that its over so we could move on for violin. Next step is to be able to settle with a teacher(started with school lesson, then with piano teacher who used to play violin, had G3 distinction last June and thought we had felt in love with violin. No lesson till Oct when we had 3 lesson with teacher A. Stopped because we couldn’t come to her. Started lessons with a teacher from beg Dec- beginning of March, not went well, stopped, cancelled the paid G5 exam. Started with a new teacher beginning of April and stopped 4 weeks before the exam date. On the night before the exam date we went to the teacher A for the first come back lesson and told not to go and we thought we were not going. Then my husband who doesn’t know there are 8 grades or difference between G1-G8 said: giving up and not turning up for exam isnt a great etho, our piano teacher who is our accompaniment and taught her violin for more than a year till last year said there isnt any harm in going for it and just do not care about the result and move on with what ever the result is. And yes, we don’t practise more than 30mins a day, more than 5 days a week ever.

Waffle, yes, violin, piano(merit only too last November, we failed scales and aural however did well with the pieces) and theory(last June, just about a distinction), although she is late 2007 born so technically she is nearly a year older than Rara and we never thought we are musical, she always fails aural( this time was a pass for a change).

Fantastic news green

Oh that's wonderful news Minigreen, what a triumph! onwards and upwards! Actually 30 minutes a day for 5 days a week sounds like it has totally paid off!
Drummers that sounds like an awesome trip! Kudos to your DS for dragging all that kit across London as well, especially at short notice.

Greenleave，congratulations! Very well done. From next year Mini will be the same age group as my DD. Hope they both get in.

Violinandpiano: do you mean NCO? We love the idea and read here that everyone loves it so much makes us really wanted it however I dont know if we try this year. Our new teacher isnt available this summer and we havent chosen the 2 pieces required. Best of luck to your DD, if we could settle with a teacher, we would definitely try next year. I cant wait to tell her however she has been in a string of 3 nights/4 days sleep over and only be back tomorrow so I will tell her tomorrow night.

Waffle how do you put up the videos? I've finally got a couple to share :)

By the way, if there's something I've been reminded of during our trip is that there never was money in music. All these unique human beings were not living in any luxury by today's standards. Schubert's apartment was small, Beethoven's, where he composed the Fifth, was also small. Here's this man, creating something humanity is going to be listening after two hundred years and he's living in a one bedroom flat with damp walls. Meanwhile the rulers were in palaces - nothing's changed!! Mozart's birth house in Salzburg is big now because it's a museum, but they didn't live in it, they only rented the third floor and the whole family shared one bedroom even though Leopold was a court musician and a renowned teacher.

So true, Drummers, Antonio Vivaldi life is also an example. With 4 seasons now had he still alive!!!

Goo won't think about NCO audition pieces until September, but will end up plumping for something easy. I don't care, as long as she's happy.

Helen do you have the login details for the special Mumsnet music threads Youtube channel which Fleur created? If so, upload to the channel (it's private), set your video to private, and only we can see it. If you don't have the details, I can pm you.

Four lots of practice done today. Rara was going through the motions with the cello just to get her computer time, but at least she played it! I don't think it's ever all been done by 3pm before. As predicted, Goo is much happier now!

DS1 seems to have decided he might as well do his grade 8 tomorrow!
There is some noisy bass practice going on...

Haha, good luck LooseDS1 !

It's the summer syndrome loose! He will be fine!

Well done minigreen well deserved!

Good luck tomorrow Loose!

Just spent some more money on clarinet books, got the Music through time book 3, Time pieces vol 3 and Ultimate movie Instrumental solos. Just for some fun in the summer seeing that we don't have a teacher till September she can mess about with them. She already had 4 studies assigned as homework but she's done with them albeit I don't know what standard they should be but it can't do any harm to move on and enjoy some different music.

Thanks! I think he came back from tour shattered by late nights and panicked because he thought he'd forgotten everything. Now he realises he hasn't! It'll be good for him to try and then put it out of his mind.
I had both dcs playing different tunes in the same room, one on guitar and one on bass, just now. They need to be banished to the posh shed!!

What's a fab holiday you had, drummers!!

Well done to miniGreen! 30 mins x 5 days a week is more than plenty for primary school age. She is doing fabulously well.

Good luck to miniLoose 1 tomorrow!

Thank you so much for sharing your summer practice plan. Very inspiring, however it's also confirmed how lost I am! I honestly don't know how to guide him or plan the details of his daily practice for such a long period of no lesson. DS's first lesson with his new teacher would be early October.

At least I know DS will play for fun without any input from me as long as he has access to his instruments. I understand it cannot be called 'practice' yet him enjoying music spontaneously was what I wished for in the first place so I just assume it's alright like this for now!

What's a fab holiday you had, drummers!!

Well done to miniGreen! 30 mins x 5 days a week is more than plenty for primary school age. She is doing fabulously well.

Good luck to miniLoose 1 tomorrow!

Thank you so much for sharing your summer practice plan. Very inspiring, however it's also confirmed how lost I am! I honestly don't know how to guide him or plan the details of his daily practice for such a long period of no lesson. DS's first lesson with his new teacher would be early October.

At least I know DS will play for fun without any input from me as long as he has access to his instruments. I understand it cannot be called 'practice' yet him enjoying music spontaneously was what I wished for in the first place so I just assume it's alright like this for now!

Oops, sorry double posted!!

Loose

Just watched String fun piece! A beautiful sound!

Mine is having school free clarinet lesson from next term. Hopefully she can play it a little too.

Yes, Kutik: that is my aim, its really in my head now(my ultimate goal and I have 10 sheets of 300 stickers ha ha ha). 30 mins a day for each (violin/piano) do it during the day, during the week so I can finally relaxed and not shouting( violin up, slow down). Basically, everything during the week before I am home.

Fleur: nice plan!!! we actually are planning for piano, the next 2 weeks will be mostly piano as we are thinking of next term exam. My aim is to learn the scales(24 pages however some are optional). While its so hard to get her to practise for 30 mins she can spend hours sketching dogs and cats....

If your child does a holiday orchestra how much polishing of their grade pieces and scales do you have them do in the evening. I haven't really slackened the pace but she has an exam 3 weeks after lesson resume in September. Am I expecting too much ?

Ours don't do any individual practice on orchestra days. They both have school orchestra once a week, and Goo gas NCO South Westerlies once a month. No practice on those days.