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.

Please can I have a view on music scholarships, for 11 plus, and on the difference between what they ask for and what they actually want. Dd is hoping to do grade 4 clarinet and grade 2 bassoon next term though one may have to wait til the following term as she will also be preparing for exams.

School 1 requests (dd's first choice) this "Applicants should meet the following criteria, in order to be considered for assessment: at 11+, have the potential to be at least Grade 4 (or equivalent) on their principal instrument and Grade 2 on their second by the time they begin at"

School 2 requests (3rd choice, after the above and a state school) this "a candidate for the Year 7 award should be at a minimum standard of Grade III / IV in their main study"

I have requested input from her clarinet teacher, and got this response which has made me feel a bit meh!

"There is no reason why XXX shouldn't try for a music scholarship, though ideally she should be grade 5 standard or above. The fact that she also plays the bassoon would be in her favour as this is an 'endangered' instrument"

Any thoughts on whether it is worth our while?

I work full time but I don't feel like a super human at all. DH is really supportive and takes on a lot of house admin stuff while I take on the kids admin stuff. I do still forget a lot, my worst parenting ever moment (I am sure there must have been others but this stuck to my brain) was taking dd to school in school uniform on a non uniform day when she was in year 1 or 2.

My typical day is: getting up with the kids in the morning, DH doing the school run, then school/work/after school club/grandparents depending on the day. All at home between 6 and 7 depending on the day. Dinner till 7,30 then music practice, a bit of academic practice if time, shower/reading/bedtime by 9/9,20 the latest. Then sit down, breathe before heading off to bed myself. Rinse and repeat.

Woolley it depends on the school. They set minimum criteria to weed out people who fancy having a go, just because they enjoy singing or playing something. My school is Grade 4+ on two instruments by January of Year 6, but that didn't stop loads of kids applying (and the school went as far as to audition them) with e.g. a piece from the Grade 1 piano book plus a song, and someone else playing a Grade 2 Violin and Grade 2 Piano piece. Some years, competition will be stiffer than others, so your DD's potential school's Grade 4/2 specification might not be enough, but other years there might not be so much competition and they might be able to take somebody with two Grade 3s, or only one study.

Your DD will fulfill the criteria for both schools by the time she starts, so I think there's everything to gain, and nothing to lose, by applying. Most schools will also like bassoonists!

disorganised I enjoyed watching that. Your son is good for his age and has great rhythm. What a long and complicated piece - did it take him long to learn it? While I'm not an expert in strings, I think that like most children he could do with working on his bowing and tuning accuracy. It would also sound good faster... eventually!

I'm very glad we have no scholarships or school choice where we live so there is no extra stress about academics, I would have no chance of finding the time to prep for entrance exams.

we also don't have any formal music exams, but that has both advantages and disadvantages I think.

I common with pretty much everyone else on this thread finding time to practice is not always easy - I leave the house before the kids are awake and there are 4 instruments (3 kids) to be practiced in the evenings, usually with some kind of argument about who wants to go first/doesn't want to go first...... We also live in the middle of nowhere and travel time to lessons is 30-90 minutes each way....

I'll try and film the kids playing (if they'll let me...) and put it on the youtube channel if someone would send me the link

I just put up some old piano videos from Goo. I'm not allowed to be around, talk or film when she's playing now!

Waffle thanks for your comments. I think that took him a few months to learn that. Normally his tuning is spot on but for some reason it went a bit haywire there! Re bow hold- he may or may not be Dyspraxic or it might be his Autism but he does struggle with co ordination a bit so his bow hold could definitely be better.

Kutik I don't work full time I realised a long time ago that with no family close by I needed to swap teaching for something that meant I could actually be around for my dc after school. So I now work very part time spread over 4 days and that works better. I am always however constantly on the back foot . I make lists and try only to worry about the next important thing so today with the music exam and concerts out of the way I'm going to sort out packing for ds's trip to holland next week. Only when I've sorted this will I have the head space to sort out packing up our house we are supposed to be moving next month !! I did find myself getting very stressed last night when I realised that ds's trumpet lessons next year might involve a 70 mile round trip but after a nights sleep I've decided that it will just become my new normal ( I hope !!)

I've put up another video of ds's recital from last week.
He was only given 2 weeks notice to prepare a piece and didn't want to do the Vivaldi which he knew really well so god love him,he choose Anitra's Dance. It's very tricky and you can see that he goes wrong several times but he gave it a good go. TBH,I was really annoyed with the head of music for such short notice but hey ho. Enjoy!

I don't work and I have 2 ds's who are both into very different things. Obv ds1 is music and ds2 is very into sport. I find it very hard getting ds to practice but when I was talking to some orchestra mums over the weekend they both said the same things of their kids. I hope he will realise that to get to Guildhall he has to practise.

Woolly I too am a single paren

Music scholarship at dd's school from yr 7 / you have to be a minimum of G4 in year ) to apply. However the reality in our microcosm of south London is a lot of children will exceed that level by a long way by year 6

We don't have music scholarship as such but the schools where dd will take the academic test for also offer 10% of places on music aptitude. She needs to take a music aptitude test first and then if she scores high enough she's invited for an audition. I just got dd's test centre confirmed and the academic test is 9th September followed by the music aptitude test is 12th September.

I've also received confirmation from the music service teacher of having a place from September. I have to say I am becoming a bit apprehensive about the move but dd wants to and I think we should give it a go.

Concert tomorrow, I am hoping to be able to record it.

Hello! Popping in for some advice if that's ok... On a slightly different scale to lots above.
How bad can you be and still pass violin grade 1?
Ds has his exam this Saturday. It is with the county music school. His tuning at times is still a bit dodgy.... and the occasional squeak too...Mainly when he gets anxious i think. I'm desperate for him to pass... I think he will lose heart if he doesn't. Violin is so hard though!

Oh I'm sure he will pass ( I remember worrying about ds passing when he did his first exam) I think there's room for quite a lot of mistakes- I used to hate exams used to make loads of mistakes because I was nervous and I always got merits if that makes you feel any better!! Remember they want children to pass they want to encourage music making Good luck for Saturday

Hi namechanging... the answer is, quite bad! Most exam candidates will have slips and adjustments, and most Grade 1s will have some tuning issues. My DD is doing Grade 3 Cello soon, and has major tuning issues. Mostly correct notes and rhythm with some dynamic interest and some sense of style (does it sound like a march or a lullaby for example) will get a pass. Scales are easy marks if you know them, and costly if you don't. Please come back and let us know how he gets on.

Could someone send me a link to watch the clips?

Thanks

Thanks for your encouraging words!
His scales are actually ok but with the pieces.... every now and again his tuning is so off that its a bit fingers down a blackboard especially on the high notes.
He really loves playing with others though and I'd love him to carry on. this worry about exams is a bit new to me! His older brother is more naturally musical and plays brass which is easier on the ear generally.
I'll let you know how he gets on

Fleurdelise, I read about your "worst parent moment" and laughed. Well, I can match it and it's music related. Few years ago, DH was in hospital and doctor was with him to take some blood stests as he had a temperature. Crying dc2 rang me "that the concert has already started". I had it in my mind it was the following week....

Well, I let DH be, told dc to get changed from pyjamas to school uniform and walk to the corner. Picked her up, and she still managed the the last bit of the concert.

I think she was in year 6 at the time.

Music scholarships, as Waffle mentionedreally depends on the cohort. Dc3 was lucky and got one, but I am sure that in some other years she would have no chance.

So..... thank you for your email Fleur with password and a gmail address. I have no idea what I am supposed to do with them!!!! . I am hopeless I know!

Waffle's sample day reminded me DS's piano teacher. She has two kids and she cooks tea between lessons. The older one is 11 yo and he warms up the prepared meal for him and his young brother and they eat while she is teaching. She teaches up to 8pm so it's too late for kids so they don't wait for their mum!

It's quite encouraging to hear how others are juggling their day - thank you sharing your survival guide. I've done half of what I planned to do today, and now time to enter the war zone - I mean school run... I have to fetch him, made him change into a footy kit, feed him, then we are off to drive miles away for a football match.... We will be back at around 9pm...

Have emerged from marking temporarily with pounding headache but had to laugh at Waffle's timetable - reminds me things are a bit calmer here in the morning than they used to be.
I have misunderstood non- uniform day on 2 occasions with DS2 - once because I thought his was same day as DS1 and it wasn't and other time because tiny slip of paper was buried in book bag. Didn't seem to bother DS2, thankfully.
When DS1 was very small and I worked full-time I went to the office wearing my shirt inside out. More than once. I got round that problem by giving up ironing.

Just got informed by his violin teacher that DS's recording is now moved to Tuesday (tomorrow!) from Friday. We had a busy weekend so DS didn't practise much as we thought he would still have plenty time. We can't practise tonight because of the football match... [shocked]

namechange if you read the end of the June thread you will see that dd's piano grade 5 exam went quite badly, came out crying, restarting pieces and scales and she passed. So not sure how bad it has to be to fail but we were certain she did fail. She didn't, by what you describe he'll pass.

foundout I remember also quite a few instances when I forgot to put money on DS's card for school lunches, luckily he was in a habit of texting to ask so I could transfer immediately. So many times I felt like a bad parent but I guess it comes with the "job".

callme those are YouTube login details.

I didnt know my daughter homework or what day her homework hand out is until my second child 10 months mat leave. My daughter academic, music, chess etc picked up massively during this 10 months period. We had hot meal every night, our baby child was 100% breastfed and very chubby, the house was always clean and tidy and we had play date almost everyday. That was the best time of my life. Unfortunately I had to come back to work and our household has since rolled back to what it was before even worse. Now there is a positive thing that my daughter is getting used to knowing her schedule, she owns her calendar: swimming packing, playdate, birthday presents, cards, Orchestra, what to wear on what day and remind me near the day on things she hasnt got. She forgets loads, we just laughed it off and learn to remember the next time. The last more than a year and a half I have been addicted to mumsnet and especially this music thread so this has been my treat for the day, probably helps me to be motivated with my daughter musical life and connected to it.

Just managed to steal a few minutes of watching.
Glad to finally meet minidisorganised and enjoyed his playing very much! Minimisti multinstrumentalist multitalented is amazing. Minigreen always manages to surprise me as her mum constantly claims chaos, no practice, etc but she's always playing like she really puts in the work! And goo I had seen those videos I think, enjoyed watch again and I hope she allows some filming soon And I am in awe at her mum's schedule and morning energy. Waffle, what time do you go to bed?
All energy here concentrated on upcoming piano exam...