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.

se22 missed your news, well done to your mini also.

Green already thinking about the next piano exam next term? Wow minnigreen is going fast. Well done to her for being so determined. Is she doing grade 7?

Practice is low key in this house at the moment, some fun is happening but proper practice about 3 times a week only and alternating between clarinet and piano. Too tired and we all need a holiday.

We do have fun with Disney songs on both clarinet and piano, dd plays the instrument and I sing, really badly as I can't sing, I swear that's what is so fun, dd almost falls off her stool launching when I start singing. But it's a lot of fun and music should be fun at least during holidays. She already asked if we can play more tomorrow after the piano lesson. I promised her I'll pull the Summertime lyrics out to sing while she plays that should be ... intresting.

Can wait to get the clarinet movie themes delivered, it obviously has the Harry Potter theme which dd has asked to play since lesson 1 on clarinet.

Mine doesn't practice on band evening. That's during school times, no orchestra during holidays.

sorry for all the mistakes you get the idea (I'm on my phone as usual)

Bit quiet here as dd2 at NYRO.

Managed to upload a wee clip of her doing her stuff at cathedral. It's a bit covert and poor quality but hang it, it was a huge solo in her last ever service!

Good luck today Loose
Ds doesn't practice on days when he has orchestra or band even if he is preparing for an exam . So during term time he only practices 4x perweek plus a lesson then goes to band on 2 nights. If he has a day time rehearsal for something Like nco then he will fit in some practice too. Sometimes it feels like he's doing a lot of playing and not as much practice but it's what makes it enjoyable

Loose: best of luck to DS1!

SE22: in the past summer has always time for us to catch up with piano as my teacher was usually in London and free without the usual tight/busy schedule. We are usually only away for 3 weeks and grand parents usually stay to help with childcare, I find summer is the best time for music. Its so much more free time compare to term time for us as mine usually stays in school for clubs to cover childcare during the day and its so little time in the evening when they go to bed at 7.30. I wish miniSE22 finds the same. Regarding to Orchestra practice, I think only 1st and 2nd violin practise, others go much easier. Mine sits in 2nd row so it is definitely no need to practise.

Trumpet: I hope mine can play more in the future though, hopefully from Secondary we will go to residentials and camps like us all here to enjoy playing music with others(and someone else/care takers do the nagging for me).

Fleur: We set our heart on Chopin-Nocturne the moment we saw it in the syllabus so someone will learn that piece with much less nagging. This Monday is our last lesson and I hope they will decide which other 2 pieces, mine said none of others in the book is as exciting. My challenge is still scales(might be sight reading as we have been over confident with it and never practise, aural is hopeless, if you have any tip for aural to share?)

Green I think for aural if they struggle it's just lots of practice!! - sorry . there's the app for Abrsm which I'm sure you've come access that's quite helpful ( especially if you don't play piano and can't make up your own) ds was hopeless at aural a couple of years ago but has improved through me making him practice lots in the run up to exams same here for sightreading too. Some teachers manage to fit in lots of practice in the run up to exams ds's teacher doesn't so apart from a couple of tests to check he was on the right lines for grade 7 it was up to me to get him ready ( but much easier with trinity I think)

helen what an angel. Very beautiful

helen that was lovely! Thank you for sharing the recording.

Thanks both ! She was so thrilled to finally get a big solo at a hugely important service. The director of music was retiring after 31 yrs as well !

Green good luck with choosing the other two pieces. For aural I recommend the Abrsm app not sure if you've come across it. Dd only has time to prepare for aural a month before exams for a couple of times just to check and explain the format but we do some work at home maybe once a week on the app a couple of months before the exams. Dd's lowest score ever was 15 out of 18 and highest was full marks, but it is becoming harder.

Dd's piano teacher won't allow dd to skip exams anymore, she's saying the gap between grade 5-6 is the highest in her opinion as something else is expected after grade 5 in terms of musicality. Not sure if she's right, I will look into it when I get a chance. She won't allow skipping as in grade 5 to 7 in a year only, that's not to say she won't do grade 7 in a couple of years skipping grade 6 exam but still learning everything for grade 6 and taking a longer amount of time to grade 7 if that makes sense.

Dd is still saying she's not taking exams till grade 8 but I am sure she'll soon ask for one as she generally does. And if she doesn't and finds motivation in the yearly festival all the better as she won't waste time on exam prep she can then take grade 8 when ready.

Clarinet wise it will be intresting to see if she'll ever progress above the piano level. If she would have stayed with this teacher she would have taken grade 5 sometimes next year (one of the reasons to move is that I want her to slow down a bit) which would have taken the gap to one grade between piano and clarinet. Another year and it would have levelled. I wonder which one will become "her life" if this happens.

I can't listen to anything as I am at work but I can't wait to do it later in the evening

Beautiful voice Helen

Thank you Helen, that was lovely.

I would say that the gaps between the grades get bigger as you go up, but 5 to 6 is the biggest of all. I'very had some pupils who were never going to negotiate it (unless they practised substantially more!)

I am keeping an eye on the thread, and will start a new one when needed.

Helen that was a beautiful start to my morning, thank you.

fleur we did just that. DS prepared g6 piano a full year but never took the exam, instead he went onto g7 and took g7 exam a year later. The main reason was that theory g5 was still pending, but in hindsight I'm glad it worked out this way.

Waffle good to hear it isn't just our teacher saying so. In our case she said no way would she want dd to miss on important musicality aspects because she never sacrificed those when skipping from 1 to 3 and 3 to 5 but now in her honest opinion you cannot achieve those musicality aspects in a year (as in from 5 to 7) unless you end up practising for a considerable amount of hours a day.

Just to say this is in our case, I am convinced minigreen will manage just fine as usual.

drummers that's what her teacher proposed also, prepare grade 6 when the time comes (next summer session she thinks) and see where we are with theory. If theory grade 5 done then see if dd wants to do the grade 6 practical. If theory grade 5 still not taken then move on once she's happy she would have passed grade 6 and take grade 7 a year later.

Obviously this will depend on dd's motivation to practice and progress, in the meantime dd will do a lot of various repertoire and some festivals to keep a target of preparation in mind.

I can't wait to talk to the new teacher a few lessons after she starts with her to see what her opinion is, not on exams but on dd's realistic level and how she's been taught till now.

Ds did jump from 5 to 7 in a year but it has been quite full on at times and I am now looking forward to a couple of trumpet exam free years as apparently he won't be taking my grade 8 until he is way above that standard playing wise and won't let himself down with the aural so I'm looking forward to that.

Actually, Goo did Grades 5, 6 and 7 flute in exactly a year, but this was AGES after Grade 4 - if I'd known then what I know now, she'd have done Grade 6 instead of 5 in March of last year. She had already negotiated Grade 6 on the recorder as well (and took ages doing so).

I am looking forward to seeing Helen's video tonight too!!!
Since December we have been learning 3-4 pieces around G6 level(more focusing on techniques: crossed hands, pedalling, focusing on performances: playing solos in church, festivals). They were learnt fast to around merit level(without scales, all are lovely ). We havent started with the graded pieces yet. 3 months I think is enough. I dont think about grade that much, they so far serve as great motivations and mile stones where we know we have to polish certained bits and meet requirements in bits we struggle. I thought of moving to Trinity for less scales, less aural then we might have better results however we think we will stick with ABRSM.

I don't know on other instruments, I know that on piano she said (the teacher) that she doesn't want to put the pressure and we'll go back to a grade a year as she doesn't feel it is as achievable as from 1-3 and 3-5 without sacrificing certain aspects of musicality. I have no clue exactly what she means but I know her lessons are now becoming a bit of a nightmare, I thought she was going into details a lot previously but now since grade 5 her lessons very often concentrate on a bar at a time for 20 min, explaining and practising from touch to the shoulder position, back position, besides fingers, wrists, arm etc. I am getting used to it but it is hard to motivate a 9yo to only practice one movement (one bar!) for 5 min. This was to learn a side move (rather than up and over) and stretched fingers which dd finds hard to achieve after being told for almost 4 years to curve her fingers.

So I can see at this level of detail no way would she progress as fast.

I am sure there are other methods, I was reading a forum a few months ago where teachers were discussing technical work and when they introduce it, some would not move to the next grade until a certain aspect was learnt while others were happy to move on saying that they'll catch up on it at a later point.

I don't think there's a right or wrong answer to be honest, I just know our teacher isn't willing to move on (to be fair seeing there are 6 yo with grade 8 I am sure it can be achieved) but I'm told now that dd passed grade 5 she's on her way of being able to play anything she wants with a high level of musicality. I'll report in 4 year's time if she hasn't given up lessons by then

To be fair I'm happy with her approach, I am exhausted and if she would have said "let's work towards grade 7 next year" I would have had to be overly involved, nag (more than I do now) and I was hoping for a quiet last year in primary school once the exams are over in September without any huge goals, once at secondary school the targets will take over our life I'm sure.

I think 5-6 is the biggest jump on most instruments, by definition. The marking criteria change, and the higher grades earn UCAS points (or Level 3 credits) - the difference required in performance is a bit like the difference required in answers for GCSE vs A Level questions.

Going out in a bit, so I'll start the new thread now.

There we go... www.mumsnet.com/Talk/extra_curricular_activities/2991264--Mostly-August-Music-Thread

Well done minigreen and minise22.

DS2 has to practice something every night or there isn't enough time!

He's doing lots of practice on everything this week, plus working on G6 theory. The deal always was if he chose to do G6 theory he had to put some work in over the holidays as there simply isn't enough time in term time!

Fleur DS only does piano exams at present. Trombone teacher has asked him to do some G7 consolidation over the summer, so hopefully can say definitely there and move on. He might do an organ exam next term though, G4 or 5.

DS1 only did Grades 5 and 8 on trombone and tuba, but he did do early grades on trumpet