(Mostly) August Music Thread

[Wafflenose]

Here's a new thread for August, but we're starting it a few days early, because you lot have managed to be super chatty this month! I wonder if things will slow down in August due to people going away... maybe or maybe not?

I'm Waffle, a teacher of woodwind - mostly recorders and clarinet, but I have a couple of flutes currently, and teach saxophone, piano and theory when required. I am determined that the music threads should be open to ALL, including complete beginners and adult learners. It's a good place to discuss lessons, practice, concerts, exams and our generally hectic lives!

I have a DH who plays the guitar for pleasure (no lessons) and two girls. Goo is 11 and has her Grade 7 Flute (March 2017) and Grade 6 Recorder (December 2015 and now pretty much stopped ). She has been learning the piano for 15 months, is refusing to perform in any way, shape or form, but will probably take Grade 5 next year. Rara is 9 and has Grade 3 Cello (July 2017), Grade 3 Recorder (December 2016 and also ceased) and is working towards her Grade 3 Clarinet... probably next spring. Goo is off to NCO Under 12s on Sunday, and we need to pop out to get her some shoes and general supplies in a bit.

I have just realised that we will probably have Grade 8 Flute and Grade 3 Clarinet going on in the same session, Spring 2018. Oh dear! If Rara bothers with Grade 4 Cello, we'll probably have that at the same time as Grade 5 Piano, next summer. Double oh dear!

Icouldbe, your DS baked cookies??? It may be because my DS is only 10, but it grabbed my attention more than the knowledgeable information on uni/conservatoire! I would love to have a son like that!

knitting 19k steps with lots of hills is a serious amount of walking!!

Icouldbe,

Thank you so much!

DS is not currently considering music at university - up until this point he has seemed most likely to follow a fairly conventional Modern History / Politics degree path (currently doing a few days with our local MP), and I can't see that changing as his choice for the 'uni' route. So it's definitely 'Jazz performance at a conservatoire' that is the route of interest.

He does have youth jazz acquaintances who have followed this route - but the most recent is so outstanding in any context that it's hard to tell how high the bar 'really is', if that makes sense?

Will come up with some sensible questions to pm you with. Am amused by the fact that WhatUni, though it does list the conservatoire courses, doesn't give employment stats for graduates in the same way as, say, the history degrees do!"

I think DS was using Unisys but I'm on my phone now having just dropped him off for day 2 so I'll have to look that up later.

Taggie your DS was born in the same month as Rara, so I know the answer to your questions about NCO. 9 year olds will go into Under 10s (unless exceptional). Training Orchestra is now for 7 and 8 year old string players only. I've had Goo and one of my pupils get into Under 10s, so know about the sight reading too. They get two bits - one to try out for five minutes in the warm up room, and it's around one line long for Under 10s, and looks just like a line from a Grade 1-2 piece. They then get an easier piece in the audition room, and half a minute to look at it (and waggle fingers if they want to) but not play. It really is very, very easy. The older ones have to do an extra line or so each year, and they use the same prepared piece for everyone. I think they get a different unprepared one each, depending on their age. My older daughter Goo is auditioning for the 4th time this year, and would be Under 12s if successful. She will have to do about 3-4 lines for the prepared one. Every year, she spends weeks stressing about the sight reading, and every year she comes out laughing about it being so much easier than she imagined!

My little pupil that got in last year actually memorised the Under 10s prepared sight reading piece for clarinet, and played it to me afterwards, so I know the exact difficulty, length and parameters for that!!

We have the piano tuner here now. I'd love to know how you learn to do it. He says he doesn't have perfect pitch - uses a tuning fork just for the A then works through the intervals.

I'll stick to tuning guitars (with an electronic device lol).

Can I jump on board? DS (age 9) has been playing the trumpet for a couple of years and DD (age 7) is due to start the clarinet in September. I've given her my old one and she's just been practicing putting it together and having a tootle. DS is happy to do fairly frequent-ish short practices on his own. He doesn't want any corrections from me, which I get, but sometimes I have to bite my tongue. I'd be interested to know how far you supervise your kids playing.

On the subject of NCO : how long do audition pieces need to be at u10? Dd can't decide whether to go for two contrasting grade pieces, or one grade piece and something different.

She has started (over the last week) to lean her head away from the violin chin rest on one particular piece and refuses to correct it. Anyone got any tips to correct thus please. It makes her so angry (poor neighbours last night) I'm virtually tempted to leave it for the teacher in 3 weeks.

I need to start preparing dd for NCO audition, it should be end of October which should give her some time to go over the pieces with her new teacher, she'll be ecstatic when she'll hear what I am dropping on her.

No practice last night, back to piano this coming Friday so tonight I have to actually bite the bullet and get her to practice, it will be shockingly bad after such a long break.

I think we need to properly revive one of her grade 5 piano pieces, probably Summertime, as her MAT is in 3 weeks time and if she gets through the audition is in another two weeks. So potentially she needs a piece ready in 5 weeks.

Thursday is results day for DS and being stressed is an understatement at this point, I keep dreaming of getting there and finding out he failed all his exams. Which is ridiculous as he is academic but nevertheless I can't control my brain.

So in summary:

Thursday GSCEs results day
9th Sept academic test secondary school dd
12th Sept MAT
W/C 25th Sept hopefully audition for secondary school
End of October NCO audition - this one not that stressful as we know we decided last minute and the chances are pretty slim.

Can I go back on holiday and return end of October?

Welcome new people! Sorry not to name and so on, I am still readjusting and trying to keep up.

se22 length doesn't matter as long as it's under 10 minutes for both. Is she doing violin and clarinet? Or just violin? Two exam pieces will be absolutely fine if that's what she is working on. My girl last year was between grades, so played Bassett Dance and Daydream Believer!

Basse Dance!!

Thanks waffle- she is doing both

She has been loving making the grade clarinet pieces and some sound fab

Just popped in here for the first time this month and seen 668 messages! Can somebody summarise in a few sentences please :) Any big percussion news I have missed?

Hello to the newcomers and to those returning off lovely holidays!

I have finally managed to catch up on some of our channel clips - thoroughly enjoyed the music making from, to name a few: red dress (I know I may have to go back a few threads to find out who's mini that is!); MiniDisorganised; String; The Boy; Mistri; Green; MusicatHome x 2 lovely DS'; Goo; Fleur). Loved the Hurlstone piece (but can't remember who's she is) and very sorry to have missed Drummer's boy's* piano but understand if clips are put on temporarily for viewing.

I am still DD less away on swim camp, but in between being home she has been enjoying practise, though she says she misses school orchestra dreadfully. It's all about company for her...

ooh...bit bold happy there. Sorry!

Oh wow se22! I don't know much about the violin (I can play a little, but haven't for years) but am super pleased that there are some amazing clarinet players auditioning. Does she know what is she going to play on that?

Hello again ealing. I can't summarise the thread as I can't remember much from the beginning of it, but the summary for us is that the DCs have been away loads, kicked off when I instigated practice again on Saturday, and are now OK about it. They know they are doing it every day, no exceptions. They seem happier when I'm consistent about it - if we miss a day, Goo in particular will spend hours arguing about it the next day.

Welcome Ilovesushi, and good luck to your DD & DD music learning!

I've always been a little envious of many of the parents on here that are so much more engaged in their children's practise than I have been. Also our music teachers have never been a fan of sitting in, so I used to hear from elsewhere if at lessons were at home, and just prompt on reading the notebook or applying concentration when it lapsed. Which was often. Lots of fights when DD was younger, mainly managing her lack of patience, ability to drill and skipping over technique. But, I have a good ear, but neither parents are musical . And was helpful on the time management, and a stickler for even 15 mins practise before school as routine (for us) was key.

Now I leave her to it, though may remind her of scales/sight reading once in a while. She knows I have not switched off completely, but still tries it on, just to test me

Waffle violin pieces will be 2 very contrasting grade pieces. Clarinet she wants to do a fun piece - really likes a lot of Lloyd Weber and one of grade pieces.- either deep river or shh, all good experience if nothing else.

Thursday is results day for DS and being stressed is an understatement at this point, I keep dreaming of getting there and finding out he failed all his exams.

Fingers crossed for him fleur. Such a long wait in the UK! We had about a 3 week wait for DD's first baccalaureat results (they do two French literature exams and the science project in the equivalent of Y12) and it was horrible because DD convinced herself that she had messed up the written literature paper. (She hadn't). What is your DS planning to do next year?

ealing I've never attended DD's music lessons either. In fact I see her piano teacher maybe 2-3 times a year, at concerts.

I'm still hoping to get a place for piano lessons this year (they offer the occasional place for adults). Am working on a selection of pieces around grade 4-5 level (a movement from one of the Viennese sonatinas, a very pretty Mussorgsky piece that DD learnt a couple of years ago, and two easier pieces). It is mildly frustrating because none of them is hard - I can easily sight-read pieces of this standard if I take it steady - but I struggle to get them wired and up to speed. It is an age thing I suspect.

Thank you waffle. So reassured about the sight reading. DS2 is not exceptional (can play g7 pieces but will play g6 pieces for the audition). I will be so delighted if he gets into U10s. One line is good news. His main problem seems to be maintaining focus.

se22 nice to 'meet' someone else going for violin auditions for the U10 :-) For the chin problem, I would look at her overall set up, particularly the left elbow. Try moving her elbow a little forward and back and see if that helps. Check also that the elbow is in the correct place for each string (furthest round for the G string). We have the opposite problem of chin drooping, improved although not resolved by moving to a Playonair shoulder rest.

Thank you Misti it is indeed a long wait. For dd it is even worse, application by end of October, allocation day 1st March. At least this time we find out how she did in the exam before applying and get at least an idea what school she'll be allocated, when dd did the exam you only knew on allocation day, they didn't tell you any exam results before applying so you had no clue of the real chances. Good luck with the piano place, fingers crossed you get it.

Waffle thank you again for the recordings, dd listened to them again and she chose two good contrasting pieces I'd say from all the books she's got. One from your recording and another one from the movie themes which is grade 4 currently and she can play it by sight reading it so hopefully she'll do it justice.

Dd finally got back into practice and we of course had tears with piano. She made mistakes with Summertime, minor ones but it was of course the end of the world, she is bad at it and she will fail the audition if she gets there.

Luckily the clarinet fun pieces put her in a great mood, she played "if I only had a brain", Over the rainbow, Hedwig's theme, etc she loved it.

Taggie likewise, and thanks for the tip. Dd is the bottom end of the grades bracket on their website so we are using it as a performance exercise. She's keen to try, but realistic

Shall we have a separate NCO thread, as we've had in some previous years, or carry on as we are? I'm happy with either.