November Music Thread

[Wafflenose]

New month, new thread! This is a place for musicians and parents of musicians, from complete beginners to experienced and everything in between, to talk about everything to do with music! Previous threads have covered exams, practice, scales, instrument hire and purchase, theory, composition, aural woes, auditions, scholarship preparation and much more.

I started these threads when my 12 year old daughter Goo was 6 and preparing for Grade 1. I never thought we'd still be going, 6 years later! I appreciated all the advice I was given back then, and try to repay that when I can.

Goo plays the flute and piano (she has been learning the piano for 18 months but has yet to perform - ever) and has no exams lined up at the moment. I also have Rara who is 9, and working towards her third Grade 3, on the clarinet. The other two were on the cello and recorder. She's more interested in art and reading, and currently swims five times a week.

I am a teacher of woodwind, and Wednesday is my day from you-know-where... full-on from 6.30 am until 10 pm, and about to get worse!!

Waffle, you must be very proud! I've just spent a very enjoyable 10 minutes watching Goo' s various videos. She reminds me of me at the same age. :-)
Fantastic fingerwork and a great tone at the top end.
What make is her flute? I don't think I moved over to an open hole instrument until I was a bit older.

Yamaha. This is her 4th flute. She isn't getting the most out of it yet, due to train tracks top and bottom, and elastic bands.

Ah, yes, the dreaded brace issue! I could weep for my pupils - just as they really get going with decent playing and interesting pieces, along comes the dreaded orthodontist...

Goo did her Grade 5 and 6 exams with blocks, and Grade 7 with train tracks.

Waffle she had done amazingly well coping with the braces . I know lots of ds's trumpet friends are struggling with them at the moment

Just watched the video of Goo- beautiful playing

My DDs dentist is suggesting when her front teeth have come in she'll fit her for a nighttime retainer in an effort to minimise the impact of clarinet/try keep her teeth straight to avoid having braces.... I like the principal. Though it did take the removal of lots of teeth to make enough room in my mouth for straight teeth so we will have to see.

Mini that's exactly the treatment that I had when I was younger and it worked ( though I think at times it was quite traumatic) . Ds's teeth are fairly straight the bottom ones are slightly crossed but the dentist hopes it's going to be ok so fingers crossed . His sister of course who sings and plays piano has perfectly straight teeth !!

Wonderful playing from Goo and MiniDouble - amazing tone and control from both. thanks so much for posting the videos!

Prada, your DD's school's music provision sounds very much top notch so quite rightly there is no need to look for alternative teachers outside!

Luckily those painful teeth issues are not very relevant to violinists. But then, you guys can wear tops with a zipper.... (sorry I'm still talking about this...).

DS joined a youth orchestra last term. He started with 2nd chair of 2nd violin, then became the section leader (2nd) later on. During the holiday course last month, he was given 2nd chair of 1st violin. He said 1st violin's part was very much fun (due to being able to play tunes), and loved being sitting next to the concert master.

Back to the normal weekly rehearsal, DS was asked if he would prefer leading 2nds (as he has been) or would like to move to 1st violin. DS said they seemed to think DS would benefit more from being the section leader for now. I was not there when DS had this talk with them, so don't know why they think being the section leader would be more beneficial to DS and why they are giving DS a choice to move to 1st violin then. This talk started when DS expressed the joy he had with being 1st violin during the holiday course, so it's likely they kindly thought of giving DS a choice.

DS likes 2nd violin's part too. He said it's actually not necessarily easier than 1st and can be quite challenging as the role changes constantly (more towards 1st violin, more towards viola, and so on). So he is going to keep his place as it is for now. But I know he is still thinking. Any thought from more experienced people would be welcome!

Don't know anything about violins but I think it's good to play in different positions because like your ds has observed you need to do something different for each of them . It also stops them seeing playing first as a goal because it's somehow seen as better !! Difficult in youth / school orchestras because parts 1 ( and 2) are often more difficult and given to the more advanced players- but as I always say to ds you can't always play first and you need all parts to make it sound good .

Kutik - my DD has been orchestra leader (junior strings orchestra), first violin of another more advanced orchestra, first violins at her new out-of-school full orchestra, first violin of her school junior orchestra and also section leader of second violins at school. Her sight reading has improved over the year or two she has been participating but where school is concerned (the 'best' orchestra in terms of ability) she'd rather be leader of 2nds than in the 1st where she finds it more rewarding and 'safer'. I think it depends on the orchestra level - the better the orchestra, the greater the pressure she feels in 1st violins it would seem. Whilst he is so young, I'd let him decide where he is happiest. Also, when they start secondary school, you need to let them bed into the new environment with as little pressure as possible externally imo.

It looks like a lot of orchestra work is good for mini musicians. DD has NSSO, once a year residential, and will most likely not get into NCO. She just got into a county string orchestra (which goes up to age 13/14 and most are 12 or so with some younger ones), and first rehearsal is Dec. But there are no school orchestras or anything like that at a village primary.

So tonight we will go along and try out the regional youth orchestra. It is g5+, but she is playing at g6 standard (g5 exam in Dec). Her teacher was concerned, though, that all the other players will be 14 and over and she is 10 (year 5). Hoping there are a few other minis there and it is appropriate.

When I say appropriate, while we were waiting to do the g5 theory there was a small group of 16/17 year old girls also waiting. They had a long, loud conversation about how drunk they were recently, etc, with the kind of lovely details that I didn't really want DD to hear.

DD's teacher says her only current weakness is a lack of attention to detail on rhythm, so I am assuming orchestra would be good for this? I don't know, I am getting to the stage of winging it, not being a musical person.

Oh, she is leader of the 2nd's in the string orchestra!

Thank you for sharing your thoughts, Trumpet and Prada.

On the introductory day at DS's JD, the head explained their rotation policy as they believe it's important and valuable to experience and learn different positions. She specifically mentioned this as there were always people who were very conscious about the place in the orchestra and she wanted to make it clear that stronger players in the front/first and weaker ones in the back/second would be not in their case.

DS's youth orchestra may work differently with the seating position but anyway this 1st/2nd business was never my concern. It was more of which one would be better suited to DS at this stage by given the choice.

I looked around a few youth orchestras prior to joining, and this one was the highest standard among our choices. It's geared to senior school age and they audition every candidate. The concert master is absolutely fantastic. DS had never done orchestra before this one (apart from NCO but it's only once a month or less) so he hasn't gained much experience yet. Perhaps, DS may be better staying where he is and learns the leading and supporting skills. Minimising external pressure when he starts secondary school is a good point. As Prada suggested I'll just let DS decide where he thinks he would be happier though.

Someone also told me that the hardest seat in violin would be at the very back near viola, and the loneliest seat would be the very back and at the outer corner of 1st violin. Suppose there would be different views on this but I found it interesting as I was not very aware of this kind of thinking as an audience!

Niggle, I always heard how beneficial orchestra would be and how much DCs would improve by the experience. Yet I had never considered finding one for DS for a long time, and even turned down when someone invited DS. DS didn't have much time for music, and getting involved in weekly rehearsals looked too draining. I also thought, as DS had such little time for music, it would be better spending his already limited time on individual practice than committing to 'team sports (orchestra!)'.

How wrong I was. He just started orchestra last term. The improvement was immediate. There was no rehearsal during summer holiday, so he actually hasn't done much yet, but he really looks like a different person already. I'm like, wow! I am very sure your DD would improve enormously.

I do understand your concerns about mixing her with older ages. But boys are less problematic I suppose, so it's been alright. Though DS calls some older kids in the orchestra 'those ancient people' (I should be a fossil then).

Although there are lots of 'ancient people' in the youth orchestra, there are a few Y7-9 and DS has fun with them during break. While those older ones often stay in the rehearsal room or just go to the roof top to have a chat, those Y9 and under plays 'it' or something and run around.

A slight problem for us is some events are scheduled too late for primary school age. DS is going to an evening performance next month and he will be back home near 11pm...

Minimal practice this week. DS2 is skipping a piano lesson for best friend’s birthday - lovely piano teacher agreed to reschedule.
However, that meant a bit less practice. The cello will have been out for lesson and ensemble so think there had better be a decent session on Sunday!
DS1 is going into school tomorrow (!) to try to finish off some coursework for GCSE music. Then the programming exam for computing begins on Monday.

And it's during weekdays so he has school next day....

Kutik, thanks for that. I think you are right about "team sports". I was thinking before that orchestral work would take up valuable time that would be better spent playing at home. But this is most probably wrong! DD plays at home six days a week with me, and I just know she plays better on the day with her teacher. I asked why the other day, and she said that I didn't notice flat/sharp notes. Demonstrated recently when she played a grade 5 exam piece and she actually turned to me and said "how was that, mummy". I correctly answered "lovely". Then she said, "why didn't you notice that I deliberately played the B flats as naturals, then?". She has rumbled me as not being of the required standard for her playing. But playing in a mediocre way, frequently, is not good for her, and she would definitely up her game, as she does with her teacher, in an orchestra environment where she knows everyone will notice bad notes.

Hopefully there will be some Y7's to 9's for DD tonight then. I hadn't thought that they would naturally split off into different groups, but yes, that makes sense.

I am sure most musicians are absolutely charming and the girls we met at the theory exam were there as a prerequisite to GSCE music or something like that.

One off late night returns from performances are, I think, unavoidable for extracurricular activities, including swim meets/dance/singing, etc. Although it probably helps if there aren't too many.

Loose, that's what weekends are for! Although mini musicians sometimes think otherwise..

Niggle yes, it works well - usually only a bit of muttering!

My DD is 1st clarinet in her school orchestra, 2nd clarinet in her windbands and in her JD small ensemble they switch between who has first and second. She's desperate to join junior orchestra but the music service are being a bit funny about it because of her age despite her being well above required standard.
I think they get a huge amount from ensemble. She is about 5 years younger than the rest of her one of her bands, and about 3 or 4 younger than the other, bar one y6 child in each ensemble. She still loves it. She doesn't really have friends there but they're nice to her - more so in her Saturday band. Monday band she seems to just sit on her own at break and stuff but she says "I don't mind, I can sit and sing in my head in peace". The only age problem thats arisen is a forthcoming big trip where they said secondary pupils only- after telling her she could go.

DS2 has not yet been invited to join the school orchestra. He is hoping that doing his Grade 8 next summer will put him in a stronger position.

He is coping well with wind band (in the 'third clarinet' section 😄) and has been invited to join a small clarinet ensemble with some of the stronger players, which is encouraging.