December Music Thread

[Wafflenose]

Have a new thread for December!

This is an ongoing chat group for musicians, parents of musicians and anyone interested in music. We talk about practice, scales, theory, instrument hire and purchase, concerts, exams, auditions and loads more. Newcomers and beginners are extra specially welcome - yes, a lot of us now have children who are getting quite advanced, but we all had beginners once. I started the conversation when my eldest was 6 and working towards Grade 1, and we now have learners of all ages and standards on here.

I am a teacher of woodwind, and have two daughters. Goo is 12 and in Year 7. She loves her new school, and has grown up fast since she started. The first few weeks were overwhelming and confusing. She loved the challenge of new subjects, new faces, lots of different sports, etc. Unfortunately, she is a poster child for complacency, is now finding it all very easy, and doing the bare minimum again, sigh. She extends this approach to music too, putting in a bit of effort at the last minute, and often making an eleventh hour bid to change piece for important performances. She is gregarious, intense and obsessed with her phone. Oops, I forgot to say, she plays the flute and piano. Grade 8 flute is pencilled in for some time next year (teacher is campaigning to wait until train tracks come off) and she hasn't performed on the piano or taken any exams yet.

Rara is 9, and a completely different kettle of fish. She likes music, but she likes reading, art and making things even more. She's talkative, eccentric and highly creative. I have no idea how her mind works. She is in Year 5 at the village primary, and couldn't really care less about academics. She plays the cello (working at an early Grade 4 level) and clarinet. Some of her clarinet pieces are Grade 4, but she is having some technical problems at the moment, mainly due to her size and incorrect placement of her fingers. So the next exam she does will probably be Grade 3.

Both girls are members of South West Music School (Rara starting next month) and both auditioned for the NCO. Goo was very pleased with herself, but Rara had an absolute disaster. She bounced back within a day though.

Fantastic news kutik
Waffle that sounds really painful

Thanks Trumpet!
to *Waffle.

Taggie great idea re: bongo drum and book... defo jumping on that one!! The one thing that let Noo down in her NCO Audition was rhythm in the SR.. she was note perfect

There's also an app called rhythm swing that's really good for practicing keeping in time

It's reading rhythms that give Noo a problem, she relies on her ear and once she's heard a piece she's pretty faultless with timing. Although DD2 could prob do with the app...

Folkmama - ditto with the NCO audition feedback DS2 gets note values wrong when he is sightreading mainly because he changes his counting to match his chosen tempo (I.e. Slower on fast notes and faster on slow notes). But sometimes he goes totally off-piste and plays the note values all the same for a bar or two.

Trumpet - thanks for that. I'll download that app. Will make a change from the abrsm aural test app.

Thanks everyone! This thread is the best!

Ooh - and I missed Kutik's news! Go mini-Kutik - another fantastic achievement!

Brilliant work mini kutik
Waffle that sounds very unpleasant
For rhythm i find apps are good, quite frankly anything that they can't argue back to is a bonus.. ..

Taggie YES!!! Exactly that... 😂

Long time lurker! DS1 plays the violin. DS2 is a baby and bangs pots and pans. But I went to Harvard and I am happy to answer any questions about undergrad life. What American universities have and British ones don't (I teach at a UK uni now) is money. Money and resources. Endless resources. And with those resources come opportunities. Have a look at Tanglewood btw?
And I am following the rhythm stuff closely. It's DS's weakest point as well.

Welcome Luchi! I work at a UK Uni too. In sciences though, not music. I'll be really interested to follow the discussion on American colleges/music summer schools, even though it is a long way in the future.

How long has your DS been playing the violin? There are quite a few violinists on the thread, now that we are back from the NCO thread!

Yet another disastrous, aborted practice with DD2. She has an exam tomorrow. Sick of her kicking off every single time. She CANNOT accept direction. Grrrrr....

:-( I'm sure it is just jitters and end of term exhaustion. If she knows what she is doing, the adrenaline will see her through tomorrow. What exam is she doing?

Grade 1 piano. We have a few 'temperament challenges'. It's hard. I think maybe exams and auditions are not the way forward with this one, at least not until she's older. We pulled out of G2 cello this term for much the same reason 😔

Thing is she's so fiercely competitive with DD1, she sees her achievements and wants to do the same. She's arguably just as capable, but they are wired sooooo differently...

Folk, do they play the same instruments? I sometimes think it's quite nice that siblings play different instrument so they can specialise in a different field and don't need to compete directly. I have only one child so I don't have the first hand experience though.

Oh and, thanks Taggie and Mending. DS hasn't done anything other than an interview though. The real work has to be done in January!

No, one on violin the other on cello. Although they both play piano. Anything less than a distinction tomorrow will be as good as a fail to Moll but unfortunately there's not a snowball's chance in hell.....

Oh poor thing. Grade 1 piano is oddly hard compared to other grade 1 on other instruments. I do hope it goes better than expected.

Yes, and she hasn't chosen the easiest pieces either! Lots of hopping around the piano and fiddly little passages...

Kutik - well done for your DS - great incentive for him to practise during the holidays!

folkmamma - which pieces is your DD playing tomorrow? My DD has also just done Grade 1 piano - she played La Donna e Mobile, Bouncing Billy and When the Saints...Good luck to her- hope it goes well!

We have been to see Nativity the Musical today at the Hammersmith Apollo. I am not a fan of musicals - too loud and too much bling. We were sat close to the back, thankfully, but at one point I was watching Louis Walsh dancing about under a gold sparkly star and found myself thinking wistfully of a nice, calm, carol concert in Spitalfields somewhere...

The DCs break up for Christmas on Tuesday. We are away from Dec 27th until they go back to school so I have already told them that the first five days of the holiday we are going to have piano and theory boot camp as they are both likely to sit exams in the Spring session and I want their scales up to scratch by January. DD's reaction when I explained about the boot camp was a fist pump and a 'yes'! DS had to ask what boot camp meant first and then looked less than impressed with the idea .

Japanese she's doing La Donna, Dans La Foret and Skipping Rope (which is the one giving us the most grief!!)

Go minikutik!!!

My DS has been playing the violin since he was 3.5 and is nearly 6. I have ZERO musical talent although I love music. He's completely into his music. Today he voluntarily practised for an hour. He's going to take Grade 2 this summer. We are then, as it happens moving to New York for a year (I am on sabbatical, DH on secondment) so will need to hunt down a violin teacher in NYC.

Thank you drummers! 11+ preparation will be a long winding road as DS will try every possibility to avoid touching those dry materials, but at least we won't have a problem with him doing music practice so less worry about the audition! He loves the pieces he was given.

Luch, welcome! And, DS will be so envious with you as NYC is his dream destination. I'm sure you'll have so many good choices of teachers there.