January Music Thread

[Wafflenose]

Happy New Year!

This is the new thread for our continuing (6 year old) conversation about all things to do with music - lessons, exams, auditions, theory, scales, practice and whatever else you want to talk about.

I am Waffle, teacher of woodwind, amateur composer, and unpaid consultant watching and commenting on all sorts of woodwind videos that people send my way! I am mum to Goo 12, and Rara 9, who both play instruments, do South West Music School and NCO. Goo plays flute and piano, and has Grade 8 and Grade 5 pending for some time this year. Rara plays cello and clarinet - working within Grade 4 for both, but hasn't taken a clarinet exam since Grade 1, and wants to do Grade 3 this coming term. She's way behind with Theory, so it's theory boot camp again this week. We start back to school late (Jan 8th) so that's good.

So lots of bottle opening should be happening this month then! That's a much better way to see and handle 11+! None of DCs who took/have been taking this challenge should be disheartened whatever the outcome. Bravo to all.

And that includes in-school interviews, auditions, 13+ and conquering scales also!

Good luck with all the school entry exams.

I've just booked a summer school for DS2 and they recommend travel insurance. After last summer's broken arm I can see the point with nonrefundable fees! Any advice on where to look?

I've got a lovely card my son will be getting to celebrate whatever his audition results are. It's a pop-up organ, which for him is just perfect.

I think we all need a poster to stick on piano/music stand which says 'slower, use the correct fingering!' . It is my most used comment for Ds. He is however reaping the benefits of practice at the moment though so that's good! Don't envy all these entrance exams. We're in Scotland so none of these opportunities ( or so few and far apart). Just glad our council still has music ensembles.

horsey brilliant idea. For DS2's NCO audition music, I wrote VIBRATO! STRAIGHT BOW! at the beginning of every line of his slower piece. He said it was 'like I was there'

python how lovely and thoughtful! I hope you have also planned a nice treat for yourself for all the empathising/organising/supporting/nail biting. And that goes for all the parents of auditionees

drummersmum - ah, I will show your post about the timpani to DD when I am back home. Am away for a conference at the moment - have left a list of practice instructions for DP to supervise. We'll see how that goes!

I think dd1s music needs "you are not being chased by wild horses " on it! Dd2s should say "this is an instruction not a vague suggestion" . Ds is pretty good so far.

On another note, first bass lesson done and went very well

Mending, my DS thinks the notes are just suggestions! He would do well in jazz i think! His teacher does do improvisation as well when they are not in exam mode. Exciting about the first bass lesson, I love playing bass, just going back to orchestra tonight, lots of sight reading ( a strong point of mine as I rarely practice!)

I think my DS's music needs flashing lights, neon print and maybe blinkers. His teacher made him stop and open the book at the right page for the last school concert, I could have told her there was no point, he wasn't going to pay it the blindest bit of notice.

DD2's music often has lots of pencil notes and sometimes she works from a photocopy of it that has highlighter applied liberally! Her current music has DYNAMICS! (written on - by her) and the other has "Blow out crook and reed!" as that was yesterday's second audition piece and she is prone to forget in a more stressed environment. Sounds like she's blowing air bubbles through water otherwise, with a series of pops.

doubleWe've had the photocopy and highlighter one you, particularly before shifting was conpletely natural- each position har a color .

horsey dd2 definitely has jazz leanings, luckily her flute teacher is a professional jazz musician and embraces her quirks... bass teacher is great too and i think they ll get on fine

Waffle/ clarinettists could you please tell me if this ligature can be repaired or whether I should just buy a new one. The tightening bit has been lost

I think it will be a new ligature... mightily impressed that she has that one already, and not even the lightweight version! Rara has the bog standard version, but it's on back to front (deliberately).

Thanks waffle, I have ordered her a new one. Fortunately they are vastly reduced on Amazon right now. She has been playing with it for a while, and seems to get on ok with it. Is Rara taking G3 this term or will she skip it?

Rara is working within early Grade 4 but doing Grade 3 this term so that she doesn't have to keep telling people she only has Grade 1! She is learning about 10 pieces from the syllabus (and a different 12 clarinet pieces, 4 on recorder/ percussion with my school group and 1 on cello for the festival!) but narrowed it down to the final 3 tonight... we think!

Wow! Rara is very busy! DS2 evaded scales tyranny last night so will have to make up for it today!

The parents of string players, how can you tell they are playing scales right or wrong? Scales are finally introduced to DS's diet, and I would like to help him like some of the diligent parents on this thread. But I have no clue if he is playing correctly, especially when he plays faster. So only thing I can do is to ask him if it was fine. DS is an eternal optimist and hugely lacking self-criticism so he always says 'fine!' and moves on. But I am sure it's not always fine! I don't want to make a fuss when actually he is doing fine as it won't be of any help. So, my choice is just to back off? He is a child who happily reports me he did very well when he couldn't answer plenty questions!

Hi. I’ve got one child, he’s 13 and plays French horn. He’s in NCO this year which is very exciting.
His lessons start up again next week, he’s working for grade 8 but it’s not imminent. He’s doing grade 5 theory next month and grade 4 piano at some point this year.
January is generally a quiet month for him musically.

That's a difficult one kutik... as a violinist it's very obvious to me when scales aren't right. I guess my advice would be to try and get him to do them slowly and carefully 'putting petrol in the tank' prior to taking off at top speed and to really focus in on tuning. Repetitive work on the tricky bits (shifts, bow changes and higher positions) to concentrate on quality of sound. Even if the scales are 'good', practicing like this is time well spent. If you find it hard to tell, I would suggest they are probably pretty good as scales played badly on a violin are particularly painful... 😘

Kutik Sorry I cant be of much help but wanted to say that I have the same issue! To a not especially musical person I have no idea how they should sound!! The only thing I can suggest is googling the relevant grade scales that he is doing and watch you tube videos which is what I do. Ds is doing grade 7 scales. He has a very good musical ear so knows instinctively what they should abound like but obv has to learn the finger patterns but his shifting can be a bit off sometimes.
If you find the answer, please let me know!!

P.s I'm pretty sure minikutik will know exactly when a scale isn't quite right, but if he's anything like minifolk, whether he chooses to go back and fix it will be a whole different matter....

Not one of the diligent ones here Kutik I'm afraid - I just let her get on with it. I may chip in if I don't think they sound controlled, in tune, or the bow position doesn't sound right. There's also a lot of silent playing now so I've had to be even more trusting that she really is attempting to get correct finger positioning before adding the sound!

Siriusmuggle, welcome.

disorganised, folk and earling, thank you for sharing your wisdom!

DS plays them both slowly ans quickly. I can cheat by using a tuner when he does it slowly and usually it sounds fine, though not sure how perfect they are supposed to be. But then when he plays them faster, a tuner is not be of any use, and I also get lost! He says fine ALL THE TIME, but it shouldn't be perfect all the time really. I ask him to go back to practise the problematic bits (unfortunately I can't specify where!), he just plays all fast again rather than working the details like folk suggested. If I point out that he should work on the details, then he says, 'don't need to do it, because all is fine.'

I think he knows when it is not quite right, but he seems to choose to ignore it as he thinks it's a minor mistake therefore he can actually do it NEXT TIME. He would say 'fine', but when I manage to point out something more specific and my risky guess is luckily spot on, he may admit it, then says 'but it was just a careless mistake, so fine.' Shouldn't he go back to do it properly again even if it was a careless mistake??

I have no authority here as he knows I can't play instruments. I like his optimistic attitude but it's not great for a violinist. I think he needs to be bitten by reality at some points so he can realise working 60% doesn't take him where he likes to be!

He'll learn for himself in the end... he's pretty switched on x

I try to make sure the last repeat of any given task is as good as it can be, or their 'finger brains' just remember the last thing they did, which was the wrong way. However, this does result in some pretty tetchy moments and sometimes you just have to pick the battles.

I think they all have this optimistic view that it'll be ok next time! Moll in particular hates working on small passages or isolated issues, she just wants to go right back to the start and have another run at it. Then falls over at exactly the same place the next time! She won't accept that by doing this, she just gets better at the bit she can already do!!!!! Drives me BONKERS.