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.

Morning everyone!! 2 days left before DD's go back to school and I must confess to being a little reluctant to get back on the treadmill of normality...

We de-christmassed yesterday, and Noo doesn't have any shows until Thursday so it's two days of bootcamp here to kick-start the New Year. Going for an hour of violin, an hour of theory, 30min of Piano for Noo, theory and 15 min each of cello and piano for Moll (which may not sound like much but trust me, that will be a challenge today!!)

Wish me luck....

Happy New Year everyone & hope you all had good Christmases!

Many congrats to Truffle's DS! So exciting!

We are still away at the moment, back home tomorrow & then back to school (& work) from Thursday.

DS will be doing Grade 1 piano & theory in the Spring and DD will be doing Grade 2 theory & possibly Grade 2 piano in the Spring. Rue - DD will be going 'off-piste' altogether for her Grade 2 and is only playing pieces from the alternative list as we preferred those to the ABRSM official book. DD is also starting cello lessons this month.

I have been reading about all your DC's festival participation and have been thinking about entering the DCs so they get some experience at playing in front of others. I have been looking at the north London one in the Spring. The only thing that puts me off slightly is their ages. We would be looking at the graded classes. DD will be 11 and playing Grade 2 pieces and DS will be 9 and playing Grade 1. Basically, I was a bit worried that they would be by far the oldest in those classes and might come away feeling a bit demoralised. Am going to think about it, the deadline isn't until Mar 1st.

Happy New Year everyone! Just dipping in quickly..... DD1 (Y10) is due to do Grade 7 oboe this term as she is doing the overlap on the syllabus. Finally getting her to do some work on the scales. She did Grade 6 alto sax at the end of last term, so was concentrating more on that.

DD2 (Year 6) did Grade 7 bassoon last June, but will not be doing Grade 8 for a long time yet if I get my way! She will be doing NCO for the third year (U11) - she may know your DD Windmum? Other than that it is all about school entrance tests and auditions this term 🙁 We will all be very glad when that is over!

Good luck with the school entrance tests double. Japanese it might be worth phoning the organisers and asking re average ages but when ds last did a festival organised like this I'm sure that the grade 2 and 3 brass players were all about ds's age at the time - so 11. No festivals for us here but 2 music competitions - one of which will be organised by age ( but ds will probably still be the least advanced player there in his age group up to 15 and he'll be playing grade 8 stuff ) . The other one is the school music competition so he'll be competing against the 6 th formers !! - he's not entering either with any hope of winning it's just for the playing experience

Good luck with the school entrance tests double. Japanese it might be worth phoning the organisers and asking re average ages but when ds last did a festival organised like this I'm sure that the grade 2 and 3 brass players were all about ds's age at the time - so 11. No festivals for us here but 2 music competitions - one of which will be organised by age ( but ds will probably still be the least advanced player there in his age group up to 15 and he'll be playing grade 8 stuff ) . The other one is the school music competition so he'll be competing against the 6 th formers !! - he's not entering either with any hope of winning it's just for the playing experience

Good luck to DoubleUp DD2 with entrance exams! This will be me in a year :(.
I have three DS who all play different instruments as well as play sports. My DS1 (14) has made good progress in my bootcamp with his G8 horn scales. He plays at his school's orchestra as well as in a regional area band. DS2 (10) will be at the nationals on his cello for the first time this year; he is excited and hopes to make friends at the regionals. He did lots of piano over the Christmas break as it was lagging behind with not enough time to practice. DS3 (7) plays violin and piano.
I am after some advice. Our lovely piano teacher with be going on maternity leave in Feb and planning to start teaching again in May. What do we do to be productive in this period without her input? It is about 3 months and DS2 is planning to sit G6 in June/July. Is this feasible at all now without a teacher for so long? Or we should postpone it to Nov?

Congratulations to Truffle's boy!

Japanese, I have no experience in festivals so more knowledgeable people would give you first-handed advice. But I personally think grade 1-2 for 9-11 years old is not unusual - in fact it may be norm. Having said that DCs who consider festivals may tend to be those who are considerably doing well - not sure. HOWEVER, different ages have different approaches/understanding to what they play. And often a simpler piece played by maturer mind is enjoyable to listen to.

I know two boys at DS's age, one is preparing for grade 5 and another is grade 2-3 standard (he started a bit later than the grade 5 boy). Both boys often play at the same events. Although both performance are pure pleasure to listen to, I often enjoy the latter one's more. Obviously grade 5 one plays more complicated, challenging pieces. But somehow 10 years old playing grade 2-3 pieces sounds much nicer. Perhaps the maturity required for the music matches and he can convey the atmosphere better.

Of course we should consider the views of those who participate as young people often can't understand what really matters and seem to think playing advanced pieces equal a brilliant musician. So you will know what would work for your DCs - personality and how they would see things... But I really hope festivals and any other performance opportunities are not only for the early starters.

Happy new year :).

I have dd1 age 12 who is a chorister and cello player, about grade 5/6 but a chronic exam refuser so genuinely not really sure. She started piano at Easter for fun and to help with theory but we manage a lesson a fortnight if that. She can play the whole grade 1 pieces book now and some lovely additional material that I got from following Goo starting piano the year before. I feel guilty that we can’t throw more time and money at this as she really enjoys it. And I am with you Taggie with the chorister time commitment stress! It is her great love though. 1 solitary festival class in February and probably some performances at school.

My other daughters and step daughter all showed promise at their instruments but wouldn’t practise and/ or bored of them...personality has such a big part to play! I would like to help my 10 year old audition for the very good children’s choir we are lucky enough to have close by and free but I find the idea of an audition that is not a ‘dead cert’ so stressful which is really not the point of an audition!

Happy New Year. I mostly lurk on the threads, occasionally asking a question.
I have dd1 who currently seems to have given up the piano (grade 6 level) as she doesn't have time for it with her A-level work load
Dd2 who plays the trumpet. Passed grade 5 a year ago, and now needs to work at her theory, which she doesn't like. She plays in a local brass "orchestra" in the senior section and is delighted to be doing her first foreign tour this summer. Got a new trumpet coming shortly (thanks Trumpetboy for the recommendation)
Ds who plays the violin to about grade 1 standard. He's umming and arhing over continuing. EVery time I think we've reached a decision he changes his mind and wants to continue. he got the next size up violin (3/4) for Christmas, but only because a friend was selling it on.
He also plays the drums at about grade 2, but doesn't want to do exams. He's keener on playing pieces than the exercises he's meant to be working on at present!

Taggie and Xennialish DS2 would almost definitely have been further ahead with his instruments if he hadn't been a Chorister. Hard to know for sure, he may have given up completely. It would also have helped if he hadn't tried to juggle 3. (Piano/trombone/clarinet at the time). Also may be kidding myself he would have practised more as he doesn't necessarily practice more now!

But the Chorister time has been so special and amazing, and he has got so much from it. Definitely worth it for the right child. And especially as mine was a boy, he is never going to be able to sing treble like that again!

He is still singing a bit at the Cathedral on the back row as alto or tenor! And occasionally gets paid for it.

Off to sit in a cold church for organ practice now!

Well, we survived! Only just with DD2... as expected, cello practice was extremely challenging 😥

Dd's cornet practice has also been quite challenging recently folk

It's our last day of the holiday today and everything will go back to normal from tomorrow. I was a way too optimistic about comprehension boot camp. We did a bit before we had guests from Spain, then that's it. I think working hard this time of a year is very hard as everybody is on holiday (unlike other school holidays) and want to meet up and do fun things together. Very difficult to be antisocial!

Just got an email from DS's teachers and they suggested two performances to be scheduled - a solo this weekend and a quartet in a few weeks time. I don't think the solo piece is not ready yet (and I have no idea about the quartet). And, 11+ is next week...

DS is out playing squash with his dad now. I would drop him the news when he's back. Not sure how he takes this proposals...

Just happened to find this clip and thought to share this with you guys.

I was moved by her comments more than the video itself. It's about a violinist but what she says can be related to any musician, or in fact, anyone with passion. The power of passion, dedication and belief beat any setback and failure, and take you far and further.

trumpet nice to know I'm not alone but sorry you are having a hard time too!!! She's on one generally this afternoon. Sometimes I think there are two distinctly different people inside that little mind!!! It's exhausting...

I agree re the chorister benefits outweighing the difficulties that come with the schedule. Can’t believe we have only one more Christmas!

Although she would like to stay for many more Christmases but the funding runs out at 13. I am assuming her passion for it would fade a little anyway but also I do feel like I need a bit more flexibility back in my life. I don’t know how the families with a string of siblings doing it cope!

Hi everyone. Happy New Year!

I have ds who is 11 and a half and plays violin. He's around grade 6/7 standard and like some others doesn't do exams.
Feeling rather nervous as have just completed ds's online application to Junior Guildhall so now we have to sit back and wait and hope for an audition date. He's thinking about pieces and one that he loves and would like to do is Czardas by Monti. He's not sure about the other piece but loves Humouresque by Dvorak. Need to check with his violin teacher as to whether they're contrasting enough?
Now all I need to do is work out a schedule for practice. Thanks so much thank mall who gave me advice on the December thread. If anyone has any practice or audition pieces tips I would be very grateful!!

The school DS is auditioning for a music scholarship asked me to send a copy of the piano part so that their accompanist could prepare in advance. I photocopied them and put them in a display folder. I suppose I need a cover letter to attach but cannot think of the wordings... They asked me to send them to the Director of Music but they didn't name the person. Should I address Dear Sir/Madam, or Dear the Director of Music? I am just going to write 'enclosed is a copy of the accompaniments for DS's audition pieces. Yours Faithfully'. Does it sound OK?

Thanks Raspberry Nice to hear from someone who has come out the other side, as it were. Lovely to hear your DS still sings!

disorganised the czardas has so much contrast in it that it will probably be fine! It requires nerves of steel to get through those harmonics though... Looking forward to seeing it on the channel, if you and DS want to post it

Kutik - I'd send it to the school secretary as they will be more organised ( unless you are sure you should send it to the director of music). Use names if you can, but if not Dear Sir, and Yours faithfully,

Dear Miss/ Mrs

Hi just trying to upload a new video and it says our password changed 47hrs ago - could anyone pm the new one please ? 😀

Thank you Taggie! That's perfect! I should have known some wordings yet somehow I went blank. I don't know why - nerves?!

Good luck to minidisorganised! His choices sound great!

string, am I guilty?? I uploaded a video on 31st Jan and deleted it yesterday (on DS's request)... But I don't think I changed anything...

No probs Kutik - should be accompaniment obvs. Regarding the password, I didn't change it but I can see how to reset it? You just need to give the most recent password you remember and then the option to reset it comes up.

Happy to do this if people want? But it isn't my channel and I don't want to 'put my foot in it' if the password has been changed for good reason.

Can I ask where you upload the videos of your DC's?? Would love to see / participate! Unless of course it's a private thing for friends x