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.

11+ auditions for DD1 Python - one today and another tomorrow. 1st instrument is bassoon and 2nd is guitar.

For Planets fans love this performance of Mars by Purcell at the Festival Hall few years back (and yes the timpani parts are great fun)

11+ Scholarship auditions this week for DD - join first instruments piano and clarinet and 2nd voice. Practiced every day except Xmas day (her choice!)

*joint

Good luck to miniDouble and miniWid!

Sorry, I missed Python! Good luck to your DS too! My DS is also auditioning next week with violin as 1st and piano as 2nd but it's for 11+.

Good luck to all those with auditions!

I'll be keeping my fingers tightly crossed for mini-Kutik, double and python! And for the parents!

...and wind of course

Thanks for the good luck wishes. DD2 went in to today's one a bit nervous and quiet, but seemed happy enough when she came out. The Head of Music brought her to the waiting room and said he'd had a very enjoyable 20 minutes.

Only one piece tomorrow, but I know that that school is more exacting with their aural, sight reading etc. Also, there are two other bassoonists going for scholarships there - one of which has done NCO with DD and is the same grade. That's the school that DD1 is a music scholar at.

Another entrance test on Saturday and then two days for Common Entrance next week. Come Tuesday evening, DH will be doing the band run and I will have my feet up with a large in hand! DD2 will be having some serious downtime - not that she has done masses of work (except on bassoon), but it's still a bit stressful.

Thank you !

Hello all. Just popping in again, if I may please. I had great advice last time but there’s now a new problem- can anyone help?

Some of you remember that my gs had to learn a piece of music for his grade 2 at short notice. Well the exam went fine - one slight hitch on one note on the scales and one hitch on one of his pieces. Apparently else was good. He go his result in on Saturday and his teacher says she feels the marking for all the six students who took the exam that morning was harsh.

There have been some discussion about submitting an appeal for all the students, but re my gs, he was 2 marks below a merit. If relevant, for his grade1, he was 2 marks off a distinction.

Well, the deadline of six weeks to submit an appeal is next week Friday. His mum is torn because

1. the teacher still hasn’t received the written comments yet
2. even if abrsm end up agreeing, they won’t change the mark, only offer to refund exam fee or give voucher to allow retake
3. gs is already starting to work on his grade 3 pieces, with view to take exam in summer.

So, any insights or experiences re appeals pls. Will they allow a late appeal?

Is it worth appealing? Gs will be taking independent school exams next jan; will a ‘pass’ for grade 2 really be so much worse than a potential merit. Do you think the potential letter allowing the re-take suffice?

Will it be crazy to potentially get gs to do grade 2 Again at Easter? ESP given that the deadline for applications is in two weeks?

(I’m sitting here with gs mum, who’s giving all the info. Sorry for long message; just don’t want to miss anything relevant out.)

Huge thanks, in advance.

And good luck to the other DC sitting scholarship assessments!

Double, sounds like your DD did very well today! Great start!

Frigglet, I have never done appeal so sorry can't give you any good advice. But if your GS is already working towards g3, he may as well focus on g3 rather than retaking g2. I don't see any merit repeating the same grade unless your GS is particularly keen.

I don't see any reason to repeat the exam either , best to just move on he coped well with learning the piece at short notice so well done 😀

Plus, 2 marks below a merit is high pass. So it's a good mark.

Thank you for your comments about my gs exam grade. It is a good grade, I agree, but his mum and teacher feel that he’s been short-changed. I wasn’t with him, but what would o know anyway? 😀.

Gs has already moved on from it all, but I do feel for his mum. Thanks again.

Thank you Taggie! I have bubbles in the fridge waiting to be open!

The bubbles are not for celebrating the happy results but for celebrating the end of the challenge so they will be open on the day when all is done, not on the result day! It could be next week or the following week depending how things turn out.

Absolutely kutik - I always celebrate finishing a task rather than the result. In the competitive field I work in, there would be few celebrations otherwise...

Glad you agree! DH thinks I just want to open the bottle sooner than later.

Achievements are a wonderful thing, but efforts and challenges are most admirable.

Kutik and Taggie, we believe in both here - celebration of finishing something and celebration of good results! Just an excuse really.

Good luck to your minis Kutik, Python and WindMum.

Just had an e-mail from DD2's guitar teacher saying that she thinks that she should do an exam, probably this term. DD2 has been on the same pieces for months and has lost the will to live. Quite honestly, I'd be happy enough with her just moving on to new material. She is on her third teacher in just over a year and the teacher missed 4 weeks last term through illness. I'm amazed that DD hasn't quit before now.

Hi all. I am new to the thread, although I've been following since the beginning of the year. It is so lovely to read about all the achievements! I also have a query about an exam result. DS got his report today, and the mark for one of his pieces was very low. Then in the comments, it said that 'Unfortunately, the...was not played.' This was not part of the piece, so I am wondering how many marks he may have lost if the examiner thought he had missed out an entire section, which he definitely hadn't. Is it worth appealing? I'm disappointed to hear that they won't change the marks under any circumstances. Thank you in advance. :)

Kutik quite right! It's a big achievement to put yourself through tests and exams/auditions and definitely celebrate the effort!
I regard it as a good omen when there's a cake shop next to an exam centre!
Good luck to all the minis in their auditions and entrance exams. DS1 has an audition/interview today but it's for the school he already goes to so not very exciting!
I began my role as cello scales tyrant last night, which mainly consists of repeating 'no! Go slower until the notes are completely accurate!' I am not DS2's favourite person at the moment!

Loose that sounds familiar. Rara must have spent more than 50% of her practice time on scales when she did the last exam, and it was still her weakest section in the end. Lots of tears. Her teacher has given her a Grade 4 scale and a Grade 4 piece to get her teeth into, but we have all agreed that she won't be doing any more cello exams for quite a few years.

I think we have settled on Goo taking Grade 8 Flute next term. Not sure if Grade 5 Piano will be this term or next, because she isn't having a lesson for another couple of weeks.

kutik same here. We always celebrate when the task is over and done