March Music Thread

[Wafflenose]

Welcome to the new thread for March! I am typing this from home rather than having to go to work - snow days all round. We currently have 1cm, but there are red warnings for wind and for snow later today, so it's going to be horrendous.

This is a place to talk about all things musical, whether you or your DCs are learning. We have lots of followers, from beginners to advanced, and everyone is welcome!

I am a teacher of recorder, clarinet, flute and saxophone, and have two DDs. Goo is 12 and having a fabulous time at secondary. She is Grade 8+ on the flute but not taking the exam until braces are off (and I think her teacher is holding out until she thinks Goo can get full marks or something) and around Grade 5 piano - no performances or exams yet and terrified of anyone hearing her, so that's getting to be a slight problem. Rara is 9 and between Grades 3 and 4 on both cello and clarinet. She's taking Grade 3 Clarinet this term so that when she goes off to the NCO in the summer, she doesn't have to tell other children that's she's only done Grade 1!

Thanks everyone for the advice on the viola. I have made enquiries of the Saturday music service where DD has her cello lessons so fingers crossed they have a space for him!

Kutik - I have just shown your DS's video to the DCs. I am trying to get them to move their hands into the depth of the keyboard more when they're playing black notes. They seem almost afraid to do so. Your DS's video really clearly demonstrates the hand position required when playing black notes in succession so have shown them as an example .

I know nothing about viola i'm afraid but i would certainly imagine a young viola player would be in great demand.
Not much musical to report here although ds may have been allowed to join the drum group as a 'recruit'. Im not entirely sure because, well ds is 7 with all the lack of clarity that entails 😉, and the drum group has 'percussion' in its name in english (i try to speak English to the kids rather than the local language) so i didnt really think that him saying he was 'in percussion' was news seeing as he has been playing drums for several years 😁. Im sure it will all become clear at some point.

Hi all. Good to hear about everyone's DC's exams and festivals etc. I would love to see the videos if you don't mind me having the link?

I don't know anything about viola except I had a friend who played when I was a child and she was very much in demand in orchestras etc. She started pretty young and I'm pretty sure didn't do violin first. I think it's a lovely instrument! Once I have mastered piano (so 20 years or so - haha!) I would love to try viola or cello. I have only ever played wind instruments before.

I have a couple of questions for those who are more experienced with this sort of thing. First of all, we are concerned that DD may be mildly dyslexic (one of the reasons we are promoting her outside interests as much as we can is that she is struggling a bit at school). Does anyone know if this likely to affect reading music as well? Her ability to read the notes seems to vary from day to day, but this could just be because she has only been learning for a few months?

Also, am I correct in assuming that it is best to get some level of proficiency at one instrument before introducing a second? Say grade one level or so?

Just back from our local festival. DD2 played the 1st movement of the Schreck bassoon sonata the best I have heard her play, full of dynamics and even managed to announce the piece. Her teacher was there and seemed very pleased. Nice and fair comments from the adjudicator - and she got a gold! Good experience all round!

Hi Curly, I've sent you the link by PM.

With regards to dyslexia, my brother never mastered note reading. He is very musical but ended up stopping formal tuition as it got too frustrating. But he plays piano and guitar really well by ear. That's not to say it will be the same for everyone though, he wasn't remotely motivated by anything that involved reading of any kind; if he was more determined in that area I think he would have mastered it (as he can do pretty much ANYTHING he really sets his mind to!!).

Curly when DD2 was at our music centre doing her exam the other day, there was a girl asking her mum to fetch an overlay sheet from the car as she couldn't read the music without it.

Hope you had a good day everyone.

My last post was about sniggers walking onto the stage as something looks funny about my dd, it's nice funny though.

It was the variety that was so good about the concert, all sorts of different chamber ensembles.
It was to feature woodwind, so you can imagine the lovey sounds especially those heading for conservatoire soon.
I love hearing variety and I've never witnessed it to this extent before, though it must exist.

Well done all those with positive experiences of exams and festivals, it must be good to live in an area where there are lots of children working at such a good level.
There were /are similar in our area, but not to the extent I hear you talking about.
We have option problems atm, poor dd was so deflated and thinks she won't pass any GCSE's. She will, but it sounds like it will be a struggle for her.
I really can't imagine her being in another school though, the pressure and stress is purely from her.
Answers on a post card please?

Curly DD2 is mildly dyslexic. We follow Suzuki method. She struggled with sight reading for a long time.
She did G5 violin last year as her first exam. To reach required sight reading level, she practiced some sight reading in every practice for about 6 months. She started off with much lower grades and worked her way up. I bought a bunch of books with fun music to play as well as exam board sight reading material.
She had a rough time of it at the start and many tears of frustration.

This approach paid off well as she got 80% of the sight seeing marks.

Unfortunately as soon as the exam was over she stopped practicing her sight reading!!

I definitely recommend little and often, and don’t be afraid to take big step backwards to where she is comfortable and take baby steps from there.

Took DD to see Nicola Benedetti solo today for some inspiration for her impending grade 4 in April - wow she was amazing. Definitely inspirational.
Viola very sort after in the orchestra as not enough play in our area.

If anyone wants any free sight reading material, or would like to make a donation.
imslp.org are awesome, according to dd.

Thanks MomofTwoGirls2 and DoubleUp That is reassuring that even if she struggles it shouldn't prevent her from playing to a reasonable level.

Thanks for adding me to the channel. Really enjoyed watching the videos - you all have some talented kids!

That's so flattering, Japanese! Though I really hope DS is not passing a bad habit/example!! I may suggest you follow up with some clips of more advanced or professional's performance from Youtube, just to make sure....

Curly, I'm afraid I have no advice on dyslexia but I know a boy who is incredibly musical but struggled with music reading. He had great ears and incredible sense of music so once he learned a piece it was absolutely wonderful but took a long time to learn a new piece always due to his lack of reading ability (so unwilling to learn a new piece from scratch). Once he passed grade 7, he switched to jazz as he happened to have a great jazz piano teacher at his school. Now apparently he is very well known as the king of jazz piano at his school! He just couldn't get the classical method of note reading but somehow jazz fit well in him.

*MomofTwo's advice/ suggestion is great.

Just in case you have better ad blockers than me, have you all seen this survey? themusiccommission.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/the-music-commission-2

gilly I hope the options problems get sorted out - it's a long time to the actual GCSEs and I am absolutely sure she will pass. She has the breadth of reading/knowledge to do very well. Is she hoping to take languages?

Gilly good luck with sorting out the options problem . Ds found it quite stressful choosing and has handed in his form now I think so he doesn't have to think about it any more. He's only in year 8 so he's choosing his curriculum for 3 years . What swung his decisions in the end was the advice of his assistant head who said don't pay too much attention to the grades you are getting now instead think about what lessons you will look forward to doing when you wake up in the morning . Sound advice I think though obviously it helps if you don't have to take something that you struggle with ( so no dt or art for Ds then ) A lot can change in 2 ( or 3 ) years and I'm sure your dd will do fine plus she's definitely in the right school for her doing what she loves !!

There was not much of an option with options, by the time the school had finished telling them what they were going to do and he'd put music in the only real choice was geography or history. I had real choices in my day, DS not so much.

Icould the only reason Ds has lots of choices is because they do 11 GCSEs !?! over 3 years instead of 2 . That's a lot of exams in year 11 , I'm hoping to eventually negotiate 1 less for Ds because of his music commitments ( which surprisingly they were quite receptive to as an idea ) so as well as maths English and science he's doing German, history and music . He's then also hoping for drama and RS with Geography as a back up 4th option . Music is also an option but we know they'll give him that one I did jokingly say that if he didn't get music he would leave - but they knew I wasn't really joking !! And all of the teachers at options evening assumed he was taking it so I'm assuming they've all assumed that's the one he has to have . I like how they keep lots of subjects going but I'm really stressed on his behalf already about the number of exams I think he has to take 6 in science alone

Fuming beyond belief. Just been let down by teacher again, an hour before her lesson. That's another 3 weeks between lessons. I don't feel I have any option but to stick with him but she's at worst only 6 weeks away from JD audition. 😡

Oh no folk . I am also sitting here fuming either dds school or the music teacher decided it was ok for the ones who are sitting their cornet exam next week to miss today's lesson . They still haven't had a full run though of the exam or played with the piano and there's no accompaniment music to hand . Poor girl , I said she didn't have to do the exam but she says she wants to give it ago . I'm sure your dd will be fine folk why did the teacher cancel ?

Oh no folk and trumpet - how stressful! Is Noo playing her new pieces for the audition?

He's got a manic rehearsal schedule in London atm. Which I totally get, but it's getting more and more irregular between lessons and although I can keep things going to a point, there are very good reasons why I do not teach her myself! She really, really needed this week's lesson 😔

Sorry to hear about your DD2. Not fair, is it! Good on her for wanting to go ahead though x

Taggie yes - we're still note learning but there are bits I really needed him to look at with her (mainly because she doesn't like what I'm saying and takes these things better from him, even if we are saying the same stuff!)

How frustrating! Is there anyone local that could go over troublesome passages with her? The Elgar in particular is tricky to learn. Difficult modulations to hear. It is easier with the piano though!

No one Taggie, I have sent a friendly but firm message saying we need to sort out a back-up plan, so we will see what that brings. I have also started sussing out other possibilities, but it freaks me out to think of a change of teacher at this particular point!