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!

A big well done to The Boy, Alexandra! I remember his cool performance of playing clarinet. No surprise for his success!

DS is off to the last footy training of this term. He asked me to sign him up for extra training sessions on top of his usual weekly training for the next term. Oh dear..., I hav a feeling the time may come. The time he switches his interest. He did this before. He was doing brilliantly with his sports then one day started refusing to take up all the wonderful offers and insisted he would like to do more music.

I won't be too surprised if I become a regular on a sport thread instead of this lovely music thread this time next year... This is exactly why I believe he should never go to a music school! He is too extreme.

Oh and well done Alexandra to the Boy! What a great achievement! kutik - your DS is so multi talented. My mini is thrilled to be occasionally selected for the school D team for any sport. He does love sport though, which is a great thing

Taggie, SE - Noo has a few different mutes that she will take to Pro Corda, the cheapo black one, a mid-range plastic jobbie that doesn't rattle around and her precious w-mute (although that one will probably stay at home...)

Just back from the most wonderful concert with Noo's future secondary school. Was a privilege to be allowed to join in with the orchestra- so much fun!!! I am pinching myself as I can't believe how lucky we are that she got in there. A huge number of kids are involved in music - it's off the scale for a state secondary! Will be falling asleep with a big smile tonight (and Finlandia playing in my head). 😍

Taggie, that's great your mini loves sport. I always think introducing sport/exercise in children's life and helping make it for a life long hobby is a greatest gift parents can give, because we parents like our children to have a happy, healthy life and daily exercises are so important in the same way as nurturing healthy diet and love for learning. Being competitive and working hard to achieve something is great, but also just enjoying things for the sake of doing is equally fantastic. I like that when DS enjoys things he is not naturally good at. I think it's important to know you don't need to be excellent to enjoy things.

folk, Noo is so lucky to be able to go to such an awesome school!

Hello, this is a great thread. My daughter is due to start in Reception this September and I was thinking of signing her up for piano and violin. Is it a bad idea to start two instruments at the same time? My son only started the piano in Reception.

Hello CruCru and thank you, I like the thread too! I think Reception is a lot to get used to, and tiring at first. Presumably your daughter is only four at the moment, or not quite? I think one instrument is plenty for starters. Can you have a trial lesson on each and see which she prefers? It's not a BAD idea to start two instruments together, but you will probably end up saving a lot of money because she will progress much faster on the second one when she's older and have some useful transferable skills from the first one. Just my 2p worth though! My girls started on recorder at 3.5 and 4 years respectively. We waited around two years to introduce anything else after that.

Hi crucru welcome.

I think it's probably more practical to start with one instrument, not least because it is easier to instill good practice habits when you're only dealing with one. All three of mine now play 2 instruments but i think it was hard for ds who started his at 5 and then 6 to manage 2 practices and the girls who started their second instruments later had an easier time and like waffle said made very rapid progress because they had a solid musical background already.

We staggered the instruments as well but it is lovely that they can start something when they're little. I agree with Waffle that reception can tire them out at first - it's all very new and exciting! - so 2 instruments at once may just not be feasible. Also don't forget that's two lots of invoices each term - I've just paid some and still have some to go!
At the other end of the school spectrum we've paused percussion lessons for the summer term purely for GCSE reasons but DS and his teacher are looking forward to restarting in the autumn. And he still has 2 other instrumental lessons and 2 ensembles.

Thanks all. I must admit that I may find the idea of supervising practise for three instruments a bit daunting.

My son has said that he wants to start on the trumpet (handy because I used to play it) but I don’t think many children play brass before year 3. In any case, I’ve said that he has to practise the piano at least every other day during the Easter holidays before I ask about the trumpet.

Out of nosiness, at what age did your children go and practise their instruments without your help?

Hello CruCru! I agree with Waffle and Mending. There are lots of benefits of starting the 2nd instrument after consolidation the 1st one.

Having said that I personally think starting two instruments together is still doable - it's all about how you arrange and prioritise I guess.

DS started piano first but violin was added before he reached grade 1 piano so both instruments sort of developed together really and we have never had any serious struggle by doing this. I think there were a few factors that made his two instruments learning less stressful and easy to handle.

First of all, DS insisted he would add violin so the desire of learning came from him. I was very reluctant to add violin as I felt piano alone was plenty but he insisted for a long time so I purely let him start taking up violin to satisfy his desire which led his violin learning as casual and fun, just letting him mess around with it at school. On the other hand, piano had more structure and had a feel of discipline. Piano was expected to practise 10-15 mind x 4-5 days a week mostly doing homework given by the teacher, and violin was basically whenever and however he wanted so it was usually 5 mins or less and a couple of times a week. This arrangement helped him carry on learning two instruments at ease and at his pace. I also think they complimented each other so it was very positive for him to learn two at the same time.

As a child gets older it will become more obvious which one would be the main instrument, then the balance of practice and commitment can be adjusted accordingly. In DS's case, violin has become his first - no surprise when you know it was the one he had more fun!

What age they practiced without help? In out case totally child dependant and also dependant on how you define 'practice'. Da is 7 and happily takes himself off to play, but needs occasional adult direction to ensure he is actually practising. Dd1 is 12 and prefers me to sit in on violin practice but practices piano alone.

I still supervise practice for both my girls (8 & 11). However BFF (also 11) is pretty independent now. Just depends on child and also parent/child relationship.

Ah thank you!

We’ll definitely start my daughter on piano lessons (I am also having lessons) and I’ll have a ponder about the violin. She is very enthusiastic about the violin but it may be a four year old’s enthusiasm (and may wane when it comes to practise).

The school don’t expect the children to do more than 5/10 minutes a night per instrument up to Year 2 but I think from year 3 that becomes a minimum of 20 minutes per instrument. The lessons are 20 minutes for children up to year 2.

CruCru - for violin, in due course you may wish to conider Suzuki, if you have a good programme near you. It is aimed at little ones, with lots of group playing and fun. Personally, I was put off by the level of family commitment required hollow laugh at how things turned out for us

Piano can be difficult for very small children as their hands are so little - but it depends on how tall and physically adept she is for her age.

Crucru DD1 is 12 and has just started practising on her own. She will ONLY do it when we nag though, so I spend most of my life nagging. We had long talks recently and she swears she wants to do it. DD2 is 9 and practises happily, but won't do it on her own yet.

Ah, so it may be a while until I can say "Off you pop to practise your XYZ!".

I've heard that Suzuki is great but, as the school do lessons during the school day, I'd probably go with that as it would be so mush easier for me.

Ds (13) has always taken himself off to practice though it is only in the last year that he has been able to do this totally independently. I only now listen in from afar ( hard not to listen to trumpet playing really) and occasionally pop my head round the door to remind him to actually practice rather than just play !! Dd( 10) always needs reminding but hates me to sit in on it - though this can mean that she doesn't learn things as quickly as she could with a bit of supervision

Hi Crucru welcome to the thread. DH used to supervise the beginning of DS' practice sessions then left him alone for the rest of the session. I had my ear always alert in case he got into a muddle or was banging his head against the wall IYKWIM. This all stopped age 10 and he became fully independent. In terms of drums and tuned percussion, never supervised him and wouldn't know how to. It was always his thing and he always did it on his own. So it really depends... He had a practice schedule printed out to make sure both instruments got their fair share of time and he kept to it. That was very useful...

Sorry crucru, forgot to say the DH involvement was with piano!

Interesting discussion on independent practice! I still supervise DS2, who is 9, on both his instruments, but DS1 (12) has recently started doing most of his practice independently. I still listen in once or twice a week. Both boys are generally willing, albeit with the occasional eye roll!

From previous responses, it looks like 12ish is about the usual age.

Ha ha, it will definitely be me who supervises the music practise. My husband has supervised before and they've had a really fun time - only my son wasn't actually playing the correct notes or in the correct rhythm.

Crucru sorry also forgot to say Hi !!
Also Alexandra great news about the boy getting into jd

Hi CruCru - school do lessons during the school day, I'd probably go with that as it would be so mush easier for me. Just a thought on this. At 4/5, whether you do Suzuki or not, it will be really beneficial for a parent to be present in the lessons. Even the most diligent of teachers can’t possibly note down every detail for parents and at that age, DC’s won’t remember what the teacher said. This is why Suzuki really is great for the little ones (I know so many kids who started this way and then moved on - my DD included). I’m very ‘hands on’ in lessons and practice, even now (DD1 G6/7 standard on violin), which may not be for everyone. But I’m quite sure she would not be playing at the level she is if I hadn’t been so involved right from the start.

Maybe others on the thread have had a different experience though. And whatever you decide, starting young is definitely a good thing!! Establishing good practice routines and fostering a love of music at this age will do nothing but good :-)

DS1 (16) is left to his own devices with practice and has been for a long while. I tend to just keep an ear out for DS2 (13) although if really necessary I will intervene to yell slower! Get the notes right first! He's got a lot better at practising in the last six months though.