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!

Hope everyone has survived the snow.

I have DS2, piano, organ, trombone. Also sings (former Chorister, now on the back row singing alto and tenor). DD, alto and Bari sax though main focus is A levels and choosing a uni.

I am currently sitting in a freezing organ loft chaperoning DS2's lesson. It's not as bad as the church where he practices. He usually wears fingerless gloves there. We haven't been near it this week.

Coming up we have our Festival, DS has entered very few classes this year and also DS has been asked to do a couple of spots in local concerts which is lovely.

School also wants him to accompany their school musical which looks a massive amount of work and I'm not sure it's a great idea.

Hi folks, only just realised it is March, I was wondering why the music thread wasn't popping up any more!
I have DS, 8, who likes playing the piano but not practising. And DD, just turned 6, started with violin but piano seems to be taking over at the moment, rather more inclined to practice. Both taking their first exams this month, grade 1 and Initial piano respectively.
I'm a keen amateur string player (violin/viola), have orchestral concerts the next three weekends (!) and lots of fun chamber music going on.
Could I join in the channel too please? If my tech can be persuaded anyway. Would love to hear all your superstars playing.

Good luck catkind, se, waffle and others with DCs taking exams. Stay strong! No abrsm scales will defeat the mner music thread!

kutik here is a post- or pre-exam treat for mini-Kutik m.youtube.com/watch?v=IUNmb_bXNSE

Taggie, we watched Perlman version before and loved it. But I love Nathan Milstein version so much! Thank you for sharing! Post-exam? No no, I'll show him tomorrow morning! I can't wait to see what he says. If we are lucky he may get the sentimental, romantic atmosphere. His Chopin sounds too happy and healthy (according to his teacher)!

By the way, DS has his own version arranged for violin and enjoys playing it. You know, when he should practise on the piano, he does it on the violin... A beautiful but also annoying habit of multi-instrumentalist!

TRM - so happy to hear of families like mine with too many children and instruments.

We have a practice point system. Point each day you practice (no, you can’t practice 4 times for 6 minutes each and claim more points) and one for every performance. Last year my mother offered primo an Xbox if he could reach 250 points in one calendar year. The middle 2 children usually cash in their points at the beginning of school holidays for $1 a point. Rule is that this is for special purchases so no little things. Lastborn only sort of understood how it worked last year. He saved enough points to purchase some headphones with glow in the dark aliens on them. While he loved spending his own money it didn’t motivate him to keep up with lessons, so we dropped them and will start again sometime. He spent a few months asking for a clarinet but is now insisting that he really wants viola, because he really likes girlchild’s violin teacher. I’m waiting a while before decision making.

Practice officially happens before school. Flute in the playroom, cello in the lounge and violin in my bedroom. Cello (primo) is supposed to be min 30 minutes, and then he can do 10 minutes each on violin and keyboard/theory. ATM it’s more like 10-15 minutes of cello and whatever time is left before he needs to be in the car for the others. Flute player usually manages 20-30 minutes. Violin we get 15 at least 4 times a week, though sometimes it’s a stretch to call it practice as it turns into a bit of video watching/singing/bowing patterns/pizzicato/anything I can convince myself is related to playing enough to give her the point.

Re- instrument quality, when secundus flute was taken for service last year we were told it provably wasn’t earth replacing the pads. We ended up with a ‘good intermediate’ flute. Something that will hopefully get him through until his mid-teens and beyond if by that point he’s decided only to play for fun.

Where is this channel people are putting videos? I’ve seen mention of it. Is it an app?

Emerence I've sent you the link 😊

Does anyone else take their mini musicians to the proms? We first took DS to the proms in 2014 to hear Holst's Planet Suite, at the time (DS was 6) he was completely obsessed with the solar system and we would always listen to it at home. It was our first prom too but has since become an annual family tradition. We've also seen the 10 pieces proms (with DD also), cbeebies prom (with all 3!), and I took DS to the John Williams prom last year. We love incorporating it with a day in London too. There aren't a lot of local concerts that attract us so this is always exciting to do.

Mine haven't been to the proms but I need to put that right this year!
DS2's cello pieces are well and truly ready for Friday's exam. I wish I could say the same for his scales! He's not bad on aural and quite good at sight reading so I reckon he'll get through!

I'm sure he'll be fine Loose . Good luck to all those doing exams this week !! Dds is in a couple of weeks she'll be fine I think ( as long as she doesn't panic )

folkmama please send me the link. What is the app called?

Not taken my kids to the proms yet, but it is in the plans.
Great news in our household with a great 3/4 size cello, which is fantastic and fills up the room when DS2 plays. Also youngest has now moved to the 1/2 size violin, which is his first non-Stentor and good quality violin. It is still a bit big and we could have waited a another month or so but he could not wait any longer to play it :).

Good luck to everyone with DCs taking exams, I didn't realize there were so many!
omg I managed to post a photo when trying unsuccessfully to upload a video from the computer, and didn't mean for it to stay there as it's 8 years old but forgot to delete!!! So now you caught a glimpse of the past...
Not wanting to contradict anyone but we never used rewards for practice. Nor for 11plus. In fact we've never used rewards for anything. We're kind of anti reward IYKWIM. We didn't want DS to feel music was a duty, and if you give your child the idea that it needs to be rewarded to be done, you're saying that's where they find their motivation, so it must be a duty after all because fun wouldn't need an added motivation. Sorry, I am a bit radical when it comes to certain things

I have taken the boys to the proms for the last two years. It was a terrific experience for all of us. The first year, I took them to the same prom. The second year, I made two trips: one of the Brahms piano concertos with DS1 and the Mendelssohn violin concerto for DS2 (his favourite piece!) For us, separate trips worked better - less fighting!

Drummers - interesting about the rewards thing. I guess different methods for different children. I read 'Unconditional Parenting' by Alfie Kohn when DS1 was a baby and was very influenced by that in my interactions with the boys.

For practice, oddly I've never had particular trouble. If they can't face homework or practice, they don't do it. Generally conscience/consequences gets the better of them eventually! DS1 had a long patch of very little practice when he was settling into senior school. It doesn't seem to have made much difference in the long run. He is progressing nicely now.

Really essential things like baths and tooth brushing are another story though

good luck with the exams everyone :)

we go to the proms - highlight was a couple of years ago with yo yo ma playing all the bach cello suites from memory; really inspirational and we were very lucky to see it

taggie Alfie Kohn is against rewards, isn't he? I agree with his unconditional love approach 100% and have tried to raise DS like that. Sometimes it's not easy when a perfectionist child demands a lot of himself and what he is doing is projecting those expectations and demands onto you. So even though you have struggled to make it very clear that your love does not depend or is tied in any way to his success, if he aspires to this success internally, he will make the connection and create the desire to please you in his own psyque.

Ironically, according to most recent studies (I have read it in both "The Blank Slate" and "Freakonomics"), we parents have very little to do with how our children turn out. Fifty per cent is genes, the other half is their relations: friends and society.

I get that totally Drummers and DH has the same view, why should they be rewarded for something they allegedly love, playing is a reward in itself... on the other hand, my very good friend who is a professional musician says they will never make a living by playing for free 😂 'horses for courses' I guess. Rewards work for DD1 but not DD2 (who doesn't give a fig about consequence, punishment or rewards for ANYTHING, she is the very definition of 'I don't give a s%#*'). For her, keeping up with her sister on the reward chart is far more motivating, she doesn't care what's at the end of it...!!!!

Hi, can I join you all? We are very much beginners compared to most of you! DD (8) has recently started learning piano. She also loves singing and sings in a couple of groups. She would like singing lessons, but I think she is too young?

I have also recently taken up piano again and am hopefully taking grade 1 in a couple of months. I have always wanted to play but we never had a piano until I was about 12. Then I had lessons for 18 months or so but gave up in favour of flute when I was doing GCSE music (basically just found it really hard). I did grade 5 on the flute, but have always wanted to be able to play piano and have always regretted giving it up!

We only have an electric keyboard to practise on at the moment which I know is not ideal, but we don't have the money or space for a piano. I hope to upgrade to something with weighted keys in 6 months or so though.

I would love to see the videos that people are talking about - might inspire us!

drummers that is beautifully expressed and very true for me and mini-Taggie. He is real perfectionist and demands so much of himself. For example begs me for more sevcik (super boring violin studies) to help his bowing. His friends at school wouldn't know it though!

folk - I can relate to that. DS1 is totally unmotivated by rewards, whilst DS2 will chase every house point!

Welcome Curly - well done on your piano learning efforts! You and kutik can inspire each other! Looking forward to following mini-Carly's musical adventures

DD1 (15) currently practicing for her Grade 7 oboe exam which is at the end of this week. Still not convinced by her scales and aural will be all about trying to avert a car crash. Her pieces are sounding good though and she had a really useful play through with the accompanist on Saturday - the best accompanist I've come across.

DD2 (11) has finished her guitar practice with her Grade 2 exam next week. That's after her bassoon lesson rearranged from last week with the snow and then a run through at the other end of town with a new accompanist arranged by the teacher before our local festival at the weekend. First festival she has ever done and she's having to do the Grade 8 class! A bit mean really...

Sympathies with mini-double#1. Those g7 aural tests are horrendous. There are so many posts here about exams seeming like a car crash and ending up as good merits!

And good luck to mini-double#2! She is such a lovely player (I remember her contributions to the YouTube channel)- I'm sure she will do very well

Best of luck to everyone else suffering with exams over the next few weeks

Curly, welcome! Well done to you on going back to learning piano. You are my inspiration! I'm afraid I can't be yours though. I touch piano a couple of times a year and am still working towards Pre-test.

DS's teacher says only practice makes you a better pianist, so you can be a great pianist by practising on a battered keyboard and can be a mediocre pianist who owns a grand piano. Of course it would be nice to be able to practise on a grand piano, but it's not necessary. DS didn't have proper piano until he passed grade 5. I don't think he suffered much by starting less equipped.

No reward system here for practice. DS practises for himself. We never asked nor nagged. But this means he does lots of non-practice practice rather than focused and efficient practice. He is a day-dreamer... He is getting better to remind him his target though.

His main problem is time-management rather than motivation. For instance, today we came back home at around 8 pm from football. He had shower and light snack, finished off the homework which he have to submit tomorrow and ran through some sound tests of several violins we currently have (one has to be back to the shop tomorrow so we had to decide if we really were happy to let it go). He was in bed by 9pm. if I had left him alone, he wouldn't have done all of them by 9pm. I have to remind him what he is supposed to finish and how little time he has.

On the other hand, I noticed he does something meaningful and interesting when he is left alone. For instance, he learns music this way a lot. I don't know the details but he seems to learn and discover a lot of new things from free-play/non-practice practice. So I hate to nag at him and tell him to get on with whatever he has to have done in time... I wish he has more free time so that I don't need to pull him back to the reality so often.

Thanks all for the kind comments on DS's piano clips. I'm afraid I had to remove them. But I read all. Thank you.

Double - assuming it is ABRSM, have you got the Aural test book with the CD? It is very good to brush up skills before the big day. Wishing her all the best for the exam.

Just back from a joint school's music concert. Standard was amazing. Such beautiful music and a fantastic venue also.

Weighing in on the reward/practice issue - none offered here but then you couldn't motivate miniprada to get out of a burning house frankly if she doesn't want to do something.

Kutik - lovely piano playing. I only briefly saw the video but it was fab! Hope the violin/school decision has been made!