April Music Thread

[Wafflenose]

Happy Easter! The sun is shining here (at the moment) so I'm hoping spring has finally arrived.

Here's a new thread for anyone who wants to talk about music lessons, exams, practice, concerts, aural, scales, theory, ensembles or anything else music related. Everyone is welcome, from beginners to advanced and also adult learners. I started these threads 6.5 years ago when I had a beginner myself. Her nickname is Goo, she is 12 and taking Grade 8 Flute next term. I think she's finally going to do her Grade 5 Piano in the autumn. When those are out of the way, she's thinking of taking up the recorder again and doing Grade 8 on that, because flute sort of took over and she never got around to it. Her sister Rara is 9, and is currently around Grade 4 on both Cello and Clarinet. She doesn't want to do any more exams for ages, so will probably do her grade 5s in a couple of years or so. Rara is a lapsed recorder player who will be performing on it next month, and she dabbles with piano, glock and accordion. Both girls do South West Music School, although I regularly go back on forth over whether this is still the best setting for Goo. We are pretty rural and hours away from any big cities.

Please can we all be extra careful to make sure that everyone is acknowledged and assisted where appropriate... I include myself in needing to make an effort, but I'm not around all day, every day. This is a lovely, calm, supportive corner of Mumsnet but I do receive a handful of messages from people who don't feel welcome because they or their children are less advanced, or they're not in a position to consider JD/ private school/ expensive instruments and feel left out, or they wonder if it's OK to post about certain instruments/ families. I did say I would try. Thank you all so much!

Ealing I'm sure she definitely does get now how much you support her in both music and swimming - she's doing amazingly well to juggle all that she juggles

I think Kutik that whatever this teacher has offered in the past if her attitude could now start to get in the way of minis progress or enjoyment then it's time to move on . I have had some very frank emails/ discussions with ds's teacher . We all know he will need to move on at some point ( potentially in the not too distant future) for now it's a great partnership but he's admitted that Ds will need a different teacher at some point . I know that it will be tricky when it comes to them parting company though. when we make decisions about what Ds needs to do next I always listen and consider his teacher's viewpoints but I also have to consider what we all ( his family and Ds) think will be best for Ds which sometimes doesn't match exactly what his teacher thinks - as he's basing his decisions on his own experiences and those of others that he knows, and sometimes you just have to stick your neck out and go for it ultimately you know your child best

Hello, can I join? Is anyone else's child at Brass Academy this week?

Welcome Brassy

Recommendations please ladies... need some fun non-syllabus suggestions for g4 ish piano books/pieces. We've got Making the Grade (4), several of the Joy of series (duets, mozart, disney, sonatinas.. a couple more perhaps) and both boards syllabus books. She loves classical, film, ballet music etc etc.

After leaving an amazing teacher who really inspired her, got her and knew how to bring her on, she's with one who's the complete opposite (despite being a very kind soul, I should add). He can't teach outside the ABRSM syllabus, doesn't cope well with kids like mine who gobble up repertoire and have a thirst for lots of material, whilst still being able to polish them to a good standard. At the month's break over Christmas he told her she was only allowed to learn one piece which we ended up ignoring because it drove her insane. Anyway, I want more new pieces to give her to explore for funsies....

Hello Brassy I know nothing about brass, but there are plenty of people on here who do, and I'm sure someone will be along later.

Crazy I think she would love Jazzin' About Styles by Pam Wedgwood for something novel. Blues, rock, disco, ballads etc. Lots of pieces in the book, and it's grade 2-4, so fab for her to do independently.

Crazy, Noo really enjoys the 'upgrade' series, really fun pieces!

Hi brassy

Dd is going in the summer...couldn’t do this one! Is yours?

Yes my DC is - having a great time thanks Petra. I think it is great for them.

Hello everyone , yes my son is at Brass Academy this week. He really enjoyed last summer

I also agree re Pam Wedgwood's Jazzin' About series

Hi Brassey - did it two years ago and had a great time.

Thanks for the flower, Taggie. Also thanks earling and Trumpet for sharing your experience and thoughts. I feel I am more equipped to handle this tricky situation better. Falling out with this teacher is the last thing I would wish to happen as she has been brilliant in many areas and def contributed DS's musical development hugely.

One thing I can think of where her strange attitude comes from is she seems a bit paranoid about being judged by outside influence like jd. When we informed jd about DS's forthcoming piano exam, they said 'good luck'. I stupidly told the piano teacher about it. It was a casual talk and nothing serious but her face went blue and seemed very offended by the good wish. Then she would say things like she would much prefer handing DS to jd than constantly being watched by them. To be honest all jd cares about is DS's first study. Obviously they would be pleased with any achievement/improvement and like to know how their pupils are doing but watching and judging the quality of lessons for 2nd/3rd studies that are happening outside jd doesn't appear to be in their mind.

Anyway, “professionally threatened” would be a new term added to my dictionary!

crazy, I am probably not a good person to give any useful advice on pieces according to grade because, I don't know which piece is which grade! But recently DS was learning Chopin's Prelude in E Minor and DS said it would be at around grade 4. There may be some tricky chords but nice slow emotional piece and DS absolutely loved it. He also enjoys playing all the pieces from Songs From Walt Disney's Mary Poppins. It says 'Easy Piano', so it may be a way below g4, not sure. Your DD may prefer something more challenging. But I thought I would add this as my g7-8 standard pianist seems to enjoy playing them! He plays them on the violin also for fun.

When he was at around g3-4, I think he was playing lots of Burgmüller. But they seem to be staple pieces for classical pianists so your DD may have been already introduced. If not, then I'll recommend them as there are lots of attractive tunes.

Hi BrassyBrass DD2 is at Brass Academy this week. At 8 she's the youngest boarder and seems to be the only child playing her instrument!

Hi SE13Mummy, is she enjoying it?

No idea! She doesn't have a phone so haven't heard from her. I'm sure she will be though as she was desperate to go. She's appeared in a couple of the photos/videos on the Twitter feed and was happily joining in. Have you heard from your DS? It all seems to be very well organised which will appeal to her. I had hoped she wouldn't be the only player of her instrument though... hopefully that won't have meant a week of transposing (although she's getting quite good at it and enjoys it)!

I need help from the adult violinists in here please. Just before the Easter holidays dd was assigned g6 A2 - she was given lots of notes but unfortunately her teacher has cancelled her next lesson so by the time she has a lesson she will have have had 5 weeks self practice on a piece . Can you please suggest any key tricky bits to focus on with her as by this standard it is hard to help as a non musical mother. It sounds "nice" but I'm concerned she is embedding errors iykwim.

My child is loving it . I think it is very well organised . The school my child is at is small so there isn't much opportunity to play in groups

SE22 the hardest thing about this is the style. I would say the best thing to do is sit with her and the music and listen to some recordings a few times. Ask her to tell you things she notices about the dynamics / articulation. Then when she plays it you will also be familiar with how it is meant to sound.

Hi brassy Ds isn't there this time did it a couple of years ago and absoluloved it . I'm sure he'll be back if time allows

Great to hear your child is loving it Brassy! Do you know which group he is in? I've no idea about the playing standard of the children who attend... I guess all will be revealed when I collect her on Friday.

se22- are you on the video channel? I'd be happy to try to do some constructive feedback if you wanted to put a video up. Second listening to recordings, or watching on YouTube.

se Folk is dead right. She needs to listen to it over and over again to really understand what it is meant to sound like. The most difficult thing is the rhythm. Loads of slow practice to get the accents in the right place. Is she playing it off the string, with the up bow spiccato? If so, perhaps have a go at Kreutzer number 4 as a warm up.

crazy my DD enjoys the LangLang books as non syllabus pieces, they are in graded books So easy to tell which one is right. She also loves any show tune books, the ‘easy piano’ ones are grade 3/4 but wish they wouldn’t make them in big print - not necessary!!

Gurlitt Little Flowers suite is also lovely and is Grade 4/5 level, I think. ABRSM also do ‘Best of’ grade books with pieces from the last few years, we’ve had the grade 5 one since she was grade 4, good for a grade 4 player who wants a challenge.

Thanks guys. We will do a lot of listening and if I'm allowed I will upload something to the channel

Can I confuse people by dropping my thoughts here? DS's piano teacher (yes, she is again but for a different reason!) is always oppose to listening to others' performance prior to learn a piece. You've got to develop it from the music, and the music alone, then once it's done sometimes it's good to listen to others' interpretation. I don't play any instrument so I just listen to the teachers. Maybe it's just a different approach? Sorry if I am being too ignorant!

An interesting point Kutik, and I think later down the line that may be very true, but for me, listening to others while mastering any instrument is a vital part of the journey. Not copying one performance and one only of course! I try and expose the girls to lots of interpretations of their major pieces (even different intruments playing the piece). It helps us in many ways - from ‘I told you so’ when it comes to dynamics and phrasing, to demonstrating what’s not so good (especially on YouTube!). We always listen through before tackling a piece too, as I find it helps Noo particularly with note learning in the early days. In view of our recent chats about your DS’s teacher, I find it interesting that she particularly takes that view - almost like she doesn’t want any outside influences on Mini-Kutik at all.... Although he clearly has his own ideas and is able to express them beautifully. Just an opinion, of course. I’m sure we will be a fairly even split on this one