July Music Thread

[Wafflenose]

Hello, I have just realised it's time for a new thread! Feel free to discuss anything musical here - any level at all, from total beginners to advanced, and adult learners are welcome too!

I am a teacher of woodwind, currently limping towards the end of term (July 24th... can't wait!) and have two DDs. Goo is 12 and plays the flute and piano. At the moment, she's doing the bare minimum, but she has won the Y7 music attainment award at her enormous comprehensive secondary school, so we get to go to an awards ceremony next week. Her piano teacher is about to retire, so we're looking for a new one. Rara is 10 and I would say is now a joint first study cellist and clarinettist - it doesn't come easily and she's progressing at an average rate, but a good Grade 4 on both. She spends most of her time reading, drawing, doing origami and swimming for a club.

I have so far managed to get through 27 music medals this term (6 still to go) and 4 Trinity exams (1 ABRSM still to go) and about half of the concerts!

Hi catkind (and others). Not feeling ignored as I know these threads are fast moving :) Thanks for the welcome. Five to six grade wise (has 5 not 6). I realise it's a long shot as the standard is very high but the audition should be kind of fun (I hope) as she is nerveless with pieces and OK at sight reading. The nco website suggests she wouldn't be miles off in terms of grade at that age (I know that it's not everything). Terrible nerves around the singing in exams but I understand that isn't required.

She won't have much teacher input as she has council lessons only in term time and will move to secondary in Sept which means she is changing teachers.

Hi Thally, G5-6 clarinet for Y6 sounds very very good. DS managed to get in U11 by playing G4-5 pieces last year, and he auditioned for violin which plenty DCs auditioned with G8 or so pieces (because strings tend to be a lot higher standard than any other instruments). I think your DD has plenty chance to be successful. DS is also Year 6. If both of our DCs get in, they'll be in the same orchestra. Fingers crossed!

Violinandpiano, the maximum number of instruments appropriate for scholarship auditions probably depends on the school and level. I suspect there is a difference between 11+ and 13+. I don't know about 11+ because my two have both done 13+ from choirschools. At 13+ my impression is that most schools will encourage pre-auditions one or two terms before the scholarship auditions, and also hear them more informally earlier than that.

My son offered violin, piano and organ; he also took compositions with him. In principle he would have sung but voice change made that inappropriate. One of his auditions had a strict time limit, the others were more flexible. Pre-audition advice was helpful in confirming how and what he prepared. He will only be having violin and organ lessons going forward.

His older sister offered violin, voice and recorder which for her meant she didn't "need" to include piano. She's still juggling 3 lots of music lessons at school but it is tricky! (was four for a bit ...)

Thally - Concert and Competition Collection for Bflat is good to look at; we tend to buy random collections off amazon and dip in for fun and performances. I am non-musical so dd rolls her eyes at my purchases but has found some really nice pieces this way.

To add I usually buy these books from music shop sale sections; we also have a charity shop which seems to specialise in sheet music nearby which has some incredible very cheap gems sometimes

Hello Thally! Jumping in here to say it's really not about how hard the pieces are, but how well they play them. I often remind DD that it is better to play a G4 piece like a G8 violinist than to play a G8 piece like she's G4!!! As you may have picked up, the application form has changed this year (a reflection of the big changes to the NCO management team I think) and it does seem that they are looking for more information about the 'rounded' musician rather than just grades and performance. But who knows, this could just be to collect demographics....

You may already know that there are several outcomes from an NCO audition; Full Membership (a place in the 'Age Banded' orchestras); Associate Membership (a place in Regional Orchestra but not Age Banded) and then a Reserve place which may or may not come with Associate Membership depending on numbers. We have kids in pretty much every camp on this thread, and I think it is fair to say that they all absolutely love it whichever membership they have (my DD is an Associate for the second year). She has been towards the bottom end of the suggested grade standard each time.

Even the audition is helpful- it is great experience, the people are generally lovely, and you get a written report on the audition whatever the outcome.

Good luck!!

oh, and one more thing!! If NCO doesn't work out, there are lots of other wonderful music residential courses that your DD may be interested in. We were a little disappointed not to get Full Membership of NCO this time, but then looked into other things. DD has joined the Pro Corda programme and fantastic opportunities have come from that! She is now off to start an amazing new adventure that I would never have dreamed possible, and that would not have happened if she hadn't gone off to Pro Corda!!

folkmamma, I fully agree with you.
I always think my DD is working towards to Grade 8 but her performance level is like a grade 4. We want to try music scholarship but I think she has less chance to get as she always can not polish her piece to a very satisfied level.

I was also going to say Thally, many teachers will do ad hoc lessons during holiday periods if asked, particularly if a student is working towards an audition. Might be worth contacting old or new teachers to ask about that if you think a bit of support would help.

Thanks for all the help, Patricksv, StringChild, Folkmamma, and Catkind. I spoke to a woman on the phone at nco last week and she emphasised playing well was more important than a stretching piece too. I'm not sure she will have a lesson over the holidays but she is doing a local orchestra course. She has the odd piano lesson over the holidays but as clarinet was in school it was always arms length (I have only met the teacher a handful of times).
Will start looking for music!
Congratulations to all your children for their great results.

Hi. Thally I would think grade 5/6 pieces would be fine . It's about playing somethings she's comfortable with . Ds got into under 12s on trumpet playing grade 6 pieces and under 13s playing grade 7 ( ish) pieces. One of his pieces is harder this year as he tries out for main orchestra but the other one isn't necessarily harder than pieces he's played before it's just a new ( ish) one for him and is a good contrasting piece

Results are in already! Mini cricket passed her grade 1 violin! She is over the moon

Our turn tonight! Looking forward to being entertained by Jacob Collier & friends.

Littleladsdad enjoy
Great news mini cricket !!

Congratulations to zak's, thistly's, can't's and cricket's minis on their exam successes.

DD had a merit in her stressful recorder exam experience on Sunday . She has started learning the treble now which I have to say I am much preferring so far. So much more mellow. The cat also seems to love it - she sits and gazes up at the deeper sound.

Spent 3 hrs in a violin shop today, trying 6 Violins and 8 bows......I don’t know how they choose...
Percussion buying is so much easier- you read reviews and you order- easy peasy!

vioinandpiano, as an audience, I would prefer listening to a simpler/easier piece with convinced techniques and musicality to a challenging piece with lots of struggles. However, every child is different and some may benefit from tackling harder pieces, and good teachers would know how to challenge and push certain types of DCs. I assume your dd is in a good hand (jd) so I think you just trust her teacher and follow her/his instructions. Your dd doesn't pick hard pieces by herself but it's the teacher who is giving them to her I presume? I am non-musical like you, and sometimes I wish I could be of any help at home. But my non-musical background means DS doesn't have any conflict in learning/teaching between the teachers and parents. I just follow whatever his teachers say! So if his teacher gives him an incredible hard piece, (though I would be worried how it would go...) I accept it's what DS would need at the stage and let him play it with lots of painful struggles and wobbles!

So don't worry. I think your DD is doing amazing.

PatricksViolin, thanks for kind words.
Yes, I think she is not ready to play very hard pieces, but I do not know how to build up her technique. The teacher did not teach her any technique and always scales and pieces only. I heard from other parents that young violinist should have some special technique practice every day. If her technique is bad, she will have no chance to play the piece very beautifully.

Violin - a study book will support technique so maybe someone could recommend one? We are cello so I don’t know violin ones, but I do know they are excellent fir technique practice

Dd uses kreutzer etudes violin

Re: studies, combo of Kreutzer, Dancla and Sevcik here... Mazas next!

Maza’s and Sevcik here 😊