January to March 2019 music thread (Title edited by MNHQ)

[CruCru]

Hi all

Here is the new music thread for January - I hope no one minds me starting it.

I am mum to a son (7) who is learning the piano and trumpet and a daughter (5) who is learning the piano and violin. I am having piano lessons and played the trumpet as a child.

Some of the people on these threads (and their children) are fantastic musicians. Some are more like me. All are welcome.

Thank you to Wafflenose for all the time she has spent managing these threads.

Only downside is percussion and drums is have to arrive before everyone else, often leave an hour later and, depending on the venue, end up carrying timpani or bits of marimba up and down stairs. The joys of parenthood. Violin or flute would have been a lot easier.

herts

hello, I recognise you
If it's any consolation other instruments can be a nuisance. Atm dd is playing most saxes so she has all of these, music for several ensembles and of course stands and pegs.
I think drummers need bigger cars though, unless you have a very large boot.

Ha- Romany- no name change here x
Ha- yes she’s very busy- but she loves it! 🤣

Violin or flute would have been a lot easier
I have tried, Good Lord how I have tried. But he is insistent on the perc ...
And yes, I wouldn't like to add up the hours of my life spent either waiting for him to pack up or having to help to pack up while all the flutes saunter past, seemingly oblivious to the amount of effort needed to create a perc section.
But, yes, it has taught him great teamwork, discipline and time management (needing to be at venues at least an hour before everyone else). All great life skills so I shouldn't complain too much I suppose!

Druid they put me in charge of the gong. Big mistake!

We started with a violin, child number 2 added a flute, all nice a small. Child 3 is a percussionist and child 2 decided to are double bass.... Ah well probably time to buy a van

I’m pleased my kids picked portable instruments. 😁 sax and violin take up the boot space of my little car! My husband, having been carting a kit in his Dad’s car most of his teenage life, said it would just be easier for them not to play perc...even though he loves it. He was relieved when they just play drums for fun!

loose
I'd have loved to have seen/heard this.
Did you gong too many times or at the wrong time?
I know a percussionist was giving a talk once and said the triangle is the hardest instrument to play, because it's not how to play it, but when.

Concerto for Triangle

Druidsong - wow hadn't seen that before. 1-2 minute filler for BBC YM audition? :)

Love the triangle awesomeness!
As it turned out, the gong playing went absolutely fine on the night! In rehearsals, it took me a while to get the hang of damping the sound - so there had been quite a risk of drowning out the rest of the orchestra! It was The King and I so I was actually quite important! No, let's be honest, the gong was quite important! I was probably more of a hindrance!
No VHS, thank god...

Love the triangle awesomeness too!

For someone who doesnt know any thing about music, the most fascinating thing to me to watch in my daughter’s Orchestra concert are the percussionist. I imagine the moment has to be perfectly right, in the perfectly right amount of time, not mentioning the amazing drum.

Druid: we went to the school one day and hear someone playing organs around lunch time and miniGreen said” awesome!”

Mendingfences : we thought of moving house recently(no longer a plan now) and most worried about moving the piano:).

Question for near 5 yrs old violin beginner, how did your mini violinist practice around this age. I am worried about her having to do the poking for too long and couldnt move on then could loose interest.(my elder daughter started violin from the school when she was 7 so much older and already had a routine from the piano practice).

Greenleave we did little and often. Daily practise and building good habits. Five minutes at a time, playing to soft toys, etc. we also did a little gentle aural work too, to keep interest. And lots of praise.

Hi green, I had a smaller than 5 beginner - one thing is they don't mind repetition nearly as much as older children. It's only recently at rising 7 and reasonably proficient music reader that DD actually wants to move on to the next piece, up till now she wanted to keep playing the fun thing she could already do rather than try a difficult new thing.

What book is she doing? DD had some fiddle time starters then abracadabra when she started which both have fun accompaniment tracks so it sounds cool even when child is just playing open strings. Her teacher was also great at making things into games. It was never "here's an exercise to help you hold the bow right" it was telling a story that required different speed windscreen wipers, or being a caterpillar racing up and down the bow etc.

Hello all, I wonder if I could ask for some practice advice? My daughter has an exam in a couple of weeks. She can play her pieces, but still not absolutely perfectly every time. Do you think it would it be better for her now to just play all three pieces one after the other and keep going regardless of slips (my preference) or should she still keep stopping to go over the problem a few times before continuing (her preference)? She will play with the accompanist for the first (and possibly only time before the exam) later this week. Any advice gratefully recieved!

Finewine what grade? Stamina is important. Examiners are really lovely and quite forgiving in those early exams. Especially for young players. Is this her first exam?

It's actually grade 8, so we probably should know what we're doing by now...but she's had a bit of a break from exams and hasn't had to play 3 pieces in a row (without mistakes!) for several years. Stamina is definately an issue as its a brass instrument...

Finewine stamina was often a concern for ds on his way to G8 - I seem to remember him running out of steam on the third piece during his G6 exam. One of the signs that he was ready for G8 was that it was no longer an issue.

Thank you Littleladsdad - So - I think she will stick to playing all three without stopping for the next couple of weeks to make sure she can make it through on the day!!

Hi Finewine.

If your DD makes mistakes at the same place then it may be an indication that some technical issues are unsolved. Then she should stop playing through and goes back to work on the tricky bits. If mistakes happen at random places then her techniques aren't to be blamed and she probably needs to practise 'play through', in which case she shouldn't stop at every mistake but carry on till the end.

I think when you need to play through a few longish pieces at one go, you need stamina physically but also mentally. At least that's in my DS's case. Silly mistakes happen when he loses concentration for a second. So, starting the play through practice one or so week prior to the X-day seems to be a good plan.

Thank you Neleus, that's good advice, there are a couple of 'high note' points which I think may never be entirely secure and she needs to practice those seperately, but the rest of the slips are random, so that's another vote for playing straight through without stopping!

I would also add the importance of 'focused' practice especially at the final stage of a preparation. By that stage people often know the pieces so well that mindless playing can be kicked in and I think 'play through' just encourages the danger. Playing straight through pieces over and over while you daydream, you might be better off not practicing at all.

Good luck!