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Extra-curricular activities

Find advice on the best extra curricular activities in secondary schools and primary schools here.

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Original poster

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

712 replies

CruCru · 14/01/2019 09:46

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.

OP posts:
woolleybear · 13/03/2019 17:42

Dd did an extra ten minutes of lesson at primary with her clarinet teacher to do theory with the aim of doing her grade 3 by the time she left. That didn't quite happen. Now she is at secondary she goes, albeit reluctantly to music theory club where she can work through her book and there is a music teacher there to check what she has done and to help the f necessary. She's getting toward the end of the grade 4 book and we will probably aim to do grade 5 exam in the autumn term.

Shakyisles · 13/03/2019 23:24

Wow. Things have been smooth for us, compared to some of those stories!

NeleusTheStatue · 14/03/2019 14:54

Apparently DS is having an one-off lesson with an inspirational but fiercely scary visiting teacher today. He is the youngest to participate this opportunity. Hopefully he won't get beaten up too much....

ZakStarkey · 14/03/2019 15:02

Ooh who is it Neleus - hope it goes well for your ds 👍

NeleusTheStatue · 14/03/2019 15:15

Thanks Zak! It would be too outing to name the teacher and anyway I can't spell it correctly... Grin The eternal optimistic child may get a kick in his stomach. Ha ha.

ZakStarkey · 14/03/2019 21:21

Aww bless him- I’m sure he’ll be fantastic and he will learn a lot from the teacher x

Mendingfences · 16/03/2019 05:06

It must be nice to be an eternal optimist neleus Grin
Music wise things we're pootling along nicely here. Ds's piano teacher has started him on some theory books and put me in charge of working through them with him. I'll probably get dd2 to join in as her theory is massively random.....

NeleusTheStatue · 16/03/2019 11:14

Well, I am trying to be a cool mum so haven't grilled him for information but we'll be in a car for 40 mins from school to home today so let me see how long my cool mum mask lasts... Dying to know what happened in the lesson!

I've started getting confused who is who on this thread without the monthly introduction...

4strings · 16/03/2019 16:05

Success for dd this afternoon coming second in the Grade 5 category at local music festival. Her first ever festival 😊

Lotsofmilkonesugar · 16/03/2019 16:28

Well done 4strings ! 🙂

ZakStarkey · 16/03/2019 16:30

Well done 4strings

NeleusTheStatue · 16/03/2019 17:30

Well done mini4strings! It must be a great confident booster prior to the audition.

Owlm · 16/03/2019 17:31

Excellent news 4strings Smile

Mendingfences · 16/03/2019 18:42

Thats lovely news 4strings Smile

4strings · 16/03/2019 19:11

She was very quick to congratulate the winner as soon as she was able, which I thought was so very nice of her.

Mendingfences · 16/03/2019 19:30

And that is also absolutely lovely Grin

ThunderStorms · 16/03/2019 21:24

Sorry to butt in. Dd had her violin exam yesterday, but one of her strings kept slipping - how much do you think that might go against her? She’s really upset about it. The piano player accompanying her was a local university student gaining experience and was lovely - she said she had to retune the same string after each piece (she doesn’t need to tune herself yet). Dd's teacher is not saying much. I would have liked some reassurance. I’m so worried it’s going to go against her because if the string had slipped during the piece, her tuning might have been off, but surely the examiner would see it was the string, not her?

thirdfiddle · 17/03/2019 08:30

Oh no thunderstorms! I think they will not have been able to mark her on some aspects of intonation, not in the sense of blaming her, but in the same way as they couldn't mark her for scales if she had a mechanical malfunction which meant she couldn't play them. But that's only a small part of her playing. And sounds like just one string had a problem too? As long as she kept going and wasn't too thrown by it I wouldn't expect it to have a big impact. Particularly on a lower grade which it sounds like it might have been? (And talking about music on a music thread isn't butting in. Welcome! Please do let us know how she gets on.)

Big well done 4strings junior! And lovely etiquette too. My two would be far too shy to actually say something.

ThunderStorms · 17/03/2019 09:20

Thank you! That’s at least a little reassuring. So,they won’t necessarily mark her down as it was out of her control (grade 2, so she's not expected to be able to tune), but won’t be able to award marks for that aspect? That’s somewhat reassuring.

thirdfiddle · 17/03/2019 09:52

I don't think they really mark by penalising like that. Depending on exam board, the marks for each piece would be split between different aspects of playing, and of the small number of marks that are to do with intonation, she will still get some credit if she's playing in tune on the other strings. It could cause more of a problem if the tuning issues put her off from other aspects of performing like producing her best tone or playing musically. Sounds like she kept going though? Perhaps you might both find it reassuring to look up the marking criteria for the exam board and see all the other aspects of her playing they will have been considering.

NeleusTheStatue · 18/03/2019 12:41

I talked about getting a humidifier for DS's violin case a while ago. It's arrived so thought I would show you what I got in case anyone is interested. Smile

January to March 2019 music thread (Title edited by MNHQ)
bunnymum9 · 18/03/2019 12:56

Hello, all. I have a quick question about JD auditions.

My DD is having an audition (RCMJD) soon. If she goes through the first round, there will be the second one (she is a violinist). I just wonder if she could still play the same two contrasting pieces at the second round, or they require her to play different pieces?

Also... I wonder what she should wear for her audition. Smart casual is good enough?

Sorry, these may be very stupid questions, but I am a total beginner to this kind of world... I would appreciate any advice. Thank you.

PS: Neleus, thank you for sharing the information about a humidifier. It is very helpful, as I also wanted to get one.

NeleusTheStatue · 18/03/2019 13:22

Hi, bunny. If your DD's case isn't as compact as my DS's, there are more choices. Initially I got the one that can be stuck on the inside wall so no physical contact with the violin unlike the one I have now.

In regard to the RCMJD auditions, you can play the same pieces, and yes smart casual is good enough (DS wore a shirt, jeans and trainers). If you like to make sure you can call them. They will be happy to answer to any question. Nothing is stupid. I alway rang and asked directly when I had a (silly)question!

Lotsofmilkonesugar · 18/03/2019 13:53

neleus glad someone else asks silly questions!! Not helped by my now teenage DD who says how embarrassing I am 😂

NeleusTheStatue · 18/03/2019 14:01

TIP: make a phone call when DCs are not around. 😂