Summer term 2019 music

[thirdfiddle]

A new installment of the long running music parent threads. Everyone is welcome from complete beginners to grade 8 and beyond. Thanks as ever to the lovely waffle for starting the threads up and looking after them for years. What are your plans for the coming term? Any exams, auditions, festivals, new instruments? Please come and chat.

I do hope dd passes. She did Grade 3 theory six months ago and got it into her head she wanted to have done Grade 5 theory by the time she left primary school. No rest for her though - Grade 5 violin coming up in a few weeks!

There’s a great book “take 5 and pass firstvtime” which covers most of it!

My top tips...walk into exam and draw the following on scrap paper

A piano keyboard
Both staves, label lines and gaps
Circle of 5ths (helpful mnemonic from dd’s Piano teacher...fish chips garlic bread and dips anchovies eggs and beans...sticks much better than usual mnemonic I think)
Tone patterns for major and minor scales (musical children should know these from their scales, rest of us can just memorise them)

With those you can double check everything...all the intervals you just count on the keyboard etc...there’s a reason you’re not allowed to take anything in with. Keyboard drawn on it...

Train them to draw notes neatly and use a ruler for stems and joins!

Hello - another Grade 5 theory mum here. The centre we went to was also very strict and not forthcoming with the information. The children didn't have any scrap paper, and I asked for some to be provided as my DD likes to draw a keyboard etc. Finally some manuscript paper were given out, but they were smaller than A5 - blank paper would've been better.

Hoping for a pass this time after failing by 3 marks back in March.

Good luck to all the grade 5 theoryers! We’ll be going through it again with the 2nd DC probably next term... hoping (optimistically) to get most of it covered over the summer holidays but we shall see...

Hope all the theory takers pass alright, we are aiming for the next session but don't want to pressure DD. It really is quite hard and I did some music at uni level! I am in awe of those who passed it aged 8 etc!

Hi Minisnowballs. Thanks for welcoming 😀
I am glad your DD2 is having a good time at CYM and happy to hear a good comment on it. What instrument does she play?
I have a feeling that my DD is a bit disappointed she didn’t get into any of the junior departments and getting place in CYM is not the same for her. I really hope she will enjoy the Saturdays there.

Sorry- pressed send too soon. There will be plenty of children at her level, I should think. I hope she ends up seeing it as a different and very good thing- rather than a poor second best. I love cym’s commitment to developing dd in all facets of music- they seem to be constantly planning next steps for each child - putting them together into little ensembles (she’s been being taught duets by the head of department simply because she thought it might be ‘good for her’ for example) and the fact there is a constant gentle push to do more and get more involved. So, nowhere is perfect, but it can be a really exciting place- I promise!

And sorry- didn’t answer your question. Dd is a flautist (flutist?) and second study cello. She’s grade 4 and 9 years old- probably one of the least advanced of her age group - but she’s never been made to feel that way. Her flute teacher is wonderful, she’s found herself in a prelude cello ensemble even though she’s not learning cello at cym - and by the end of her first year there she’ll have taken two grade exams, (and been helped with exams on her other instrument too, since they provide both aural classes and an accompanist on hand each week), performed in two concerts (one solo, one duet) and with both her string ensemble and wind band, and sung in the Matthew passion with full orchestra in Southwark cathedral. It’s felt quite full on for her, and I can’t believe how she’s developed.

Wow! Minisnowballs, that sounds fantastic. Great achievements too!
Thanks for sharing your experience! Looking forward to opening new doors and new opportunities for my DD.

Sounds like they are very responsive to individual needs, snowballs, which is fantastic. I am a bit uninformed though, what does CYM stand for and how big is it?

Dinosaur... good luck and 🍰 for you, it must be a bit harder the second time around, but she was only short 3 marks last time, so fx!
Fiddle on roof yes yes, the cake is lemon drizzle today. Enjoy a couple of slices!! Hope all the dc are enjoying exam being in the past now.
I am looking forward to my older dd’s first exam on her second study in a couple of days. She was sounding great at the weekend, but yesterday’s practice was less than inspiring.

Hello, popping in for some advice please. DD is sitting her grade 1 violin in a few weeks but we don't have a piano accompanist. A friends ds (16) has volunteered but I'm unsure. Is it better to have someone with experience of music exams and playing as an accompanist?

I'd say so ginger - can her teacher not play? Is there a local music service you can contact?

My daughter had grade 5 theory last week in central London.
I have just received an email saying:

Dear applicant

I am contacting you about the Music Theory exam that took place on 15 June 2019 at the City of London School for Girls.

After the exam we identified that the Grade 5 Music Theory candidates at two of our Central London venues were incorrectly given the Summer 2018 paper to complete, rather than the 2019 paper. This situation arose because of an ABRSM printing and packing error.

As a regulated awarding organisation, we must ensure that all candidates complete their exams under the correct conditions. For Music Theory exams, this means that the paper must not be seen by any candidates before it is completed during the exam time. The Grade 5 Music Theory paper from Summer 2018 was published in our practice paper booklet in January 2019, which means that this paper has been publicly available for six months. As a result, I am sorry to tell you that we cannot issue a valid result to the candidates who completed this paper during the exam on 15 June 2019.

On behalf of ABRSM, I sincerely apologise for this error. Please be assured that we are urgently looking into how and why this happened and taking steps to prevent anything similar happening again. We have informed the regulator, Ofqual, and will be updating them during our investigation. We have also established that this error has only affected candidates who took their Grade 5 exam at two of our Central London venues.

They can do the exam again in July or November

I cannot believe this has happened

Just catching up again. Dd was hoping to take Trinity Grade 8 Oboe but the only date she can book at the local centres is the very one her teacher cannot make

Luckyfab. That's horrific! Your poor daughter. After all that work! I sincerely hope she gets a bit more than that ropey apology.

Horrendous.

Thistly - CYM is the Centre for Young Musicians - it's a saturday music centre (bit like the junior departments that the music colleges run I guess, but I think it has a wider spread of ability - and it is increasingly aligned with Guildhall, which is its partner organisation. I should stress I'm no expert though). I was just replying to Sunnyflowergarden, whose daughter, I hope, will enjoy it as mine does.

@minisnowballs
I still cannot believe it happened
My Dd will start CYM in September first instrument cello.
Are happy with the school? How is the standard?

luckyfab I would be utterly furious. Such a HUGE amount of work, and then that. Hope your dd takes it as OK as possible. I can only imagine how either of mine would react.

We're really happy with CYM, as I said to sunny above. The standard seems pretty high to me - the only downsides really are the split site running about nature of it (dd is still primary age and her timetable so tight that we are still escorting her), and the fact that dd buys her own bodyweight in cheap sweeties in the canteen every week. Hope your dd enjoys it.

luckyfab that’s terrible... poor kids having to do the exam again 🙁 are you in a rush to do grade 6 next term?

@Lotsofmilkonesugar it is not just for the grade 6 which I don't think my Dd will take in November but it is still extremely disappointing. We thought it was over, done...She is busy with all the end of school year commitments (she is in yr 6) and was such a relief to know the exam was part of the past.

Poor thing, no-one wants to have to do an exam again..especially in a school year when there are loads of tests already. There do seem to have been a lot of administrative problems with ABRSM lately, we’ve heard of quite a few people having issues of various sorts 🙁

That's terrible about the theory exam. I think they should find a way to avoid the candidates having to take the exam again. Exemption from theory requirement for life or just mark the thing anyway. I'd be seriously tempted to switch to Trinity exams if they don't sort it out for you.

Gosh that’s awful, lucky fab. Don’t suppose your dd is the same, but I doubt my dd would sit it again. I’m shocked that they think it is acceptable to wait until the next round of exams for a resit. They should be putting on a special session/ sessions ASAP so that these candidates don’t have to wait so long.
Thanks for explaining CYM, snowball 🍰

Der sorry, I see they are putting on special sessions, I can see timetabling will be a nightmare.
Abrsm seem so imperious in their way of dealing with their own mistakes. If you appeal a practical exam and the appeal is upheld, they don’t alter your mark. They offer you a free resit. Great.

Net result; nobody appeals much and their examiners’ standards are not held to account.

4strings Thank you. No, her teacher can't play. She originally said she would sort accompaniment herself but has now left us to it and been very unhelpfully not replying to emails asking for more numbers. We only have two weeks before the exam!

Friends DS has changed mind after seeing the pieces. I'm not surprised as its a lot to take on.

We have one lady who said she will do it if we can't find any one else, so think I'll have to see if she will. The hassle of sorting this is making me feel like finding another teacher though, its in school lessons which my dd frequently misses anyway.