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.

How is everyone this (exceptionally warm) evening?

Found out the other week that DD’s singing teacher is leaving the school at the end of term. Think we’ve managed to sort it as her harp teacher also teaches singing so is willing to take her on (and that means back to ABRSM as she’s an Examiner for the board), thankfully! Looks like unaccompanied folk songs are part of my future... Got to be better than her current habit of singing whatever anthem she’s done with the Minster choir while pottering through life though. If you heard a child singing Britten’s Jubilate Deo while washing a car last Sunday, that would be mine...

Hi there

My DD is playing cello Grade 7 level now.
Piano Grade 5. She just turned 11 years old and year 6 now. Got music scholarships in private school start from Sep.

Her teacher recommended her to try NCO audition this year. I have checked their website and application will start from 1 July and they changed their audition process.
Anyone going for this audition?

I know it's very difficult to get in even Grade 8 player, so we will try our best!

Hi Karate,
I don’t know anything about NCO, but I’m sure someone who does will be along soon. In fact I believe there is usually a special NCO thread which will probably pop up soon if it’s application time.

I am just sticking some more cake in the oven if anyone else is feeling impatient today for theory exam results.

A nice Victoria sponge.

It feels like ages ago already, so how come we still have 2 weeks to wait?
We are also waiting for my other dd’s Practical exam result on her second study.

Cmon, Thistly get a grip, don’t wish these weeks away!... lots of lovely end of term concerts to prepare for and enjoy!

Has anybody got any special concerts coming up?

Sorry you're losing your singing teacher margia, is unaccompanied folk bad? Sounds lovely to me. Quite a contrast in style if she also does trad church music!

Hi karate, sounds like your DD is doing brilliantly. I know there are often NCO threads on here, hopefully some of the NCO folks are still lurking.

I have a lovely few days of watching coming up, including DD's first big concert with her music centre string group. It's at the big theatre where my orchestra does their concerts, I'm expecting meltingly cute. She's had such a good time with them this year, ensemble playing is the best.

Enjoy your concerts thistly and fingers crossed for everyone waiting on exam results! I have no claim to waiting room but can I sneak some anyway if I contribute some post concert ?

I’ll take some cake! Waiting for g4 results (flute) for dd2. She’s whiling away the spare time by taking a lamda exam in shakespeare performance. I had no idea these even existed but she seems to attract exams in much the same way as she attracts dirt. She’s just started karate and eagerly tells me there are ‘grading for that as well.

I think she likes the idea of different coloured belts much more than certificates. Abrsm should take note.

Good luck to everyone else waiting- I’m sitting in the lamda waiting room with a flute and a 1/2 cello (bad planning on having to pick them up from a friend on the way), wondering where my weekends have gone.

I'm loving the idea of getting a black belt in violin Exam boards take note!

Sadly DS is too old to audition for NCO this year so I've not kept up with the changes in the auditions, sorry. It really feels like the end of a big part of his life as he's been in the NCO for years. He's loved it so much, learnt so much and made some lovely friends. He's auditioning for NYO this year and while I don't think he's got much of a chance of getting in on his first audition, if he did get in he'd already know loads of the kids from NCO which is lovely.

Unaccompanied folk won’t really be too bad, I’m sure. It’s the four songs from memory that would phase me!

Thistly I am also waiting very impatiently for abrsm results, grade 3 cello in my case.
Does anyone know anything about the process of submitting supporting documents for reasonable adjustements for ABRSM exams? I got a rather stern letter about a week before the exam saying to submit them to a specific email address or they would withold the results. I did so but never had a response. The exam has been and gone and that email was sent about a month ago now and still not had a response. No adjustments were asked for, so maybe that's why? I don't know, I feel slightly uneasy about it.

Thanks for keeping me company fellow results waiters! 🍰 🍰 🍰 🍰
I asked for extra time for my dd’s Last exam, and it was too late in the day to schedule it, so she had to do without. This time she did get extra time, but I didn’t make the entry so i’m Ignorant about the procedure i’m Afraid. I know the member of staff who made the entry was on the case from the off this time. If adjustments were not made in the end surely they would have no reason to withhold the results?

Also love the idea of black belt in violin!
And unaccompanied folk songs will be fantastic too, how wide is the choice?

3rd 🎻 have lots of 🍰! I will definitely join you in 🍷 post concert; sounds like you have got a lovely one to look forward to. Yes, I agree the ensemble ones are the best. Solos can be a bit pressured!
I am looking forward to my dd’s Folk band playing in a few weeks, and a choir concert, but the music centre end of term stuff schedule has not been done yet.

We're waiting a Grade 5 theory result. Hope she passes!

Thistly I think the choice is as wide as you can get, including songs from different countries in native language!! Who knows, we may discover some real gems?

Did anyone’s DCs do any theory exams pre-grade 5? I went straight in on 5 myself but was wondering if it was worth doing an earlier grade with DD in order to get her used to the setup?

I would recommend doing G3 theory first purely to get used to the set up. My DS was the youngest there by a long shot, the others were far older teens. Having already done G3 he knew what to do etc. I think it gave him confidence in a group of much older kids.

I agree with boy swinging.

Some centres have separate rooms for different grades and there are a lot of older kids and adults going for grade 5. Quite intimidating.

My kids knew to expect this as they had done grade 3 in a smaller room with less and younger people.

In terms of the content think it probably helps too, although unfortunately I have little understanding of any of it.

Dd has done 1, 2, and 3 - definitely good preparation but the jump from 3 to 5 was quite large!

DS2 went straight in at Grade 5 theory and was fine, he was 11 or 12 so maybe a bit older than some on here.

We've just said goodbye to piano and brass teachers ahead of DS2 starting JD in September which was a bit of a wrench!

We have a music service concert band concert on Thursday. The week after should be County Youth Orchestra and Choir but DS2 will be at NCS so is missing the concert.

We are waiting for GCSE results - a long summer but not as bad as waiting for A level results for DD last summer

Waiting for exam results here too, for DS who can be quite variable in his playing so it will genuinely be a surprise what he gets, over a wide range of marks! Hopefully it's a good surprise! DD has her first music camp where she will not know anyone which is a little daunting, but think she is looking forward to trying out boarding school ( being a huge Mallory towers fan!). DD2 still getting to grips with her mini bassoon, so many keys.

Good luck to everyone waiting for results. We must have very late dates as the exams haven’t happened yet.. DS has gr5 horn on Saturday and DD gr6 piano in a couple of weeks. Lots of concerts coming up too, particularly looking forward to seeing the 2 younger ones in theirs, they still smile and wave when they spot me as opposed to my teenager who just looks mortified 😬

We're in Scotland, they're earlier here. Currently sitting in a park in the sun ( wind) enjoying the first day of the holidays. Still try to have a few lessons over the holidays as they are private ones. Also, we have more time to practice in the holidays so makes sense. Need to knock this grade 5 theory on the head this coming season too.

Ah that explains it horsey ! Park sounds lovely, we still have 3 weeks of school to go !

Do I win first results for the season? A 125 merit for dd2 in G4 flute- she won't be pleased (and her teacher will be cross about the pass mark on her study piece), but I reckon that's respectable (and that she needs to work harder on her aural classes).

Pretty good result I would say! I think nerves often play a part too but I coach horse riding and always say you need to be scoring above what you want/need at home so if nerves come into play and you lose some marks, it's still fine. It's also only a snapshot of one person's opinion so we don't place too much stress on it. Last time, I'm sure the examiner was gentle on the younger daughter ( surprisingly high mark, not that we said that to her obviously) and harsh on older ( would have guessed a much higher one from listening to it through the door!). It is just an opportunity to play under a bit of pressure and gave a goal, which helps some and not others.

Well done to minisnowballs DD a merit is very good!