Autumn term 2019 music thread

[thirdfiddle]

September is looming, the old thread is getting full - I think it's time for a new music thread. This is a support thread for parents of children who are into music or indeed just thinking about giving it a try.

Perplexed about starting the piano? Experimenting with ensembles? Concerned about college applications? All welcome here. Huge thanks to those lending their expertise and sage advice and particularly wafflenose for starting the threads.

So, new school year, what's new with your mini musicians?

@horseymum thank you! That's really helpful. Yes she's very keen on the treble and to be honest so am I. I much prefer their sound. Especially the lovely smooth wooden ones. I am wondering how long it'll take her to get her grades. She's really keen on picking GCSE music and playing it then. They have to choose their options at the end of year 8 so we have about 16 months. I just hope she sticks with it, she's very motivated and I'm worried it'll die down. The fact it's so quick to learn the tunes seems to motivate her. She hated the violin!

musiccake my older 2 DC stuck to Trinity for Grade 8. They did study theory but didn't want to do the exam.

Youngest is the opposite and has done Grade 6 theory, also although he has done Grade 8 ABRSM piano he has chosen not to do exams on his first study.

Absolutely no need to do ABRSM exams at all.

Congratulations on the great exam results coming through!

Concert season in full swing here. This time last year we had grade 8 piano, GCSE mocks and an audition (same child). Am enjoying just having concerts this year.

Hi all - checking in. Congrats on all those with exam passes/merits etc and 🤞🏻 for those with exams in the next week or so.
No exams for us this term (thankfully!). DD trying to recover from the fact that she thinks she bombed the scholarship audition last week. She was in floods of tears after she came out - took me nearly half an hour to get her back into school! We won’t know anything for another week or so - it’s a hard wait!
Still, she played piano and cello at a school concert earlier this week, is singing at a charity concert tonight and has a couple of church services coming up - lots of extra practice required! I’ll be glad when we break up for the hols.
Also - yy to the recorder players! I played the recorder through most of school. It’s a lovely instrument although I still struggle not to say “just” the recorder when I talk about it! I still have my gorgeous wooden descant stashed away somewhere and my plastic Aulos tenor!

That's so nice to hear! Thanks. There are so many different sizes and types of recorders it's crazy to think it's lost its popularity so much most people think it's just an instrument you play before flute or clarinet. Its a shame, it sounds so beautiful in the right hands.

Thank you for your reply raspberryrippleicecream. What a talented children you have! 3 of them to Grade 8? That's a fantastic achievement.

I don't know why our teacher told him to switch back to ABRSM for grade 8 as I haven't talked to her. My DS(I start learning to use this term now) has a lesson at the school so I don't see her. But if he likes Trinity syllabus I will ask the teacher to carry on to Grade 8. I have ordered Trinity's Orchestral excerpts book so very looking forward to checking it.

For theory, I think sooner or later he needs to tackle it if he chooses GCSE music. He is 11 years old now. I am amazed that many of DC here passed Grade 5 Theory at very young age. But I think it will be very useful to have a good knowledge as a player too.

Very laid back DS says he ‘definitely passed’ grade 5 theory as the school HOM told him all 3 of them from the school had, but he doesn’t know the mark..seems a bit vague but I guess that’s ok! 🙂

*Musiccake, thank you for your kind words.

Some teachers think there is more kudos attached to ABRSM. Our piano teacher did for a while. They all have the same value UCAS points. The different exams suit different kids, I think. Even had she done the theory exam DD was so against the singing back part of the ABRSM aural she would have stuck to Trinity anyway

DS2 is now at JD of one of the Royal Schools, so if he does do his trombone exam it will be ABRSM. And his organ teacher (not at JD) is an ABRSM examiner. So I don't think he will have any choice as to future exam board's.

Your DS has lots of time anyway. DS1 got A* at GCSE without taking the formal theory exam, though he had done lots of the actual study. DS2 has just started A level and it undoubtedly of value. Just don't let anything stop him enjoy playing

That's good news Lotsofmilk.

Anyone got any Inspire places confirmed? DS2 didn't apply for residential this year, but has got the day he wanted in March in Newcastle.

Thanks raspberry ! Sounds as though your DS is doing very well.... DS1 was very lucky and got a space playing horn on one of the Inspire residentials coming up in February. It definitely helps to play a less popular instrument! DD didn’t get a residential space but she has more opportunities locally these days so she wasn’t too worried.

Many congrats on the good news for our young musicians! It's so lovely to have a forum to share our news.

Lots DS didn't even apply for Inspire this year but was emailed by NYO offering him a place on the residential in Feb. As you say, the joy of playing a minority instrument! I was a bit with it being his GCSE year but he did well in his mocks and it's only 3 days so it would have been churlish to turn down the offer. He's looking forward to it.

boys that’s great news... I know what you mean though with the GCSEs coming up as DD is only in year 10 and the step up in homework has been quite extreme! .. I wonder if they’re on the same one as I think there are a couple? DS is on the Friday to Sunday one 🙂

Sorry, Lots we're midweek. And, yes, the homework is pretty relentless at the moment which can be difficult to balance with all the practice, rehearsals and concerts. I just keep reminding him it's not forever and it will all be worth it in the end (ever the optimist!).

Hello @Dodgeitornot - great that your DD is enjoying the recorder. Much beleaguered instrument. Even my DD's secondary school music teacher teases her because she plays it . And yes, I will be having words at parents' evening .

So, have just asked DD for suggestions for 'cool' recorder music - she was not much help to be honest - even after she had stopped laughing. But, here are the books she started with..

John Pitts - Recorder from the Beginning - books 1-3 for descant and the Treble Recorder from the Beginning in the same series.

Recorder Duets and Trios from the Beginning - I played with her and we still do that sometimes. DS did the duets with her too for a bit until he stopped playing recorder.

And the Peter Lawrence books which all have 'winners' in the titles have more popular, well-known stuff. We have:

'Easy Winners'
'Winners Galore'
'Winner Scores All'

Some of the Irish music for recorder is lovely - we have a few different volumes - just Google 'Irish recorder music'.

In terms of grades, DD will have been learning for 2 years in January and she has just sat Grade 6. But she did also already play piano when she started so could read music, etc.

When your DD is ready, the National Youth Recorder Orchestra (NYRO) have recorder days which they hold all over the country and residential courses at Easter and in the summer. The London recorder day will be in January. They ask for Grade 3 standard to attend all day or players can go in the afternoon if they are not yet Grade 3 standard. The first time DD went, she had been playing for about 4 months and just went along in the afternoon.

I have been teaching DD the recorder myself up until now but she will be starting at CYM in January and will be having recorder lessons there.

I can also recommend taking your DD to a Palisander concert if you haven't already - fun and inspirational playing for young recorder players.

Good luck! Feel free to PM me if you have any other questions.

@noodlingalong wow thank you so much! Your post is great and v helpful.
I have looked at the recorder orchestra but saw the standard was quite high. I didn't realise they also do the days so will look into that and maybe go.
How funny about CYM- DD was offered to start there from Jan as they are desperate for recorder players. I was looking for local recorder teachers and one of them got back to us saying she has no space for DD privately but she would if she joined CYM. We said we will wait until I'm sure that she sticks with the recorder. It is only 40mins away from us on the tube but I don't fancy doing that every Saturday if 6 months down the line she says she wants to stop. She's only had 3 lessons but has made so much progress which makes her want to practise. Recorder from the beginning is what we used but her teacher isn't too keen on it and says it goes a bit too slow for someone with a teacher so they're skipping a lot of pages and he has taught her the C note way before the book. He's due to send us the book he'd like her to use.
Your daughter has made amazing progress in 2 years!! DD took the cool songs thing into her own hands and just taught herself old town road and the Shrek soundtrack from YouTube videos lol. Sounds like we will defiantly bump into each other at some point in the future!

Great & yes, am sure our/our DDs’ paths will cross at some point!

Ha ha it's not just the recorder that is maligned. My DS is stoic with the daft comments regarding his percussion playing. The funniest one was "Oh but it's not like a real instrument where you have to read music" . I asked how she thought he knew what to play in the symphony orchestra if he wasn't reading his part. And she said "Well, obviously he just comes in when he feels like it." Obviously.

Oh wow. I imagine if percussion came in when they felt like it, it would be a bit of a mess, especially as they're one of the loudest instruments in the orchestra.

Indeed ... I am always in awe of my DS's confidence to come in at full blast. He most definitely didn't inherit that from his mother.

Hi all, did I read somewhere on here that the abrsm practical exam results were being sent out earlier this year, e.g. within a week of them being sat?
Awaiting results here and just wondered whether I should try to forget about them fir the next 4-6 weeks or get excited DC might have them next week ...

Hi fiddle - I think that was from next year when it all goes electronic? Fingers crossed!

Lol at percussionists not reading the music. Specially untuned, having to read complicated fast rhythms without the help of note patterns to follow. Looks bloody hard to me. And you don't get away with a thing.

Heard a lovely local recorder group at the weekend. Such a great instrument when played properly. We're due to be treated to the year 3 whole class taught by non-musician version next year.

I get 'flute - terrible choice- she'll never get into an orchestra/get a scholarship' with that'. So it's not just recorders and percussion who get comments.

Er - she chose it - I would never dream of choosing and then forcing an instrument on a child... (and we werent' looking for scholarships- she just wanted to play) Also most of us who are not from massively musical backgrounds simply never get the chance to suggest anything more niche to our children.

Though if you end up at CYM with those recorders you'll have a whole raft of new instruments before you know it. DD2 already has a bassoon and cello and had to be restrained from the trombone and horn tryouts (three instruments is too many) at the end of term on Saturday.

@minisnowballs I don't understand people's obsessions with scholarships and proper instruments. Why on earth would I subject a child to learning an instrument they didn't like. We had free reign of musical instruments in my old school (v well funded state school in the early 00s) and I ended up going through about 5 different ones and sticking to none, so I do believe there is a sense of at time making your kids stick with you. I think with anything you can practise little enough to hate it.
Anyway, violin is the most popular instrument to learn and although there's more spots for it in orchestras, with the amount that learn it I don't imagine it's any easier to get a scholarship than on piano.

Out of interest, how long does your daughter spend at CYM every week? I know some spend the whole Saturday but realistically what is the norm?

@FiddleOnTheRoof we got Abrsm results in 6 days....I didn’t expect them so soon, but logged in to check on off-chance and there it was!

Dodge, I think it very much depends on the child. DD2 is a junior still (she's Y6, and 10 and this is her second year at CYM). Last year she started with a fairly sensible timetable starting at 9 and finishing at 12:30 ish.

The senior ensembles tend to be later in the day I think -and if they're doing theory too, still later. So this year Dd's timetable stretches from 8:30 am(!) to 3pm - and I think the G5 theory class comes in next term to make it even later, but I think that's not the norm for the little ones. Older ones tend to start later and finish later but it depends on ensemble - dds ensemble is otherwise all secondary children so that's why it's later I think, and for timetabling reasons she's in the senior choir.

On the plus side I'm telling myself she gets good value for money out of it as she does so much stuff - but she does get very tired - we are very much looking forward to having the hoidays off!