Spring Term 2020 music thread

[squintsoftheworldunite]

Thought I would start the ball rolling on the first 2020 music thread since I’m awake. Happy New Year all of you and your lovely little musicians. Carrying on the long tradition of music threads here begun moons ago by wafflenose .... hoping our threads continue to be a place that’s welcoming to all, whatever standard, experience, backgrounds or situations of music bring you here.

2019 brought incredible music experiences for us, our biggest year to date. Exhausting but incredible. We said goodbye to the year with a final music lesson to end what has been an amazing first year on a new, and now first study, instrument. We’ve had a year free from practical exams but full of auditions and performances and so much to look back on with gratitude. I certainly couldn’t have predicted 2019 this time last year! I hope we can say the same of 2020 this time next year. Happy New Year xx

Great news hiding! What is DD's instrument?

Great news Hiding!

DD has gone for composition, but she is also (as of last week) G8 (Distinction!) on oboe, plus G8 Musical Theatre Singing, G6 Theory, G5/6 Classical Singing (alto) and G5 piano - though she's gone back to piano at G6 pieces/sight as one of the US places requires a piano proficiency test.
I have no idea where any of it came from! I write fiction, but my musical ability is negative, as is DH's.

I've got left behind - congratulations to truffle and hiding's DCs. And doing composing hiding! That's so cool.

/Wave/ to crucru, I have slightly bigger piano/brass and piano/violin players than you (mine are 10 and 7), nice to see yours are still going strong too!

Fabulous news! X

alakazam what in particular makes you think she's at scraping pass level? Or are you just managing expectations? My two have piano exams also a month or so away. DS doesn't practice much at all but at least plays through everything once a day, usually with the same minor errors every time. He is not at all perturbed by performances and will do the same on exam day, so far this strategy has got him low distinctions. DD practices more and is more accurate on a good day, but gets more nervous, so needs more safety margin!

Things that will make her stand out:
Right notes and rhythms, obviously. In grade 1 if you can do this, even with a few mistakes, you'll likely do well. I say to my kids if something goes wrong in your practice, do it right three times before you stop. (DD, sometimes, actually does this ...)
Plus being able to keep going regardless if some small thing does go wrong (DS is master of this). We switch between stop and fix it play throughs and carry on whatever happens play throughs (DS only does the latter).
Steady speeds, maybe test with a metronome or metronome app. (DD is prone to haring off at double speed when nervous so I try to get her to think the hardest bit in her head before she starts.)
Doing the dynamics (another thing DD forgets when nervous)
Even tone (sound quality) between notes and through longer notes, get the impression this is hard on clarinet?
Right articulation - should they be short staccato notes or longer notes slurred together.
Telling a story with the music. How would she sing or dance the music? Play it like that. DD likes to have a story, lots of easy level music has descriptive titles which lends themselves to this. Maybe listen to a recording for ideas too.

I think I'm probably making that sound more complicated than it is. Expectations aren't super high for grade 1. I've heard kids warming up with lots of hesitations, gaps and wrong notes and they still came out with passes or merits. As long as she knows her music she really will be fine.

Without giving away too much info, it’s amazing she is doing an exam and our aim for her is a pass- though it would be nice if it was a secure one and we can minimise risk of failure for her. So thirdfiddle, not managing expectations at all.
The information in your post is really helpful and has given me some pointers to think about with her. I found the idea of looking at the musicality of a song interesting as we haven’t covered that before.
We are finding it hard to fit in aural and pieces everyday when she’s at school but with half term coming up she’ll have more time then- I’m hoping this won’t have a negative impact on her.

Didn't mean to pry, just if there's a particular aspect you think she's going to struggle with it might help us make suggestions. Or if it's more technical there are some woodwind experts around. Good luck with the prep - first exam is a big step for anyone. x

No problem didn’t want to not explain why we are aiming for a pass. I suppose at the moment it’s the theory and the dynamics of her pieces more than anything. She has the pieces note perfect (most of the time) and is great at scales.

And also her technique in the way she blows into the clarinet- I’m sure there’s a technical term for this isn’t the best either so any advice on improving that. She seems to let too much air escape if that makes sense to anyone.

Honestly, note perfect pieces will get you a long way at grade 1 Theory you mean aural? You're already ahead of the game doing a bit at home when you can. Not that many marks in it, if you can build confidence to at least have a go at all the exercises she will pick up some of them. Hopefully someone can help more technically but I think at least in part with blowing instruments you need to build strength that comes with playing time and that might help on the escaping air and dynamics fronts. If you could find even 5 minutes to play through pieces every day it will help, or as many days as you can. Clarinet people am I talking bollocks?

Brilliant thanks- perhaps I can relax a bit with it and just try to make sure she does some every day. Yes mean aural -she struggles with some of the language used to answer the questions so some of her questions will be 0 score for no answer given I think but if there aren’t many points in it hopefully she’ll be ok

Congrats to hiding and mini hiding!
It's great when they have a place they're happy with isn't it and you can begin to look forward to that next chapter with them!
Always such a big step the leaving home and starting college thing!
My DS is really looking forward to moving to London (Trinity in Greenwich) and really taking forwards his trumpet study and work towards being a musician in whatever way that develops.
We might go for another visit at half term now we know he's going there!
And I see there's an open day at the end of June which could be good as we've not been to one of those yet, though we did get a lovely personal tour after the audition.
DS is in touch with them to see if he can meet a tutor for a quick chat if we visit during half term.
Otherwise might meet up with a friend who's a student there
Or just walk around the area and admire the pretty buildings next to the Cutty Sark!

Alakazam8 I’m sure your daughter will be just fine. My ds played the guitar for a while and got solid passes (nearly merits) in grades 1 and 2 despite “failing” on the aural and sight reading portions of the exam. For each section there’s a max score and one in brackets which indicated the pass mark. His pieces and scales were solid and that cushioned against the areas in which he was weaker.
If your dd has specific difficulties (I appreciate you may not want to detail anything on the thread) have you looked at the accessibility arrangements for the board she is doing? Like any exam there are adjustments that can be made in certain circumstances.

Thanks- I think we have a bit of extra time added to the exam time but I’m not sure if that will make a difference. Reassuring to know you don’t need to pass every part in order to gain a pass.

Alakazam, have you had a chance to look at the mock videos on the abrsm website? It will show the language that the examiner uses, it is a script so very formal but if your dc is prepared for that it might help. Good pieces can absolutely compensate for other areas.
Calypso, it is encouraging that your dc got into a conservatoire with junior conservatoire etc. We can't justify the cost at the moment so try to find other opportunities such as come and play days with the national orchestra etc where she gets to experience a higher standard of playing than she hears at school/ regional level. I read somewhere that the worst thing for an aspiring musician is to be the best in your school. Now she is a long way from that but gets a lot of positive comments about how talented she is partly for being a rarer instrument which I think isn't always helpful. I am reassured about the level of piano required now too.

No I wasn’t aware of those but I’ll have a look. That will help, thank you. I’m hoping her pieces and scales will compensate for her performance in the aural part but the more I can do to help her the better.

The DfE are consulting on the future of music education. It’s a good opportunity to comment consult.education.gov.uk/curriculum-implementation-unit/music-education-call-for-evidence/

@alakazam8 Make sure that you encourage your DD to try answering everything - even a very inaccurate attempts at singing back or clapping for the aural tests, a few words for the style question (got louder/softer) etc and some notes for the sight reading. There is a big big gap in the mark scheme between 'very inaccurate/ vague / incomplete/ little awareness of features etc' (still worth 6-8 marks) and 'no work offered' (worth 0 marks). Across aural, scales, sightreading etc, those 6 marks per section could make the difference between passing or not, even if she finds those areas really really difficult. It might still be too hard to get her to have a go (I don't think I could have spoken, let alone sung anything, however much I wanted to at that age) but keep working with her on trying to produce some sort of response. The YouTube videos that show the actual exams are really helpful, especially with the earliest grades - to see what the examiner says, that they're generally friendly, that they don't make comments etc.

Hi thirdfiddle!

I found your post very helpful as well. We’ve been asked to get my son’s speed up using a metronome sand it isn’t going terribly well. I’ve been sending the metronome in for his lessons but it doesn’t sound as though the teacher finds it that easy either.

He did recommend an app called ABRSM SpeedShifter, which we’ve been having a go at.

I think part of the problem is that my son is just sick to death of his grade 1 pieces. Roll on March and he’ll be done.

That’s fantastic news hidingmystatus

Oh pleased it was helpful crucru! Re metronome - can he play with it at any speed, however slow? If not, is metronome loud enough? Maybe if you clap or bang something along with it it might help. Could try hands separately with metronome as a starter.
If that doesn't work, can he say the beats aloud as he plays 1,2,3,4 or 1,and, 2,and, 3,and... if quaver speed helps? It's surprisingly difficult so probably only hands separately! Once they can play with metronome however slowly you just move it up one tick at a time, and do some work on any corners that can't keep up.

DD has started trying her latest violin piece with metronome and it's very revealing of how non-steady a speed she was playing - she actually asked me at one point why the metronome kept speeding up and slowing down

Know what you mean about them getting bored. It's a difficult balance, they want the security but at some point they no longer want to play the same music.

CruCru and fiddle we’re all about metronome antics here too. DD loathes the “tick tock” as she calls it.
Her piano teacher has used one in lessons since prep test days though so at least she’s used to it!
Definitely agree to starting slowly and building it up one or two at a time - dd now quite competitive to see if she can “beat” the metronome mark her teacher sets her to aim for in practice!
Wish she was a bit more sanguine with its use for cello practice though. Like your DD third her cello playing can be shockingly uneven but she’s resisting playing with either the metronome or the recorded accompaniment for her g3 pieces. I may have to resort to direct bribery soon! 🤣

Both of mine HATE the metronome - i honestly think that if I offered them the choice of being caned or using a metronome they'd take the former (obviously I don't, before anyone thinks I'm serious).

Practice partner (which I think ABRSM has now released for cello too) also allows you to slow down and speed up the pieces and/or the accompaniment - which helps to start with. They whinge less at that.

Music all continuing as usual here. DD1 has rather surprisingly decided she will take GCSE music (they choose in Year 8) and the head of music is delighted by this - I was more sceptical. Still, as she points out, she could play the piece she's currently working on - Elgar's Chanson De Matin- as her performance piece, and that would be fine and she's got three years. I'm after anything that takes some pressure off for her so that's probably good.

Good luck to all those prepping for exams. We have a G5 flute (dd2) and a G2 piano (dd1). And much loathed theory for June, which I'm planning to take as well. At the moment I fear DD2 is going to absolutely smash it and I am going to fail. At least her self-confidence will be sky high after that.

Thanks both. To be honest, we’re now at the point where pretty much anything I do enrages the boy - clapping hands, singing 1, 2, 3 etc. I think we’ll just keep going as best we can. I’ll keep sending it in to lessons.