Autumn 21 music thread

[thirdfiddle]

Well, we started the summer thread on a rainy day so how about an autumn thread on a sunny day?
Welcome all parents of musical young people, from total beginners to total professionals. Please come and chat in one of the friendliest and most helpful corners of MN.
What's new this term?

DD quite enjoys the 'rare breed' element of playing viola. She's a first study violinist but is almost as good on viola and most of her big playing opportunities come on viola. She loves sitting under the conductors nose, she loves the sonorous tone and she loves being 'special'. She's in one of the top string quartets at her specialist school and they get super coaching opportunities. She wants to play in pit orchestras when she's older and being able to double is super sought after. As she's getting older and more accomplished, she's finding more like minded souls. I think for young kids (and parents!) the flashy virtuoso violinists are a hard sell. But not everyone can have a career as a soloist and those that are serious about a career in music start to see the value of instruments like viola as they mature and start to think about the longer term.

My dds definitely love the rare breed factor of playing double reeds. It does make it hard to find friends playing the same instrument as it's just not taught round here. Hopefully they will get to a double reed day one day once these things happen again. I love going to double bass days, I'm guessing you don't get viola days ( maybe there are, is there a viola society?) Viola is beautiful but I can see why some are reluctant to try it.

There are viola days at Guildhall. Pre-Covid I think these were in November.

Aw, that's great they have special days. There's something lovely about being together with your own instrument, where everyone 'gets it', the quirks, the joys, the challenges. Hopefully they happen again.

@londonmummy1966

Can I ask all of you with DC at London Saturday schools if you have a secondhand instrument selling scheme? I need to get rid of a 7/8 cello - it was DD's "spare" for school to avoid taking the good one on the train several times a week. I know CYM have a donate an instrument scheme but I would like some of the £2500 I spent on this back really. ........

not at Trinity, much to my irritation. have just bought DD a new 7/8 violin and DS a new 1/2 cello, it would have been so much easier had there been a second hand board. we now have a 1/4 size cello to sell...

Good evening everyone! I’m a long time lurker on these threads but haven’t posted much as DC still quite young so not much to share. However, my oldest has just been accepted onto a ProCorda course (his first residential as NCO got cancelled). After the initial hurrah I’m now panicking about funding. They suggest a few charities on their website but I thought I’d ask here if anybody has any tips/ success stories/ dos and don’ts I should be aware of? Thank you musical hive mind!

Congratulations! Try really local ones like rotary club administered ones or local education trusts. We got some small amounts from ones like that ( like £100), every little helps.

Hello Stanilin, Pro Corda do offer bursaries - am not sure what their criteria is but there’s no harm in asking if you haven’t already?

Morning!
Can anyone help with music stand recommendations? Dd has asked for a new one for Christmas so want to get her a good quality one.
Needs to be suitable for at home practice and orchestral use, ability to be short (she’s a cellist), but also portable as she has to take it with her sometimes. She doesn’t want a wire frame one and I’m a bit clueless!!
Thank you.

I find all those things hard in a single stand I'm afraid. We have a tiger one with the metal solid music rest that doesn't fold for home use - it's good, really robust, doesn't tip over when the kids put all the music on it at once etc.

For orchestra though we have gone for the portable versions. Again I think one of them is tiger and I went for as light as possible and accepted that they won't last forever, but they are more portable!

@Glwysen
I just saw your post.
My daughter did her grade 2 (piano) in year 3. Then due to Covid her next grade exams were pushed back or cancelled. We ended up near the end of year 5 still on grade 2. Finally her teacher signed her up to do grade 7. It was a push and she only had 3 months to prepare but she passed successfully with a distinction. Don't be worried, the exams are similar in structure, it's just the level that changes.

@QueenMabby, have a look at the Ratt Jazz stand. It’s not /light/ light, but is not too bad and it folds flat. Might be a good compromise.

Apologies if I'm butting in mid conversation, but just wanted to ask some exam advice. DD is taking her grade 4 woodwind exam in a few weeks time but is struggling hugely to remember her scales. She has dyslexia so is terrible at remembering sequences. She is putting in lots of practice but she can't seem to remember them from one day to the next. All her focus is on getting the scales up to scratch, so her pieces are being neglected. Just in a bit of a quandary about how to help her structure practices and how to best spend the time. Ahh! Help!

Not doing too great with scales here either ilovesushi so my tips come with some health warning! First tip is not to neglect pieces for them though, pieces make up much more of the mark. With the ones DD finds harder, I get her to run through the fingerings away from her violin before she plays it, or even on the school run etc. The other thing her teacher does that might transfer is to tell her to play it slowly and say the letter name before you play each note. So instead of remembering sequences of fingerings she's thinking of the note patterns. How do you practice them? We've set DD up an inbox-outbox lucky dip, so she does just a few scales each day and they all get covered over a couple of weeks.

@ilovesushi look at the AB advice for SEN

gb.abrsm.org/en/exam-booking/specific-needs/candidates-with-specific-learning-difficulties-including-dyslexia-and-dyspraxia/

It may be too late for this exam as I think the adjustments need to be requested at the time of the exam. Aksi whilst examiners are familiar with the extra time for sightreading they are less familiar with the regulations for other things. We had this with DD who stuggled with cello scales and we ended up putting a complaint in when her Grade 6 examiner said her response wasn't immediate - pointed out that it didn't have to be - it lost her a distinction as he marked her down heavily. After that we always sent in a letter alongside the evidence with the entry (as the regulations say this is provided to the examiner with the mark sheet) quoting all the adjustments available and got her to take a copy in with her to hand to the examiner to make sure they had the full information.

@ilovesushi - I have a few pupils with dyslexia and the reasonable adjustments mean they can take the scales book into the exam. Would that help? I know it doesn’t help everyone.

Thanks all! The exam is with Trinity and we've submitted the request for extra time. Looking at the assessment criteria they all mention confident speedy responses for the higher marks in scales and aural, which is depressing. I'll look more closely at the regs but I'm not sure if they let you look at the scale book. I think it would help some. I assumed her teacher had put her in for Trinity so she could do the technical exercises. I didn't realise this wasn't happening until too late.

I have created a very visual colourful chart with the sharps and flats in a different colour hoping that will help her. Unfortunately she still struggles to remember the note names. She is fine reading music (mostly) as she just associates it to the fingerings.

We pick a few scales to focus on each time or just one if it is a challenging one, then revise them the next day. I keep saying to her "don't start playing until you know what you are doing. What's the key signature? think about any weird fingerings." But she just goes ahead and plays adjusting until she gets a major or minor or whatever. I have said to her to play very very slowly initially to get the muscle memory in place. I am having to stay very very calm!

I'm going to switch our focus to pieces this week. Her pieces are lovely but need a good polish! We had a chat last night about good enough being good enough for the scales. She also has a dance exam the same weekend as clarinet, so am trying not to add too much pressure. I think she is doing okay stress-wise, but I'm feeling it!

Thanks again!

Ah, I was referring to ABRSM. I have had a quick look at the Trinity website and I couldn’t see anything about taking the scales book into the exam room. May be worth asking them - only if it would help your DC of course?

I've only had experience of ABRSM exams - Trinity lists a number of adjustments on its website and tells you to email them if you want one that is not on its list so that might be worth a try? It seems that the British Dyslexia Association had discussions with the exam boards jointly so might be worth mentioning their document to Trinity if you do contact them as it has a number of adjustments for scales

www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=trinity+music+reasonable+adjustment

Digital exam help needed! have just recorded DS's grade 4 cello exam (Trinity digital). it was his first take/attempt.

He played the 3 pieces brilliantly, no mistakes and all the right bells and whistles - but royally fluffed the scales at the end. i think it was nerves that undid him, he has never been good with scales and his hands were visibly shaking. he just about made it through with several wrong notes, corrections and re-starts. he is refusing to re-record the exam.

i don't know whether to make him do it again - am sure he could be bribed - but feel bad given he's adamant he's done enough to pass, which he most likely has given the weight of marks. but i hate the idea of submitting something where i know (with some more preparation_) he "could" do better. although always a risk that he improves the scales but fluffs something else up. argh, recorded exams are so tricky, we both hate the pressure. any thoughts? he is 8 btw.

Aargh, it's always the last thing isn't it!
We're trying to have a record it twice and pick the best approach for exams/auditions. Our first try we did far too many and it didn't make anything better.

So maybe you could see if after sleeping on it your DS fancies a second go just to see, then submit whichever of them you both prefer. If that doesn't cause too much hassle - do you have an accompanist handy? Not sure I'd go as far as bribery, it's their thing not ours, expect he'll still do well if the pieces were good.

I think it's no bad thing to be laid back and move on to the next thing. Can't wait for DD's exam to be out of the way so she can have some new music. We've vetoed piano exams for the year and it's a great relief. (Possibly for life in DS's case, the last one was a pita.)

So ds has his first in front of an audience concert at college tonight (last year was all recorded and the video quality was not great).

He's also working on audition pieces (why does everywhere have such different requirements!!) he now needs to get 7 UCAS choices down to 5.

@Comefromaway is that for Uni or Conservatoire? Mine has applied to 6 Conservatoires but so far only has two interviews, heard nothing from the preferred option so far.

It's a mixture of both but the conservatoire courses are Popular Music so the early deadline doesn't apply.

The shortlist of 7 are, in no particular order

Leeds Conservatoire
LIPA
Salford
Huddersfield
LCCM
BIMM
Nottingham Trent (Confetti Institute)