Spring 22 music thread

[thirdfiddle]

Roll up roll up for a new term of music parenting! This is a long meandering series of threads for all things musical. Please do say hi if you're new or lurking.
Delighted to see on the last thread that musical things are up and running again in the new term despite some covid nerves. Here's hoping for a smooth normal as possible run.

@minisnowballs - if it's just for the music then I don't think an indie would be worth it. It sounds like the music scene at your school is fantastic!
Dd is at an indie. She has her music lessons in school and she is in an orchestra for years 7-9 and a string orchestra which is by invitation. There's also a concert band, big band, jazz groups and chamber groups. She's in two choirs. We're not in London though where I think there would be even more going on!

@queenmabby the school has very enthusiastic peri teachers who run all of that. I think the GCSE situation just shows that you need an in-house teacher to hold it all together though!

Hi music parents, I'm after some diploma advice. Dd has been talking about doing a diploma next (did g8 last summer) and knowing nothing, I was wondering which is the logical diploma to take? (Looks like there are a few.) And how long would it take to prepare, very roughly, before she is ready? I haven't spoken to the teacher yet, who will have probably make the decion but I thought I'd find out a bit more information first and whether it is likely to clash with GCSEs. (She's currently in year 9.)

@bostik one of my DCs is taking an ARSM diploma in a couple of weeks. They are y10 and we thought it would be a useful stepping stone post grade 8 and pre DipABRSM. DC took grade 8 in 2020.

In terms of timeframe, we have found that it wasn’t a straightforward progression and DC worked on lots of pieces before settling on the final programme. Unlike the graded exams the choice of repertoire is vast and DC has had fun and gained from playing a vast range of pieces in the process. Every piece has had its own challenges and required a different amount of practice and input from teacher to get to performance standard.

Thanks @Musictimesthree that's really helpful. I think in many ways it will suit her better than the previous exams as it seems to be completely about the pieces. Nice lot of material to choose from and I see that she could add her own as long as it's at the right level. I hope it goes well for your DC in a couple of weeks time.

Have just found out that DD has been offered a piano department place at CYM for September. DS is already there but not on piano, so wondered if anyone had any experience of the piano teaching there please?

I've also asked for what ensembles might be possible at her age / level (currently playing grade 6/7 repertoire) so will need to understand that a bit more clearly but obviously pleased to find that she got offered, especially as the audition process ended up being via sending a video but only for some of the applicants which was a little strange!

Congratulations northernDD! That's an impressive playing standard. She's quite little iirc?

She was 9 in Feb, so yes, she's doing really well. Basically she practises loads, suspect that's the difference between her and her older brother who is a perfectly reasonable grade 5 standard, whereas she's just flying at the moment.

She's not very confident though so it's working out where would be best to build on that. 2 more years of primary school so maybe it will just improve anyway

Fabulous, I love it when they just get the bug like that. Would CYM be the sort of thing with regular performance opportunities to boost confidence?

We also have the more enthusiastic younger sister thing going on to lesser degree, but more both at grade 5ish in our case at the moment. I'm enjoying g5ish, far enough along to have proper music and lots of variety.

@northerngoldilocks that's brilliant progress. It's great when they discover practice works for them. Progress often isn't linear though so the older brother may ' overtake' again in different ways. My eldest doesn't really practice in the standard sense, just plays away but is very musical, so once he can play something it's really good!

Thanks @horseymum and @thirdfiddle.

CYM should give her opps to perform, they have informal lunchtime concerts once a term or so where they can perform pieces they've been working on so that would be good for her, I'm just not clear yet what ensemble options she would have as a pianist. I've asked for more details though on that and who would be teaching her.

Her current local sat option has ensemble and she does a piano trio there so want to make sure I'm not reducing options like that whilst also being mindful that as she gets older the standard for getting a place at CYM will increase so it's a tricky balancing act in terms of what's best for her.

I think either will work well for her though- just need somewhere that will keep her interested and playing lots of different styles / repertoire! Also conscious that she's still really young so her interests could change. Basically I'd like a crystal ball please!

Hopefully you'll get more info soon @northerngoldilocks As you know it has been great for DD2's confidence, and your daughter would probably have violin opportunities too. If I'd had a crystal ball I'm not sure I would have understood the opportunities CYM has given DD2 (they certainly weren't the ones I would have predicted) but I don't think I'd now swap them for anything else - she certainly wouldn't.

We are on holiday, trying to get DD2's cello scales up to G5 standard without a cello (air cello definitely not usually her thing but needs must) I think she's realising that she is going to have to give up cello at some point as three instruments, when none is piano, plus voice, is too much. Taking two grade 5s in one day is going to be a stretch too.

Meanwhile DD1 is so enthused by the CYM/LSSO barbican concert she just played in that she's determined to get herself into the LSSO - which is going to take a lot of work. Good to see her excited by it - music does NOT come easy to her.

@minisnowballs it's a hard choice to make but maybe she will decide where her passions lie and choose which to focus on. We had two grade sevens on consecutive days, it was actually fine, the aural is obviously all the same so that helps. I don't think we'd do it for grade 8, partly due to the sheer number of scales, so hopefully we can plan them to be in different sessions.

Totally random question but does anyone have any tips on buying a piano? Mine is 37 years old and the piano tuner is struggling to get it in tune; he says it will need a complete restring in the next couple of years. It's not a particularly good piano though so I would rather put the money towards a replacement. Although my mum is going to be devastated as it was my father's piano. I would be happy to buy second hand but I wouldn't want to be in the same position of needing a restring ten years down the line. I have bought many musical instruments over the years but never a piano before!

Hi @StuntNun, we bought a secondhand piano from gumtree about 5 years ago. The previous owner had bought it new for their son who gave up very quickly. We went to see the piano and liked it and then got a local piano tuner to check it over and report back. (Found the piano tuner via the piano tuner association website.) We then found a specialist piano mover to collect and deliver it. The piano was about 80 miles from home and it was all surprisingly easy. Plus we got a good piano at a great price.

We bought secondhand Yamaha via markgoodwinpianos. It’s actually worth more now because prices have gone up!

Thanks for the advice. There's no hurry to buy as my piano is still tunable (just) so maybe I should keep my eye out for a good deal coming up.

We bought a Yamaha U3, for £1,000 as it had some marks on the case. Fabulous piano!

Sorry. Should have said it was secondhand. They're tall uprights, so the strings are the same length as a grand piano. And are popular in schools etc as so resilient and robust.

@stuntnun I'd start with thinking about what your budget is (mine expanded rapidly when I started to look). We have a Yamaha with silent function too but they are reasonably pricey and then look at what the best option is for that. Locally we have some dealers who have new and restored second hand options so that could work.

Alternatively, we went to Yamaha music today and DD decided the best option she played there was the £100k Bosendorfer grand 😂

I like the look of those silent pianos. Are they good? I thought it might be better to buy an acoustic piano and a separate decent keyboard for quiet practice.

@horseymum - two grade 7s on consecutive days is a bit bonkers. This is cello and voice, so they are at least very different (though it's her first voice exam and she's only been having lessons for about 10 months so we're not really sure how it works even - the whole traditional folk song thing is a bit random. Her teacher just seems to still be teaching her repertoire so she can 'choose on the day', which is completely weird to me). Stuntnun good luck with the piano - we just have the family upright, but no-one plays it as an actual study - it's just used for thumping things out when necessary.

@StuntNun I guess it depends who is playing it. I thought the silent function would be good for me to play when the kids were in bed- but clearly I never do- my only playing these days is to point at small sections and demonstrate them (and that's getting harder!).

Also whilst it is silent you can hear the keys hitting so it's still not really possible for example to watch tv in the same room, but it does mean you can play if neighbours would otherwise be annoyed. We luckily have super tolerant neighbours!

Final point is I don't like the kids using it as (in a control freak kind of way) I like to listen to their practice so I can intervene, and I think it's good for them to hear that I have to work on things and can't just play them straight away.

Thanks @northerngoldilocks I'm not sure I can afford a silent piano anyway but it would probably only be me using it as I feel like it gets annoying for other people to listen to me practice.

I have another piano-related question.

DS has got a long way with classical piano - g7, at age 12. While he's now working on g8, his enthusiasm seems to be waning. I put it down to an endless stream of 'hard' Haydn, Schubert, Grieg, Chopin, etc. He's shown interest in blues, ragtime, jazz, etc, and going down that route - concurrently with the classical stuff - would be good fun.

So wanted to get him some kind of sheet music to set him on his way. But am bamboozled by choice! Any recommendations? Intro to boogie-woogie, jazz, blues, etc, but not too easy. But also not too hard!

He dashes through his various Beatles, Elton John, etc books.