Flute grade 1&2

[BasketNets]

DD is in year 6 and has recently started flute lessons at school. She'd like to join the orchestra in year 7 (through school) for which she needs to have done the ABRSM grade 2 exam. She got a distinction for piano grade 3 last year and is relatively familiar with music theory (working toward grade 3).

Long story short, being able to read music and understand music theory, what would be the expected progression timeline for a flute grade 1 or 2? Is there a big jump between 1 and 2? She practices the Abracadabra pieces happily for 10-15 minutes a day.

I would ask her flute teacher, but DD (also yr 6, flute is her only instrument) took her grade 1 flute in June and is going to take her grade 2 early next year (not sure when the exam is, her teacher has told her “after Christmas”). I think there is an exam sitting in December, but with term/lessons having only just started I think that would be too soon.

Talk to her teacher - and in particular, chat about just doing the ‘necessary’ Grade 2 rather than bothering with Grade 1. Ds, now at conservatoire, only did grade exams that were necessary for joining various ensembles (4,6,8 in 1 instrument, 5,6,8 in the other) as neither he nor his teacher saw any point in labouring through every exam at the expense of wide repertoire and experience.

Thank you.

@SlipperyLizard , well done to your dd, how long had she been taken lessons before taking G1? I agree with only taking necessary exams @cantkeepawayforever as most of the repertoire is excruciatingly boring (Sorry ABRSM!), however doing a lower grade (e.g.G!) can be helpful with confidence and knowing what an exam is like.

She's definitely not taking a grade this term as she has just learnt to make a relatively decent sound (she had 4 lessons in total) but I was hoping maybe in the spring term. Saying that, I have listened to the new G1 and G2 pieces and they seem almost harder than the piano ones?

I should add that dd plays piano pieces at G5/6 level as her teacher likes to stretch her and am already a bit bored for her having to work through the Abracadabra book. I'll email her teacher (school lessons) after half-term to see what he thinks.

however doing a lower grade (e.g.G!) can be helpful with confidence and knowing what an exam is like.

I do understand this (DS's Grade 4 was for exactly this reason), but you said that she had already taken piano exams so I am not sure about the benefit compared with the issue of having to reduce speed of progress and breadth of repertoire through having to labour on those Grade 1 pieces rather than a smooth progression to Grade 2. However, I do know of teachers whose method of teaching is ...work through beginner book, start Grade 1 pieces, take Grade 1, start grade 2 pieces, take Grade 2..... and it may be worth establishing whether your DD's flute teacher is one of these at this early stage as it is a stultifying process for learning an instrument.

Flute, if you already have piano, can be rattled through to G7/8 pretty quickly with a decent teacher. I did it in two years as a 12 year old, already having piano to G5 and being a cathedral chapel choir member. Being really fabulous at flute is difficult but the grades are not. IMO of course and I was a pretty musical child.

With the flute the difficulty is the finger patterns and matching it with what the airstream is doing. If the pieces are too boring then she needs to focus on clarity of tone, listening to make sure there's no late fingers on the note change etc.

She could get good without playing any pieces just with scales and tone exercises.

Start on the B (first one you learn). Play a long B that sounds good and then slur down to Bb. Does that sound good? Great, do it again. And repeat all the way down to the lowest note she knows.

Slurred octaves - assuming she's been taught the next octave - start on the low one, decide when to go up and make a clear smooth slurred transition up and then back down.

Trevor Wye exercise books are good but Abracadabra is more fun...

Limiting factor on a practice session will be as much lip muscles getting tired as time.

I know what you mean @cantkeepawayforever it makes for such slow progress going through the beginners book with all the nursery rhyme type of pieces and then grade by grade, way to kill any musicality or fun. Ours is a teacher at school, and I am not sure if she will still be teaching dd next term, if she is, I'll suggest she moves her to more involving pieces and preps her for G2 but hope she doesn't think I am meddling.

Your experience sounds fab @Enb76!

@BasketNets DD started in yr 4 (I think) but then there was lockdown & she stopped lessons for a while. She then started online lessons with the same teacher, but to be honest she was making no progress, didn’t really enjoy it & no grading was even mentioned.

Then we switched to school lessons in January and wow! the teacher there has made a massive difference, and she got a merit in her grade 1. She now loves playing, and is excited to take her next grade.

Might it also be worth asking the school how fixed the Grade 2 standard is? My DC recently passed two auditions requiring grade 5/grade 5 distinction standard despite never having sat the exam. She's playing at that level but has been busy with other stuff, and has a teacher who's not into rattling through the grades. The fact that she didn't have the exam to back it up was no barrier.