Autumn 23 Music chat

[horseymum]

It's autumn term already! I'm sure there's lots of music going to happen this term. Welcome to anyone who wants to chat about your child's music activities, whether current or things you hope to do. It's a friendly group with experience at many different levels.( I've learned so much) No question is a daft one and don't be put off by chat about higher levels, all our children couldn't play a note once.
Come and ask about starting music lessons, which instrument to choose, exams, music festivals, specialist schools, orchestras and ensembles. We love talking music.
We also love to share music exam successes or struggles etc ( you can't always shout about these on FB!).
Feel free to do a wee intro if you want, although it's still public so only share what you want to.

Agree it's particularly hard for growing kids. I think real turning point is when they click about listening to themselves critically and adjusting when it's wrong. So the fact she is even knowingly working on it bodes well.
DD's teacher has her do slow scales or passages, checking individual notes as you go with open strings. And naming notes as she plays too - if you know that note in 5th position is an A, then you know to check it with the A string, or at least that it should resonate with the A string. Particularly in things like chromatic scales it's easy to go by relative pitch and get systematically out.

well done @QueenMabby 's dd. We've just been up at DD2's school for the first concert we've seen there. Unsurprisingly rather more impressive than we're used to, but very relaxed (not the main symphony or anything, just some of the smaller ensembles she's in). We sprung her from woodwind performance class first and took her for a pizza - and got in trouble for returning her 15 minutes late after taking her out after the concert.

It was just SO nice to see her though!

She's got an audition for a band she's been in for years (but for some reason they're reauditioning_ when she is home this weekend, and because they've asked her to audition on both instruments she'll have to bring them both home - a right pain. Fingers crossed she doesn't leave them on a bus or a train.

@minisnowballs if she's using public transport I'd recommend an airtag in each instrument case. My son's lives in his case at all times- we bought it after an airline lost a number of his school mates instruments (thankfully not his!).

Thanks @Siriusmuggle - yes, both are tagged, which is a relief. Mostly I can just see them moving between her house and the woodwind department.

Lovely to hear about all the music concerts that have been happening - for us its all still to come!

DD has a concert on the 9th where she's playing a piano solo at her music school end of term concert and then another one on the 16th where she's playing in the strings ensemble, a piano trio and singing in the choir. She's also got her school Christmas music concert on the 18th and her G5 violin exam on the 19th - busy times. Her violin teacher is about to go on tour so tonight's lesson might be her last before the exam, though hoping can fit in 1 or 2 just before depending on how it fits, but thankfully have a friend staying next week who can hopefully help!

DS also has to re-audition for the wind band he was in last year on Friday- which is weird as its different from how they used to run it. Maybe there are more people interested so he's a bit worried as their self appointed worst flautist (he's also the youngest!). I say he's worried - but he's not worried enough to be home practicing and has gone to a friends after school! He has a school Xmas concert to go and then end of term activities at Sat music to do.

@QueenMabby DD sometimes has tuning issues on violin - most noticeably on scales but i find that if I shout 'tuning' from another room she can correct it straight away, so am taking this as an indication that its an issue about listening to what she's actually playing. My violinist friend said that its either that she can't sing the music in her head (which we've checked by singing the scales and its not that), or she's gripping too tight on the neck of the violin - which is very much the case so trying to work on that. Wonder if cello has the same effect?

That's interesting @northerngoldilocks. Dd has good pitch and can sing it all fine but she's rarely fully relaxed when playing and definitely squeezes with her thumb on the back of the cello too much. I'll tell her to try and loosen her grip!

What tags do you use for instruments? We have Android phones. And expensive instruments, none of which belong to us. ( Except one which is on emergency loan to someone else!)

We use air tags on instruments. Have previously used 'tiles' on other things though

@horseymum we just have airtags- I have an (ancient) iphone so I'm the only one who can check them though. They're very effective but I don't know what the android alternatives are, sorry!

DS took the piano exam on Thursday and got the result today (very impressed with the speed) - a distinction! He was over the moon as he said his clapping was not on time when he came out of the exam room. Now he knows it doesn't matter to have one or two things wrong.
NYSO audition result not out yet they said hopefully next week. 😬
Any other DC's got exam results back?

Congrats to your dd @chickentikkasalad a distinction is fantastic!

No exams here but dd had two successful concerts this week.

@QueenMabby thank you and well done for the concerts!

@chickentikkasalad well done to your D's! You definitely don't have to get everything perfect to get a distinction.

@horseymum the examiner must have been quite generous. He only took 2 points away for the wrong timing in clapping and the wrong answer for the counts.

A while back I asked for some advice about my 7yo sitting her grade 1 this term who was borderline. We ended up getting a slot for the last date and will go for it- she has worked so hard and made a lot of progress (back in September she’d only started the grade 1 book) and if she’s doing well I think she could get distinction but also could completely implode and fail altogether. Either way will be leaving exams for at least a year and just looking at having fun for a while.

Congratulations to your DS @chickentikkasalad that's a great result!

@Bunnycat101 Hope the exam goes well. Music is meant to be fun too so if she's not enjoyed preparing for it, definitely a good idea to change it around for a bit afterwards and have fun getting confident playing a variety of music. Nothing wrong with playing some more from the grade 1 book as you presumably have bought it. Just don't need to spend as long getting them up to 'exam standard '. I find it sounds a bit hard work when people do three pieces, exam, next three pieces, exam etc without enjoying a wider range of music. However, whatever suits people best is totally fine and some children are more motivated by exams.

@horseymum definitely don't want to jump straight into grade 2. I’ve got her some lovely Christmas music and will have a look for some pieces so we can have a term of just fun and then maybe start off the new scales alongside. She’s a bit of a perfectionist so trying to work on making sure she plays on if she makes a slip and not stop in frustration. It feels like it will be a learning experience whatever happens and I want her to be proud of the effort she’s put in and not the result.

Christmas music will be lovely! My wee recorder pupil is playing really challenging Christmas things because she's motivated and knows what they sound like. I'm sneaking in plenty of technical stuff at the same time, win- win! The perfection is really common. Playing with others helps ( can you play anything along with her, or sing) as you can't stop. I try to talk about different types of practice - working on tricky corners Vs playing through without stopping whatever happens. It's really hard for perfectionists to hear a mistake and keep going. Watch some of Richard Michael s videos ( Scottish jazz musician, teacher, church organist, all round great guy!) His motto is 'mistakes are cool'!
In our house we reward exam effort with a cake in a coffee shop after the exam, ( middle DD reckons we still owe her one for a virtual exam!)

@horseymum - we have technical practice and performance practice here! Definitely worked when dd was smaller @Bunnycat101 as when she was doing the performance practice she knew she couldn't stop.

She would often do one "technical" run through (stopping and correcting mistakes), then one "performance" - no stopping and then a final run through when she worked on any bits she ploughed through on in the performance.

@horseymum - as my dd does all her exams at school I think I've saved a fortune in hot chocolate and cake!

@Bunnycat101 agree with you for not jumping into grade 2 straightway. DS went straight to g1 after initial because it was ready for it and it was a spur of moment decision. I don't think he enjoyed preparing for the exam either. It was hard work and discipline but not much fun! Teacher has some plans for the next term like some solo and duet at our local music festival. Next piano grade will probably be the summer.

I have another problem with his violin. Finally his violin teacher is saying going for a grade 4 exam while still learning g5 pieces. We'll learn 3 g4 pieces together with the g5 ones but won't perfect them until close to the exam date. She knows he loves keeping learning new pieces. Getting stuck in 3 pieces for a long time will bore him. It all sounds fantastic to me. The problem is DS now doesn't want to do any violin exams! He just wants to learn as fast as he could. He's already secretly learning some g6 pieces and wants to try some g7. What should I do?!! Teacher is happy for him not to sit any exams until he wants to. But I fear he might miss some stuff you can only learn by going through exam like aural. He still learns all the scales for each grade and he's constantly sight reading. Is it only the aural development that he'll miss? Is that a big deal? It's not that he needed the exams to motivate him - lol he's highly motivated already. He says he already has then feeling of achievement by learning new pieces. Am I being selfish to want to know which grade he's at? A lost mum...

@chickentikkasalad 3 of us in our family play viola and violin. I think the key thing is ensuring that technical skills are developed and it’s not just about the grade of the pieces.

It sounds like your DS is highly musical and IMO it’s worth taking the time to perfect scales, work on technical exercises as well as aural skills which will underpin his development.

@Violasrule many thanks and you're very right it's not just about the grades. He'll learn and develop the technique skills by perfecting for the exams. If I explain it this way he might take it more seriously. He has no problem doing the piano exams as the piano teachers 'dictates' to go slowly and do most of the exams. Violin teacher has always had a child-led style because of his age (he started before 5 and has only just turned 7) and she thinks he's very talented and confident. She ensures the technique bits are covered in the pieces but she really gives him as much freedom as he could have. Maybe that's why it's hard now to ask him to slow down a bit to prepare for an exam.
The teacher said not to worry children of this age often changes their mind easily but I fear this one doesn't! He's all in the heat of overtaking me at the moment. We started learning the violin at the same time. I used to be better than him but now he's really catching up. Maybe after he's definitely left me behind he'll be looking for his next challenge .

I'm not a violinist but I was at a concert my DD was playing in yesterday and a 9 year old violinist played a grade 5 piece absolutely beautifully. It seemed really technically assured with a lovely sound, and bow technique ( I play bass so know a wee bit). I've no doubt he could have got through a grade 7 piece but I looked at him and thought he's clearly being taught very well and will make great progress. Kids often want to play ' harder' pieces as they sound more impressive. I know I'm a wee bit guilty of letting a pupil skip ahead with recorder but I think there's so much foundation with violin. I don't really have an answer, just sympathise!

Thank you @horseymum for the sympathy. I'll say a beautiful played grade 5 piece is much more enjoyable than a pass g7 piece to listen to. The other day, just for fun, DS played some of the g4 pieces he played back in the summer and they sounded so much better. I don't know how I listened to them everyday back then!
I think the main thing DS lacks behind a bit at the moment is the timing, specially for long notes. For fast rhythmic bits his timing is really good. But when there's a long note he could be caught in the middle of a trill or vibrato and forgot how long the note should be! That's exactly something perfecting for an exam will help you isn't it? However recently his teacher told him off for not letting me clap during his practice now I'm allows to clap at home. Hopefully that'll help!