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.

That's still amazing! My 11 year old is only taking his grade 4. He's not particularly diligent about practicing though.

My DS was grade 4 at 10/11, took grade 8 at 14 ...and has just had scholarship offers from all the conservatories he auditioned for!
It's definitely not a race - some children burn very brightly early on, others take a bit longer to get going and then come into their own. 😀

I think that's amazing too @Alsoplayspiccolo!

4 grades in 4 years is amazing! I thought it gets harder and takes longer for the higher grades - obviously not necessarily so for the talented! Well done for all the offers @Alsoplayspiccolo DS!

Thanks, StuntNun and chickentikkasalad.
He didn't take any exams between grade 4 and grade 8, so the time period was shorter than if he had, I guess.
DH and I are both professional musicians, which also helped, I'm sure!
He didn't start lessons until he was nearly 9, so relatively late for a string player ( we were very relaxed about our DCs learning an instrument!!)

Trying to think of DS's progress on piano... He started playing age 9, and took grade 8 at 13. So nine grades in five years! The biggest progress happened over lockdown. With nothing else to do, he noodled on the piano for hours a day!

Lockdown was great for kids who enjoy learning an instrument. DD passed grade 8 last year and has been practicing for fun and ATCL since then. Hopefully her scales and aural skills aren't too rusty for a school audition... She's not been too diligent on theory and the "boring stuff" recently.

That's the same for ds. He started piano lessons in the January of Year 9, progressed pretty rapidly but got locked down in Year11 and just spent hours per day playing.

However his friend (a drummer) was not so lucky. He had been getting free lessons at school, they stopped during lockdown and it is more difficult to practice drums in a small house. He was without lessons for over 2 years. (Happy ending though as he he now at a great college and progressing rapidly again. )

I think all lockdown did was intensify the gap between the 'haves' and the 'have nots', musically.

So if you had space and an instrument to practise, people at home who were supportive and preferably musical, and weren't dealing with chaotic parenting, mental health difficulties financial disasters and a school system that almost fell apart about around you you probably did very well.

But there are thousands of children who could have been very very good musicians who completely fell out of the system. They will never catch up now. The music in my daughters' school may never recover. It was disastrous.

DD2 was lucky. Her bassoon teacher spent a lot of time teaching her (first online and then in person when allowed) as she hadn't got much else on- which was of course rubbish for her, but a silver lining for DD2. I will be always be eternally grateful - I was working flat out as was DH.

The lessons helped DD's mental health as much as her musicality. I wonder if these people ever know what difference they make!

I wonder if solo instruments such as piano fared well, whereas ensemble instruments did worse. DS's French Horn didn't progress nearly as much, as it very much gets is raison d'etre from the rest of the orchestra.

I entirely agree mini. Ds had all the advatanges. A detached house with lots of space, musical parents (even if dd was taking online dance college classes in one room and dh was teaching singing in another room on zoom)

His friend with a mum who lost all her work, a younger sibling and a small, cramped house and no money for online/private lessons could have dropped out of the system easily.

The lockdowns definitely affected DS's progress. He had zoom lessons, but the lack of in person lessons, performances and the lack of incentive to perfect work as a result really impacted him. JD days were interesting as he was using the dining room which we use to access our kitchen. If we wanted to use the kitchen during a lesson we had to go out of the front door and into the back garden!

@Pollyanna8844 we were asked to be present in the background during an individual lesson. I used to sit behind the iPad with a very complicated jigsaw - if I'd put in more than ten pieces during her lesson I knew it was a long one!

It definitely affected morale, and the bit where she had to move between a mini bassoon and a full size was often unintentionally hilarious done remotely. I was NO help!

COVID widened the gap in every area of life I think sadly. We were fortunate that their private teachers went to online straight away, the schools were very limited in what they could do for a huge part of it, many kids could only upload a short video for the teachers to comment on. Youngest DD had almost no school work so music was a big part of life. We took part in loads of virtual projects so got really adept at click tracks and recording etc so they still had lots of fun experiences. DD also changed from mini Bassoon to big one in that time. Her teacher was the person we saw most in our house once that was allowed, he was a big part of them getting through COVID with mental health intact and he knows this. DD also started JD with restrictions so was only in alternate weeks, with online bits and pieces the other weeks. So glad that's over. I remember having tears in my eyes the first time I heard live music, sitting several metres apart in a concert hall with masks on.

Progress through grades is so different for everyone though, everyone's experience is different. Younger DD doesn't put as much effort into piano and doesn't have the same opportunities to develop sight-reading and ensemble playing as she does with bassoon which really brings her on so much more quickly. And the paper grade doesn't say anything about the other experience someone has. On grade levels, older one is same on both instruments but has done vastly more repertoire and technique on oboe. It definitely is our experience that exams slow them down, so if you want them to progress, don't do them all, repertoire, technique and ensemble playing will help more. But that's only a small sample size, they help some people.

I think I'd agree that the key to quicker progress really seems to be not doing every grade. DD did 1 just before lockdown, 5 just after in person exams came back and then 7. Lockdown was both helpful re hours and unhelpful re teaching. Our piano teacher seemed to have some existential crisis and couldn't even cope with zoom lessons for months, Eventually switched to online but was flakey so i basically added piano teaching to my list of full time job, 2 kids home schooling etc. Not sure i'm over it!

DD started on violin during the lockdown period too with online lessons with a violinist friend but its definitely not as good as being in person.

DS complains the violin exam is slowing him down. He's probably not going to do any more violin exam for a while after g4 this term. He doesn't need the exam to motivate him or anything. On the other hand for piano, he needs the exam to give him something to work towards and he doesn't mind the exam. It seems that it depends on the instrument and where his motivation comes from.

We are very fortunate that our kids are taught by their dad. Having something to focus on, and progress that they could see, was hugely helpful. Singing and performing arts was much trickier and it took a while to get back into those, despite enjoying the PQA online challenges. My eldest in particular lost a lot of confidence on stage, and it has taken a couple of years to get that back.

Grades are a funny thing. Mine started playing at the start of year 3, did grade one Christmas of year 4 then every grade in between until grade 8 Christmas of year 11. He’s now 20, second year conservatoire and has no plans to do a diploma at any point soon if at all! He needed grade 8 distinction to get him to his next step so that’s what he did. Weird really.

It's interesting reading everyone's experiences about grades (and Covid times). Dd really needed the grades when she was younger to help her feel a sense of achievement. Now she's a bit further on she doesn't seem to need that validation although I do feel that having an exam to do focusses the mind - progress is slower for dd without but it's not a big deal. She's never going to want to study music so it's not key for her.

She is going to do her g4 singing at the end of this term though. Pieces are all ready but she's struggling a bit with the sight singing. She good at it in theory but is having difficulties with intervals. Can anyone suggest any tips to help her practice those to get them right? Thanks.

I would agree that missing out the exams really encourages progress. My DD started clarinet 21 months ago and is only due to take her first exam now at Grade 6. She has had so much fun playing lots of different repertoire and not being stuck on learning three pieces for months on end.

Has she tried the Ella app for sight singing? DD found that useful

I would recommend the Novello Guide to Sight Singing @QueenMabby - my DD found it really useful. I think there are also some recorded videos on the Rodolfus website which accompany it.

@QueenMabby DD also used Ella - but sightsinging is so much harder for actual singing exams than aural for other grades. Ella is quite fun though - and free! Being in a choir and singing regularly is probably the best thing for it though and I know your DD does that.

Re grades, we have the weird thing that DD2 has grade 8 distinction on her second instrument, but doesn't have anything above grade 5 on bassoon and her teacher doesn't want her to take exams at the moment - so on paper she's a better flautist despite being a specialist bassoonist.

In a 'normal' school I suspect they'd have just got her through the grade 8 pieces and made her take the bassoon exam - her recent lunchtime concert was two grade eight pieces back to back for example, and pretty much all the repertoire she plays is grade 8 syllabus. But she spends most of her time 'just breathing', she informs me!