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.

My youngest was super nervous for grade 1 piano and said she wasn't doing any more exams ever. I just went with it- plus then covid hit so there weren't any face to face anyway. By the time exams restarted she had come around to the idea on her own so sat grade 5! Grade 1 is really just introducing the process and it doesn't matter if they don't do the next exam or any really. Whilst it is technically possible to fail grade 1 it really doesn't happen to kids who have prepared as long as they don't just refuse to play anything when they go in.

If there are any opportunities for her to perform beforehand, even if just to friends or family it might help her manage nerves- especially if she plays all 3 pieces!

Thanks, she is okay at performing (her teacher is really good at organising little mini concerts at school every term) but I think it’s the being judged/marked formally that is daunting, understandably! I haven’t told her that there are different levels, so all she is aiming for it to pass and hopefully her teacher knows what she’s doing & wouldn’t have suggested her entering if she wasn’t reasonably likely to pass.

Snap @horseymum re the performance opportunities!! Also that's a good point re examiners not commenting as they go through but just getting them to move on not being indicative of what they thought.

@horseymum Thanks for pointing out the resources on the ABRSM website - I think she might like watching the videos (especially as one I’ve just watched a bit of shows someone making a mistake and being given a second go at a scale!)

Also, kids are the worst judge ever, mine never reliably describe how they have done when they come out, even though they have done several.

Some exciting news for ds today (well he's known for a few weeks but it's been announced today).

He is going to be playing in the band for one of the support artists at an outdoor music concert in Birmingham in August.

That's brilliant, how exciting!

It will be going full circle for me as I used to work at Symphony Hall and he will be playing just outside in Centenary Square.

DS is having a tricky situation. Less than 4 weeks till his violin exam and his teacher is ill for 4 weeks! The piano teacher was very helpful to recommend another violin teacher whom she claims to be the best in town. We had one trial lesson and DS likes her and I can already see improvement in is practice attitude and also the sound quality. I asked him whom to continue with after the 4 weeks arrangement and he says he can't decide. His old teacher is probably the best with young children and he loves her. This best teacher is just more exciting and teaches him like an older child not a baby. I don't know what to choose either so told him let's worry about it in 4 weeks time. Maybe it'll be clearer after a few more lessons. Or we could still not decide then! What would you do?

@Comefromaway - that's so exciting! Well done your ds. What a fantastic opportunity!

@chickentikkasalad - tricky. I can't be of any help. Sorry. We continued with a cello teacher that wasn't working for dd for over a year because we didn't want to hurt his feelings!

Changing teachers is hard. You want someone that sticks with you through thick and thin and has your child's best interests at heart. The woodwind teacher both my girls had treated them the same as I imagine he treats his senior conservatoire students - helping them develop effectively as musicians but also having a laugh with them. They both have different teachers now, and they also really love them. They changed because of circumstances, not because we didn't like them or think them a good fit. I think they have to click with them but also be able to hear uncomfortable things sometimes eg that needs to be better. My middle DD definitely gets pushed eg he's made her sing, recite nursery rhymes etc to get her being more dramatic. There's always an element of a child trying harder to impress someone new but that might wear off after a while. I have seen a friend's son blossom with a new teacher after getting bored under his first one.

Thank youn@QueenMabby and @horseymum for the wise words. My current thinking is to stay with the old teacher when/if she returns as she knows DS best and is deeply interested in him. The only down side is only her availability. Now she only works for the local music centre and we have to have lessons through them during term time. I tried to arrange some private lessons at school holidays but not been very successful last year.

BTW I forgot to say our current teacher is only qualified to teach up to grade 6. We'll have to change teacher afterwards anyway. So it's just a matter of time unfortunately but DS just wants to stay with her as long as possible!

What grade is he doing now @chickentikkasalad ?

He's doing g4 at the end of March

Ok- so a bit of time before grade 6. You could do gr 5 with his existing teacher and then change if he still likes lessons. Does the new teacher actually have space for him now? I moved my daughter after grade 5 but it was quite a while after and with hindsight should have moved her earlier to have someone who could teach more advanced technique on piano whereas her violin teacher is still great for where she's at, so it does depend on how you feel the lessons are going.

Also on the holidays teaching point , out of the 4 teachers we have none of them teach in the holidays so don't think that's so unusual.

It's not uncommon for teachers to not do anything in the school holidays. What we found worked was to find a local senior school kid/conservatoire student who was several grades ahead and get them to come in and do some "practice supervision" just to keep them enthused and ticking over. (I would suggest that you don't put a very good looking conservatoire student with a year 8 girl though as they get a bit giggly and overwhelmed - obviously not speaking from experience here......)

@northerngoldilocks The new teacher has just one slot left that I could make. We are in a temporary arrangement with her for that slot while the existing teacher is off work. Part of me do want to grab that slot and make it permanent just in case it's not available any more when we come back. But lots of things will happen between now and then so I guess it's nonsense.

I guess what's frustrating about the holiday lessons is that she used to work all the way through the holidays during our first 2 years with her. Then she moved to work through our music centre and she's becoming less and less available. She just seems to be struggling with her health recently a lot. At least I don't have to make decisions right now can wait and see if she still comes back after the sick leave. If she does we can continue till gr6.

Although I'm thinking about this rn , at the end of day it'll be DS's choice. So I shall just leave it to him 🤣 to decide.

@londonmummy1966 that's hilarious - however I can't see it happening with bassoon, alas...

@londonmummy1966 we're in a small town it's not easy to find a bigger kid at that kind of level. We do have a friend's son who is gr7. Sometimes he comes over to practice with DS but they know each other too well they always end up messing about 🤣.

This could be a potential summer job for my student son!

@Siriusmuggle - both of mine first had practice helpers and eventually ended up doing it. It was a nice little earner at the time. @chickentikkasalad - you could ask the music teachers if the know someone - it doesn't necessarily need to be someone playing the same instrument if they can point out wrong notes/mistiming or encourage a more musical performance. My DD sometimes gets called in to help in the run up to exams even now as she can play the piano accompaniment and it helps get them used to it.

@londonmummy1966 I could get him to ask around to see if any local brass playing kids need practice help. He's got a DBS too so that should help.

March is definitely 'competition season ' here. Hope anyone doing music festivals etc has fun. We have had two already with two more to come. We always just see them as an opportunity to perform and get some feedback as I'm pretty sure the same performance would get a totally different result with different judges.

My two are doing their first competition this year - its just a really small local one. DS is playing flute and DD is playing piano and violin. They're in different age categories so thats good as its not big enough to have different categories for different instruments. I entered them both for the performance opportunity and think it will be good for them - its in a couple of weeks.

DS got his new flute today which is really exciting, so hoping he'll be used to it enough by then to play it as it really does make a difference for sound projection /clarity compared to his old one. He has a school 'trust wide playing day' tomorrow that no one really seems to know what its about about , but he's going to take the old flute to that one. DD is in the same school trust but isn't going which is a shame as might have been nice for them to be there together. She goes to secondary in Sept though so will have more chances to get involved there (fewer odd rules!).

Has the new piano arrived @chickentikkasalad - how is it if so?