Autumn / Winter 2025 Music

[northerngoldilocks]

Time for a new thread in time for the new school term!

Come and talk about music lessons, choosing instruments, exams, auditions, specialist schools, orchestras or whatever other music activities are going on. Everyone is welcome, from those with total beginners to those whose children are studying music at advanced levels. Ask for advice or share successes or struggles.

In the original key?

The two complete score in original key look to have both been published pre 1910 so are (very) clear of copyright 😊

I can't see any of those where the page layout would be in copy right as the latest publication date is 1916 - the fact that Peters reprints later doesn't affect the layout copyright.

@yodaforpresident it's also worth considering where you're planning on performing them.

I've performed a piece that was out of copyright and also out of print at a local competitive music festival, the rules of which required an original copy to be in the room. Having emailed the organisers and asked their advice, their suggestion was to put a short note on the adjudicator's copy stating that the only copy I could find was a scan on IMSLP, but that due to the publication date and the date of death of the composer there was no copyright infringement (and she thanked me for bringing something unfamiliar 😄)

However I've heard TCL can be utterly inflexible about original parts if you're taking an exam...

Can I ask (as you seem very well informed!) - if there was a scan of, say, a 1896 edition on IMSLP but the work had been republished in 2011, would it be a breach of copyright to perform from a printout of the 1896 copy?

My understanding (IANAL) is that the copyright rests with the person who did the page layout so if the layout was done in 1896 then simply reprinting it doesn't restart the clock (so long as all they did was reprint - I was nearly caught out by this as they had changed the underlay in a few places). However if you are downloading a piece that is out of copyright and is just a copy of an old edition there should be no problem. So downloading an 1896 edition of Grieg is not going to be a copyright concern.

It's for a festival and thankfully I have now had confirmation from the organisers that it is okay to use them.

Are copies of music (legal ones!) provided to ABRSM/ Trinity examiners also?

On the topic of Christmas gifts, can anyone please recommend a music bag? DS has one of those old-fashioned leather cases but I think he might like something more modern.

Oh dear, 1st day of panto rehearsals and ds is ill with flu. Something is going round. A local school has even closed (ds was home last week). He's gone in, but feels dreadful.

He got lucky last year during panto and stayed healthy.

@yodaforpresident - you don't have to provide a copy for an examiner but if you are doing an in person exam you have to have a valid copy with you in case they ask to see it - they often do for less well know repertoire (eg harp - DD2s teacher warned her she might be asked to show it and not to worry it was just they were less used to hearing it than G1 violin rep). In performance exams you have to show them a valid copy of off rep music eg 4th piece. Trinity have a reputation for being v strict about it even if its not in copyright. ABRSM syllabi are pretty clear on their rules. I don't know what the rules are for playing off an ipad (if any).

@StuntNun - mine used laptop bags rather than leather cases as they were both girls I usually got them from Roxy or Paperchase. They had a different one for each instrument as it made life easier to keep everything together. Probably a better choice of designs for them than music cases.

Good tip, thank you @Londonmummy66

Thank you @Londonmummy66, DD has always taken her grade exams at school so they always handled it. I just wondered if the adjudicators actually looked at them during the performance, which would seem distracting from the performance to me?

I don't know about the exams but for the festivals in our experience the adjudicators often look at the copies and also make notes during the performance. We only did competitions when DD was younger though so probably not much to look at performance wise 😂

@yodaforpresident - quite normal for adjudicators to look at scores and take notes - they are used to working that way - if you watch BBC YMOTY you'll see them taking notes and its how conservatoire examiners operate (having sat through a couple of examined recitals for DD1 I can tell you noting them scribble is worse for the anxious mummies....)

I think for Trinity you do have to provide copies of music to examiners if you are playing pieces from the alternatives list that aren't in e.g. the Trinity Grade 3 Piano book. But like in festivals as long as the real book is in the room, you can give the adjudicator a copy, or you play from a copy or whatever.

Just a bit of light-heartedness but does anyone else read the notes their dc’s music teacher gives them? Dd has all her lessons at school and I get an automated email of the notes. Amongst today’s piano gems was: “Bach - gold section - remember to keep your babies with you at all times”. Any guesses?? 🤣

ha- no idea about that. DS often gets ‘breathing ?’ Like it might genuinely be a question as to whether he should at all. Sadly he hasn’t yet developed gills.

DDs most damning was ‘almost good’. Her piano teacher has English as a second language and I suspect it was meant to be encouraging rather than the ‘but not’ that DD/ I added in our heads when reading it!

Lol queenmabby! Can't be any help with decoding but I like her teacher already, that's going to be something the student understands and remembers.

Mystery solved! Apparently, on the chords in this section her little fingers are (microscopically knowing DD’s piano teacher!) landing behind the others so she needs to remember to keep them together with the other fingers when she plays her chords.

Mine currently gets 'x pice- very loudly, y piece - louder, z all scales this week louder!!

I wish I wrote down conductor sayings. 50,000 ways to say almost good. That was nearly recognisab, that was not as bad as it sounded, when you all play it at my speed it will be better etc etc.

that was not as bad as it sounded

LOL love this! 🤣

DD brought home this gem last week: "Rhythm and notes."

I can't disagree, those do sound fairly important.

Love that! On cello DD gets “intonation needs work” nearly every week! This week she got “scales much improved - still much to do”. Talk about damning with faint praise!

DD2's old head of music centre just used to yell 'ALL you've got to do is play the RIGHT notes at the RIGHT time' at them in orchestra @TreeAtMyWindow - I've always said she needs this on a tshirt

Reminds me of the classic Eric Morcambe gag: "I'm playing all the right notes, biut not necessarily in the right order."

I found this article interesting https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/29/opinion/pianist-music-performance-perfection.html# but it made me think how it would even be possible to
avoid falling into the trap of perfection if all we do during everyday practice is correcting mistakes (~trying to get closer to perfection) and it's impossible to progress without correcting them. It's so ingrained from such an early age that I cannot imagine how a musician can get rid of this feeling... The guy says we should just remember that mastery is a means to an end, not the goal, but a young child cannot really understand all this.