WJEC music ensemble

[Tuilipcity]

Hi, my daughter has to do this in March. There has been very little guidance other than direction to the 60 page manual online!

She has a great singing voice, really good, in school choir, solos, musicals. Has never had a lesson or any formal input.

She plays piano working to grade 5. She does not know any ensemble pieces. She could accompany someone but starting from completely in the dark/from scratch. she thinks this would be very hard.

Has been trumpet playing for 4 years, weekly lessons. No grading exams done. Plays in orchestras and sounds good to me but can be very nervous in public playing solos and this shows at times so could be risky.

Singing ( with a friend) is the current thought. It would need to be grade 3/4. My concern is that she has no knowledge of the technical aspects of what this would involve that would effect marking as has never had any lessons at all.

if anyone has any advice on this that would be great. She is going to discuss with her teacher tomorrow but I think a lot is left to them and we don’t have long. I didn’t realise it was aomething I would need to advise her in/ support with. I have zero musical ability or knowledge myself! Or maybe I am over thinking it!

Talkjng with the teacher sounds the best idea.

My understanding is that they are expected to perform at around grade 3 or above.

If she is working towards grade 5 piano, can she perform on piano. To ensemble, maybe one of the others could sing with her. Bit sure whether performing one piece on piano, and another singing would be an option - may be worth asking if that is something she would be interested in.

May also be worth checking if they have to ensemble. Assuming she is following the new course from 2025, unless I am reading it incorrectly it doesn't say it has to be an ensemble performance.

Dd has recently passed grade 4, so only had a couple of grade 5 lessons. As far as I am aware she is going to perform 2 of either her grade 3 or grade 4 pieces, or 1 of each.

I teach the English equivalent of this, Eduqas.

You sound very defeatist but I cannot see why. A grade 5 standard pianist should be able to fulfil this easily. She could accompany someone, a teacher for example. Lots of my pianists accompany me playing a simple piece - the accompaniment has been cleared by Eduqas as suitable and “More Difficult” so even if they drop a mark in each of the 3 criteria, it is scaled up to full marks. Alternatively she could play a trumpet duet with her teacher. My preferred option is a Canon as both parts are equal. She could play the lower part (secondo) of a piano duet.

I suggest you speak to her piano teacher ASAP and to her class teacher. Instrumental teachers who can’t be bothered to prepare students for public exams should not be tolerated. My colleagues are supportive to all students and will often step in to help other students if they can. The class teacher should have some “go to” pieces that your DD can learn. Contact them.

Thank you for this. It’s been very reassuring and informative. She seems to be getting sorted now and chatting with the teacher about it all.