The last couple of weeks of giving flute lessons to my G3 student have been amazing! Things seem to be really coming together.

Her List A piece, a minuet by Boyce, has been giving her trouble in a couple of fast bars... couple of weeks ago I suggested she tried playing along with the accompaniment... last week, a 100% improvement in keeping going, and the fast bars while though not perfect were passable AND she kept going and in time, AND she had brought it up to a more appropriate speed, AND her articulation had improved almost beyond recognition.

This week we looked at her B list piece, by Sibelius, called The Peace Of Evening. After a really good start this one went off the boil, we had done away with the grace notes, and in general it was "OK, but". There were also a couple of rhythmically dodgy bars that try as she might to get it and try as I might to explain, just were NOT going in. So we started with this today... I asked if she had been playing it with the CD, she screwed up her nose and said "a bit"... I was thinking we'd see how it went and see if we could reintroduce the grace notes...

She played it beautifully - dynamics, articulation, expression - GRACE notes, rhythms all there (the grace notes were discarded because try as we might, it was messing with her dotted rhythms)... I was really quite concerned about this piece and then she just nailed it!

I am thoroughly gobsmacked and utterly delighted

Her study is also going fine, though she picked it up well almost from the start, so pieces-wise she's so ready. Her SR and aural is fine, if we could expect a similar revolution in scale work she'd be looking at a potentially very good mark - as it is, I feel SO much more calm about the exam being in 2 1/2 weeks, and unless nerves totally wreck things she's going to do just fine... I think I hope! (not wanting to count chickens as she's my first candidate)

Wow, it's amazing when things suddenly click.

Awesome Hope your first student does really well in her exam

That's great, well done to both of you.

Thanks! I hope she does well too - I'm scared

I feel so much better now though, the last couple of weeks she's just come on in leaps and bounds. I don't really know how she'll do in the exam (though I'm increasingly tentatively confident that she'll pass with some to spare) - I vacillate between extreme optimism and "what if she falls apart/if I have misunderstood the criteria"... but even if everything fell apart and she failed the exam by 50 marks, the improvement in the last two weeks has been wonderful and I really think long term she's going to become a really good little flautist, which is worth any number of exam results!

Make sure you drum it into her to LISTEN to what the examiner asks for - ie not to play legato scales when he's said tongued, and not to play a scale when he's asked for an argpeggio

OK, I haven't done it in an exam (yet), but I did do it in my lesson the other night Hopefully I've learnt my lesson, so to speak ....

And practise the way down at least as much as the way up.

To be honest by the end of the exam I expect the examiner will get what he gets and be grateful for it but you're right, it would be good if she comes out with things that are recognisably "an arpeggio, a scale, legato" etc even if the notes are rather shaky...

Still miffed at dropping that mark?

That's great to hear Sarah, all the best to the pair of you for the impending grade.

Personal experience??

Funnily enough, she seems to often be OK coming down if she's got going up right (I'm certain it's almost as much a confidence/not thinking she knows how the scale goes thing as a not ACTUALLY knowing the scale thing...) - in the lesson she played... I forget if it was G major or G minor, but it was slow and painful, and she got to the top, took a breath... and came down the scale faster than I've ever EVER heard her play a scale and totally accurate *headbangwall*

I'm not planning for her to do an exam for quite some time - unless it so happens that she has 3 pieces from the lists ready a month before the local special visit - but we are going to crack this scale issue in the meantime.

At least everything else is going well which is FAB

Thanks Barry!

Sorry for going on about it... two amazing better-than-conceivably-expected lessons in a row have put me on a high

Yes

Sorry for going on about it... two amazing better-than-conceivably-expected lessons in a row have put me on a high
Ah, no, don't apologise Sarah - it's a great feeling isn't it ? well done and I hope it continues to go well.

Aw thanks M

My exam candidate (LCM pre prep) didn't turn up for her lesson tonight as her mum thought I was away this week instead of next. I offered her a couple of options in the days before I go away but she can't make it.
She is having a mock exam with my teacher on the 27th and her next lesson will be the 30th. Her exam is on the 3rd April.
I was planning on going through everything today.

rats. Was she up to speed in her last lesson or thereabouts?

edited after I read the message properly...........!

We didn't do everything in her last lesson only the two tricky excercises.
She should be ok as the pieces were good so we'd been resting them a bit which is why I wanted a run through today before the mock exam.

I guess in a way it will give the mock exam a chance to show up anything that really needs your input - if that makes sense. Sounds like she is well on track though

Hope so... It's a bit scary thinking of my teacher listening to her. Feels like a test for me in a way.

I know what you mean ... I'm sure you'll both pass though

And it gets even scarier....... in exchange she's asked me to do a mock exam for one of her pupils.....grade 6 (TG).

Argh, that would scare me more!! I guess it's all good practice in assessing playing though.......

That's great news about your pupil's sudden progress. It will probably continue, as success breeds success.

Great, Sarah, and all the best for the exam!

Thanks

Well done Sarah and your pupil. It's fantastic when it all starts to come together so try not to worry too much about the impending exam although I know it's hard not to when it's the first one. The first time a pupil of mine took an exam I was a complete nervous wreck when the result came though the door! It's always a heart-stopping moment, but I think you know pretty much how they're going to do from the mock, if you do one. The only thing that can spoil it after that is nerves on the day; what I tend to do is invite them round for a (free) final run-through on the morning of the exam if at all possible. It seems to help, but bear in mind it's not the time to change anything, like fingering!!!

Just keep it nice and relaxed and if anything goes wrong just laugh it off. Then chat about other things on the way to the exam if you're travelling together, to help keep anxiety levels low. Your relaxed attitude and belief in them can do a lot to help, but obviously the best thing of all is if they've practised really well especially in the weeks leading up to the exam.

I hope she does really well, and it sounds like she's be absolutely fine!

Violinia

Glad things are going well for your pupil Sarah! I don't know what we'd do without the CD's!

I don't think she even used the CD really for the one she played me today - I don't know what happened (when I asked if she'd used it, hoping she'd say yes as it was so successful last week, she said she hadn't because the piano part was confusing her - her homework for this week is to look at the piano part!) because she's had the CD for weeks without it making the blindest bit of difference (and it was SOOOOO successful when she played the other piece with the piano part, when she said she hadn't really used it for this one I was thinking "rats, what a shame").... something just clicked I guess! She used to be able to play the rhythms, then something went pear shaped - but it seems to have righted itself now. Weird, but I am not complaining! I'm mystified but happy...

Thanks for the thoughts, V - the exam is a special visit just up the road from her house. I'm hoping to fit in an extra lesson in the next fortnight, and should be around to help her warm up, encourage her to go for it, (feed her a banana...) etc

OK, this girl is a STAR!

This week her scales were a million times better. I am one very happy and proud teacher