There have been a few threads about parents, pupils and practice. I wondered what the off spring of Forum Parents have been working on over the holiday.

This was also prompted by a comment made to me recently that students from our Music Service don't work.

Emsoboe

Pieces and scales for Grade 8 Recorder (more than 3)

Recorder Duet for Leeds.

Concerto for audition with her Orchestra.

Grade 8 Sax pieces

Sax duets/quartet for Leeds.

Sax piece for a solo (post Grade 8 standard) with Concert Band for Easter.

Tenor when there is a spare minute in case she has to play again in Wind Band.

Oboe pieces for Grade 8 (more than 3)

Other pieces set by teacher

Pieces for Leeds

Scales for a test in January

Oboe and Cor pieces for Orchestra

Concerto for audition with Orchestra

Now will have to include pieces for other Orchestra (arrived today)

Piano Grade 6 and Scales, Christmas stuff for fun.

Flute hasn't had much attention as she hasn't got her Grade 7 result yet and it got quite a lot of time spent on it in the run up to the exam. She's had a quick look at the Grade 7 and 8 Jazz pieces LCM.

Everything can't get done everyday but she is spending between 3 and 4 hours a day on practice.

Cor, blimey!! My daughter's music making is very modest by comparison with this .

We just got back from a week at my parents. Only the clarinet went with us, and was practised for about half an hour a day. Daughter assisuously avoided anything to do with exams and worked mostly at improving a piece from the grade 6 list that she has decided she particularly likes but didn't play in her grade 6 exam. I was pleased about this as it is the kind of slow and expressive piece she would usually avoid!

Before we went away we had some fun playing cello (her) and recorder (me) together. Tonight the cello and recorders and the two of us are going to an informal playing session at our teacher's. It could be amusing....

Now that we are back I expect she will manage about 1.5-2 hours a day of practice in between real and virtual socialising - not to mention catching up all the school work that was missed through taking part in "Oliver" at the end of last term. The focus of practice is likely to be on clari/piano/singing, where exams are on the horizon (if her teachers have their way!), while she will just aim to keep her hand in with sax/recorder/cello.

Real and virtual socialising happening here too . The annual ice rink is very popular

In the past we've always managed by rotating focus of practice but it's getting more and more difficult.

At least lots of the stuff will decrease in January.

There hasn't been much in the way of school work but two composition homeworks, one hasn't been started yet .

Luckily the wind instruments seem to be having a good effect on one another at the moment.

It's been slow here on the music practice front which is to be expected. The kids need a little festive break too!

There has been a fair bit of 'casual' playing though because of several busking sessions with her string and chamber groups.

Scales ticking along for an exam in January.

She's done some playing with her Grandad in the last couple of days, but the focus has been on a piece that he'd written especially for her as a Christmas present.

Piano has taken a back seat as usual. She did a singing exam before Christmas so the only singing has been at carol services. Some work has been done on the exam pieces but now she really needs to see her teacher in a couple of weeks time before any further progress can be made.

Nothing. And no exams this term so we can all be slack alices.

Hearing about Emsoboe makes me feel tired!

I spent about 40 minutes playing recorders with my little girl earlier. She started playing in June but as she was so very tiny (aged 3 at the time!) I have never suggested that she practises and we just do it for fun occasionally. Today she asked to play for the first time in a couple of months, so we played her 8 or 10 A and B tunes with the CD and she loved it. She learns mainly by ear and by copying and has been able to read rhythms for a while, but not notes. So today I pointed out the difference between A and B on the page, and she got it - then tackling some tunes she hadn't been able to before because she can now read them! I think treble clef is going to be her first language.

Sounds so cute!!

I keep thinking things will wind down but there are just too many opportunities around at the moment. Each time we get a breathing space something else crops up.

Having done the Grade 4 Piano on 14th December Beth can now play one of the C pieces for Grade 5 fluently. She has also taught herself several other piano pieces. Flute is pressured right now because lessons are continuingly weekly until 10th January and she has a Performance Platform on 9th January. Sax is ticking over. She is doing about 2 to 3 hours a day, not entirely willingly at the moment apart from the piano.
Jamie has managed to learn the Star Wars Theme and half of Hall of the Mountain King since mid December which I'm really pleased about since the bit he hates about learning the piano is learning a piece. He has also done some scales and his trombone of course.
I am going to enter Jamie for his Grade 5 Theory at the next sitting. That is going to be fun!!!!
Dora

What a motivated girl emsoboe is. My daughter rested, did some technical exercises which never thrill her but she now realises are a necessity and practised her nyo pieces. Nothing like 3 - 4 hours a day though! She has now gone to nyo which i have heard is quite an intense music course.

Hope your daughter enjoys the course.

Technical exercises and scales are dreaded here too

The older one has been working backstage on a panto production, getting up at unearthly hours to catch the bus out, and arriving back home anything up to fifteen hours later. And the younger one has been working on christmas food preparation and wardrobe augmentation, the latter whilst singing along to whatever is on the ipod at the time. For both the break in humdrum routine has been welcome, and I hope also beneficial.

Sounds like a busy household too.

Holidays are the only time when lots of practice can be done due to playing.

I'd like to do some wardrobe augmentation too

The panto work sounds hard going! My older son did his work experience at a local theatre and loved it, but that was only for a week, and the hours varied because of the programme. Sustained panto hours must be very tiring - but good fun, I hope

Younger son has done OK over the last couple of weeks - ticking-over practice for piano, which is all I ask for during a short but busy holiday, and a bit more intense for the guitar, as there's a possible exam next term. Christmas present was a banjo, so it's been good to hear that being played. And today we got OH's old sax out of the cupboard and some fairly satisfactory sounds came from that

K asked to do some more music today! She can now read B, A and G and wants to tackle pieces she couldn't before, as it was too much to memorise and now she can read them! (For those in the know, 'Joe Joe', 'Kites', 'Hot Cross Buns' and 'Traffic Lights'!) This is the point at which my school pupils seem to take off, so I hope she'll want to play it again soon. Then again, she's much too young to be pushed or nagged - a very mature (most of the time) just 4. It's making me want to go and play for pleasure too!

I remember Emsoboe playing these She would have been rising 8 at the time. It must be great to be able to share in the early stages of your daughter's learning.

I think this thread goes to show that lots of young people practice either for purpose or fun. Over the last few days there hasn't been quite as much happening here, though still a reasonable amount. I think she's now in a good position to start the next term when practice time will be difficult to find in significant quantity.

Oh dear... Music Stand's been practising the very instrument that's supposed to be taking a back seat - clarinet. He's learnt three grade 7 pieces in a week - not perfectly, but to a reasonable standard. Piano hasn't been played much and neither has saxophone.

I know this feeling! My daughter always says that the instruments that are supposed to be getting most work - eg because of upcoming exam, performance, whatever - are "not fun any more". So, it is always tempting to play the others instead.

Which grade 7 clarinet pieces does your son like? My daughter is working on some of these at the moment. So far she's looked at the Dimler, Saint Saens and the Weber (this last not yet remotely up to speed) which I think are all on the A list, "Quick Brown Fox" from the B, and Oiled Wheels from C. What else might she enjoy? We have the Grade 7 book but it's always nice to look at some other pieces too.

Yesterday, we were at a neighbour's house for lunch, and K asked if she could watch some TV because we don't have one at home! My neighbour looked through the channels with her, and K rejected the Muppets in favour of the New Year concert from Vienna. She sat watching it for about an hour, asking about all the instruments, and dancing to the fast pieces. I asked her if she'd like to play any of those instruments when she's older and she said, "I want to play the recorder!" Aw. We practised again today!

What a lovely tale!

This thread makes me want to cry. My daughter had her Grade 1 sax exam on 30 November, and she has played sax for about 10 minutes since then (that's a generous estimate), because I badgered her into doing it one day.

Am seriously considering putting it on eBay. Unless anyone here is interested....

How old is your daughter? Perhaps she will get back to it in the next term.

She's 12. I don't think she will. She has never really got into it. Has also played piano for five years, did Grade 2 last summer. Doesn't practise that either. Has been attending Kodaly classes for the past three years, and wants to give them up because it means getting up 'early' on a Saturday morning (at 9am!).

I think I am wasting my time and money, really. I am tempted to pull the plug on all the classes but what stops me is that it would be such a histrionic grand gesture and that I would always feel guilty for not persevering. But surely there comes a point when you can say you did your best and it didn't work?

Very depressed about this.

Do you think you'd be able to get her to a forum event, maybe? There'll be more this year in the London area.

I could try but I'm not hopeful. Last summer we (the whole family) took part in the BBC Proms Family Orchestra - we rehearsed over a period of weeks with professional musicians and put together a piece which we performed at an actual prom on Sunday 26th July at the Royal Albert Hall. It was FANTASTIC!

In October the opportunity came up to do something similar, only this time over a single weekend and finishing with a broadcast for Radio 3 rather than a live performance. She didn't want to do it because the rehearsals were too much effort.

Sometimes I think she just doesn't deserve to have a musical instrument.

[can't find bitter and disillusioned emoticon]

I think everyone comes to music in the end, in one way or another, but not everyone wants to play, perplexing though that may seem to some of us. My OH loves music now, is constantly glued to Radio 3, yet had no interest in music as a teenager, and has never had any wish to play anything himself. I don't understand that, but he's not unhappy about it at all.

I made a couple of attempts to get my son interested in learning an instrument when he was younger but it ended in tears both times. However, at 14 he decided for himself he wanted to learn euphonium and is plugging away at that, but will never set the world alight. He's also started morris dancing!

I don't think it's anything you should be depressed about. We are all different, and have different talents and inclinations. Some people find satisfaction in music, while others would rather draw, write, play sport, do maths homework (that was me!). Perhaps your daughter's passion lies elsewhere?

That was a great Prom! Didn't know you were in it as well : Babybird2 and I were in the audience!



That's so sad. Hope she doesn't stop playing : I bet she'll regret it when she's older...

I can understand how you feel. My eldest played Clarinet, Piano and later Sax. She messed around with them, participated in concerts enjoying them at her own level but never practised.

I really know how you feel torn between giving up and continuing. Eventually most things fell away, she still enjoys the social aspect of music making and plays percussion in the Concert Band. Clari has dropped off because of sixth form. She only really plays Sax now and still has a lesson. She could be good if any effort at all was made to practice.

This is her last year before Uni and I've agreed with her teacher that he will continue with her. It leaves the door open for her to return to playing later if she wishes. To be honest having a sister who relishes all musical opportunities hasn't made it easy.

I wouldn't worry too much - sounds like she's turning into a proper teenager.

If it helps at all I don't think I did more than about 30 mins a week at that age, I was having group lessons and was keeping well ahead of my group despite my lack of apparent motivation. Within 4 years I'd increased that to at least an hour a day and had passed G8. I think the things that changed me was getting into a county wind band where due to a shortage of clarinets I spent a term on 2nd then was promoted to 1st (had to practise as I've never been a fan of public embarasment and the part was rather hard for a G4 clarinettist!) I also had to change teacher and started individual lessons.

If you look, you'll see comments too from parents about kids not doing music - and I'm one of them. Both of my kids gave up on piano lessons some time ago, but for neither were they totally wasted, it's just that, having given them a try, and a long try at that, we all came to the conclusion that we'd be happier if they stopped. They didn't enjoy the lessons, and wanted to be doing other things. One of them now drums, something he's largely had to learn without formal tuition, and does very well: he has played in a band and still picks out chords on whatever keyboard happens to fall under his fingers (we have a few in this house...), and he is very much connected with the performing arts in general and music in particular. The other has immersed herself more in popular music, is to be heard singing round the house a lot, and also spends time picking out tunes on the piano or harpsichord. Her main interests lie away from music, but she still knows what she likes, and what she doesn't.... Not all children are avid learners of instruments, and it should never be a value judgement on a child for not taking to music - as parents we should give them a chance to learn if we can and if they wish it, but I can't see the point of chasing it at all costs.

PS I'm also not in the camp which thinks that regret inevitably follows stopping. Having started playing the recorder at twenty one, in a very fit-start sort of way, given it up, then taken it up again at thirty seven, I now have a couple of grades and a couple of diplomata under my belt - and I've both learned better and had more enjoyment out of my music for doing that as an adult. Teenagers have many demands on their energy resources, not least a hormone storm and incredibly rapid growth, both of which come ahead of the mental maturity to cope with them: is it any wonder that some will need to draw back a little from heavy commitments?

He has been playing Andante sostenuto by Donizetti, Arabesque by Tailleferre and Brazilian Walk by Rob Buckland. His favourites are the list A and B pieces, which are both very lyrical pieces. I particularly like the Arabesque. I think he likes the clarinet pieces better than his Grade 8 sax pieces, which is why he keeps playing them. I wish the sax pieces came in a book, as it would give him more incentive to play different pieces - as it is he has to rely on his teacher to give him the pieces. He's chosen the clarinet pieces himself over the Christmas holidays.

Muffinmonster - I gave up piano and violin when I was 13, didn't regret it at all and don't regret it now. I just didn't like practising and didn't like playing. I took the piano up again as an adult a couple of years ago and love playing and practising. At least your daughter has the foundation to take up music again easily in later life if she gives up now.

Wish we got to hear the odd piece around here. (No pleasing some parents, is there?) It's technique, technique, technique: scales, studies, scales, studies for hours... and then yesterday something unfamiliar that to my untuned ear sounded like another study - turned out to be a Janacek orchestral part, but I couldn't read the title in cyrillic script so am little the wiser. (Some kids have so much ignorance to cope with.)

And now she's talking about giving it all up because she isn't ever going to be good enough. I keep telling myself that if she's going to make a mistake, let it be her mistake not anyone else's. But that doesn't stop me hoping PLEASE that this is just a mid-winter blue moment. (Mind you, selling off the odd instrument could solve a few problems... Wicked mother. Of course she'll keep them.)

Thanks notmusimum, Barry, Halka, CJB and anacrusis for giving me some perspective on this. You're all right of course - it's not the end of the world if she gives up, and it should be her own choice, not due to her temporarily demented mother making a bonfire of her instruments and music.

I reach a pitch of frustration like this every so often, then I calm down and start again - hopefully before I've said something stupid and unhelpful to her. So thanks again for allowing me to vent (and sorry for hijacking the thread somewhat).

Am going to suggest playing some duets with her this afternoon.

I agree with this too.
Both my girls started and stopped piano and the younger one returned to lessons at about 14 having stopped previously.
The elder girl had flute lessons in school for a time too.
Neither now regret not playing. The younger girl was a little more interested and on piano at least seemed to have more of an aptitude but she realised that although it would be nice to be able to play she didn't want it enough to want to put in the required effort.
I'd given the practice or quit ultimatum too. She decided on the day of her lesson that she was quitting so I sent her up to tell the teacher herself (we had the same teacher).

Just because music is what I do it doesn't mean that my children have to follow.

As starter of this thread you are more than welcome to hijack it

I wanted to discuss practice or the lack of it. There are lots of discussions about practice in other threads and many of us are dealing with it remotely as parents.

Music won't be for everyone. The girls have never really shared my passion for photography. Three years ago the eldest moaned and sulked all thorugh one holiday. The face came out everytime I got my Camera. No one was more suprised when she opted for A level photography. She rarely leaves home now without a camera She's even adopted the offending Camera that she was so upset with on that holiday (I have another one).

Thanks! I'll encourage her to have a look at those too. She's got lots of time as she's probably aiming for the summer session - teacher wanted this term, and daughter wanted never, so summer seemed a good compromise . I know what you mean about pieces in the Grade books. We have your son's saxophone problem with cello - where we largely rely on the teacher to pick pieces (ie tell daughter what she'll do...). On the other hand, where there is a book of pieces it may sometimes be tempting not to look beyond it.

DS2 has been practising nearly every day:

G6 pieces for Clarinet

G3 Jazz Clarinet

G4 T&G Sax - not helped by the teacher telling him she's putting him in for next term but has given him 3 pieces - 2 of which she didn't realise were from the same Section..... Poor swine has only been playing sax for 8 weeks!!

Ah well as long as he's enjoying it.

No 1 A whole concerto, A whole sonata, another piece, a study scales and technical exercises as well as revision for mock GCSEs.

No 2 2 movements of a concerto, 2 other pieces, a study and a quartet part.

Not as much as they often have as they've not got their new orchestra music yet.