School Band -Instrument Types

[sleepy]

chamonix:

The commitment is no joke. (In my ds’ school, the Band practice begins today. His classmate is having his first Band practice while my son is napping at home :P) But I believe the Band will equip the child well with good discipline, commitment and time management. So, if your girl shows strong interest in Band, do give her all the support she needs. :celebrate:

My dd would need to commit 5 hours from 2nd year onwards. 2 hours practice on individual instrument. 3 hours combined group practice. I believe there should be additional practices near performance date too.

I was thinking more along the line of learning a musical instrument since it's FREE :rahrah:

This year only required 2 hours individual instrument so I let her try out for a year. However, I'm still undecisive whether I want her to commit so much time in one CCA. Wouldn't this be at the expense of studies? To get DSA require respectable PSLE score too

[jce]

Sleepy,


For Masters level I chose to do half academic (thesis) half performance. At this level, performance is on one instrument (which for me was the piano). At Bachelor level, in the final year, performance is also based on one instrument. However during the first two years I chose to continue pursuing my 2nd instrument (flute) as well as my 3rd (voice). One doesn’t necessarily need to have so many to enter into the conservatoire/ uni (let alone pursue them further), the main focus of entry would be the instrument you intend to pursue.

Flute - it does take a while to work out where the fingers go and imagining the fingers at work, very similar in a way to guitarist, or the string players. If you want to "see" your fingers then oboe and clarinet would be the ones to go for. Personally the latter would be slightly easier to pick up.

[metz]

MMM:

The ironic thing is that my girl has been learning piano since 4 yrs old. But I've been taking a very lax approach and let them learn for the fun rather than exams. We weren't actively pursuing graded exams despite that she is P3 this year. Frankly sometimes I wonder if we are heading anyway.

What a coincidence! We are taking a similar route - not actively pursuing graded exams too. Of course, should the kids request for exams in future, we'll definitely give them our support too.

Though the kids are 'exempted' from exams, they are, by no means, exempted from discipline and hardwork. Through learning music, we expect them to learn more about commitment, time mangement, setting priorities and diligence. Which is why I made it a point to look for strict and demanding teachers. But most important of all, I hope the instruments will be a source of comfort for them in future.

MMM:

At some point since she is taking the band, I asked if she would like to stop piano. She didn't want to as she felt that the notes learning in piano helps her in her band.....

Bravo! It's great that she has the determination to continue with piano. If her interest lies in music, then learning piano is definitely an asset. Guide her well and she'll do you proud in future.

MMM:

Let's see.... I am trying to get my P2 to join the band too. We just put in the CCA form. I am hoping that he gets in. He tried in P1 but they didn't choose him as he has another CCA :? He is keen to play the drum. I think our house is getting nosier.

It will be very heartwarming to see them perform together on stage :love:

Getting noisier? No problem. Just soundproof one of the rooms

[metz]

sleepy:

This year only required 2 hours individual instrument so I let her try out for a year. However, I'm still undecisive whether I want her to commit so much time in one CCA. Wouldn't this be at the expense of studies? To get DSA require respectable PSLE score too

Actually, the students will have to apply for DSA before taking PSLE. Once accepted via DSA, one just needs to score above 200 for PSLE. (if I'm not mistaken on this.)

But of course, if it's at the expense of academics, then the student should weigh the pros and cons carefully. After all, it will another 4-6 years in that CCA. I heard of a case whereby the student was asked to leave the sec school should she decide to withdraw from the CCA.

[metz]

Hi jce,


Are the students allowed to choose their own instruments? I persuaded my son not to go for the selection test cos I was worried he might be assigned something he didn't like. Flute, clarinet sound cool but the bigger brothers, erm, preferably not.

jce:

Sleepy,

For Masters level I chose to do half academic (thesis) half performance. At this level, performance is on one instrument (which for me was the piano). At Bachelor level, in the final year, performance is also based on one instrument. However during the first two years I chose to continue pursuing my 2nd instrument (flute) as well as my 3rd (voice). One doesn't necessarily need to have so many to enter into the conservatoire/ uni (let alone pursue them further), the main focus of entry would be the instrument you intend to pursue.

My son's violin teacher just shared with me it's necessary for my son to do piano as a 2nd instrument if he decides to take violin as the 1st instrument. But if he's taking piano as the 1st instrument, then it's not necessary to have a second instrument. Does it still work this way?

[jce]

From what I know, that’s not necessary, however I’m not sure about the system here. I assume you’re talking about O/GCE level/MEP music right? In my opinion, it’s always useful to have piano (whether as a primary or secondary instrument) cos one can understand so much more as an instrumentalist/vocalist as you have to work with a pianist. In uni, the instrumentalist were required to take up basic piano skills during the 1st yr. Subsequently they need not do so. And for entry requirements into uni or conservatory, it wasn’t necessary. Some conservatories or unis may defer.


And I’m not sure whether one can choose what instrument you want to play in band…My daughter is still too young to join band (she just entered P1). Sorry can’t be of much help

[jce]

From what I know, that’s not necessary, however I’m not sure about the system here. I assume you’re talking about O/GCE level/MEP music right? In my opinion, it’s always useful to have piano (whether as a primary or secondary instrument) cos one can understand so much more as an instrumentalist/vocalist as you have to work with a pianist. In uni, the instrumentalist were required to take up basic piano skills during the 1st yr. Subsequently they need not do so. And for entry requirements into uni or conservatory, it wasn’t necessary. Some conservatories or unis may defer.


And I’m not sure whether one can choose what instrument you want to play in band…My daughter is still too young to join band (she just entered P1). Sorry can’t be of much help

[metz]

jce:

From what I know, that's not necessary, however I'm not sure about the system here. I assume you're talking about O/GCE level/MEP music right? In my opinion, it's always useful to have piano (whether as a primary or secondary instrument) cos one can understand so much more as an instrumentalist/vocalist as you have to work with a pianist. In uni, the instrumentalist were required to take up basic piano skills during the 1st yr. Subsequently they need not do so. And for entry requirements into uni or conservatory, it wasn't necessary. Some conservatories or unis may defer.

Thanks for sharing.

I doubt it's at the O/GCE level/MEP. Rather, he mentioned that piano is crucial as a second instrument if one intends to go the professional route with another instrument as the first instrument. Perhaps, I'll just run by his piano teacher on this.

Not that my kids intend to take music seriously at this point, but it's always good to know the alternatives.

[phankao]

MMM:

Yes, I heard about the chinese orchestra too. We know of someone whose son happened to be in the same school as my kids. He did chinese orchestra and used DSA for that though his results were so so..

.

Do you happen to know what instrument he plays, and which school he had DSA to?

[phankao]

Poonie:

I was not familiar with the various instruments available in concert band so I checked out youtube and realised that flute seems to be the only wind instrument that makes the child look graceful unlike other wind instruments. I thought I would try to influence my child to go for flute however she said she could not see at 'fingers at work' and prefer the be able to see her fingers. Is this true?

You know, most instruments in band require *blowing*, except for double-bass(rare in pri school bands) or percussion, i think? I heard of parents discouraging their kids from joining band as such, and instead preferred them to join Chinese Orchestra bc then they have many more choices of bow/pluck instruments that don't require blowing. haha.