School Band -Instrument Types

[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.

[phankao]

chamonix:

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.)

It depends on the school where they have their dSA offer. I know one who is a prizewinner in his instrument and was offered DSA, but the school set their DSA on condition of 230. So in the end, he couldn't take up the offer.

[phankao]

chamonix:

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.

Why is the piano crucial? Many professional violinists or other instrumentalists do not know how to play the piano either. My son's tr doesn't either. He has a Masters in Music too.

[phankao]

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.

Yea, they may have basic piano skills - or even be able to figure out on their own, but the level of proficiency may not be the same as one who takes up piano seriously, or even as a 2nd instrument, I guess.

By the way, even for MEP/O-A-level music exams, it is not necessary for the candidate to offer an 2nd instrument. Altho' if the child does a 2nd instrument, it saves him/her time since he/she can practise those 2 instruments on his/her own.

For those who do not have a 2nd instrument, they would need to pair up with their friends to do ensemble performances (2 or more instruments together) for the exam, in additon to their own Solo Recitals on their own instruments.

You can see the requirements in this document. I think quite self-explanatory.
http://www.seab.gov.sg/SEAB/oLevel/syllabus/2011_GCE_O_Level_Syllabuses/6053_2011.pdf

[phankao]

sleepy:

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:

My ds2 spends up to 10 hours(am/pm) in CCA practice each week during SYF years - like this year it's SYF competition year. He's in CO. He also spends time practising on his own at home for his own personal repertoire as he also has private lessons.

During non-SYF years, each week, it's 6hours of practice. So yeah, it does take a lot of time. Somehow he manages. All our kids were in performing arts CCAs, so this time management/juggling has become an art to time since young in primary school.

So far, the older 2 did not make use of their CCAs for DSA. FYI.