Music Scholarships – Page 18 – SE22 Piano School ~ East Dulwich

Summer Term News: April 2018 Piano Lessons in East Dulwich

We’re about to enter the Summer term even though I still have my 100-tog Winter duvet on the bed! Lessons start on Monday 16 April for 6 weeks. Nb. there is no lesson on Bank Holiday Monday May 7th. Lessons will finish on Saturday 14 July. Our teachers are available during the Summer break if you’d like extra lessons.

Have you signed up for our newsletter? We have spent the Easter break ensuring we are compliant with the new data laws (GDPR) and we will no longer be sending group emails to you unless we have your permission to send you these. We wouldn’t want you to miss out on the latest piano news so do ensure you sign up to stay in touch. http://eepurl.com/dpjMo1

This term, our students will be working towards graded piano exams, the Dulwich Music Festival and also preparing for the 2019 Music Aptitude Tests.

The piano competition this year is held at Kingsdale School on Sunday 10th June. The Trinity piano exam session will be a week or two later so the festival is ideal pre-exam preparation.

The Summer term is a great time to start working through the Music Aptitude Test materials with your teacher. This will ensure you are fully prepared for the aptitude tests that take place in Autumn 2018 and very occasionally in early 2019. You can continue to use our training materials on your own over the Summer break but we always advise working through these with your teacher to ensure you are on the right track. Your teacher can give you lots of help with the tricky Texture section that most young musicians find challenging.

If you would like to enter the piano competition, visit the web site to see what classes still have spaces. The higher grades are full but there are a few spaces in the other classes. On the day, you can meet lots of composers plus chat with the team from Trinity to find out all about their exams. If you are considering Kingsdale for secondary school, this is an ideal opportunity to see the impressive music facilities.

If you are a student at Harris Primary East Dulwich then we have a couple of spaces for piano lessons on Fridays. Please get in touch with the school reception to enquire further or contact me via the email address in the school newsletter.

7th Annual Piano Competition ~ Dulwich

Buy the Music Aptitude Tests

Music Fun for the Easter Break!

Two weeks off school and the weather’s hit and miss so use the time indoors to brush up on all things music to help you prepare for upcoming exams, auditions, festivals and aptitude tests. Here’s our Round Up of revision tools, web sites and apps to keep you busy during the Easter break.

Hello Music Theory
Download and print theory worksheets and past papers to help you get ready for the ABRSM exams on June 16th. Download a pack of practice papers (5x) with all the answers for only $10, but if you enter the code “se22” at the check out you’ll get $2.50 off. https://hellomusictheory.com/practice-papers

Music Aptitude Tests
If you are currently in Year 5 and looking to enter Secondary School on a Music Scholarship place, then you may have to pass a first-round Music Aptitude Test selection place. Use these training tests to help you prep for Round One. The web site also has videos to help you with the tricky sections. http://musicaptitudetest.co.uk

Play Your Favourite Tunes with Backing Tracks
If you have an iPad, then download Simply Piano to piano in a fun and funky way. Check out the cool backing track that you play along with for Uptown Funk:

Perform in a Piano Competition!
The Dulwich Music Festival has some really fab pieces on the Set Pieces list. You could choose to play a Duet with your teacher or try this fab solo piece by Marcel Zidani called Momentum. There are a few spaces in the lower grade classes too. Do enter soon if you are keen to perform as the venue is the spectacular POD at Kingsdale School. Well worth entering to have a look around the music facilities if you are considering this school for secondary admissions.

Set Piece for the 2018 Dulwich Music Festival: Momentum by Marcel Zidani

Calling All Beginner Pianists!

Music Scholarship tips for state secondary schools in Southwark & Lewisham

Many of our piano students sit the Music Aptitude Tests for local state secondary schools such as Kingsdale, Haberdashers & Prendergast and offer just one instrument at the audition. However the students that also have a second instrument to offer (including voice) are sometimes in a better position to acquire the full Music Scholarship place. For this reason, I have just started my daughter who is in Year 4 on the trombone as it’s an instrument that is a lot of fun and also a bit obscure so there (hopefully) won’t be loads of trombonists turning up to the audition. Also she has a cheap, lightweight pBone plastic trombone in a groovy colour so it’s a fun instrument to play – who doesn’t love the parpy noise that the trombone makes?!

If you’re thinking about other lesser played instruments to get started on, well anything brass is always a good idea. pBone also do a plastic trumpet called the….pTrumpet!

The viola is a vital part of any orchestra but most young musicians tend to choose the violin, so do consider this often-overlooked instrument. Whilst many violinists will turn up to the music scholarship auditions, I think there will be far less viola players.

The world of percussion offers hundreds of wonderful and sometimes weird instruments to get to grips with. From the marimba to the tubular bells, there’s a lot of transferable skills for pianists when it comes to percussion playing so if you are lucky enough to have a music department at school with some percussion instruments, do ask if you can give those a go! Kingsdale has a well-stocked percussion department and they also have an amazing steel pan band. Some local schools such as Dog Kennel Hill offer weekly steel pan lessons to students so do get involved as you can play this at the audition.

Don’t forget that singing counts as an instrument and school music departments are always keen to find enthusiastic singers. Even if you don’t think you have the perfect voice for a solo singer, most of the singing in schools will be in the choir so as long as you feel confident with holding a tune, this is a great offering at the time of audition. Pick a song you know really well and ideally try and bring a piano accompaniment as there is always a pianist available to accompany you. Ask at the local music shop for some tips or leave a comment on this blog post if you need any more advice!

pTrumpet – around £108

pBone mini trombone – around £80

Viola – around £58