British Tennis Forum - Celebrating 20 Years!

Sheddie · administrator

Anniez

Sheddie · administrator

USF replied:

"Hi Annie and welcome to this site

How much do you play tennis ?

Are you studying for GCSEs at the moment ?

How do you find them ? What subjects are you doing ?

Gosh, you are good at swimming if you've swum at Nationals, did you swim for your county ?

What music do you like ? "

Sheddie · administrator

Annie wrote:

"Hey there!! I used to play tennis about 2 times a week. As i said i wasn't at all good, but i enjoyed it very much. As for swimming, yeah i swam for my county and stuff, freestyle was my favourite stroke, but apparently back stroke was my best.

As for GCSEs, yeah i have just started the coarse. I am doing all three sciences, the two english subjects, maths, RS, French, and music. I am thoroughly enjoying the music, it's great fun composing stuff for it, and i love the practical side to it. Because of some personal stuff, i can't go to school at the moment, so im having to do a bit of work at home, which my teachers have emailed me, so that i dont fall behind.

Generally i like indie/soft rock kind of music, but occasionally i like listening to other random kinds "

Sheddie · administrator

USF wrote:

"Do you still play tennis annie ? I love the competitive aspect of it and for me I like singles the most because of the one-on-one element of it, I don't like doubles so much because [1] it's generally less competitive [2] I don't like serve-volleying

I used to do swimming when about 6 years ago, I was ok at the breaststroke and pretty crap at everything else

Good luck with your GCSEs. You must like writing essays,doing Eng lit as well as Eng Lang, 3 sciences are really easy, just all learning - make sure you get plenty of exam papers off the internet and you'll be fine. I've done music at GCSE and AS level and am studying at now at A2 level. It's a really great subject, I loved doing the GCSE. What instrument do you play ? I play trumpet and have done loads of public recitals and stuff so the practical was easy for me. You'll get questions on all different styles of music - you have to distinguish between them - Baroque, Classical etc and also name different instruments.

I'm sorry to hear that you're unwell, hope you get better soon"

-- Edited by ultimateshedman at 23:04, 2006-11-22

Sheddie · administrator

Annie wrote:

"I don't really like writing essays or english, but ufortunately it is compulsary at my school to do both GCSEs. I'm not too bad at Sciences, as you said it's just learning loads of stuff, so should be ok. I picked RS because i love the philosophical side to it, and you get to say what you thinnk about everything..

My main instrument is the flute, this is the only instrument that i have grades on. However i do play most other well known instruments, by either teaching myself to play, or just naturally being able to.

I love the trumpet, such an exciting instrument what grades have you done?"

Sheddie · administrator

USF wrote:

I've never studied RE which I have regretted as I've been told that it's most interesting.
Do you study the Old and New testaments, what sort of essays do you have to write ?

I chose French also as my language subject, I've never tried Spanish and German seemed incredibly hard. Tu parles francais bien mademoiselle ?

I got distinction in grade 8 when I was 12 on the trumpet. I'm now 16. I've been playing since I was 8 in orchestras, wind bands, brass bands and brass ensembles. I've done several public solo performances which are seriously scary !! Some of it was for the experience and for some I earned a bit of money. Like Alex, I advertise myself to play at weddings and funerals - its nice money £25 minimum for a couple of voluntaries [weddings] or the Last Post [funerals]. Only problem with the funerals is, it's quite offputting playing in front of so many weeping people.

I basically play classical stuff, jazz isn't really my thing but if I wanted to go pro on the trumpet, I've have to become acomplished at jazz as it's the only way to make decent money without going into teaching.

What grade are you on the flute ? You must be very naturally talented to be able to learn instruments on your own.

Do you have any idea of which subjects you want to carry on to A-level ?
What area would you like your career to be in ?

Sheddie · administrator

Eira arian wrote:

Sweet jesus - Grade 8 distinction at 12!! That is supremely impressive i love the sound of the trumpet when it's played as well as you clearly play it - there was a girl at my high school who had the most beautifully pure sound on the trumpet, i could have listened to her play all day. i think shes a royal northern now

Sheddie · administrator

Annie wrote:

Wow! Grade 8 with distinction at 12, that is truly amazing!! I agree with you both that when played well, the trumpet can sound absolutely amazing!

The last grade i did on the flute was grade 6, and i think i did that when i was about 8-10, im not sure. I stopped doing grades after this, because i much prefered just playing rather then going through the whole grade process.

The RS that we study is a bit different, we don't really study the Bible or anything like that. For GCSE we study two Religions, im doing Christianity and Judaism, and we learn about their views on certain things, for example on abortion. It is really interesting because it is as i said a lot more philosophical, for example we talk about all the arguments for and against the idea of God etc.

I don't think i'm particularly good at French, but apparently im ok at it. I could get by with very simple conversations in French, but nothing too complicated. I did study Spanish for two years, and it was quite simple and a fun language, but i guess i gave it up in the end, because i had such a bad teacher, and i couldn't face the thought of having her for two more years! I unfortunately had to do Latin for three years as well, it is compulsary in my school. I have to say, this was the most boring subject i have ever done, lol.

As for A levels im not entirely sure. I think ill probably end up doing some sciences and maths, as this is probably my strongest area. I would, however like to carry on music or RS perhaps, but i haven't really thought about it properly yet.

I used to want to be a paedeatrician (kids doctor), but i think this would be really hard, and have to get amazong results!! I was also considering becoming a physiotherapist, or something of that sort.

Sheddie · administrator

USF wrote:

You did well to get grade 6 on the flute that young !! I agree with you though, grades totally ruin the enjoyment of playing - the same pieces over and over again for ages and the nerves of the exams totally ruins it. I also play the piano and I do that just for the enjoyment of playing a wide variety of music - no grades.

With the trumpet, when I was doing my grades I used to get incredibly nervous especially for grade 8, that was terrifying.

Interesting to read about RE, I've never, ever studied it so I didn't have a clue about its content. It does sound interesting. Bad luck on having to do Latin - that must be deadly, I don't understand why schools persist with having it as a subject - who
wants to learn a dead language. I was good at French because it was just learning but I found it dead boring and I hated the speaking exam. History and Physics were my favourite subjects - both really interesting and really easy.

You're best to do Maths for A-level if you can - it increases job options. If you like the sciences and maths - what about aiming to go into research ? If you like Physics the best, it's a good idea to try and do A level Electronics or if it isn't available then Design and Technology.

Sheddie · administrator

Imoen wrote:

hi anniez and website editor, i'm afraid i'm going to have to stick up for latin a little bit!! i did it to GCSE and really loved it and not only that but it isn't a completely dead language, having GCSE in latin means that i can read and understand the jist of almost all the latin based European languages even though i've only ever studied french. Also latin really helps with understanding where English words come from and their meaning (i realise not many people are as interested in that as i am).

well done both on the music grades though, i got my grade 8 flute last year and was really happy to get the grade but hated the exam, particularly the aural part, makes me shiver just to remember it!!

Sheddie · administrator

USF wrote:

Replying to imoen's earlier post on the defence of Latin, having not studied it myself I can't really comment but I can see both points of view. I've been told by many other people that it is useful for understanding the origin of words and often the meaning of words and being a regular viewer of the BBC 2 quiz show: "Eggheads," I've seen how much the participants use their knowledge of Latin. However, I can also see annie's point of view - if you're not really interested it must be a real pain having to learn it.

Well done on getting grade 8 on the flute. The exam is absolutely terrifying isn't it. I can remember, I was so nervous beforehand I felt ill. I hated the aural with a vengeance, it was the worst part of the exam. As my voice hadn't broken I found the part when you have to sing the bass line back an absolute nightmare. I thought the sightreading was ok up until the exam when a got an excerpt with 7 sharps !!

Which year are you in at uni ? Are you in any orchestras or ensembles there ?
Have you finished for the term with your history degree ? Do you have to do an exam this term or is it just essay writing and submission ?

Sheddie · administrator

Imoen wrote:

Latin is a very marmite subject (you love it or hate it) so i guess i can agree to disagree!

the sight reading in my exam was never too much of a problem for me, i used to do it in my lessons when i'd forgotten to practise so got quite good the singing bit was my least favourite, i just don't understand why you need to be able to sing when you play the flute, if i'd wanted to sing i'd have taken singing lessons! the other bit i hated was the identifying chords and key changes, oh and the talking about a piece (so all of it really!) i simply don't understand how it proves you're a good flute player or trumpet or whatever instrument it is.

anyway, rant over! i'm in my first year at uni. i'm not in any orchestras at the moment but may join one next term, provided it fits around all my other commitments, unfortunately everything seems to happen on the same evenings here so there's only so much i can do! my term hasn't yet finished, i have another week to go and i have an exam to do for the politics part of my course next week, in fact i should really be revising right now! The history course this term was unassessed but i had two procedral essays during the term.

Sheddie · administrator

Sally wrote:

I did French in Year 12 and my teacher had done Latin at degree level (I think it was a joint Languages course in French, Spanish and Latin) and I was amazed at how well Latin links up with French and English, but mostly French, with the origins of words etc.

Sheddie · administrator

Madeline wrote:

I missed the start of the conversation about Latin. I would just like to say I agree with Imoen about the way it helps with English and other languages; and even though it is about 50 years since I learned it, and I can remember very little of it now, it still helps!

I know I enjoyed learning it at the time, but it goes rusty with disuse!

Sheddie · administrator

Sally wrote:

I had a discussion with a friend about Latin a few weeks ago and he said that it doesn`t matter what order you put the words in Latin as it still makes sense? Is that true or is he pulling me leg? From what has been said here, Latin sounds interesting. I wish we`d had the option to do languages other than French and German at school. I did both - German to GCSE and French up to AS level but I really wanted to do Spanish instead.