Where Am I....?

[theone7]

MY FIRST POST!!! Right...so quick background...Started piano lessons around age 7 and continued till age 12 (RSM grade 3), then stopped because my school's only piano teacher quit, and our budget didn't let us get a new one. (boarding school, so couldn't go out for lessons).

Played every once in a while by myself from ages  13 - 21, but never had any real lessons or practice. If I heard a piece I really liked, I'd download the score and try to hack at it on my Dad's piano.

Last year, I decided I was wasting time and hired a teacher to teach, make suggestions, and help me find my feet again. Because of my foundation from an early age,  find that I can work through most any piece with enough study and practice. But because of the years without formal lessons or applied, deliberate practice, I'm missing a whole lot of theoretical knowledge and some of the pieces I play come out technically sloppy.

My question is...how do I find out what grade I actually am? I'm currently working on Brahms Rhapsody Op.79 no2 and it came so easily to me, I play it really well, and I know its a fairly high intermediate piece. But at the same time, I still can't play all scales, don't recognise key signatures, I'm horrible with sight-reading, and I butcher rest-sensitive pieces (ie...I have to hear it first to get timing right...my reading and understanding is so poor). So am I a grade 2 all over again? Or am I an extremely rusty grade 6/7? 

Also...any ideas on how to bridge this gap between what I subconsciously think I'm capable of and get with lots of practice (my Rhapsody), and what I'm technically/theoretically capable of (erm...absolutely nothing)?

looking forward to many many more convos with you all...

[goldentone]

Isn't your teacher helping you with these questions?  Your teacher should be working with you on the fundamentals.  "Practical Theory" is a very good workbook set.

[jgallag]

There is a limiting idea on here, everywhere, it seems, that one must be at a specific grade. Sure, it's nice, but I would caution yourself not to place yourself in a specific grade. We all have strengths and weakness, so much so that I wouldn't group anyone in a "grade".

Key signatures simply require practice: In the keys with sharps, the last sharp is always a half-step lower than the key you're in. In the keys with flats, the second to last flat is the key you're in, with the exception of F, where there is only one flat. This is for major keys. For minor keys, find the major three and go down two notes to "la" (Solfege, Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Ti, Do). So in C major, the relative minor (the key sharing the same signature) is a minor.

Also, you didn't tell us you don't know what rests are. Do you? I'm assuming so. If that's the case, then pay attention. Don't just say you don't do well with rests. Shorten your sight-reading passages so you can focus on what's on the page rather than achieving the whole structure. Scales need to be practiced, in my opinion, but others will tell you they're unnecessary. I made another post in this topic: https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php/topic,33948.0.html that details how I do them, but you should read the whole topic anyway to get a range of views and then decide what's best. You should know your scales, at least. That, in my opinion, is all the theoretical knowledge you *need*. Understanding form (for example, your rhapsody is in Sonata-Allegro form) and all that is useful for interpretation, but not necessary.

On bridging the gap: Use a metronome, demand evenness, then add nuances later. That will do a whole lot for your technique, and you'll be studying music, which is what you need and what you want. Remember that we add nuances in time because we _want_ to, not because we _have_ to.

[omar_roy]

To add onto your knowledge of scales, I think it is quite beneficial to know the qualities of certain chords and how they resolve.  In essence, I think you should begin basic theory.  Knowing the qualities of major, minor, diminished, augmented, dominant chords and how they resolve will help you later on when you're adding those nuances.  Knowing the sound and direction of these chords will aid you in giving your music direction, flow, and character.  Of course, having a good ear and intuition is helpful, and it does take time to build that up.  Some people are born with a relatively well developed ear and can hear things like that without much practice, others need to work at it.  Regardless, everyone needs to LISTEN to their playing more than they do already.  Too often we just play the notes without really hearing what we're playing.

Other than that, I completely agree with jgallag.