Performance Diploma

[shirley_camfield]

Looking for someone's opinion on whether you think it would be possible to enter for a performance diploma without the support of a teacher?

[keyboardclass]

No way.

[perfect_pitch]

No way.

No way in hell.

[shirley_camfield]

Thank you both for your replies.  It was the DipABRSM that I was thinking of doing.  I guess I'd better get myself a good teacher 

[invictious]

I have friends who did the DipABRSM alone without teachers, but it was very difficult and the pressure was massive as the exam neared by.

An advice I would give is that you have to force yourself to pay attention to those details. For example, recording yourself play is a great way to hear what needs to be done.

Hope all goes well.

[richard black]

Of course you can, assuming you are at a decent standard to begin with. Speaking from personal experience, I have accompanied at least a couple of people (non-pianists, obviously) in exactly that diploma who were not currently having lessons and both passed.

[shirley_camfield]

Thank you, that is very encouraging.  I think I will learn the pieces as much as I can and see how I get on.  Not wanting to talk about the wrong sort of subjects on here, could you tell me which forum I would be able to get an opinion on my chosen repertoire list?

[scott13]

Yes it's perfectly possible. I passed my ABRSM ATCL without a teacher. It does however require serious dedication and you need to understand how you play very well. As without the help of a teacher to guide you through technical difficulties, they can present challenging obstacles to overcome.

But if you know how to practice and use musical friends as a feedback and improvement tool, more than possible to achieve a very high level of proficiency without using a teacher.

As has been said, record yourself, and be ridiculously strict on the tiny little things (much like a teacher is) and you will progress well. However only record yourself once every 2 weeks. So record piece, find all the tiny things that weren't quite right, work on them. Record again in another 2 weeks, check progress. Recording to frequently can become detrimental.

[omar_roy]

Recording to frequently can become detrimental.

Just out of curiosity, why do you think that is?  I record myself as frequently as possible in order to simulate the stress of performance, and i even record myself practicing sometimes to make sure i'm being efficient.

I've only ever found it helpful, but then again, everyone is different.

[nyiregyhazi]

Just out of curiosity, why do you think that is?  I record myself as frequently as possible in order to simulate the stress of performance, and i even record myself practicing sometimes to make sure i'm being efficient.

I've only ever found it helpful, but then again, everyone is different.

Yeah, I don't really follow that. I wouldn't want to record full play-throughs too often, maybe. However, you don't have to do the whole piece. I've often found it useful to record just one phrase, listen back and then repeat until it sounds (reasonably) like I intended it to. It can save a lot of time to be constantly getting the fullest feedback, and then adjusting at once.

[omar_roy]

Yeah, I don't really follow that. I wouldn't want to record full play-throughs too often, maybe. However, you don't have to do the whole piece. I've often found it useful to record just one phrase, listen back and then repeat until it sounds (reasonably) like I intended it to. It can save a lot of time to be constantly getting the fullest feedback, and then adjusting at once.

I actually find it more helpful to record the whole piece rather than a single phrase.  A phrase is part of a whole, and if you isolate it, you may have a wonderful sounding phrase, but it might not fit with the rest of the piece.  I don't know about you, but I never truly play anything the same way twice for various reasons.  That's why I record the whole piece rather than single phrases, to ensure that all the pieces fit together.  It gives me a birds-eye view of what's going on, in the sense of "Oh I took time here, which sounded nice, but it seems a little lopsided, so I probably should have given some time back here."

I don't know if that makes any sense or not, but like I said, it's different for everyone.

[phillip21]

I did an ATCL without a teacher.  I chose my programme from the the example repertoire listed in the syllabus to save the stress of agreeing the programme in advance.  At around the same time I did a DipLCM, using some of the same repertoire to improve my chances of getting 'a' diploma.  This is on paper a much less demanding diploma - but at the time I took it a lot of marks were allocated to sightreading, so you have to be good at that.  Fortunately I passed both.

Of course, preparing programmes without a teacher is made somewhat easier these days with the availability of Spotify and other streaming services which can help you listen to lots of contrasting interpretations of the pieces you choose.   For exam purposes (only) you can then ensure that you do not veer too much from the 'industry standard' way of playing the pieces - unless you have strong and persuasive reasons for doing so!

[keyboardclass]

Still, if you can afford to keep a dog don't wag your own tail!

[pianisten1989]

Yeah, I don't really follow that. I wouldn't want to record full play-throughs too often, maybe. However, you don't have to do the whole piece. I've often found it useful to record just one phrase, listen back and then repeat until it sounds (reasonably) like I intended it to. It can save a lot of time to be constantly getting the fullest feedback, and then adjusting at once.

Basically because it's difficult to actually change something if you record yourself too often.

If you come up with a new idea, which is very different from the first one, it Will sound bad in the beginning. And if you keep recording yourself, you wont give yourself the opportunity to do major changes.

This is my experience, you don't have to agree with me, and there is no right answer in this one.

[nyiregyhazi]

Basically because it's difficult to actually change something if you record yourself too often.

If you come up with a new idea, which is very different from the first one, it Will sound bad in the beginning. And if you keep recording yourself, you wont give yourself the opportunity to do major changes.

I can't really follow that at all. I experience just about the opposite, if anything. I make vastly more changes when I spend some time recording segments and listening straight back. When I'm listening back it's not "did that work or should I abandon the idea?" it's primarily "did the actual result match what I intended?". I'd never be abandoning an idea based on what I hear back on one listening. I'd primarily be picking up specifics about what didn't work and why- not dismissing broader ideas. Also, I think the feedback is much better when experimenting with different ideas and then listening back to a recording, than when simply experiencing it once. It can provide a real focus to experimentation and help the best things that come up to stick.

[pianisten1989]

Well, that's how I work. Obviously, we are very different.