Transitioning from Faber and Faber piano method to Royal Conservatory Grades

[chrisaline]

I am a relatively new teacher.  I have taught a number of students in the lower RCM grades.  Currently all my students are in either Bastien or Faber and Faber and I am wondering how to transition them into RCM.  How do the levels transfer?  Would Faber and Faber level 3B be similar to RCM grade 2?  If I have a student struggling with RCM grade 3, could I put him in Faber and Faber level 5 without loosing too much?  I have looked everywhere on the internet and CANNOT find this information!!  I have asked my mom (a piano teacher for over 50 years specializing in advanced students) and she was COMPLETELY unhelpful!!  Kind-of like asking a baker how to bake buns (a dash of this, a touch of that, and then add more if the dough doesn't feel right -- aahh!)  Someone please help me!?!

[outin]

Do you have access to the RCM graded list of pieces? If you have can't you just compare the pieces with what you have used and assess the differences in level by that?

You would still need to assess the abilities of your individual students by more than just starting them on some method or grade...

[asiantraveller101]

Do you have access to the RCM graded list of pieces? If you have can't you just compare the pieces with what you have used and assess the differences in level by that?

You would still need to assess the abilities of your individual students by more than just starting them on some method or grade...

Exactly. You have to invest in/buy all or at least the first few levels of the Faber and also the RCM books and start comparing.

[chrisaline]

I have compared the songs in the Faber and Faber with the RCM syllabus.  There are VERY few songs that are in both.  For instance, Faber and Faber level 5 has one song that is in RCM grade 3.  I don't know that one song is a fair enough assessment to say that they are roughly the same level.  I was hoping someone with more experience than myself just knew the answer 

[on the steps]

have you checked out faber's correlation charts? on the faber website, there are charts that compare the difficulty level of faber books to other piano methods, including rcm. i think ur looking for the 1st chart called "basic piano adventures correlation chart."

as far as your other questions are concerned, according to the chart, your students would struggle with Faber lvl 5 if they are struggling with rcm 3, and Faber 3B is comparable to rcm 1.

https://pianoadventures.com/correlation-charts/

https://pianoadventures.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2017/09/Piano-Adventures-Correlation-Chart.pdf

[keypeg]

Writing as a trained teacher and presently primarily student (advanced) but with a foot in the door of music teaching:

I'm inclined to think looking at what each tries to teach, rather than just which pieces they cover.  The RCM has a syllabus which includes various skills aimed for in each grade level.  It has three components: repertoire (pieces), technical (scales, chords, etudes aiming at skills), and theory where the first level exam happens around given grades.  They overlap and integrate.  For example, if certain key signatures are taught along with time signatures and whatnot in "technical", the pieces in repertoire will cover those things.  Theory: Your pieces "have" the theory in them.  You can point out scales in various keys, time signatures, accidentals, ABA form as you teach a piece, long before theory is approached.

I'm less familiar with Faber.  You might glean from the books what things are being taught.  I don't know if there is also a teacher's guidebook attached to the series for each grade.

Being nerdy I might create some kind of chart for cross-checking between them.

[jonathannyc]

A cross-reference of RCM with Faber & Faber will clarify their relative grade-level selections, and you have probably done that by now.

The more pertinent issue, to me, is the repertoire itself: the musical choices between the two publishers could not be more divergent. You will find, after teaching a few dozen students, which publications are more readily accepted and absorbed by students.

I never found any single publisher's repertoire selections to be adequate; I always used plenty of supplementary pieces to respond to a student's individual musical temperament.

_____________________________
https://www.bakerpianolessons.com/