I made the Grade!

[piano_learner]

I am officially an ABRSM Grade 1 piano player! 

I passed with a merit! 

[Motrax]

This calls for some champaign! 

[bardolph]

Dude or Dudette, congratulations!  How old are you by the way?  The older you are the bigger my congratulations!  If you're just a young thing than SLIGHT congratulations    Impress me some more by doing your grade 2 now!

Seriously, treat yourself to something nice.

[piano_learner]

Thanks Motrax & bardolph,

I am a 36yo dude  (Wish I started years ago)

What do think of skipping Grade 2 and jumping to Grade 3?

[percy5190]

I wouldn't advise missing out any of the Grades however tedious it may seem, they are structured to introduce you gradually to new keys and more demanding pieces. Aim for a distinction in Grade 2.

Best wishes.

[bernhard]

Congratulations, piano learner, and well done. (And can I have a glass of that champagne, please, Motrax).

Should you skip grades? As with everything in the universe, it depends. So what follows is just my opinion.

Yes. By all means go straight to grade 5. Why?

1.   These are exam requirements to ascertain your skill/progress. They are not a methodology to learn the piano. If you simply follow the grades’s requirements in order, you will not really end up playing all that well. Besides it is arguable if the order of technical and theoretical material is the best or even desirable.

2.   Take the case of scales and keys. Technically, one should always start with the B major scale, a scale that in the exams is only required after grade 3. If you follow the idea that you should use the exam syllabus as a pedagogical guide, you will only start the B major scale after three years. Surely this cannot possibly be right. Personally I have my students working on scales so that they know all the 24 of them (plus the theory behind it) in the first 3 – 6 months. It is not that difficult: if you dedicate 10 – 15 minutes a day to scales you will know them all in that period of time. And this of course is the requirement for grade 5. Why exactly are you going to trudge along for five – six years when you could be there in 5 – 6 months? We, old students may not have that long to live!

3.   The repertory for grade 4 and below is usually dismal. At grade 4 it starts to get better, but at grade 5 there are superb pieces (both in the syllabus and just in the piano repertory in general).

4.   You do not need to do the grades in order. There is no rule that says so. You are allowed to skip grades. So why not?

5.   You will save money (although the exam is not that expensive so this is not really a major reason).

6.   Being an adult you should be able to learn the stuff  in a fraction of the time it would take a child. Think of the resources you have that a seven year old does not: You can buy books on the subject. You can watch DVDs (and have the economic power to buy them) of all aspects of piano learning / performance. You can participate in forums like this one. You can buy CDs of the pieces you are interested in and compare different interpretations an music form different styles/periods (which is more or less what aural exams are all about). You can delve in your interests without having to do some silly homework from school (although you still may have to do the silly work from your job). With all these resources (and possibly more) at your disposal, why should you trudge along at a snail pace? it is not necessary. You can actually “talk” intelligently with your teacher and work on the information he gives you, something a 7 year old usually cannot.

7.   The syllabus is valid for a full two years. Are you telling me that in two years it is not possible to attain the necessary level to pass a grade 5 exam? If you feel like Percy5129 that it is important to follow the particular order the subjects are presented in the exam syllabus, by all means do it (but it is a very inefficient way to go about it), just make sure you are prepared for grade 5 by November 2006. And by the way, take the grade 5 theory exam at that point as well.

I hope this helps.

Best wishes,
Bernhard.

[Liween]

  Hi Pianolearner, congrats to you as you are almost the same age as me and I've got .......... NO grades (Cos I just learning piano 3 months ago). 

I totally agreed with what Bernard had mentioned and infact I see him having the most wisdom in piano teaching.   I have also asked my teacher about this grading system when I started with her 2 months ago and she told me that she would not recommend any exams for her students unless s/he asked for.  The reason is also similar to Bernard whereby following exam is actually restricted to the learning progress. 

I have saw the ABRSM grade one syallbus and it only require the scale of C,G,D,F,Am & Dm but now my teacher had taught me C,F,G majors and Am  (both octaves for both hands) in 2 months and I had actually learned by myself A,B,D,E,Db major scales (RH only). I may be too impatient due to my age (37) and I've also learned 2 classical pieces all by myself and now learning Minuet in G & Cradle song (which was ABRSM grade II).

Well, some may says that I have not even have the basic techniques and how can I attempt to play a grade II piece.  I do agree but at the same time if I feel that I may be able to tackle I should give it a shot NOW and not 2 years later.

I know that my counting is the worst follow by aural/sight-reading but I am trying to progress every single day ..... I am learning/practising at the same time when I learned the piece. 

Now if I were you, I will not follow strictly the ABRSM syallabus but learn as much as I can in every day/week/month/year.   

All the best to you !!! 

[rlefebvr]

Not to disagree with everyone.....but......

I agree the need to follow grades is not  important, but do not make the mistake of skipping so called grades to jump to more interesting pieces. This is a mistake most grown ups do as we move along at a rapid pace, but do not have enough repertoire under us and in the end this really hurts technique.

You want to skip grade 2, well really what is there to skip. You are good enough to play grade 3 stuff, you should be able to learn grade 2 stuff on your own in 2 sittings.

You do not need to take the exam, but make sure you play the repertoire under grade 2.

The more pieces under you belt, even easy ones, the better you will be.

My experience as an adult learner is that we tend to progress to quickly to the harder stuff and I have found this really hurts your progression later on.

[ehpianist]

Congratualtions! Or as we say in Spain, ¡¡enhorabuena!!

Elena
https://www.pianofourhands.com

[piano_learner]

Thanks to you all. My current teacher, due to her family commitments will be dumping me so I will need to find out what my new teacher expects from me. I think I will go through the Grade 2 syllabus but skip the exam. Learning Scales and other technical aspects of higher grades can’t hurt. I prefer to play something simple but play it well then to overestimate my ability and struggle with complex pieces from higher Grades. I still enjoy playing the Grade 1 pieces I learned and continually try to improve on the dynamics and overall musicality. I suppose I am a minimalist (?) when it comes to music.

I have a (stupid) question with regard to scales that I didn’t see covered in other threads. Grade 2 requires the ability to play scales for 2 Octaves with Hands together 1 octave apart. Is this useful/important (assuming I won’t take the exam) or is being unnecessarily pedantic? (I mean specifically *2 octaves Hands together, 1 octave apart*)

P.S. Everyone is welcome to a glass of my Champagne