Any Canadians out there?

[lagin]

Husky boy, you are not a Canadian!

Go practice!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Siberian Husky]

yes i am canadian..

dont listen to lagin guys..shes out of her mind

anyways..so who wants to go bobsledding?..because i am a canadian and this is what we as canadians do... ..(duhhh)

we also get sick for fun because our healthcare is amazing

[ricwyk]

from vancouver, studying for grade 9 rcm too

[lagin]

hey Ricwyk,
When is your exam?  Mine's this June.  What pieces are you working on?
Ignore Husky boy.  He hit his head on a tree while "bobsledding"

[fred smalls]

yes i am canadian..

dont listen to lagin guys..shes out of her mind

anyways..so who wants to go bobsledding?..because i am a canadian and this is what we as canadians do... ..(duhhh)

we also get sick for fun because our healthcare is amazing

I'm "sick" right now.... 

[aajjmb]

IM CANADIAN!!!!!
GRADE 10 RCM - LIVE IN VICTORIA - DOING EXAM AUGEST
16YRS OLD
Favorite piece = all of debussy's preludes
Fovorite piece I'm playing - - - black key etude or polonaise in g# minor or bach prelude in fuge no.21

[Siberian Husky]

im about as canadian as it gets...

i even play hockey

[klick]

We don't "alll" play hockey, just a good half of the contry.......Personaly i prefer to paly basketball, but the sport to watch s hockey.

[lagin]

Hey guys, I did my grade 3 RCM history today.  It wasn't so bad at all!  They asked the right questions for me.  Now it's on to grade 4.  Has anyone done the new grade 4, since the changes were made?

[klick]

Nice.....hope u did well. Any i obviously can't answer your question, but i would assume that It is alot harder in Level 4.....seeing how it is one level higher.

[keys]

whaa? Our health care sucks. It's killing thousands.

[hunniebearu]

first post in this forum
I am from Vancouver BC

just finished my Harmony&Counterpoint 5 exam today...
I spent the entire 3.5 hours writing, with little time left to double check

now I am preparing for my Auguest ARCT (performance) exam.
I am just wondering if anybody know any good teacher in the lower mainland?
I am planning to switch a teacher after my exam... whether I pass it or fail it.

thanx in advance.

[nanabush]

I'm doing performer's and I'm in Ottawa..  Grade 10 gotta love good old Liebestraum..FOR GRADE 9 OPTIONAL STUDY DO "the heart asks pleasure first"... It's a great piece but quite difficult compared to the other etudes for grade 9.  I also loved playing Prelude/Fugue in C minor by Bach for grade 9 and D major for grade 10 (both from book 1)...Anyone here doing performer's?  What are you currently learning for it?

[lagin]

I'm only in grade 10 (almost).  I wish I did a replacement popular song for one of my studies.  I never had a chance to do this, and now my chances are over, but my grade 10 study picks are both slow and pretty.  My grade nine ones were kinda bouncy.  Hey, Nanabush, for the Bach grade 9, did you use and rubato at the end of the second page/beginning of the third, where there is only one line of sixteenth notes split between the hands?  And did you just jump, bam!, into the Presto or did you pull the tempo there?  I'm not getting good responses from adjudicators lately, (though one did love the interpretation), and I was wondering if I should add some rubato.  I'm just playing it all strict tempo right now with only a touch of rubato on the last mordent.  I'm talking about the prelude here, I think the fugue is okay.  If you used any rubato in that could you tell me, too?  One last question:  How did you shape the subject,  I have it in a cresc. and then tapering the end.  What do you think?  what did your examiner think?  Thanks for the help.  The reason I'm asking here and not in the general discussions is that we've both learned the same edition, and are both doing RCM.  I know it should be played the way I like, but for the sake of my exam in less than a month, I'd just like to go with the flow and get a good mark, if you know what i mean.  Thanks. bye

[nanabush]

For the Prelude in C minor, It wasn't quite rubato, but my music teacher suggested that I gradually slow down, but just a little, then the start of the presto is almost held back, kinda like da,   da,    da, da, dadadadada

If you understand that, I kinda slow down before presto, then pick it up where it's like

d c d eb c b c

It's kinda hard to explain, but not quite rubato, just held back..

[lagin]

actually i think i get it, thank you.

[Siberian Husky]

yeah me too

[allthumbs]

Greetings

first post in this forum
I am from Vancouver BC

just finished my Harmony&Counterpoint 5 exam today...
I spent the entire 3.5 hours writing, with little time left to double check

now I am preparing for my Auguest ARCT (performance) exam.
I am just wondering if anybody know any good teacher in the lower mainland?
I am planning to switch a teacher after my exam... whether I pass it or fail it.

thanx in advance.

Try Donna Fishwick - her studio is in Burnaby across from the Bridge Movie Studios near Boundary Rd. Phone (604) 431-6700

Cheers

[nanabush]

I was toying around with rubato and personally think it sounds great!  If your comfortable with it I'm sure the examiner will enjoy hearing your interpretation of the prelude.  Ask what your teacher prefers though, as my teacher wanted me just to gradually slow down, then pick it up mid first measure of presto..

[lagin]

My teacher is a little skeptical, but she's also very reasonable.  I'm suppost to do it the way I like and then show her the finished product next lesson.  She's a big fan of when you can't decide learn both ways well and decide later, lol.  Nanabush,  what were you other gr. 9 pieces?  And how did you shape the subject in the fugue?  I'm getting nailed for it not having enough shape alot.  thanks again, bye

[nanabush]

Grd 9 repertoire:

P/F C minor by JS bach

Rondo By Beethoven, (i think it's called that)  C major, it's in Grd 9 book.

June by Tchaikovsky

Sonatina by Khathcataurian,  which is kinda annoying but still very very very easy.

Heart asks pleasure first as one of my studies, and the other E flat major etude by Moszkowsky (in grade 9 book)


For the fugue, you have to find where the original theme comes out, and is very hard to bring it out in some places, so if i were you, start by making sure you know where the theme is from the first few lines throughout the piece.  It's not evident in some places but it's always almost there.

[lagin]

Thanks, Nanabush.  I don't have any problem bringing all the subjects out.  It's just how to shape them.  What I mean is my subjects always stand out against the rest, but I want them to have some character.  I was thinking at the beginning of each subject, to crescendo it till almost the end, and then taper it off, but I didn't know if you had any other cool ideas?  I was hoping we'ld have some other pieces in common from you list, but we don't.  Too bad. 

[hunniebearu]

Greetings

Try Donna Fishwick - her studio is in Burnaby across from the Bridge Movie Studios near Boundary Rd. Phone (604) 431-6700

Cheers

thanx a lot
I'll definitely phone her up and talk to her

[nanabush]

Lagin, what's your current repertoire from grade 9?  If you want more cool ideas, find various recordings online of the fugue and listen to the differences...

[lagin]

Hey Nanabush, cool idea, thanks.  My current repertoire is on the first page of this thread about 15 posts down .  I say current because it is changing in 27 days and counting...YES! 

[nanabush]

Anyone here recommend any easier pieces for performers?  I've gotten lotsa recommendations, but now have like 3 choices for each list:

A:  Prelude and Fugue in C sharp Major (bk 1)... I am realizing that the fugue is an insane beast and will have trouble learning well.... any other piece recommended for list a would be appreciated.

B:  Sonata by Grieg, which I'm pretty sure I'll pay b/cuz I know the entire piece now.

C:  Fantaisie Impromptu...quite easy "compared" to other romantic pieces, Petrarch Sonnet 104 which I find is easiest from the entire romantic repertory for this level, and my teacher has just kinda started wanting me to play a HR...

D:  Cathedrale Englouti, which is an easier choice for performers, Peurta del Vino, Danse de Puck...Tried to learn Jeux d'eau but didn't last long.  Any other recomendation would be appreciated.

E:  I have been recommended several "visions fugitives" by Prokofiev, anything else?

Concert Etude:  Black key etude by chopin, I really want to learn revolutionary and shouldn't pose a HUGE problem, any etudes by liszt that you would recommend won't take too long to learn besides first TE...

[lagin]

Two questions nanabush:
1:  Why do you want the easiest pieces?  Are you really busy or something?  BTW, how about Moonlight

2:  "I love lamp"  I don't get it

[nanabush]

I'm in a heavy school program, and will not have as much time to dedicate to a monster piece, well not an 'easy' repertoire, just not very difficult pieces, something along the difficulty of FI or an average etude from chopin...  Nothing like Scarbo or Mephisto Waltz..


As for I love lamp, you will have to view the movie anchorman to enjoy these words to their fullest..

[chelsey]

I'm a proud Canadian I'm 17, from Sudbury, Ontario and have studied piano for the last 7 years (firstly with an independent teacher who i prepared conservatory exams with, and now with a serious teacher for the last 18 months who's the piano prof at the college). I did my exams through Conservatory Canada, which is an RCM equivalent repetoire-wise (for the most part, they are a few exceptions.. for example Fur Elise being a gr6 piece for Conservatory Canada and a gr7 piece for RCM), but has a different order for presenting technical requirements (though by the higher grades, 8+, they're identical), and a wider keyboard skills/ear training requirement. For example, sight transposition and harmonization become part of the exams by gr6.

My current teacher is an RCM examiner (which is why I stopped doing exams with Conservatory Canada), and next week is adjudicating the provincial festival in PEI. If you're doing an RCM in June, she's gone for most of the month doing exams across Canada. She recently finished her doctorate at Eastman last fall. She's an amaing teacher and has brought me so far in 18 months. With her I decided that university music was the right path for me, and we successfully prepared my audition for Memorial University (out in Newfoundland) which boasts an EXCELLENT (yet small) school of music, of which I was one of 4 first year pianists accepted for the fall. My teacher wanted me either there or University of Toronto (her alma mater), and I decided I'd thrive in the smaller setting.

I competed in this year's music festival in my city, and won Top Senior Pianist, and was selected to compete in the Ontario Provincial Music Festival in the Diploma (ARCT) class which is being held in Ottawa on June 7 and 8. I'm an super excited,  it'll be my first bigger-than-local competition.

Will anyone else be attending? It'd be so cool to meet someone (or compete with) from the board.

My repetoire for the competition is Alexina Louie's 'I leap through the sky with stars' which is a modern Canadian piece, and Chopin's Etude in C# minor (op 25 #7).

The other pieces I played for my auditions were the first two movements of Beethoven's Sonata in Ab Op.110 and selected 3 part inventions in a last minute effort  to fill the Bach requirement for certain schools ( not that I don't love Bach, I adore his work, especially his keyboard concertos!).  Currently I'm working on the third movement of the Op.110 (the arioso and fugue ~ most beautiful and profound Beethoven movement ever, in my opinion), and Chopin's 3rd Ballade.

LOVING the awesome Canadian contingent on this board!

Chelsey

[nanabush]

There's so much selection for performers!!!  So much I want to learn, I keep changing what I want to play.. What I find kind of useless though is that pieces like Hammerklavier, Scarbo, Mephisto waltz are in this.. There should be a level higher than performer's because why waste your time learning a piece that virtuosos could have trouble playing...And I hear there's a time limit, why would you think of playing Hammerklavier...I find the Performer's has to wide of skill range, and I still can't believe that Someone would think of playing Scarbo, instead of a 4-5 page debussy prelude...gaa I wish we had the other system, where there's like 4 levels or something, in US I think..

[viking]

Hi.  For any of you who care, I'm from saskatchewan, 16 years, and doing performers ARCT in August.  Favorite composers include: Beethoven, Liszt, Rachmaninoff.  Best composer: Bach.
SAM

[lagin]

Guys, don't let the thread die!   soooooo, how's it going?  I got my grade nine exam in two more days.  Anyone else got exams this session?  Nanabush, did you find the grade ten selections really diverse in skill level?  Like the Suite Francaise, in List D looks grade sevenish, and the Chopin Nocture in F# major looks ARCTish! 

[clariniano]

Another Canadian here, also from Toronto. I actually started piano rather late (at 15); I'm 26 now. I started in a group piano class in high school, did that for a couple of years, using Alfred's Adult Method (which is far superior to their normal method), got to early in the second book in one semester. (I had been playing clarinet for 3 1/2 years at the time, performed a piece that is on the current Grade 6 clarinet list then) Then slacked off on my piano skills big-time, because I was really concentrating on clarinet. (my main instrument). However, since getting my clarinet ARCT means I have to do my Grade 6 piano exam, my progress has greatly accelerated in the past year. I am studying with a really great teacher, who has really inspired me to work very hard. (I also perform with him on clarinet) Just last year, I was struggling with Grade 1 and 2 pieces; I now learn Grade 4 pieces quite easily (am doing the exam in August, aiming to do Grade 6 by the following June, though I'd like to be able to do it in January), can play certain Grade 7 and 8 pieces.

Meri

[prettypianoplaying]

Hey Im Canadian too.. 17 years old, from Ontario.  I Just finished my ARCT on June 9th and Im waiting for my marks.
Here's what I played on my Exam:

A: Prelude and fugue in C# major

B: Sonata in A+ op. 120 by schubert

C: Rhapsody op 79 no. 2 Brahms

D: Hills of Anacapri by  Debussy

E: Excursions #3 and #4 by Barber

Etude:  Un sospiro

If anyone's looking for their list E piece for their ARCT exam,  the Excursions are great.  (HINT... play something thats not popular, examiners are tired of hearing the same old stuff all the time guys)  That goes for the Sonata I picked too.  Its not played alot and its a real pretty and exciting work.

[lagin]

So, I've got history AND harmony 4 exams in August.  Anyone who's done them have any words of advice?  I'm more worried about the history. 

[keys]

So, I've got history AND harmony 4 exams in August.  Anyone who's done them have any words of advice?  I'm more worried about the history. 

History:
 - Make flash cards; the bios are usually easy to remember, flash cards will help you get the details. 

 - Write your essays on every other line so you can add stuff if you remember more.

 - Keep carefull track of time so you don't get stuck on one question.

 Are you working from the new syllabus or the old? I was with the old and Gr.4 history was WAY harder then Gr.3 or Gr.5. I had the new for Gr.5 and it seemed a lot easier then the old syllabus I worked from for 3&4.  I loved music history, I hated the harmony

I have my Perfomer's ARCT on Tuesday! Wish me luck!

[nanabush]

F sharp major Nocturne isn't too difficult, I played for about two weeks with my teacher, but I prefered Liebestraum.  For E if you want a dificult piece that kills all the others, play March for the Love of Three Oranges, it's so awesome!!  And if you're feeling lazy and want the easiest piece in List E, play Strangeness of Heart, you could probably sight read it up to performance level... and it's only 3 pages.  Cat and Mouse/Fantastic Dances are probably the most difficult peices in the book.  If you want an underplayed fast piece for list D, go Doctor Gradus ad Parnassus by Debussy, or another Children's Corner piece...

[llamaman]

I'm Canadian, I just started lessons. I can play at a Grade 8 level, but will be taking my Grade 6 exam in 6 months, as my scales and sight-reading aren't at Grade 8 level yet.

[lagin]

Guys, I'm so impatient.  How long does it take to get your exam marks (for practical exams) back online?  I live in B.C., so it takes 5 days maximum for mail to get to Ontario.  Does anyone else have their's back yet?

[Alde]

Guys, I'm so impatient.  How long does it take to get your exam marks (for practical exams) back online?  I live in B.C., so it takes 5 days maximum for mail to get to Ontario.  Does anyone else have their's back yet?

Be patient.  You wait until the last June exam is complete before anything is posted.  I know for sure that the May theory exam marks are now available.

[lagin]

ARE YOU SERIOUS!  The last June exam, which is like this Friday, is practically forever.  I wanna know by how much i passed (being optomistic here). 

[abell88]

I have a student who took her exam June 4...her result was up this Monday.

Edit: oops, she took her exam on the 11th, results were up on the 20th, comments about 8 days later...BUT none of my other students' results have been posted yet (at least as of this afternoon), which I find strange and little frustrating.

[pianoden]

Seeing how were talking about Canadians, any out there doing taking any French piano lessons like Vincent D'Indy or NDA??  I'd like to know

[Nightscape]

Does anybody ever call it Canadia?

[Siberian Husky]

im going to canada, make room for me little one! weeeeeeeeee

[lagin]

so even though this will not help my results to get here any faster............
how long from your exam date did it take for your results to get posted, ie: for me it was 13 days in between.
and how long from the time you got your results to the time you got the examiner comments online?

[nanabush]

For my grade nine it was about 2 weeks, but for grade 10 my comp was fkt so I had to wait for them to mail me the rubric...or was it the other way around, ne ways probly about 2 weeks give or take.

Since there's so many canadians, what's ur repertoire, what are you currently practicing?

[lagin]

Since there's so many canadians, what's ur repertoire, what are you currently practicing?

who me?

[nanabush]

No in general anyone who has posted on this thread

[rc]

Hello from southern Alberta.

I was dickin' around with piano for about a year before finding this forum and getting serious about it ~8 months ago.

Right now, with the help of my teacher, I'm aiming to get the grade 8 diploma by next year so as to help prepare me for the audition to get into university and go on to teach... That's the goal.

I would guess that the level I'm comfortable playing at would be grade 5, so this grade 8 repertoire is quite the challenge - and I'm loving it . But I've certainly got my work cut out for me, going to have to see how things develop as it goes.

In the meantime I'm working on building my repertoire to play out and gain some performance experience. I figure that once I polish up the older pieces and finish what's on my plate I'll have over an hours worth of material. There's no shortage of retirement castles for me to play at in this city, so the aged ones can hear some music and I get to practice. A win-win scenario.

My plate right now:

Kuhlau: Sonatina op59 no1, 1st mvmt (the first of my grade 8 challenges. Quickly learning how to play quick)

Haydn: Sonata in G, L.5 (Realised I have no slow, moody pieces. The Andante does this beautifully)

as well as freshening up two older pieces.

BTW... Happy Canada Day!