Teacher Dreamaurora - Piano Q&A

[Dreamaurora]

phankao:

i3mum:

Hi Dreamaurora,


Thanks for your reply. Now I have a better view. I understand that those from NAFA take 2 grades in a year, it's amazing and I guess it must be very taxing on the students!
[quote=\"Dreamaurora\"]
It is common for students to skip exams, but not skip grades. Teachers understand that it is a hassle to take every single graded exam from grade 1-8, so most will only choose selected grades to be taken. For my studio, most of my students take either grade 3 or 5 as their first exam. This does not mean any grades is skipped. Skipping grades is dangerous and will cause massive difficulty spike for students, not to mention weaker foundation overall because of lesser time spent building foundation and acquiring repertoire. So let's say even if the first exam a student takes is grade 3, the teacher would have gone through the materials and pieces in grade 1-2 before preparing for grade 3.

In NAFA, they might not actually take the ABRSM exam. Bc they do conduct internal exams 2x a year, I think.[/quote]You are correct. They have internal exams, the only actual ABRMS exams the students take are grade 5 and 8.

[i3mum]

Now I know

Dreamaurora:

You are correct. They have internal exams, the only actual ABRMS exams the students take are grade 5 and 8.

[peachbubble]

Dreamaurora:

i3mum:

Hi all,


Wanted to ask if it is common to skip grades for piano?

It is common for students to skip exams, but not skip grades. Teachers understand that it is a hassle to take every single graded exam from grade 1-8, so most will only choose selected grades to be taken. For my studio, most of my students take either grade 3 or 5 as their first exam. This does not mean any grades is skipped. Skipping grades is dangerous and will cause massive difficulty spike for students, not to mention weaker foundation overall because of lesser time spent building foundation and acquiring repertoire. So let's say even if the first exam a student takes is grade 3, the teacher would have gone through the materials and pieces in grade 1-2 before preparing for grade 3.

Dreamaurora,

Can you share the materials that you are using for each grade? Do you have specific sets of materials/books/songs etc that the students must complete before upgrading them to the next grade? In addition, how many songs or what's the workload for your students?

Thanks.

PeachBubble

[Song22]

Hi Dreamaurora


What do you think of Joe Hisaishi pieces? My 10 yrs old son loves his pieces and sometimes he can master a piece in a week (cos he loves it so much that he keeps practicing). Can you also suggest some interesting pieces that he should be also play? We are planning on Grade 6 practical this October. Thanks!

[piglet and calf]

Hi,


Can I check how long will it takes usually for a 4 yr old to take grade 1 exams? My girl started learning piano 4 months ago.
Is it necessary to take all exams or can she skip grade 1 and proceed to grade 2 when she is older?

[kathyh]

Hi my child started to learn from last Oct at 5 yrs old. Just got distinction for Grade 2. It is possible to skip exams but as dreamdora said, do not skip grades / skill / training.

piglet and calf:

Hi,

Can I check how long will it takes usually for a 4 yr old to take grade 1 exams? My girl started learning piano 4 months ago.
Is it necessary to take all exams or can she skip grade 1 and proceed to grade 2 when she is older?

[Dreamaurora]

kathyh:

Hi my child started to learn from last Oct at 5 yrs old. Just got distinction for Grade 2. It is possible to skip exams but as dreamdora said, do not skip grades / skill / training.

piglet and calf:

Hi,

Can I check how long will it takes usually for a 4 yr old to take grade 1 exams? My girl started learning piano 4 months ago.
Is it necessary to take all exams or can she skip grade 1 and proceed to grade 2 when she is older?

I think you meant Oct 2010? :scratchhead: Registration for Feb/March exam is on September last year and I don't think any teachers will register students for exams until at least a few lessons.

[Dreamaurora]

piglet and calf:

Hi,


Can I check how long will it takes usually for a 4 yr old to take grade 1 exams? My girl started learning piano 4 months ago.
Is it necessary to take all exams or can she skip grade 1 and proceed to grade 2 when she is older?

According to the exam boards, grade 1 should be taken after approximately 18 months of lessons and the subsequent grades one year each. So If your girl starts at 4, she would most likely finish grade 8 around 13 years old. If want to be faster, practice more and get better teacher, but make sure this is not at the expense of the child.

Like what I said, students need not take all the exams, but they must not skip materials in each grade. Though this will depend on individual teacher's preferences.

[Dreamaurora]

Song22:

Hi Dreamaurora


What do you think of Joe Hisaishi pieces? My 10 yrs old son loves his pieces and sometimes he can master a piece in a week (cos he loves it so much that he keeps practicing). Can you also suggest some interesting pieces that he should be also play? We are planning on Grade 6 practical this October. Thanks!

I like Hisaishi's pieces and I have quite a few Japanese sheet music books in my library. I think it is great for students to be exposed to as many different types of music out there. Unless preparing for exams, I generally allow students to pick whatever they like to play. If he like Joe Hisaishi maybe can consider exposing him to other similar contemporary composers e.g. Christopher Norton, Michael Nyman, Jim Brickman, Eugene Rocharolle, Pamela Wedgewood, Nobuo Uematsu, Ryuichi Sakamoto, etc. Just have a listen to some of the works composed by the above people and see if your son likes any of them.

For a more comprehensive listing of pieces according to grades, Jane Magrath publishes an excellent repertoire guide.

http://www.amazon.com/Pianists-Standard-Teaching-Performance-Literature/dp/0882846558/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1332904728&sr=8-1

It is ordered according American/Canadian grade 1-10 system though.

[Dreamaurora]

peachbubble:

Dreamaurora:

[quote=\"i3mum\"]Hi all,


Wanted to ask if it is common to skip grades for piano?

It is common for students to skip exams, but not skip grades. Teachers understand that it is a hassle to take every single graded exam from grade 1-8, so most will only choose selected grades to be taken. For my studio, most of my students take either grade 3 or 5 as their first exam. This does not mean any grades is skipped. Skipping grades is dangerous and will cause massive difficulty spike for students, not to mention weaker foundation overall because of lesser time spent building foundation and acquiring repertoire. So let's say even if the first exam a student takes is grade 3, the teacher would have gone through the materials and pieces in grade 1-2 before preparing for grade 3.

Dreamaurora,

Can you share the materials that you are using for each grade? Do you have specific sets of materials/books/songs etc that the students must complete before upgrading them to the next grade? In addition, how many songs or what's the workload for your students?

Thanks.

PeachBubble[/quote]I mix and match various materials. But in general, for each grade I try to make sure my students learn at least these:
- 5 solo pieces
- 2 duets
- 2 technical exercises

For repertoire, I use anything from ABRSM's official graded exam syllabus to compilations like Simply Classics, Christopher Norton's Microjazz, Keynotes series, ABRSM's compilations etc. From grade 6 onwards, I try to give pieces from standard composers like Chopin, Bach, etc. Duets can be sourced from various duet books in the market.

Technical exercises I draw from various sources e.g. Czerny, Hanon, Pischna, Heller, Burgmuller, etc. But if not sure what to give Keith Snell has an excellent collection of exercises arranged according to grades.

http://www.amazon.com/GP460-Piano-Repertoire-Etudes-Prepartory/dp/0849762103/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1332905063&sr=1-5

For scale, I use my own books

http://www.rococo-music.com/products.html

For sight reading, I used to use Right at Sight, but nowadays I just give my students easier pieces from the earlier grades or method books so the students don't know they are actually practicing sight reading, haha.

For aural, I use Music for Sight Singing and Aural Training in Practice beside the standard ABRSM materials. Well basically just all these.