Teacher Dreamaurora - Piano Q&A

[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.

[Angelight]

Dreamaurora, if I’m studying the piano theory to prepare for grading exam, does it mean I have to buy the theory books from Grade 1-8? My piano teacher recommends Piano Lessons Made Easy by Lina Ng, seems like alot of people learning piano are using this book. Will this book be enough to prepare me for the theory exam? Or are there other bks too?


Btw, I’m thinking of taking the piano theory exam only at Grade 3 or maybe 5 so I have more ample time to prepare for it. My piano teacher says it’s possible. want to hear your 2nd opinion.

[Dreamaurora]

A note to all those parents who ask how long to take the grades.


As a teacher, I have witnessed extraordinary learning feats from my students and I am proud of them realising their potentials. But I always stress that it is the journey that matters in the end, not the end results. If my students can complete grade 8 by the time they are 8 years old, but they hate piano for the rest of their lives, then I would have failed as a teacher.

For parents, don’t be affected too much by other parents’ children, let your children take their own time. It is very tempting of course when we hear things like NAFA’s 2 grades per year or stuff like 6 year olds passing grade 5. But remember these are the exceptions and require specific conditions from both parents and children to achieve. That is why now I refrain from sharing some of my students’ unusual accomplishments because I do not wish to give false ideas to parents.

[Dreamaurora]

Angelight:

Dreamaurora, if I'm studying the piano theory to prepare for grading exam, does it mean I have to buy the theory books from Grade 1-8? My piano teacher recommends Piano Lessons Made Easy by Lina Ng, seems like alot of people learning piano are using this book. Will this book be enough to prepare me for the theory exam? Or are there other bks too?


Btw, I'm thinking of taking the piano theory exam only at Grade 3 or maybe 5 so I have more ample time to prepare for it. My piano teacher says it's possible. want to hear your 2nd opinion.

For lower grades, should be enough. Personally for grade 1-5 I don't use any theory books, prefer my students to work on a notebook. Then I give various exercises from different books accordingly. But for self studying, I guess you can use Lina Ng' books.

For higher grades, you need more than just theory books. Buy at least a music textbook; Music an Appreciation is a popular choice here. And for harmony can go through Anne Butterworth's Harmony in Practice.

[piglet and calf]

Hi there,


I agreed that the most important is the child must enjoy playing piano. No point pushing her further and she hates it in the end after completing grade 8.
My child requests for piano class, thus i started her last year end. Didn’t want her to take exams at a young age, thus I might let her continue practice and take it later on if she wants.