All About ABRSM Grades & Support
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doodbug:
How is that slow? ;D My elder one was doing his Grade 2 violin exam in P3.
Thanks for helping to put things in perspective. I was begining to think my kids are slow! I started them on the violin in K1. DD is in P1 and is attempting her Grade 1. DS is in P2 and is attempting his Grade 3. This seems like snail's pace! However, I can tell that even at this snail's pace, DS is not completely prepared for Grade 3. He does not have the fine motor skills nor the music appreciation to bring out the colour of his pieces at all. And I do not wish to push too hard, or to discourage him. It takes some age and maturity for one's tone to develop, and I don't think he has reached the level of musical discernment as yet. As parents, I think we have to accept that not all children are musical geniuses, and that most children actually need encouragement and supervision to persevere through the music journey.
As for the expression/dynamics of the piece. The teacher would teach right? I don't remember my son's teacher touching much on dynamics when he took his grade 2. It was like - can play fairly ok, was fine with her. But when I changed him to another teacher, I could see how the new tr pushed him technically and then worked on many little fine details
The final polishing was done only in the final weeks before exams with all the detailed dynamics emphasized. I couldn't believe the details the teacher went into. -
If p2 taking grade 3 is considered snail pace, I don’t know what I was already. I took my grade 1 when I was p4 :p. I feel parents’ expectation are much higher nowadays all thanks to constant glorifying of inflated grades at very young age. Whatever happened to one grade per year?
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monmon31:
He has not taken any practical exam as I want him to enjoy playing piano as much as he can rather than sitting for exams. Exam will make piano playing boring as he has to concentrate on 3 pieces. It is just my personal preference. However, he will take Grade 8 practical exam this March.
Has he taken the Grade 5 practical exam? where is the centre may i know? Can you pm me?ngl2010:
My son took once a week lesson (group class) for 6 months and he got 95 for Grade 5 theory when he was Primary 3 (the class started when he was Primary 2). He had never had theory lesson before and never sat for practical exam although he was playing Grade 5 pieces when he attended the Grade 5 Theory classes. His teacher, like Dreamaurora, also prefers to teach theory at one go. About 70% of my son's classmates obtained more than 90 in the exam. The oldest in the class in Primary 5 and the youngest was in Primary 2 when they took the exam. Parents must sit in the class so we got a lot of pressure to make sure our children do the homework. The children were looking forward to the lessons every week because the classes are fun as they are all about the same age and some kids really made the classes lively. Even I enjoyed the classes
So, anything is possible. Just need to find a good teacher and work hard on it.
I will pm you. -
ngl2010:
Wow - very brave and very wise. Straightaway take Grade 8.
He has not taken any practical exam as I want him to enjoy playing piano as much as he can rather than sitting for exams. Exam will make piano playing boring as he has to concentrate on 3 pieces. It is just my personal preference. However, he will take Grade 8 practical exam this March.
I will pm you.
Eh, you should straightaway just do ATCL Diploma. No prerequisites required. ;D Then wouldn't have needed to *cheong* for Grade 5 theory. Also no need to take time out from enjoying the learning and playing of pieces to practise sight-reading or aural, since for ATCL, all you need to is just perform, perform, perform. I know of kids who've done just that. Straight to ATCL and they get that with distinction. -
sacredmusicals:
Whatever happened to one grade per year?
Eh, so tiring to do one grade per year and waste so much money. Every exam book you buy, you are making ABRSM richer and richer! And exam fees are increasing all the time!
Even scale books which were last time combined into 2 books (Grades 1-5 in 1 book and Grades 6-8 in one book) have now been split into one book for each grade... what an expense. -
phankao:
My son is not talented leh... Just pure hard work... We would like to give him freedom to choose any musical instrument after his piano Grade 8 because we were the one that decided his first instrument so we think it will be fair to let him choose his musical instrument after Grade 8 piano. That is why we don't insist on Diploma.
Wow - very brave and very wise. Straightaway take Grade 8.ngl2010:
He has not taken any practical exam as I want him to enjoy playing piano as much as he can rather than sitting for exams. Exam will make piano playing boring as he has to concentrate on 3 pieces. It is just my personal preference. However, he will take Grade 8 practical exam this March.
I will pm you.
Eh, you should straightaway just do ATCL Diploma. No prerequisites required. ;D Then wouldn't have needed to *cheong* for Grade 5 theory. Also no need to take time out from enjoying the learning and playing of pieces to practise sight-reading or aural, since for ATCL, all you need to is just perform, perform, perform. I know of kids who've done just that. Straight to ATCL and they get that with distinction.
I know some kids are taking 2 instruments concurrently but I don't want to be greedy. If he can play piano reasonably well, I am already very happy
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phankao:
Completely agree! I was so shocked when we register for ABRSM exam. So expensive :moneyflies:sacredmusicals:
Whatever happened to one grade per year?
Eh, so tiring to do one grade per year and waste so much money. Every exam book you buy, you are making ABRSM richer and richer! And exam fees are increasing all the time!
Even scale books which were last time combined into 2 books (Grades 1-5 in 1 book and Grades 6-8 in one book) have now been split into one book for each grade... what an expense.
The teacher did not want us to buy scales book because she wants DS to memorise all scales.
Btw, anybody knows where the music bookshop at Bras Basah moved to? Their book prices are very competitive. -
phankao:
I spoke to a Trinity examiner last time and he said whenever he examined ATCL or LTCL there would be definitely be quite a few trainwrecks as there is no prerequisites and anyone can take the exams. I think ATCL or LTCL are useful for students who just wish to focus on acquiring repertoire and enjoy performing. Though personally I am not sure if ignoring sight-reading or aural while preparing the diplomas is a good idea because it may lead to certificate holders who just know how to play diploma exam pieces. I think too often we hear complains about pianists who cannot improvise Happy Birthday but could play stuff such as Beethoven's Appasionata. Last time ATCL used to have ATCL(Performance) which by the way I think was an excellent certificate because it assessed more than just performance. But Trinity scraped it; I guess the lure of commercialism was too strong.
Wow - very brave and very wise. Straightaway take Grade 8.ngl2010:
He has not taken any practical exam as I want him to enjoy playing piano as much as he can rather than sitting for exams. Exam will make piano playing boring as he has to concentrate on 3 pieces. It is just my personal preference. However, he will take Grade 8 practical exam this March.
I will pm you.
Eh, you should straightaway just do ATCL Diploma. No prerequisites required. ;D Then wouldn't have needed to *cheong* for Grade 5 theory. Also no need to take time out from enjoying the learning and playing of pieces to practise sight-reading or aural, since for ATCL, all you need to is just perform, perform, perform. I know of kids who've done just that. Straight to ATCL and they get that with distinction.
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ngl2010:
Completely agree! I was so shocked when we register for ABRSM exam. So expensive :moneyflies:phankao:
[quote=\"sacredmusicals\"]Whatever happened to one grade per year?
Eh, so tiring to do one grade per year and waste so much money. Every exam book you buy, you are making ABRSM richer and richer! And exam fees are increasing all the time!
Even scale books which were last time combined into 2 books (Grades 1-5 in 1 book and Grades 6-8 in one book) have now been split into one book for each grade... what an expense.
The teacher did not want us to buy scales book because she wants DS to memorise all scales.
Btw, anybody knows where the music bookshop at Bras Basah moved to? Their book prices are very competitive.[/quote]Wait until you see the diploma prices.
You mean the bookshop at the first floor? They have moved? -
Dreamaurora:
Wait until you see the diploma prices.
Completely agree! I was so shocked when we register for ABRSM exam. So expensive :moneyflies:ngl2010:
[quote=\"phankao\"]
Eh, so tiring to do one grade per year and waste so much money. Every exam book you buy, you are making ABRSM richer and richer! And exam fees are increasing all the time!
Even scale books which were last time combined into 2 books (Grades 1-5 in 1 book and Grades 6-8 in one book) have now been split into one book for each grade... what an expense.
The teacher did not want us to buy scales book because she wants DS to memorise all scales.
Btw, anybody knows where the music bookshop at Bras Basah moved to? Their book prices are very competitive.
You mean the bookshop at the first floor? They have moved?[/quote]The one inside music instrument shop. I think either on the second or third floor. Got music bookshop on the first floor mah?
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