Anyone else currently working for (or with students working for) grade 5 with the current syllabus?

I'm currently sort-of-working for it. That is, I'm nominally working for it, but havn't been doing much (any) practice. Obviously that has to change if I'm ever going to get around to taking it, so I've started doing a little bit of practice in the last week or so.

What pieces are you using?
I can get through the Scarlatti, but it needs a lot of work still. Trying to get my fingers around the first sections of the Reger and Windsperger. Doesn't give me a particularly balanced programme, but at grade 5 I can probably get away with it.

How much technique are the examiners looking for at this level? If I can play the right notes at the right times, with some sort of dynamics/articulation and some sign of musicality, is that enough?
I'm /not/ a pianist. Piano is definitely /not/ my instrument. But I'm thinking about applying to study music at Uni in '08 or '09 and I figure that g5 piano is a useful thing to be have for that.

I've never learned any pedal technique as I couldn't reach the pedals properly when I did grade 4. Also don't know much about touch and attack and so on, as that's all very different on piano.

I can read both clefs fairly well, have done g5 aural before and my sight-reading's not too bad for some styles of music (it's dire for others though). I can find my way around the keyboard and I know the 'normal' scales, though my fingering is appalling - I'm trying to sort it out. Contrary motion minors are, I think, impossible to play.

There seem to be loads of people on here working for g8 at the moment - I'm hoping to find a few g5s lurking around too!

T.

I am!!! I was just off to do some practising now actually, when I thought I'd check the forums quickly first... And spotted this thread.



The Scarlatti (A:2), Burgmuller (B:1) and the Windsperger (C:2), which my teacher wants me to do... I've still not actually learnt it yet, due to lack of motivation I suppose... It's quite a crazy-sounding piece! And it gives my mum a headache!!



Quite a lot I'd say.



They aren't, truly! D minor for a start is very easy, especially after I thought that your hands take turns, as it were. If that makes sense?! It's just that, while your left hand is playing the C# and Bb, your right hand is just going up the scale, and then vice versa... Hmm I'm hopeless at describing things!!



Yes that's true. But look no further because I'm one of those lurkers!!

Same as me for A and C then. :-)
Trying to learn the Reger at the moment (B2) but will probably have a stab at the Burgmuller as well and see which I handle better. Not keen on having a page turn (would probably pcopy the first page of the Burgmuller to work around that, but I don't really like having 3 pages of music in front of me either), which is why I'm trying the Reger first.

D'you think it matters that we're chosing pieces that don't need pedal?
The Reger has one small use of the left one, which doesn't really worry me, but I'm avoiding sustain pedal if I possibly can.




I can do D minor, but only cos the shape of it is easy. Only one hand has to go 'up' at a time, so I can do it by looking.
Majors, I can 'hear' inside my head what they're supposed to sound like, but minors I can't.
F# minor is one of the scales I have monster problems with the fingering of anyway, so add that to the fact I can't 'hear' how it's supposed to go and it seems well nigh impossible.

Are you doing the second set of contraries? I was going to, but I'm struggling with it so badly that my teacher said learn both sets and we'll see which is least bad nearer the time.




Nice to know I'm not the only one! :-)
When are you taking the exam?

T.

Hi!
I'm also currently working on grade 5 piano too!
I'm doing Scherzo (A:3), La chevaleresque (B:1) and Jackson Street Blue (C:1)
I have photocopied the last page of Scherzo and first page of la chevalereque to avoid page turns and it works fine for me.
I am also /not/ a pianist but am hoping to apply to music college and grade 5 piano isa good thing to have!
I'm taking my exam at Christmas, whens everyone taking their exams?
Good Luck to everyone! (but I'm sure no one needs needs it!?
Surfergal x x

Hello again! It's great to have someone else to talk to about Grade 5!
Yes, my teacher also says it would be a good idea to photocopy the first page of the Burgmuller, which I'm going to do because I don't want to be page-turning in my exam!
That's interesting you'll be taking the Reger first - I'm just having a look at it now and it looks fairly tricky! Plenty of staccato! Also, both hands are playing in the treble clef! What do you think of that?
Did you choose the pieces, or did your teacher? I'm just wondering, as my teacher already knew the pieces and so started me off on the ones he obviously thought were best for me.
One other thing I wanted to mention was the Romance (B:3). It seems to be a nice piece - have you tried it by any chance?



No I don't think it particularly matters. I used to think I'd be using the pedal a lot in the higher grades, but it turns out there aren't a lot of pieces in the syllabus which require it, so it's just as well really - less to concentrate on in a way!!




Interesting. I've been learning a lot of scales recently for my next lesson (my teacher wants me to know them all, and I'm finding it a bit confusing at the mo as there are so many!!), and it's C# minor that I'm struggling with, regarding the fingering. Not that the fingering is any different to the others, only I suppose it's the pattern of it which throws me out a bit! But that's interesting you can 'hear' how the majors are supposed to go inside your head, but not the minors - why d'you think that is? I find it helps to play scales with your eyes closed. May sound funny but then you can hear what you're playing more without watching your hands.
Yes I'm doing the second set of contraries. Again, my teacher's suggestion, although he says they're much of the same thing really, which I would agree with. Both sections have harder and easier ones to play.



Yes it's nice to know I'm not the only one either!
All being well (!), I'm planning to go in for the Autumn term this year, which is coming up far too fast for my liking!! It's the aural and sight-reading I'm worried about... I'll just have to get on with more practising, so that when the closing date approaches I'll see then if I feel ready or not.
How about you? When will you be taking the exam? You mentioned in your first post that you're 'nominally' working towards it. Any plans of when you'd like to take it though?
Sorry for all the questions by the way! I'm well known for asking far too many!

Surfergal, it's good to hear that you're going in for Grade 5 piano too! That's the same time as me as well - Christmas time. And oh yes, I for one will be needing all the luck I can get!! I'm nervous already...

I am, and like you, piano is definetly not my instrument and i don't practice enough but Higher music needs to be passed!

I am playing the Scarlatti - lovely piece, i really like it. The Reinecke - it requires so much concentration! There seems to be so many notes on the page! For my C piece it will probably be the Mier. It is the only one i like out of all the C pieces, both in the book and the additional pieces.

Technique is definetly a big requirement at Grade 5. If you can play Grade 5 standard you are expected to be able to play with good technique as well as musicality not just hit the keys at the right time.

I think i will be doing the exam at Christmas. Good luck to everyone else!

So, both of you are going for B1. I really should have a go at it soon...

And another non-pianist! :-)
Have you done previous grades on piano? What is/are your main instrument(s)?
D'you find it difficult to knuckle down and practice the piano?





I don't have much luck with p-copied pages - they fall off the music rest, or the music rest's not wide enough to spread everything out on, or everything fits and I find it weird having parts of the music further off to the sides than I'm used to! I know I should make a point of getting used to it, as it's an issue that's going to come up again and again and sooner or later I'll /have/ to play stuff with page turns or with extra sheets balanced on the rest somehow.

Havn't tried B3 - I think I ruled it out because of pedal stuff.

We chose them together - my teacher knows my strengths, weaknesses and preferences already (I havn't done much piano with her yet, but she's been teaching me flute since I started it) so we had a quick look through and discussed the options.



*grin* I'm used to /more/ to concentrate on. I just don't like using the sustain pedal. :-)
I'm also used to notes which sound until I release the key, so the whole concept of the sustain pedal is fairly alien to my way of thinking.



There's several I'm in a real muddle with the fingering for.
In my exam a few weeks ago, I somehow played a black note with my thumb during Bb major. The examiner refered to my scales as "accident prone" and my fingering as "uncertain", which I think was an extremely diplomatic way of putting it! My teachers use words like "creative" when they're trying to be nice about it, or words like "ridiculous" or "sloppy" when they're being blunt.

I know the sound of contrary motion majors cos I did some when I was younger. Never did minors before so I don't have the sound of them in my head.



Three of us now. :-)

I'm not sure when I'm going to take it. If I knuckle down and work hard I /could/ take it next term.
It depends on what else I'm taking and when though. My teacher hasn't decided yet if I'm ready to take a flute exam next term or which exam I'll do next. If I take 7 next term, she won't want me trying to do the piano one at the same time as I'll have to work really hard on the flute. If she decides I should aim for 7 in the spring, then getting the piano out the way first would be better. Unless she thinks I should do 6 flute next term as a sort of trial-run for 7 the following term - in which case I have no idea when I'll end up taking the piano one!

All other things being equal, I think I'd like to try to take it next term with you two - will make it more fun and we can all encourage each other along the way.

I too will be needing all the luck I can get. :-)

T.

Yay! 4 of us now. :-)

And yet another non-pianist!
Have you done piano grades before?

I havn't looked at the alternative pieces at all yet. If I can't get to grips with the Windspeger I'll probably look into them for C as the other two in the book have a lot of pedal stuff and I didn't like the look of either of them anyway.

Technique is a problem for me. I can find my way around the keyboard, but I'm not used to the touch at all. I can manage some dynamics, but not with the subtlety that I'd like. And my articulation is all wrong for piano. Plus there's probably a whole bunch of piano-specific technical stuff that I'm completely unaware of at this point.

T.

I think I'll be going for B1 too, and also C5 (Mister Trumpet Man). Haven't looked at an A piece yet as I've yet to get my hands on an exam book...

Car Expert

When are you taking the exam?
So far we've got 3 for next term and I don't know yet when I'll do it.

I've now had a go at B1 and found it sight-readable and I like it better than the Reger. Also had a go at C3 and found it less impossible than it looks. Had a stab at C1 too and struggled with it.

So, revised plan is to work on A2, B1, B2, C2, C3 and see how they go.

One good thing is that when I first looked at the book a few months ago, everything looked a lot harder than it does now (didn't even /try/ to play ones like C1, C3, B1), so I guess that means I'm improving despite the complete lack of piano practice. There are going to be a lot of gaping holes in my piano technique still, but at least my sight-reading and keyboard navigation is getting better. Don't think I can get beyond g5 piano on that basis, but 5 is looking do-able. :-)

T.

Not sure when I'm doing it yet either... it will probably be sometime next year.My version of the Burgmuller piece is on two pages, so I don't have to worry about page-turns.

Car Expert

Yes! I've done Grades 1-4. I've never done very well in any of them but i have been playing for around 7 years so it's not like i have just been doing grade after grade and not doing an additional repetoire.

Nerves are a big factor for me. I get really nervous and mess up my pieces that i know i can play perfectly and then get 22 for every piece! The weird thing is i actually enjoy getting ready for exams but then i still get so nervous! Just one of these things!

My daughter did her Grade 5 in June, she missed out on a distinction by four points, but i feel she could have practised more. But then i would say that. She did the Mozart, Reinecke and Jackson street blues.

I had a lesson this afternoon - did both instruments and my teacher says I could do piano next term and might be able to do flute, but probably shouldn't try to do both in the same term. We're going to make the flute decision nearer the deadline for entries, and the piano decision will depend on that.

Which book do you have the Burgmuller in? If it's one I have already I'll dig it out, if it isn't I might think about getting it depending on what else it has in it.




I gave up piano when I was 9. This is going to be my first piano exam since then and I don't study piano. I'm doing a bit of piano in some of my flute lessons. In my case "not a pianist" doesn't mean "piano isn't my main instrument"; it means "piano isn't really one of my instruments at all". ;-)
The plan is to get through 5 and leave it at that. Plans sometimes change though, so it's possible I might try another piano grade sometime in the future. But it's never going to be an instrument I study properly.

I get really nervous too. I havn't worked out how to stop that happenning.
I did an exam (not piano!) a few weeks back and was very nervous and made a lot of mistakes. My fingers kept slipping and I messed up my first few scales quite badly, and that rattled me (they'd been absolutely fine in practice), so I make mistakes in my pieces too - getting more panicked from one to the next.




That's still a really good result. Well done to her! :-)

We could probably all practice more. I certainly could, but, as piano isn't my thing, I tend to proscrastinate quite badly. *wry smile*



What books do all you grade 5ish folk use for extra (non-exam) repertoire? How much grade 5 standard stuff had you played before starting on the exam pieces? What are some of the (non-exam) pieces you've learned recently?

T.

Hello again!
I'm jumping straight in at grade 5! I've only had lessons for a couple of months but I have been playing piano for fun for a bit and kind of self taught myself to play up to grade 5.
My main instrument is flute.
I'm am getting on really well with the practise at the moment. I am just putting the finishing touches into the pieces at the moment. At first I found it quite hard to work on the scherzo though, I didn't really like it but it has grown on me.
The jackson street blues is my favourite though
The only worry I have is that I won't be able to play infront of the examiner because it will be my first exam, well piano exam, and I will be really nervous!!

How is everyone else doing?

Wow! I don't think I could've taught myself piano like that! *impressed*

Aileen's signature mentions flute and my second study is flute. :-)
And we're the three who aren't really piano people - I wonder if there's a connection...?

When did you start work on the exam pieces?
I'm still at the "choose pieces and start learning the notes" stage with mine. Finishing touches are way off in the future.
Now settled on Scarlatti and Burgmuller for A & B.
C is between Windsperger and Despic - I'm supposed to be seeing how much (or little!) sense I can make of the Despic by next week.

You've done flute exams before though, right?
If you want to think positive, remember that with piano at least all the notes are there ready for you - all you have to do it hit them and they'll sound. None of that "will my top G actually come out?" to worry about like with flute. And no issue with nerves affecting your breathing impacting on your tone.
Also, the examiners all play the piano themselves, so they may be a bit more understanding about the particular challenges involved.
Being a natural-born Eeyore, I tend to be /more/ worried about playing keyboard instruments in exams, thinking the examiner is guaranteed to notice anything that I do wrong. But my last exam I had an organist for the examiner and it turned out really great. The comments on the mark form were very specific and, although he picked up on the fact that my fingering was dicey on the scales, he also made lots of positive comments on my articulation, registration, etc. which was really cool and gave me a real confidence boost.

One thing you could try to do is find a way to play your exam pieces in public before you do the exam. Then you can get over some of the fear of playing them "for real" as it were.
I used my exam pieces as preludes and voluntaries in the run-up to my exam and also played them to someone scarily good who'd I'd never played in front of before. I did have a moment of "eeek! I can't play in front of him!" but I got through it and played and he was very encouraging. One of my exam pieces had been played to (and critiqued by) no fewer than /four/ FRCOs and an ARCO by the time I played it in the exam as well as having been played in public three times. The others had been played to three FRCOs and an ARCO and in public once or twice.
Plus I'm used to random people wandering in and out while I'm practising (including complete strangers). After all of that, playing in front of an examiner didn't seem so unusual. I was still /very/ nervous, but I didn't have the "I can't play!!" panic moment - mostly cos I'd gotten that out of my system when I played for the guy I was really nervous about playing in front of.

See if you can play your pieces (or at least one of them) in a school concert or festival or something. Or, if you have some other pieces that are performance-ready too, see if you can volunteer to give a short recital at a local nursing home or something to entertain the residents and include your exam pieces in your programme. Your teacher might have some ideas for performance opportunities - ask at your next lesson. Doesn't really matter much what it is, as long as it gets you playing in front of people you've not played to before.
It won't magic away the exam-nerves, but it should be enough to stop you freezing up completely when you get into the exam room.

T.

It's the same book they mentioned on the syllabus - one of the books from the 'Easier Piano Studies' series (no. 25 which contains just Burgmuller pieces).

C5 (Mister Trumpet Man) is from a William Gillock/Carl Czerny book (also mentioned on the syllabus).

Car Expert

I started my piano pieces maybe a couple of months ago. After my Int 2 practical i think. The A and B pieces i can play all the way through but there are still mistakes so i have to do a bit slow practice for now.

I've done one flute exam. I did Grade 4 about a year and a half ago. I'm aiming to Grade 7 at Christmas depending on what my teacher says when i have my first flute lesson of the new term.

Going off on a bit of a tangent from the piano thing for a moment... what pieces are you doing for g7 flute?

I'm learning 'Jade' for list C at the moment and love it to bits. My teacher's just lent me the Dvorak for list B so I can try it out before next week's lesson and see what I think of it. Had already done that with the Bozza and although it's nice, it's going to present problems on the "where to breathe" front. The Dvorak's got more rests in it!
Have ordered the Telemann (sight-unseen) for list A, but my teacher thinks it will probably be quite my sort of thing. (She doesn't have a copy of that particular one, but has played a lot of other Telemann.)

Back to the piano thing...
I can play right through my A and B pieces, but with hesitations and mistakes, so I need to slow them down and sort out the messy bits. Need to learn the Despic from list C for next week's lesson. I'm starting to find my way around the notes of it, but I think the timing is going to take quite some effort to make sense of.

So, Despic and Dvorak are the main things i'm supposed to be working on this week. Plus the dreaded scales. *despairs of ever getting the hang of F#m contrary motion*

D'you think you'll take the piano and flute exams in the same term?

T.

Thanks!
I started having lessons about April after I did my flute exam because I have the same teacher for piano now. I said I wanted to do grade 5 so we just went for it really. We tried to pick slightly "easier to learn" pieces and I started with Burgmuller for a bit and then after a week or so the scherzo and then the jackson blues and each week we have also been gradually adding in more scales. I have already done grade 5 on flute ( although a long time ago) and I recently did grade 8 aural in my flute exam so we haven't really looked at the aural yet and I'm actually quite good at the sightreading which suprised me! lol

Thanks for the great suggestions on playing infront of audiences etc. its a great idea because I really need to get used to playing the pieces infront of people. I think I am slowly getting there; I managed to play all three pieces to two friends the other day and I didnt make that many mistakes! I will definetly be attempting to play my pieces infront of audiences before the exam, I have a few friends who are excellent pianists; maybe I will pluck up the courage to play in front of them!!

My other worry is that I only have a digital piano ( due to lack of space) and not an acoustic one, like the one I will play in my exam, I happen to know the owner of the local music shop's son (where our exams take place) which mya come in handy and I might try and see if I can a few hours practise on that piano in advance. I play on my teachers acoustic piano, just not having taken a piano exam before I'm a bit worried I "won't get on with the piano" or something! Does anyone else have this worry?

The connection between flute and piano is interesting, there could be a connection *thinks hard*
Perhaps the flute and piano have similar attractions. Like playing the flute and swimming: a lot of my friends that play the flute also have belonged to swimming clubs or have been keen swimmers - not sure why though!

For the recent exams I did A3, B1 and C1. A3 is fiddly and, if you listen to the G5 disc, much too fast, but pace yourself and it should be fine. B1 is straight forward. Mister Trumpet Man is a real fun piece and I enjoyed playing it - I was learning it anyway as I was working through "New Orleans Jazz Styles". It was suggested that I change to C1 (which I also enjoyed) as it was a more "calming" piece for the exam (I get nervous) - unfortunately, that didn't work, but at least I got through!

Good luck!

Getting a go on the exam piano would be brilliant if you can arrange that. Otherwise try to get a go on a few different pianos, so you've experienced a range of them.

You can do the exam in any order you like. I know with flute, it's usual to start with the accompanied pieces, but for piano it's quite popular to start with scales so you have a chance to get a bit of a feel for the instrument before you have to play your pieces.


I was actually thinking that it was interesting that the three of us who said that we're /not/ really pianists are the same three who play the flute - as if there was something mutually exclusive about liking piano and playing the flute. *grin* I don't think there is really, I just found it an amusing co-incidence.

It makes sense that I like both flute and organ - organ's really just a whole bunch of flutes (including giant 16' (or even 32' in some places) ones and tiny less-than-an-inch ones - flutes you can play several of at a time. How cool is that!? Sorry - in danger of wandering off into a major "101 reasons why organ is terrific" spiel here. (Which, on the piano forum, is probably sacrilege.) ;-)

T.

hi all!
i'm doing grade 5 syllabus too ryte now

pieces :
- A1
(i've done scarlatti, but the ornaments are horrible, and scherzo is too fast with the recommended speed, i afraid to make a lot of mistakes in this piece, so i decided take the A1)
- B2
- C1

scales and arpeggios :
- c# minor contrary in group 1 is really a nightmare!!!

my exam is on 3rd october this year!! i'm quite nerveous

good luck for everyone who working for the exam!!

How's everyone been getting on over the last couple of weeks?

Those taking it in Nov/Dec - how close to knowing your pieces are you? How ready does your teacher expect you to be by the time the entry form goes in?

I've got the Scarlatti and the Burgmuller pretty much down, though still needing a lot of polishing. Still finding my way around the Despic - it's a bit weird in places.
Still struggling with fingering for some of the scales. Don't even want to think about the contrary motion minors though - D's OK but the other two are a problem.

T.

My pieces are conming on really well at the moment, its just odd bars I have to work on - like bars 23 and 24 of the Burgmuller; I think it's psychological though (lol) and I also have a few more scales to learn and perfect. I have my first piano lesson of the term on tuesday so my piano teacher will tell me how I'm getting on
Hows everyone else getting on?

Aha! I never spotted this thread I'm also a non pianist hoping to do G5!! As of yet I have learnt no pieces and few scales... Not looking good is it!

Well, it depends on when you're hoping to take it and just how much of a non-pianist you are! :-)

If you can play to roughly grade 5 standard and it just isn't an instrument you really care about, you should be able to learn the exam material fairly quickly and be able to take the exam sometime this academic year. If you can't play the piano at all, you've got a steep learning curve ahead of you. ;-)

I'm not a pianist in any way, shape or form (gave up piano when I was 9), but I am a beginner organist, so my general keyboard skills aren't far off what's required (organ seems to require keyboard facility roughly equivalent to 2 grades above in piano). My piano technique isn't great, but I know most of the scales (struggling with some of the contrary motions as I don't do those on organ (apart from with LH against feet, majors only)).

Are you hoping to do it with the current syllabus?
Burgmuller seems to be the clear favourite option for list B. There's less consensus about the other lists, but Jackson Street Blues seems fairly popular for list C. That's not my type of thing at all though, so I'm learning the Despic Fanfare at the moment, which has some awkward bits but is the sort of thing I should be able to play fairly well once I get my fingers around it.
If you've done enough piano to know what sort of things you get along well with, you'll be able to work out pretty quickly which pieces you're likely to enjoy. Otherwise, you can try them all or extrapolate from what you know you like on other instruments. Your teacher should be able to steer you towards pieces he/she thinks you'll get along well with too.
I don't do enough piano to choose easily, so I had a couple of false starts before finding the right pieces for me (was working on the Reger and Windsperger for a while).

Good luck with it.

T.

I don't have a teacher - I've been teaching myself, so although I can play reasonably well, I cannot just sit down and learn a piece! I've done some accompanying before, so I know my way around the piano.. The main problem is all those scales! I'll probably do the Mozart from list A, the Reinecke Romance from B and Jackson street Blues for C I was looking at doing trinity accompanying, but the books are too expensive!

And it's harder than grade 5 piano on it's own too.

Hadn't thought of that... But I would be more likely to put the work in as its more likely to be useful for me!

Is there any way you can have a lesson or two sometime before taking the exam? A bit of extra guidance might make a lot of difference. I arranged a couple of organ lessons (on the organ I would be using for the exam, which isn't my usual one) ahead of my exam to work just on exam stuff (which I wasn't working on in my normal lessons as I needed to concentrate on service music in those). I'd learned my scales and pieces by myself, but I learned a /lot/ in those two lessons and I don't think I'd have done nearly as well if hadn't had that extra guidance.

If you "cannot just sit down and learn a piece", then it's even more important to get some help. If you can get a lesson near the start of your learning, the teacher should be able to pick up on anything that you're doing wrong before you get it deeply ingrained. Then you can work by yourself for a while and have another lesson nearer the exam to help polish things up.
If you can't arrange any piano lessons at all, maybe see if one of your instrumental teachers will at least hear you play your exam pieces - they'll be able to spot any places where you've got rhythmic errors or the like.

The scales really aren't too bad, though the contrary motion ones seem daunting. If you ignore them, all you need is major and minor (your choice of which type) scales and arpeggios, plus chromatic. If you go into the exam not knowing /any/ of the contraries, you should still get enough marks to pass scales. The contrary majors aren't bad and there's one easy minor in each set. So, I reckon the worst case scenario is that you walk into the exam room knowing that there's two scales you can't play (which you might not even be asked for).

Aural's going to be the same as you'll have done for other instruments and maybe one of your teachers will do some grade 5 aural practice with you if you ask. My flute teacher ran through some g3 aural with me in my flute lessons in the run up to my organ exam, just to refresh my memory of what the tests were for that grade and give me a bit of practice at them as it's been a while since I did them for flute.

Sight-reading you can practice just by doing as much of it as possible - just sight-read anything you have to hand. Maybe borrow some extra music from friends (for g5 sight-reading, I'd guess you want pieces of around g3 standard). You can probably borrow the g5 specimen tests book off someone if you want to work through it nearer the exam.

I reckon doing it all without a teacher is possible, but that you'll find it much easier if you can get even just a couple of lessons.

Good luck!

T.

Thanks! I wish I could have a teacher, but tis just not feasible at the moment.. Time would be a lovely thing! Aural should be fine, as I'm taking G7 clarinet in November. My Sight reading is okay, that is the one advantage of not being able to stick to a piece and learn it! Accompanying also helps with that. From clarinet, I think I would be able to spot any errors with 'playing the dots' - I usually know I'm doing it wrong even if I can't get it right Scsles, I didn't know we would only get asked 2 contrary motions! That makes it a lot easier Thanks a lot!

I don't know how many contrary motions we'll get asked, but I doubt it will be all six! The majors really aren't bad and there's one easy minor in each set. So, even if you look at the other two minors and decide not to even try to learn them, you might get away with it. I would guess they'll probably ask one or two (one major, one minor) contraries, so if you go into it completely unable to play a couple of them, you might not get asked to play them.
Even if you do get asked for one of them, you won't lose many marks if you've played the rest of the scales and arpeggios well. I would guess they'll ask at least one of each 'thing' - major scale, minor scale, major arpeggio, minor arpeggio, chromatic. So if you've played all of those OK, then stuff up one of the contrary motions, it's not a huge problem, cos you're only going to lose a small proportion of the available marks.

Even with higher grades in other instruments, it's a good idea to get someone else to hear you play your pieces. If you mis-read something when you first learned one of them, you /could/ have a mistake in there somewhere and be totally blind to it. (Been there, done that!)

I know grade 7 is higher than grade 5, but the aural tests are rather different (and some of the 5 ones are, I think, nastier than some of the 7 ones), so try to get your clarinet teacher to give you some grade 5 practice tests near the exam, just to refresh your memory.

Which term are you going to do the exam? I might do it this coming term, but it depends on what else I'm doing.

T.

I probably won't be doing it until next term or perhaps the summer - depends how much practise I can get in!

Hey everyone. I've also been practising for grade 5, andante in b flat, la chevaleresque and burlesque. I really love the andante but i don't really get the flow of the burlesque. haven't even looked at the scales, better get a move on if i want to try to take it by christmas.

So, now that we're pretty much at the deadline for exam entries for this term, who of the grade 5 piano bunch is definitely taking it this term?

Much to my surprise, I am.
I'd been thinking I'd be more likely to take it next term, but my teacher thought I was well on track for November and we both agreed it would be best to just get it over and done with. It's also linked to the decision to defer my flute exam til next term to give me a few extra months to improve my tone, learn the scales and get plenty of practice at the higher level sight-reading and aural.

Eeeek!

And, of those taking it this term, is there anyone else who doesn't yet know all the scales?
I /hate/ the contrary motion ones. And I'm not exactly keen on some of the black-note minors.
The rest aren't bad as far as playing the right note goes, but playing them with the correct fingering? Um...


T.

Add me to the list!

Just decided this week to go for it, but probably next spring.
Scales are up to standard already - can't see the problem with contraries!!

Sight reading will always be difficult - just got to keep practicing and hope for an easy one.

Pieces still to be chosen, but it looks like A1 is possible and Jackson from the C group. Don't like the look of any of the Bs though!


Good luck everyone.

A

I've been entered for grade 5 piano this term!! I know all the scales but I'm still not confident with a few of them. There are so many scales - surely they would have ran out of scales by the time grade 8 comes lol!
My pieces are going really well I just have to remember all the dynamics and stuff and try and practise more on an acoustic piano (I have an electric one and am finding it suprisingly hard to adapt to an acoustic one)
Good Luck everyone and let me know how you all do when you've taken the exam!!
Surfergal x

There are so many scales - surely they would have ran out of scales by the time grade 8 comes lol!

ha - you would think so, wouldn't you ? in fact they just find different things to do with them, like playing in sixths and thirds.


Good luck with all that preparation

Have you decided your pieces yet?
They all look so hard!

A

I'm doing Scherzo in A (A:3)
La Chevaleresque (B:1)
jackson Street Blues (c:1)

Surfergal

[/quote]

I'm doing Scherzo in A (A:3)
La Chevaleresque (B:1)
jackson Street Blues (c:1)

Surfergal
[/quote]

I think I'll go for A1 - the other two look way too fast for me!
Romance, although Sir isn't convinced it's my style - what's that got to do with it if I can play it well enough for an exam.
And Jackson Street Blues, although it will be a slow blues - certainly nothing like on the CD!

Good luck with yours

A

please help me!!! my exam is tomorrow!!! hope someone reply my question!!

i have some questions in andante (mozart)
what ornament should i play in bars 21 and 27?

thanks so much!!

Those are appogiaturas - I would play them as one smooth run there, Bb A G F all being the same value (demisemiquaver/32nd note)

Oops, just noticed your exam was yestersday

How did it go?

And worse still - they include a whole bunch more contrary motion ones!

My pet hate is contrary motion minors. Every other scale-type-thing I play, on whatever instrument, I have the sound of it in my head. I know how the contrary motion majors are supposed to sound, just the same as I know how a chromatic is supposed to sound or a dim 7th or whatever. But those wretched minors? Nope. :-(


m_b_r>
How did the exam go?

T.

ahhh!!!!!! i did it wrong!!!!!!!!!!!
i played them as acciaccaturas!!

my exam overall was good, i did a mistake in arpeggios (both hands) oooh.... that was embarassing and messy.....

sight reading was awful!!

one mistake in aural test (clap)

i did the b2 in hesitation and some missed and wrong notes......

plus wrong ornaments in a1

a1 and c1 are overall good.....

uhhhhh, i just waiting the result......
really want to get distinction, but i think this time is not, maybe only merit

by the way, thanks rosemary for your help in ornaments!

Forgot to mention earlier - I've finally got my hands on a grade 5 exam book. Looking at the three pieces, I think A2 looks the best, although I'll have to see if my teacher agrees with me.

Car Expert

I'm using exactly the same pieces as you, Teigr! I have to say, I was surprised at how popular the Scarlatti seems to be. I wouldn't say it's the easiest piece...but I don't find much difference in difficulty in the A group, anyway.

I started off having a lot of trouble with the trills. They were fine at first, but then as I speeded the piece up the notes merged together. It took a lot of slow practice to get it back to normal.

I probably going to take the test next spring. Not looking forward to it, as there seem to be an infinite number of scales to remember and play.

[/quote]

And worse still - they include a whole bunch more contrary motion ones!


T.
[/quote]


Work of the devil, contrary motion scales!!


A

If you read right through the thread you'll see that my pieces changed soon after I posted that. ;-)
Still doing the Scarlatti, but now doing Burgmuller for list B and Despic for list C.
I didn't even try the other list A pieces - a quick glance through the book was enough for me to tell that the Scarlatti was the best match for me - it allows me to play to my strengths.



You should see my list A piece for grade 4 organ - tons and tons of ornamentation. Doesn't worry me though, as it's one of the few things that I'm OK at. And the Scarlatti is a walk in the park in comparison.
(The great unfairness of organ is that an organ grade will require keyboard facility roughly on a par with that required for the piano two grades higher. And that's without even considering the added challenges of pedal playing, organ management, etc. - my list A piece is manuals only and is way harder than anything I'm playing for grade 5 piano).

Anything technical that I can transfer across from organ is easier for me than anything that's piano-specific. I'm not at all confident about using the sustain pedal and I'm not used to the touch-sensitivity of the piano. (I don't exactly do much piano practice, though I've done a bit this term because of the exam.)



Well, you've still got plenty of time to learn them. If you do a few each week, you'll get through them. :-)

I've just got the date for mine - it's just under 3 weeks away. Eeeeek!
My contrary motion scales are still a disaster, I keep forgetting that I'm supposed to play the other scales over 3 octaves (my organ scales are 2 octaves and I do most of my practice on that) and I havn't started trying to use the sustain pedal in the Despic yet (the other 2 pieces don't require it at all - this is /not/ an accident!)

Anyone else taking it this term got their exam date yet?

I'm doing my recorder exam the same morning (with a couple of other exams in between them to give me time to mop out and put away my recorders and have a quick warm up on the piano in the waiting room) and I'm more confident about that, so at least I'll be focussed on that as it comes first, so I won't have too long to get stressed out about the piano one.

T.