143 replies to this topic

[hennylemon]

Hi fellow adult learners/summer exam sitters

I'll hopefully be taking AB grade 3 piano exam in session B July if ready, teacher and I have until early May to decide.
If we do go for it in July I'll be playing B4 hallelujah and C3 Blues in the attic but not yet decided on the A piece, I'm leaning towards bransle de la torche but I also like the other 2 A' pieces Allegro and Giga so think maybe play around with all three and see which one I settle on.

Andy

 

I'm also planning to take G3 piano. I'll play Giga from the A list, the Tchaikovsky piece (Old French Song) from the B list, and also the Blues in the attic one from the C list. I'm a huge Tchaikovsky fan so I'm pleased there's an opportunity to play one of his pieces in the exam and it's actually my favourite of the 3 I've chosen, even though I like all of them. I t took me ages to get the rhythms right for the Blues but when I finally understood the syncopation better, everything else in that piece seemed to come together.

 

I'm at that point now that I'm focusing on learning some other stuff to avoid the pieces (and also scales etc) going stale. I check in on them weekly but I do feel like I have done them to death! Not saying that there's no room for improvement though... 

 

For sight-reading I use the 'Improve your sight-reading' series by Paul Harris. I'm about half-way through that, although I am moving quite slowly. I also have two specimen sight-reading tests books that I use most times I play. 

[ABN]

Hi hennylemon, sounds like you're well prepared for your grade 3, I'm not quite as far along as you but getting there, my B piece Hallelujah is well under my fingers and just needs some polishing, C piece blues in the attic is getting there and I've just recently decided on A piece bransle de la torche, scales are pretty well underway although I still experience a slip here and there and a couple of them are not quite secure yet, I've got until the beginning of May to decide if I'm ready to apply for session B but fortune is smiling on me as I have 18 days off work starting tomorrow so I can really knuckle down to some serious practice sessions over the next couple of weeks so hopefully I'll be ready to apply for a July date. I was originally planning to wait until session C in autumn so have been working on other pieces up until a couple of weeks ago but both teacher and I have decided to maybe push for summer instead hence the late start
I'm also studying for grade 5 theory but not taking that until November
Good luck for your exam

Edit to add my favourite Tchaikovsky piece is piano concerto no.1 in B flat minor Op.23, although I feel it will be a very, very long time before I can attempt to play it

[hennylemon]

Hi hennylemon, sounds like you're well prepared for your grade 3, I'm not quite as far along as you but getting there, my B piece Hallelujah is well under my fingers and just needs some polishing, C piece blues in the attic is getting there and I've just recently decided on A piece bransle de la torche, scales are pretty well underway although I still experience a slip here and there and a couple of them are not quite secure yet, I've got until the beginning of May to decide if I'm ready to apply for session B but fortune is smiling on me as I have 18 days off work starting tomorrow so I can really knuckle down to some serious practice sessions over the next couple of weeks so hopefully I'll be ready to apply for a July date. I was originally planning to wait until session C in autumn so have been working on other pieces up until a couple of weeks ago but both teacher and I have decided to maybe push for summer instead hence the late start
I'm also studying for grade 5 theory but not taking that until November
Good luck for your exam

Edit to add my favourite Tchaikovsky piece is piano concerto no.1 in B flat minor Op.23, although I feel it will be a very, very long time before I can attempt to play it

 

Best of luck with your practising! I love devoting my days off to learning music. 

 

 I don't see myself taking G5 theory this summer. Also November for me earliest! I feel stuck around G3 level. I'm trying to get my head around the Circle of Fifths. It makes sense when I read about it, but I wouldn't be able to explain it comprehensively back to someone so not quite there yet! 

 

I love the no. 1 concerto. I would love to see/listen to it in a concert. I don't think I will ever be at the level required to play it though!

[Ligneo Fistula]

Edit to add my favourite Tchaikovsky piece is piano concerto no.1 in B flat minor Op.23, although I feel it will be a very, very long time before I can attempt to play it

I take it you're familiar with the original versions in which the piano plays arpeggiated chords rather than the famous hammer blows while the orchestra plays the introductory theme in the first movement? Presents a markedly different character to the movement.

[ABN]

Edit to add my favourite Tchaikovsky piece is piano concerto no.1 in B flat minor Op.23, although I feel it will be a very, very long time before I can attempt to play it

I take it you're familiar with the original versions in which the piano plays arpeggiated chords rather than the famous hammer blows while the orchestra plays the introductory theme in the first movement? Presents a markedly different character to the movement.

Hi LF, I had no idea the version I've listened to and loved for so long was not "as intended" when originally written, this information will certainly make for some interesting research/reading, thankyou

[bursty]

I'll be taking my Grade 5 Trumpet this summer. I probably could have done it in the Spring, but I'd just moved to Exeter for a new job and wanted to settle in a bit more with my new teacher, and take more time with my exam, having basically done an exam every season since I started learning in June 2017. My pieces are:

 

A: Ave Maria

B: Tequila Sunrise

C: Silver Lining

 

The pieces I've been working on since before Christmas, so I think they're fairly solid, but more work needs to be done on my scales/sight-reading/aural, as admittedly I have not been practicing very much since I moved. I go through phases of being really into practicing and phases where I'm not, but I'm hoping to start practicing a lot more now. 

 

My past record of exams reads: Grade 1 Distinction, Grade 3 Merit, Grade 4 Merit. I was hoping to aim for a Distinction on Grade 5 given that I wad giving myself more time, but as I haven't been practicing an awful lot I expect a Merit may be the best to aim for... but we'll see!

[Dr. Rogers]

Good luck on your trumpet exam, bursty!  Keep us informed of your progress.  I haven't played trumpet in years - I wonder if I would still remember the fingerings and the embouchure.

[Scaredycat]

Yikes! It's getting real. My teacher has just submitted the application.

[ABN]

Yikes! It's getting real. My teacher has just submitted the application.

Teacher put mine in last week, we have requested mid July
Not got time to be nervous, too busy practicing

[gemmasue]

My teacher and I decided to postpone until next session. I haven’t been able to meet up with the accompanist enough and just not confident enough. Decided that I’d be disappointed in myself if I took it, wasn’t prepared enough and missed out on vital marks.

[Tenor Viol]

Looks like I will be doing G5 on tenor sax. Minor issue of tendinitis in both arms and a pulled hamstring. Advice from physio is to not play...

[De Sisti]

I was hoping to do my double bass grade 4* this summer, but as I've not been given a cofirmed date for my forthcoming

knee replacement operation, I wouldn't be able to do it if it clashed with, or was immediately after the procedure. 

 

*I'm confident with the three pieces of music, along with the scales, arpeggios, dominant 7ths, and cromatic scales.

[gav_1988]

Looks like I will be doing G5 on tenor sax. Minor issue of tendinitis in both arms and a pulled hamstring. Advice from physio is to not play...

Hope things get better soon! There's so many lovely pieces on the G5 syllabus. What are you planning to play? 

[Misterioso]

Grade 2 pipe organ - I think.

 

For pieces, I'm looking at:

Bach: Warum sollt ich mich denn gramen 

Velde: Veni, veni, Emmanuel

Vierne: Interlude No 1

 

I'm most confident on the Bach, least confident on the Interlude (recent change of mind) and hope to get through all the changes of manual with the Velde. I'm not especially worried about scales or aural, and I haven't tackled any sight-reading yet.

 

....Then again, with all the bad reports about ABRSM, I may abandon the whole thing. It's not going to work if they schedule my exam for when a service is taking place in the Church, or if they make a fuss about me doing the aural on the same day but at a different venue because there is no piano at the Church.

 

I haven't entered due to an early holiday putting a spanner in the works re practice. Unfortunately, I couldn't arrange for the holiday cottage in Ireland to have a pipe organ installed for me  so I'm postponing the exam until the autumn. The snag with that, of course, is that there may not be any exams here in November if the teachers collectively don't submit enough work.... 

[corenfa]

ATCL booked for end July. It's all getting a bit real now, ooer...