17 replies to this topic

[Latin pianist]

I have a student taking grade 1 piano. There are a few things written on his music. Will the examiner use his own copy for questions?My student has the grade 1 book and a duet book published by Trinity so I don't think we have to bring photocopies.

[zwhe]

They use the student's music and say that it can't have anything written on it that could help with the answers. I usually just lend my copy for the exam and they use that.

[Latin pianist]

Thanks. We'll do a bit of rubbing out then!

[sbhoa]

If there are only one or two thing written on and they are helpful for playing I wouldn't worry too much. It's pretty normal to have helpful markings after all whatever level you are at.

It would mean that questions can't be asked about those things so just make sure there's plenty of scope for the examiner to find things to ask about.

[HelenVJ]

 The examiners usually have a prepared list of questions that they are going to ask for each piece, and the syllabus clearly states that the score should be free of any helpful annotations that would basically provide the answers. So for example you certainly shouldn't have any names of notes written in, or the meaning of Italian terms, time signatures etc

Also, if the duet is in a separate publication ( Piano Dreams?) the examiner will need a photocopy. They only have the exam books, and not any other publications, even if they are Trinity ones.

[Latin pianist]

Thank you. It's his last lesson tomorrow so will photocopy the duet then. Do I need to photocopy my part or just his?

[Boogaloo]

I'm presuming that at Grade 1 a duet would be a double page spread? I would copy onto A3 so that both parts are available.

[thara96]

Which exam board are you using ABRSM or Trinity? I recommend trying to find the specific requirements for Grade 1 piano. There should be a current syllabus on their website. 

[Latin pianist]

Yes, I checked that last night and it confirmed what everyone's said. I think I must have been thinking of LCM where the examiner produced clean copies to ask the questions from. I assume the questions can only be about the pieces, not the musical exercises.

[HelenVJ]

Yes, just on the pieces. In Grade 1 the questions will be on clefs, pitch names, note duration ( quaver, crotchet etc), time signature, and Italian terms and signs. 5 questions, 2 marks each. Quite easy for students to get full marks on this section, I've found.

I always photocopy both pages - I think the examiner will like to see the relationship between the 2 parts. And if you don't have access to an A3 copier, as Boogaloo suggests, you could of course sellotape 2 sheets of A4 together - top tip

[Latin pianist]

Thanks, Helen.It will be 2 A4 sheets stuck together. We only swapped to the duet fairly recently as he was struggling with one piece, and it's been very successful both in terms of manageability and enjoyment.

[HelenVJ]

Those Piano Dreams books, all 4 of them, are excellent value(if that's the one you're using). I use many of the non-exam pieces, especially the duets - very attractive and well-sequenced collections.

All the best to your student.

[Latin pianist]

Just got back from the exam.We took a copy of the duet but didn't need to take it in. The rep said the examiner would have the book as it was a Trinity publication. Think it all went ok. The duet did anyway!

[sbhoa]

Just got back from the exam.We took a copy of the duet but didn't need to take it in. The rep said the examiner would have the book as it was a Trinity publication. Think it all went ok. The duet did anyway!

They don't have all the books but a compilation book for each instrument. The music in those is very small print!

[Latin pianist]

Received my pupil's result yesterday and he got a merit, so all of us happy. The only thing I don't like about Trinity is the small amount of scales required. And I know students should be playing other ones too but there's nothing like an exam to make students practise scales.