I am a resident of Trinidad and Tobago, and have selected music as a CXC subject. CXC is the equivalence to GCSE. I have chosen the violin as my instrument and started playing in October 2005. My music teacher told me i need to get to Grade 5 standard in violin by the end of this year. Can anyone tell me how i can go about increasing my standard at such a fast pace? Any hints or suggestions will be most welcome. Thanks

a good start is to practice every day

wow you havn't been playing long so just learn all your scales and practice as much as you can. Good luckxxx

Lots of practice is the only answer. Until your arms and body get used to it, break the practice sessions into 10 minute sessions and build up from there. Even once you can manage longer, several practice sessions in one day can prove very beneficial on progress.

Lucky you to live in such a beautiful part of the world. All that lovely warm sunshine too .
I hate the cold, dark and damp of England

I hope you have a violin teacher. If not, you should definitely get one. You probably would need to do 30 minutes a day minimum, realistically. I know this sounds like cheating, but if you need to play a grade 5 piece, you don't necessarily need to be grade 5 standard. You could, for example, get up to grade 3 and then spend a long time learning 1 grade 5 piece.

Is this a good idea?

You mean my suggestion? No it's not. It's a bad idea. But it's a lot more realistic than grade 5 within a year.

True!

Indeed a bad idea but you've found the one time in which it is a good one: if one needs it for an exam/entrance to university.

Unless you absolutely love the violin to bits (and have already come a long way since you started) may I suggest (although I'm not a violinist) that the violin is perhaps going to be the most difficult instrument to do this in and maybe another instrument would be better. Of course, if you love the violin so much that you will practise it much more then it is worth sticking to it .

One word of comfort, although the standard in the UK is supposed to be grade 5 for GCSE, in reality the performance standard needed for GCSE is much lower: I managed to get an A for it, having never had a lesson and really not being grade 5 standard.... Maybe the same will be true where you are?

Also true - stringed instruments are very tricky especially for the first couple of years. I think a woodwind instrument might be a better idea just for the purposes of GCSE...but since violin is obviously a very cool instrument, I can see why that would be first choice

Indeed, I agree, violin is extremely hard to learn well in such a short period of time, I learnt violin for 5 years before I took my grade 4!! LOL, whereas I've had 3 flute lessons and I'm playing grade 3 pieces fairly well. It all depends on your natural ability with the instrument I think.

Thanks everyone for your responses. I do have a violin teacher and am learning the Suzuki method. Actually, book 2 has the Brahms Waltz which is Grade 3 and i should be moving on to that book by about next month. I do want to play the violin for exams, i wish is started earlier but i decided i'll practice for about an hour a day.

I don't want to be too pessimistic - just realistic - but unless you've already played a stringed instrument I think you might need to practise for more than an hour a day to get from scratch to Grade 5 in a year. Two hours a day could do it - maybe.

Violinia

Having seen and heard the struggle that two of my children had with string instruments to get to G5 standard I am surprised that you are using this for your CXC choice. Do you have to choose two instruments like students in the UK? I know students here who take Music GCSE as an 'easy choice' and use Voice with Treble Recorder. The Treble Recorder is great for accelerated learning and there are great Baroque peices out there. You can certainly get to G5 within a year. What about your music theory? That also needs to be G4/G5 standard? However if you make it to G5 on your violin within a year ... Well done. Let us know.

Congratulation for entering the world cup!

getting to grade 5 standard will be hard if thats ur first instrument and u have played no other instument before.

talk to your teacher, if the teacher said u can, then i`m sure u will make it

I have spoken to another music teacher who works with the Associated Board for Practical exams here in Trinidad. He said that what he does for students who wish to go to G5 quickly, he submerges them in Grade 5 work and develops that as well as playing few pieces from previous grades. HE said this is a method he has tried and works. I also play the Piano a bit, the Steelpan, and the Treble Recorder. For CXC we require only one instrument though. As far as Theory goes, i'm doing either Grade 4 or 5 exam this June, i haven't decided what grade i'll ask my teacher to sign me up for. But i'll most likely do Grade 5 Theory as i am now starting Grade 4 Book. Then i'll do Grade 5 Practical in Violin next Year exam to submit to CXC.

good for u