Hello,

I have a couple of questions on the Grade 7 piano syllabus.

- In "These Music Exams" it says the scales should be played at a tempo of 80 bpm.
Does this tempo apply to all types of scales? e.g. the scales in 3rds as well?

- What does it mean by "common chords of these keys" - the diatonic triads of a key?

Thanks very much.

Found a grade 7 scale book...

Scales in 3rds are at a painfully slow minimum speed of 60.
(remember that it is 4 notes to a beat).

Unless you are someone who struggles with scales I wouldn't worry too much about getting up to suggested speed. If you are reasonably comfortable with them you are probably naturally playing around that spped anyway.



Yes.

Thanks!

(Rather than getting the Grade 7 scale book I bought the more general "Manual of Scales..." which of course doesn't give any speed specifications.)

The only tempo problems that you may have (i say 'may'...i have never heard you play!!) is getting the octave aparts to 80bpm at staccato. you have to imagine them slightly quieter, but still firm, to keep them light enough to speed them up.
Look on the syllabus for all of the speeds. I can't give you a link because im not that whizzy, but if you follow the links from the homepage you should have no problems. I made a speed chart for the side of the piano, and cranked the speed up gradually over the weeks leading up to my exam.

For grade 7 piano this translates as Arpeggios in first inversion.

I didn't see any speeds listed in:
http://www.abrsm.org/resources/allPiano0506.pdf
The only place I've seen them is the general instructions in "These Music Exams" and the detailed specifications in the scale books for each grade (I only have the g. 6 book).


But which ones? It says "the major and minor chords... of the scale group chosen above". Sounds like I should just learn them all no matter which scale group I choose! (I already decided to learn all the dominant chords as they seem useful to know well when playing from a fake book etc.)

It's just that the instructions don't seem very logical to me.
If you play the diatonic chords of, say, group 1 then (unless I made a mistake) I believe that covers all the major and minor chords that exist. So, the parts of the instructions for arpeggios about "common chords" and "choosing a group" don't seem to be saying anything!

If you choose group 1 then you need first inversion of C D E F# Bb and Ab (majors and minors) and the dominant sevenths in those keys in root position.
That is all.

So, "common chord" = "tonic triad" in this context?
Is that a British term? (I learned most of my music theory in the USA.)

Yes, not sure about it being just a British term though?
In this context I think its just a way of saying that you don't need to learn anything other than the basic chord.
I don't think I've really seen tthat particular wording anywhere else.