Hi ,i was just wondering how long it has taken people to reach grade 8 standard? I have been the piano for 9 years-since i was 6 and i have just reached grade 8 standard eventually.

Everyone is different! It may take some 3 years other 20 and some may never get there

Grade 8 at 15 is great! You should be pleased with yourself!

I aim to do it in 5 years (starting at 27...) - first hurdle is Grade 2 in March!

In school, almost everyone reached Grade 8 within 8 years - the 'usual' starting age is 7/8 years.

Of those who pass Grade 8, there are very differing levels of competency. It's possible to get through Grade 8 with very little experience of varied repertoire, whereas others will only take Grade 8 once they are well accomplished in all sorts of music. And not wishing to bring up 'that old chestnut', it may depend on the instrument!

I agree 100%. I am taking grade 8 saxophone but am much more competent on piano, although I am only grade 5 standard on piano

so so so so so true. i'm taking grade 8 in the summer, after about 2 years & 9 months or so - but i certainly wouldn't put myself in the "grade 8" club, if you get my drift. maybe some day i might, you never know

grade 8 at 15 - great stuff, the world will be your oyster should you choose to carry on.

I got my grade 8 when I had just turned 15... so I got it in 7 years... and it was my first exam!

i've been doing piano since I was 7 and now I'm just 15 so thats... um 8 years. i think. (maths isnt my strong point)
and im doing my 8 next summer eeeek.
BUT i haven't done that much between the exams. Well, I've done a bit of extending my reportoire but not as much as others. So I think that getting to grade 8 quicker than others doesnt necesserily mean you are a better player.

clarinet: im doing my 7 in februrary so thats 5 1/2 years. im not sure when im doing my 8. maybe next year??? *trembles at thought*

It took me 10 years. If I'd wanted to, I probably could have done it a couple of years earlier, but instead I chose to play lots of repertoire, play in concerts, join orchestras and so on, and just didn't get around to taking it until I was 15. By the time I took it, I was completely ready for it, and felt like a grade 8 musician.

It's great now it's out of the way, because I have the freedom to study what I want without the pressure of an exam which puts all the focus on pieces, scales etc and doesn't allow much time for technique or ensemble playing.

Grade 8 means nothing, really. I know people who don't have their grade 8 who can outplay me hugely and really put my playing to shame. I know people who have grade 8 distinction who couldn't play a piece all the way through without stopping yet. It's how you play, not whether you've got a bit of paper that someone else hasn't.

The standard to playing between people who pass grade 8 probably varies ALOT between musicians. From what i know from own experiences in grade 8 flute repetoire, there are pieces which are significantly easier than others and people probably choose the easiest to learn in order to get the best mark possible.

There was a time when prokofiev flute sonata mvt 1 and poulenc sonata mvt 3 were in the grade 8 list. Out of all the flautists passing grade 8 currently i bet very few of them could play these pieces!

Also, nothing to do with the question, but when you get to grade 8 and start working even further, you realise that grade 8 is really no big deal and probably only the start of advanced musical learning.

well i've been playing the piano for 9/10 years and i've just started my grade 7 but i'm terrible on the piano!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I've been playing flute for 3 years now and i'm waiting for my grade 7 results....fingers crossed i've passed!!!

I totally agree. Everyone is different. Our girl may take forever! But G8 is not the be-all or end-all, if you see what I mean? That's why she doesn't do grades, only tons of etudes on technique plus 2/3 fun non-exam solo pieces plus 3/4 ensemble ones for performing each time term ends.

Still, well done, you for having kept going and arriving at your goal. Pat yourself on the back if you can.

As others have said it depends hugely on many factors. The first, and probably most influential of these is, as Dulciana pointed out and others agreed, the standard one is when one takes the grade 8 exam. Consider the difference between the standard of being able to play 3 pieces and get through the exam; and being an all round grade 8 musician with experience of a great deal of repertoire around that level and the ability to efficiently learn pieces, sightread to a reasonable standard and be able to play the instrument usefully at that level. This difference is about the same difference between grade 2 or 3 and grade 8... So clearly if one does grade 8 in the former way one can do it more quickly.

Other factors include how much practise one does, the instrument one is playing, age of taking it up (some will learn faster if they start younger; others if they start older) if it's a second instrument or an instrument 'suits' a person better and one's natural ability on the instrument.

It sounds like you've gone at about the right pace for you anyway, and I certainly wouldn't class it as slow . For what it's worth, if someone tells me they've taken their time getting to grade 8 piano in particular I respect them more, not less, for it . I think it's harder to play 'up' to a standard on other instruments as there's a lot of obvious inter-piece technique that has to develop; but on piano it is easier to learn just the technique required for the given pieces which, of course, is not particularly helpful when tacking others requiring different techniques.

Good luck with your future playing.

I know many people who finished grade 8 within a short span of time by only playing exam pieces year after year, nothing else. They can't play anything else, and probably don't know much of the repertoire written for their instrument.

I think it also depends how dedicated you are to learning, and practising. I took 9 years to get to grade 8 piano, but the first few years were spent just practising a little each day-I didn't have much interest back then. Also a person learning their first instrument would probably take longer to get to grade 8 than someone who has had a background in music already.

it does vary hugely depending on the person, their age when they started the instrument, their enthusiasm for the instrument, and to some extent the instrument itself. for instance, it took me 8 years to get grade 8 violin (I started playing when I was 4 and a half and took the exam just after I turned 13) but it took me 10 years to get grade 8 on piano (started playing when I was 6 and took the exam at 16). and it took me 4 years for singing (started lessons when I was 11 and took the exam when I was 15). but then I had been singing randomly for pretty much all my life so that undoubtedly contributed, I could already make a sound and control the pitch so it was much easier to start off with than the violin, which I found very difficult at first although it got easier as I've got better. the piano however has just become harder and harder as the years have passed!

sometimes a person's progress on their second instrument is faster than that on their first instrument: for example my friend who played the clarinet and got her grade 5 then took up the saxophone and did her grade 7 in less than three years. however sometimes it works the opposite way - particularly if the second instrument is polyphonal as opposed to monophonal (e.g. taking up the piano when you've been playing an instrument that can't play more than one line) or if you're taking up an unrelated instrument (e.g. if you've been playing a wind instrument and you take up a string instrument).

anyway these are all theories of mine please do ignore. doobedoobedoo.

*shudders at the thought of playing the Poulenc 3rd movement*

Yes, it's what I am realising. Now, I've done my grade 8, I've realised that my technique is hideous, well not hideous, but needs to be improved a lot to cope with the pieces I will be playing next.

I have been playing the flute for about 4 1/2 years, and I will take my grade 8 in 2 months> I have been playing one of the pieces for a while, but in the last few months I have gone through the majority of the grade 8 syllabus playing the pieces to make sure there are now I prefer! There are some which I really adore, such as Poulenc and Hindermith...but i've found it much easier to pick pieces that are easier even though I don't like them so much.
I suggest playing a range of pieces and working on technique rather than rushing through grades...because it's so important to love playing an instrument rather than feel like it's just another pressure!

True, too true I suck at piano. A lot. I can't read bass clef. Grade 8 will NEVER happen on piano. I'm fine with that, but it would be nice to be slightly less incompetant...

Bohemian,
more than being 'incompetant' I think it could be a 'simple' case of not being used to it? You are very good at violin, has this been your main instrument for a long time? and how long have you been learning piano?
You say you can't read the bass clef, if you can read the treble then you will be able to read the bass clef with time and practice and perserverance.
Am I wrong anyone?
ok, you are finding piano a challenge, but I don't think you're incompetent ;-)

Nah, I've played piano on and off since before I started violin. I think in total I've played for 5 years or so, and only had any success with jazz piano, because it didn't require me to read the music much. It seems like piano just isn't my thing. I don't really mind that much...if I were good, I'd have to practice properly and play proper works. I am getting better at bass clef but I still can only read it by thinking of the intervals (which usually works for a while, until I hit the wrong note) and to find a note just like that, I usually have to work it out with a rhyme

Seriously, you are putting yourself down, Bo. It doesn't sound like incompetence, musically. It sounds like you just can't be bothered to read the bass clef.

i think it will be 9 years for piano. Started at 6(very nealy 7) and g6 now.
i don't know for violin or oboe. I think the oboe would be quite quick though.

Yeah!!!! woo i passed my flute exam! sorry just thought i'd share that with you all!...

I've played piano since i was 6 so thats about 8 and half years and I'm working on Grade 8 now. I often find I get distracted by lots of other pieces of music. And well done Liz!



HK x

I have to try hard - A level music sort of requires it It just doesn't come easily. I found the exam marksheet from my first ever music exam, aged 4 I lost 6 marks overall, out of 220 - ALL for misreading bass clef notes. This was before I started violin. Apparently it's an old problem!

I'll be taking grade 8 on piano in about 18-21 months I estimate. This would put my playing years at about 7, yet I think I could reach grade 8 viola in half that time if I practised as much as I do my piano.

I started playing (total beginner level) at 24 and got my grade 8 at 28. I had a good teacher at the time and we covered almost all the pieces on the grade 8 syllabus so i really felt as though i was at that level properly. However, from the age of 24 to 28 i was a bit mad on the flute and did practice 6 hours a day (8 at the weekends) and when you practice that much you can do just about anything in a short space of time.

Needless to say, at 29 i had my daughter, and that put a stop to that

I've been enthralled (probably the wrong word lol) in the world of classical music only for the past 2.5 - 3 years.
During that time I have attained a Grade 7 pass in Piano. (Which I have to admit I feel absolutely destroyed by) - However, my results for it were:
A: 26/30
B: 26/30
C: 26/30
Scales: 16/21 (I played them ABSOLUTELY PERFECTLY every other day but I just couldn't do it on the day!? -He said F major I played F minor, when I realised I panicked and everything went horribly wrong :'()
Sight: 14/21
Aural: 9/18

As you can see my marks dropped dramatically for the 'auxiliary' parts of the grade but I think that is down to experience and it was my first exam...
Anyway...

I am currently studying for my grade 8 for which I DEMAND at LEAST a Merit...
and possibly even by halfway through this year or near the end of it I want to do my DipABRSM lol! It would be so cool!!

That is a very solid pass mark and good marks for your pieces (high merit).

It's only aural that really let you down a bit.
What was it that made you feel so bad, just that your nerves got to you on the day?

Although this isn't a thread about me lol I'll reply to you anyway..

I think it was nerves which made me not do my best; plus because I had never been in an exam I wasn't 100percent sure what would be happening...I panicked and went mad
Plus I wanted to get as merit but I didn't which made me feel down

Again I think ikt depends on the instrument and how much you practice/enjoy it. I've played violin since I was 10 (now almost 17), and I'm about grade 4 standard. However, I've played flute for under 18months and I'm doing my grade 5 this term. I just get on so much better with flute, and that encourages me to practice more.

Ooooh....and for those of you who have got a grade 8 piano or singing - I worship you. I would struggle with a grade 1 piano (despite playing 5 other instruments and having lessons for 2 years), and my singing is terrible.

It also depends on the flair a person has for the instrument. Some people just learn faster on a particular instrument than another.

I am hopefully taking my grace 8 violin in the summer and grade 8 piano in the autumn. Although I'm confident(ish) that I'll be able to pass the exams, I'm not altogether happy about taking them. I can see good reason that I should get them out the way before I do the bulk of my GCSEs and I also need atleast one grade 8 to get in to the college course I would like to. But I would feel much happier if I had time to extend my repetoire and become a more of a musician.
I've now been playing piano for nearly 8 years and violin for nearly 7 years.