It seems that the new ABRSM syllabus of piano have been more difficult than ever and it is just very diffiult for a Grade 7 piano student like me to choose a piece which looks not as difficult as the others.

You know, I would like to know whether is it easy to get a pass in Grade 7 as I am holding a Grade 5 Piano and Theory for a mare merit. On the other hand, I would like to know that what is the best way to learn scales as I failed that part last time.

Thanks

Play each scale slowly with the correct fingering and even tone.

Repeat.

If you make a mistake start again.

Make sure you play many more times correctly than incorrectly or you reinforce the errors.

In the month before the exam do all scales and arpeggios every day.

Hi Alfred
Have you got the little book - These Music Exams - published by Associated Board? It is a really useful book and contains the marking scheme used by the examiners. You will see that they expect more once you are taking Grade 6,7 and 8. It is not really a question of the pieces getting more difficult (although they do) but that more is required in the way you play them. Communication, musical awareness that sort of thing. Pieces can look difficult but in fact prove to be easy technically and hard musically and also the other way round if you see what I mean.

As far as scales are concerned how about playing them all from the top down
Different rhythms
One hand stacatto the other legato
Two octaves plus one note and then back - this helps with the difficult fingering patterns

Arppegios - be absolutely clear about the fingering
Practice slowly the first 5 notes then back - this helps again with the difficult turn over

Good Luck

I think that the apparent difference in difficulty varies.
I have only seen the grade 1 and grade 8 books (one for teching and one for learning)
I think the grade 1 pieces are generally easier than last years ( easier to pick out somethnig not too trying in each section).
The grade 8, on the other hand looks much harder!

Have aggravated on old injury on my LH thumb working odn the first one in the grade 8 book.... will have to do it in short bursts for now I think.

Hmm... I don't know if the syllabus is harder this year, but I found that this years grade 5 pieces easier to learn than last years grade 3. I spent several MONTHS playing grade 3 hands seperatly, but with grade 5, I had it hands together in about a week!

Hi all!!!
I nearly died when I saw the new Grade 7 piano pieces!!! I thought they looked far too hard and that I would never be able to do it. But thanks to my legend of a piano teacher and a fab music teacher that used to teach in my school, I have got it all sorted now. I was a bit disappointed because in some of the past syllabuses, there have been some jazz pieces or tango pieces etc thrown in which I enjoyed doing but the Grade 7 book is strictly classical. As for scales, I hate them but I will just have to knuclke down and do it. Does anyone actually like any of the C pieces??

Scales are the easy bit!

I never had a problem with scales.
I wanted to learn piano for a few years before I got the chance and one of the first things I learnt was to play C major scale.
Scales were always a part of the learning from the start for me and, as I wanted to learn so much, then I was happy with whatever I had to do.
So even now it is just part of what you do to me.

I msut say, you lot have it easy.

In 2002 (I think it was then) there was a very large changearound in the saxophone syllabus. Effectively, everything dropped a grade, so all the grade 5 pieces became grade 4 pieces etc.
At the time I had one grade 7 pupil who ended up having a huge jump between grade 7 and 8, since grade 8 not only became harder, but it emphasised the already considerable gap between grade 7 and 8 of that time. Even worse, the ABRSM had overcompensated - there are quite a few pieces that Clarinet and Sax share, and we ended up with things which were formerly sax and clarinet grade 5 (quite easy grade 5) ended up as an easy clarinet grade 5, but a rather difficult saxophone grade 4.

While there's always syllabus changes which mean that various grades get slightly easier and harder, it's a rarity when every grade has such a dramatic change

QUOTE

Scales are the easy bit!

It is not often that I agree, but I do believe that the scales are the easiest part of the exam, they are easy marks. But why? Its simply because it is up to YOU as to how well you learn them. If you find them hard you MUST take the time out to learn them. Don't try to learn them all at once. Do them in adequate chunks. When you are learning your scales, ALWAYS ENSURE CORRECT FINGERING. This is essential if you are to meet the MINIMUM tempi for scales at grade 7 standard. If you are unsure of a particular scale, start of by doing isolated hands separate work, building up the tempo the more familiar you get with your scales. It is important to play your scales faster than you might like in order to check that your fingering is secure. If your fingering is secure, you should have little trouble whizzing through your scales.

The case of you finding scales hard to learn is one that many pupils have when they skip grades. Even when you have reached grade 5 piano, there is still the aspect of learning melodic minors and variations on scales and arpeggios required in the higher grades.

Best of luck with your preparation!