I'm so happy this morning, I have just received my grade 7 jazz piano results, taken with LCM, and I got 87% - distinction! I'm so incredibly happy I really feel like I have achieved something!!

I'm thoroughly enjoying playing jazz music and definitely reccommend those of you who don't to give it a try. I had a look through the Jazz Piano from Scratch a few years ago and have never looked back. It has really opened up my musicality, if that makes sense.

Anyone else looked at the higher jazz grades?

Congrats! I don't think I'd ever be able to grasp the concept of improvisation to do well in jazz, but I might dabble a little, perhaps in the future.

Go for it, that's all I'd say. It's so much fun!

Congratulations on the result!

I know what you mean about being fun - I had a great jazz class on Saturday. Every month or so our teacher gets in a pianist and drummer to play with us so along with out regular bassist we have a "proper" rhythm section. It came to turn to solo on Mr P.C and something just clicked. I managed to play through chorus after chorus with the pianist constantly pushing me on to play further and further past what I'm usually capable of and way outside at times. My teacher was signalling me not to stop and pushing me on and I finally finished off to whoops of applause. It was such a fantastic feeling I keep stoping to remind myself of it, especially when I'm chained to my spreadsheets at work. I only hope I manage to repeat that sort of performance some time.

CONGRATULATIONS JOY

Send me a PM and tell me all about it!!

Well done joyjoy. Brilliant result! I took Gr 3 AB jazz piano in November and got a distinction. I'm planning on doing Gr 5 AB in February and then to get some help to do the ALCM early in 2009.

What are your plans for your jazzy future?

Well done on your result too! I plan to do grade 8 with LCM, next year sometime and I would love to do a diploma one day, but I think that now is the time to explore more jazz repertoire. I'd love to get involved with some fellow jazzers too. Also, I'm currently exploring the jazz syllabus for flute and clarinet. Some of the pieces are great

Well done, a fantastic result. Enjoy the celebrations!

Well done!! I started Jazz piano this year and am really enjoying it! grade 7 - that's amazing!! someday, maybe... well done!

Congratulations - fantastic!

xxxxx

congrats! nice results!

+1 for the joyful karma! You mentioned it was the LCM Jazz syllabus you are doing, how do you find it compares to the ABRSM Jazz syllabus. I'm very interested in doing the Jazz Piano exams as a fresh challenge.

Yes, it was with LCM. I was dead excited when I found they were doing the higher grades, as I thoroughly enjoyed the AB grades 1 to 5 syllabus. It is slightly different. With the AB there seems to be an improvisary section in every piece. With LCM, there is not always an improvisary section. For example, Oop-Bop-Sh-Bam, Dizzy Gillespie, it is just like any normal piece. You play it at written. However you are allowed to embellish where you feel necessary. King Porter Stomp was the same, but it actually states in the LCM handbook 2 that more imaginative embellisments need careful consideration. Something along those lines anyway.

There are other books to pick material from such as The Joy of Jazz Piano. So, there is a wide range to pick from.

You also have a musical awareness section, aural tests, which are pretty much usual and the quick study. The musical awareness is different from the AB exams. When researching for this part of the exam, I tried to learn a brief history of the composers, and other composers writing in the same kind of era. They asked me about the history of jazz briefly, what I found challenging in the pieces, if I could demonstrate II,V, I progressions and about my jazzing in general. I said I was doing it as an extension to my classical playing and I love it!

It's really opened up lots of new repertoire for me to explore and I think it's great having another part of music to explore and develop. I'm still not a fantastic improviser but I feel that I have really come far since getting that Jazz Piano from Scratch book.

Well done on your excellent result!

I've enjoyed the jazz abrsm exams but it occurred to me today that the ABRSM are really dragging their feet with the advanced jazz grades aka grades 6-8, so i decided i had to make a definite decision today about the best way forward for my students and prospective students. LCM offer not only jazz grades 1-8 but also a diploma where as ABRSM offer jazz to only grade 5. I've decided that the best way forward for my teaching practice is to switch to LCM because ABRSM are dragging their feet. I really did enjoy the ABRSM jazz syllabus grades 1-5 but come on you can't expect working teachers to wait indefinately? Any input here Christine Morris?

Another alternative is to use TG, which also offer higher jazz grades - at least I know they do in woodwind, so I assume they do also in brass and piano....