Hi, Just wondered if there were any adult piano players, like me, working towards grade 8. How are you getting on and what pieces are you tackling. I have looked at the Piazolla and the Cimarosa so far. I can't decide what to do from list b. Any ideas? As an adult returner, it has been a hard slog getting back on track and I'm not sure whether I could cope with the techniques required in the Beethoven. Are any of the list B pieces not quite as technically difficult as they seem. Would love to hear about your experiences. How long has it taken people to get from grade 6 or 7 (as a returner) to grade 8 standard?

I'm an adult and was completely self taught and took up lessons a few years ago. I play guitar and started at grade 5:-

Grade 5 May '06
Grade 5 Theory December '06
Grade 6 May '07
Grade 7 Nov '07
Grade 8 May '08

Sooo - if you have the desire/stamina/nerves it can be done.

Interestingly I found Grade 6 easier than 5, and 7 easier than 6. The jump from 7 to 8 floored me - the pieces suddenly became much longer (hence the stamina) and the nerves really kicked in. In all the prevoius grades it was my playing that pulled me though - sight reading and the aural were rubbish but Grade 8 was the only time I passed ALL the parts to the exam.

So yes you can go from grade 7 to 8 in six months - but only you can judge how much effort you will need to suceed. You will get good advice from others I'm sure.

Best of Luck,

Nigel

I'm hoping to take grade 8 piano this coming winter.
I'm finding the step between grade 7 and grade 8 to be very large.

As a middle-aged re-restarter I took grade 6 within less than a year
after re-restarting. I took grade 7 a year and a half after that. For both
exams I got merits. Its now been, ummm..., more than 1.5 years since I took grade 7.
I suspect my fundamental technique may be stuck at about grade 6, which is the level of pieces
I got to when I restarted in my mid-twenties!

I'm working on:
- Cimarosa Sonata in D minor
- Clementi Allegro con brio
- Rachmaninov Moment musical in B minor

Hi there ! I'm considerably an adult learner too... I'm 21 this year and had just taken my grade 7 exam in Feb, manage to pass by 1 mark Lol

I took lessons as a child (abt 8 yrs of age), miss grade 1 and took grade 2 exam ... after that, I stop due to financial constraints on my parents and the next time I play the piano, I'm already 16, officially took lessons again at 17, grade 4 at 18 (without taking grade 3), 5 at 20 and 7 this year (without 6) ... I was part lazy, part strapped for time due to study, then now work commitments... but somehow my love for music push me through ... I suck at aural as well, but somehow I manage to "squeze" thru for 4 & 5 as they are easier, unfortunately, I think I was nail for it and also sight reading part in my recent G7 exam (result slip not yet posted to me), thus I only just pass...

You should work best on what you're weak in, especially if you discover it early way before the exam... I knew my problems but didn't give it sufficient attention, only resorting to "last minute hard work" when I'm just a month away from the exam, thus I didn't perform well for the actual day ... so yup, I sort of deserved it

But in my personal opinion, if you dislike aural and sight read, or for some reason just cannot do it right or well enough, at least you MUST give your best for the pieces + scales & appregios ... they are the biggest components in the overall exam and determine whether you can pass or get a high score ... choose pieces that you are most comfortable in playing, and those that will not show your weaknesses easily... I'm going to take G 8 sometime next year for I dont think I'm ready this year. I'm thinkin of doing Cimarosa for A1, Allegro con brio for B2 and Alligator Crawl for C6... my strength lies in playing blues and swing music so I always try to include a song of the genre for exam if it works in my favour ...

I'm working towards LCM Grade 8 Piano. I like the option of doing technical studies instead of scales. I'm planning on the Scarlatti (lovely but hard), Kuhlau (easy but long), and Schmitt (short with huge leaps of faith). The syllabus lasts till the end of 2010 and so I'm aiming for before then.

I am working on TG Grade 8 piano and theory at the moment. I have chosen Beethoven Scherzo and Trio, Mendelssohn's Song without words ( from the VW ad!) and Scott Joplin's Gladiolus Rag . I am just loving my pieces and finding the learning of them is not just as difficult as I expected - maybe that is because I have done a huge amount of playing this year and am just ready to tackle this..... or perhaps I am not spending so much time on scales - as a busy working mum the scales for Grade 7 AB nearly floored me and as I don't have a lot of spare time, I am enjoying the focus of playing pieces.

I will probably aim to do the exam in spring 2010, depending on how practice goes over the summer and how everything comes together once all scales, pieces, exercises etc are fully under my fingers and I just have the final push to go - I will know better of an exam date when that grand moment arrives!

I started piano as a child and was due to do Grade 1 when I was 10 but hated my (crazy) teacher so much I gave up. There were no other nice teachers in my area at that time (the one I had was nuts and the other in town was very very cross) so I just continued to play over the years. I did Grade 3 about 3 years ago when I was 39 (without a teacher but got a Distinction), then did grade 6 about 1 and a half years ago with an inexperienced teacher but just scraped a pass and that really frightened me - I think it was a case of too much too fast with support from someone who, by her own admission, didn't have much experience with aurals etc. Following a change of teacher, I finally did Grade 7 in December 08 and passed with a merit. My teacher insisted I take a term playing other stuff, which I reluctantly did but have found it hugely beneficial and I just started my pieces before the Easter hols ..... and I am just loving the whole journey!

Elizabeth

I might be joining you - it seems a doable timescale.

Me too, same reason - aiming for June or November. My short list of pieces are; Schubert Adagio in G (definite), Haydn Presto (probable) and Mendelssohn song without words 19/3, Hunting song (almost certain).
I'm getting there with the technical studies but finding the Beethoven quite difficult at anything aproaching exam speed. How about you?

The Beethoven is 38% there in terms of notes, dynamics, articulation and speed - I mean 38% in that I started bar by bar working backwards and am now at the 62% to go point - using the method from Dr John Meffen's book "Improve Your Piano Playing". (I have this sad little habbit of counting how many bars I've done and woking out my percentage completed - keeps me same). I haven't even looked at the first half - I don't even know what it sounds like. It's a method of working I haven't tried before but seems very effective at getting things secure. I used start from the beginning and sightread until I found the bit I needed to work on more. I think I still enjoy that more but this is for a purpose.

The Khachaturian study is 70% there by the same method.
I'm working on the three pieces at the same time and overall am 60.4% on the way to grade 8.

The Scarlatti is the hardest I'm doing - the Kuhlau is the easiest despite being seven pages long. The Schmitt really benefits from the Dr Meffen approach and it would be the hardest except I'm niffty with pedals.

Interesting - I must try your 'working backwards' method as I seem to have hit a block with the Beethoven. I will also have another look at the Kuhlau, realised it was long but didn't see it as easy. Have you not tried the Schubert, I found it relatively easy and beautiful?

The Kuhlau repeats itself in great chunks and I think longer pieces which are the same grade as shorter ones are more diluted in their difficulty. I'm planning on learning to play all the pieces in the book and so my choices might change. I'll look at the Schubert next. I tried the Bach but found it too hard - I managed the last 7 bars. I'm determined to give it another go though. Perhaps at the end. The Granados looks like a swarm.

I am joining you as an adult grade 8 piano student... It's a big jump for me from Grade 6, but I will work hard!

I have a huge problem choosing List A pieces, because I am not a huge baroque fan. Currently, I can only "understand" A1. I find the Scarlatti pieces very interesting too, but I had lots of problem with the Grade 6 Scarlatti piece, hence I am not so optimistic about the Grade 8 ones by the same composer.

My weaknesses include speed and ornamentation. Think I will be having a hard time choosing something that is not too fast The tracks on the demo CD are impossibly fast!

Hi, I was wondering if anyone could give me any advice on hand span technique. I am hoping to take grade 8 in 2010 but I am having trouble deciding on a piece from List C. I have noticed that most pieces that I like have a handspan of at least a 10th and I am having trouble achieving that whilst playing. Does anyone have any techniques on how to do these? I quite like Retrato De Alfredo and I am also looking at the Chopin piece? I am teaching myself at the moment until I get to a point where I may need a teacher.
Thanks

Dee22,

Hand span is a problem for most (normal) people, as the natural span of the human hand is typically around an octave, whereas many composers for piano - frequently being professional pianists themselves - often wrote for a tenth.

My span is only an octave, so when I come across a span which is unreachable (e.g. 10th), I attempt it by quickly 'spreading' the notes: playing the bottom one first, then the higher one(s), using the pedal to sustain the notes as a chord.

Good luck.

denmark

I decided on the Waller, Mozart k332 and the Handel.

The handel is causing the most problems. down to not enough experience with fugues, but soldier on I must and will get the eventually. There are some interesting stretches on the waller, but when it falls together it does sound good


Andy

So ignore the CD! I'm returning to the fray after a long absence (er, what's a CD?) and had mixed feelings on seeing CDs of exam syllabuses in the music shops. I can see the value in these for accompanied instruments, as they feature 'music minus one' recordings to practise with, but for solo instruments . . . If I was to use one, I think I'd listen to it once as an aid in choosing pieces, then ignore it. I wouldn't want to catch that dangerous idea that there's a definitive performance of any piece.

I did grade 8 piano last year - Bach, Mozart and Gershwin. I did listen to recordings, but more than one of each and not the ABRSM CD, which I have still not heard. I think of it as part of the preparation to find out how other people, particularly experts, deal with tempo, phrasing, articulation, dynamics and so on, "solving the problems". You don't have to copy them (I wish I could). Indeed, for example, playing Bach with Glen Gould's articulation and tempi is probably unwise unless you're Glen Gould, and worse, he used to hum along as he played - even on the recordings: Definitely not recommended!!

I hope to sit my Grade 8 Piano ABRSM this November. I've got all my scales/arpeggios learned now and can concentrate all of my time on the pieces.

I've chosen The Cat Fugue, Allegro con Brio (Clementi) and the Arabesque (Debussy). The Debussy isn't my choice (I would rather have done Gershwin 'The Man I Love' or Fats Waller 'Alligator Crawl). Unfortunately, my hands are tiny (some of the pupils I teach at age 10-11 have bigger hands than mine) so it ruled out the 2 List Cs that I would have preferred to have done, but would have been able to put so much more of myself and musicality into either of the 2.

Not looking forward to Grade 8 - not as much confidence. I re-started piano in September 2006 after a 14 year gap, sat Grade 6 November 2007 (120), Grade 7 June 2008 (128) and would love to get a distinction in Grade 8 but am not hopeful!!

I think that most of the pieces in Grade 8 are very difficult too. I'm going to concentrate most of my time on the List A piece as List A are the 'technical pieces', List B are classed as 'musicality/feeling' pieces and List C more modern pieces.

I found that in both Grade 6 and 7 my List A pieces got the lowest marks (but that could have been whilst I was settling in and still getting used to the exam piano). But I do find that List A pieces being technical are the most difficult.

The solution is to practice until they seem easy ... and you wonder whatever you found so difficult about them.

Good afternoon.

I'm coming back... I'm coming back.... I want to recapture what I had and improve on what was bad.

I did grade 7 when I was 17 - and just scraped through with a pass - now I'm coming back as a 30 year old to finish off the grades with grade 8.

The pieces seem ok - (Cimarosa, Beethoven in E major, Alligator Crawl)... but if anyone has wise words or perhaps youve been in a similar situation I would love to hear them.

Cheers all
ste

I've just started on Cimarosa two weeks ago. I am learning about 7 to 10 bars at a time. Very slowly...

But I think I need to. The articulation is quite new to me. I haven't played many pieces that hold on one hand while being detached on the other.

Fingering is quite challenging for me too. But I rather like the piece I hope I will be able to complete the first two pages by the end of June, just as a milestone.


At the moment, I am still learning two or three other simpler non-exam pieces concurrently, which are as interesting, though they add on quite heavily to the weekly practice workload, not to mention the scales I have to learn (having skipped grade 7). I might have to ask my teacher to go easier on me when I start on a new career in July.

I've revised my C piece (LCM) now to the Granados - which despite having a swarm of notes at first glance turned out to be pretty straightforward and quite lovely too. At this rate Im going to have learned to play them all.

Interesting!, good for you - I'm in the process of doing the same. Having been slaveing away at Mendelssohn's Hunting Song for some time I've suddenly realised that I can play the Granados equally well (or not so well). Still, there is plenty of time before November to continue working them both up and decide much nearer the time. Mustn't leave the decision as late as the grade 7 in March when I couldn't decide between the Grovlez Litanies and the Chopin Mazurka until walking into the exam - with hindsight I wish I had played the Grovlez. The reason I didn't (with advice from my teacher) was that the Grovlez seemed too short and lightweight for a G7 exam.
I'm still going with the Handel Presto (A list), Schubert Adagio (B list) and of course the compulsary Kachaturian Etude and Beethoven Rule Britannia variations. Lots of tricky fingering in all the pieces!