Hi All,

ATM i am working on grade 7 cello with AB although i am struggling with the scales, also i won't be sitting the exam in this session and that is when i leave my teacher as i am going to uni, does anyone think it would be plausible to skip the exam, (as i have learnt the pieces and my sight reading is good, and there isn't much wrong with my technique,) and move onto trinity grade 8 and therefore not have to do the scales, does anyone know what the Trinity exams are like as i have only ever done AB exams.

Thanks

Hi piano*cello*sax boy,

I chose to do Trinity Guildhall exams from grade 6 onwards because I felt that the pieces were more musical and also because I liked their approach to scales. If you add up the number of scales you need to do for the string exams you get a smaller number for Trinity than for ABRSM. The Trinity approach to scales is more structured and I found it easier to see the patterns. I actually felt as if I was learning the structure of scales rather than just memorising a bunch of notes.

Details of the scales requirement are on the Trinity web site.

I did Grade 8 in 2006 and from what I remember there was a lot of overlap between the Grade 7 and Grade 8 scale requirement. You still have to do double stopping scales unfortunately

Thanks for the reply, Do you think it would be do-able to skip grade 7 now and go on2 the grade 8 trinity?

In my opinion there is a bigger gap between grade 7 and 8 than between 6 and 7 and that applies whether you do ABRSM or Trinity exams. If your pieces and sightreading are both good could you not consider finishing off your grade 7 and switching to Trinity when you do grade 8.

You should ask your teacher if he/she thinks you can jump that gap. The choice of pieces is much greater for Trinity than it is for ABRSM so it worth looking to see if you are already playing some pieces that are in the Trinity syllabus.

Other things to consider are:

Do you need to complete grade 8 before going to uni? If not are you likely to pick up the violin again?

Best of luck anyway!

I think it's plausible - BUT I also think that if you do do this (for instance because of wanting a grade 8 for your UCAS form or whatever), you should make sure you go back and work on your scales. Don't think of it as a get-out-of-scales-free card. Scales can seem a chore, but they're so important, and can improve your cello playing no end.