Hi, I have a pupil who is coming up to the point of starting to look at Grade 1 repertoire...but he's not really interested in classical, he wants to do more rock and pop. His Dad is struggling to get him to practice - his words, "anything that doesn't involve a ball or running he's not interested in". I am wondering about looking at rockschool syllabus for him, or at least the Grade 1 book (we can't take trinity here).

Any views on it? Or would I be bending to his wants too much? He is only 8.

Have had several pupils do Rockschool piano grades. Things ran smoothly, the technical exercises/tests aren't quite as numerous as ABRSM's and you have 6 nice pieces to pick from, in most of the grades, including grade 1.

I would say though (and people may well disagree here), I think the pieces in the rockschool piano syllabus for the first 3 grades are a deal more difficult than the ABRSM's. Longer pieces, with more work to do rhythmically and significantly more awkward in the left hand.

Different ball park though, the pieces are generally blues, boogie-woogie, pop, basic jazz.

Personally I prefer the ABRSM system, but sometimes Rockschool does tick the box for a particular pupil.

N.

I haven't tried Rock School but would be open to it. I don't think it is acceptable for an 8 year old to reject a whole genre of music. What classical music does he know?

The pieces are really attractive and enjoyable to play and listen to. I don't see why someone shouldn't play music they enjoy, regardless of their age. It's certainly challenging enough.

Go for it! Just check your exam centre has an acoustic or digital piano and not just an electronic keyboard

I agree, but if including some pieces from the Rockschool syllabus will help to hold his interest then that's got to be a good thing - the two are not mutually exclusive, you can continue exploring classical music while having other music that already attracts his interest. You don't want him to give up altogether because he's only allowed to play 'boring' music.

On my music shelf I have classical (from Renaissance to 20th century), jazz, pop, rock, Disney, film scores, musicals, video games, comedy (Monty Python, Bill Bailey, Tim Minchin) and pretty much all of it has been presented to my various teachers at some point - my current teacher is very intrigued by the Plants vs Zombies scores I have been showing him as he has no previous experience of video game music. Admittedly a lot of piano arrangements of popular music are problematic, particularly if they're transcribed from guitar but I used to play the melody line with the chords at the point where the piano part was way too hard for me. Explore everything, there's enough music out there especially for piano that there's no reason to slog through something you hate for the sake of it.

That is kind of what I'm thinking....he needs a confidence boost though, so if the pieces are harder than ABRSM they will be too difficult now. I've started him on Tarantella (we have an extra year on the 2012 syllabus here but he's not planning on the exam...yet ) as a challenge to try to get him motivated - see if you can work out the RH for next week type of thing - but he's reticent, thinks G1 is too hard. Part of the problem is he's my son's friend and he sees him moving forward quickly, but of course, my son practices!!

Rockschool certainly seems like something to think about (I wonder if Trinity will be thinking about exam centres in other countries in the future??). He is learning on a keyboard so it would suit him in that way too.

Thanks for the help!!


Not a lot...but he's an age 8 going on 18 and I'd rather motivate him to practice as opposed to give up...his parents are not classical fans and don't listen to any in the house.

What about Rockschool Debut? That's quite easy and a good stepping stone as the styles match G1 quite closely

It doesn't sound to me as though he's ready for any sort of exam yet - he's not keen, thinks they're too hard, doesn't want to practise etc. etc.

What about Pam Wedgwood's Really Easy Jazz book with the CD accomp. ?

These pieces start at pre grade 1, are quite appealing, and the CD backing track is very good - there's 3 versions for each piece, including a slower practice version.
It certainly sounds quite like 'real' pop music, if that's what he's in to (insofar as an 8 year-old can be 'in to' anything - there's lots of loud, rhythmic classical pieces too that fill the slot just as easily).

If Tarantella is too tricky, then try Rockschool Debut as a starting point.
I know that most of my students doing Rockschool would have no interest in abrsm, either because they have already taken one AB exam or because they are just better suited to Rockschool. I definitely find it easier to get my Rockschool students to practice their pieces.

Does he particularly want to do an exam?
Plenty of stuff around if you don't tie yourself to what's on an exam list.
Apart from Pam Wedgewood there are the Cool Piano Series, UpGrade, What Else Can I Play?, The first Jazz Rags and Blues Book by Martha Mier . Some of the piano time books may suit.... Piano Time Jazz book 1, Prehistoric Piano time, Spooky Piano Time.

Thanks everyone, I'm going to look into them.

I highly recommend it if the pupil is interested. My daughter started rockschool at age 8 and never looked back. A brief venture into ABRSM at Grade 4, reassured her that classical piano wasnt for her.

You might be well advised to check the venue. Two of us have had bad experiences with candidates turning up to take piano exams and only finding a keyboard in the exam room

He won't be able to take the exams as in Gibraltar they do not run the Trinity Exams.

I am going to suggest the rockschool piano to them. He is a "I can't do it!" kind of soul...and then with a little pushing finds he can!

My understanding is that Rockschool is no longer affiliated to Trinity. Hence the reason Trinity have brought out their own Rock & Pop syllabus...

This is correct! Trinity Rock and Pop are also fun pieces, although the Initial level is pretty tricky, harder than Rockschool Debut. Playing along with a backing track is loads of fun!

If he's learning on the keyboard why not try getting a keyboard book? They just have the right hand tunes and chord letters for the left hand and suggest what type of beat they set for the piece (samba etc). Assuming his keyboard has beats that is!

For the reluctant learner it looks a lot easier because they think they only have to do the right hand. Then you can start with left hand block triads, moving on to broken triads and beyond! When they get the beat going with it it sounds quite impressive so it may just get him hooked.

I had considered Rock School for Piano a while ago, but was really surprised at the difficulty of Grade 1. It would be nice to be able to offer an alternative to ABRSM though, so i'll have a look again at them next time i'm in a music shop. I'd be interested to hear of other teachers opinions on the Grade 1 pieces, and how their students coped.

My youngest Rockschool Grade 1er was 7, nearer to 8 when he took his exam which is, on average, older than my students taking Grade 1 who are usually a year younger. All of my students have absolutely loved playing the Rockschool pieces, so it hasn't been difficult to encourage them to practice. Having the CD is a big help although we use Speedshifter to slow it down. The pieces did take longer to learn than ABRSM but the scales are easy peasy as you do not have to memorise them. The sight reading is A LOT easier and aural is quite straightforward although that did still require a lot of advance preparation.

I would definitely recommend RS Grade 1 for students that are 8+ and looking for an alternate grade system.

Thanks for all your replies!

I've sent an email to his parents giving the choices at the moment...

1 carry on as we are
2 try the Rockschool Debut book or trinity rock and pop G1
3 do a mix of the above and use the rockschool as a reward for other practice/work.

It's going to be interesting to see what they come back with. I'm flexible and happy to go any route.....

Trinity Rock and Pop do Initial level too, but harder than Rockschool Debut I think

That might be better for him...looking for the equivalent in standard to nearly starting ABRSM g1...don't want it too easy but not too hard either!!