Hi all Adult learners,

I am 34 and embarking on grade 8 piano. I am getting to grips with the scales but will wait until the 2007-2008 syllabus comes out before I start the pieces. I was wondering how other adult learners have found grade 8. How much time per day did you put in? How many months of work did it take you to be exam-ready? How did you find balancing home life and work with piano time? What was the jump like from grade 7 to 8?

Answers to these and any other issues you feel would be helpful will be appreciated. I am sure these issues will have been raised within other threads so forgive me if I have asked questions already asked and answered.

Shelton

An adult student of mine is learning a bunch of Gr. 6, Gr. 8, and Dip organ pieces after one term of lessons. We were originally aiming for Gr. 8 this fall, but have decided to enter the Gr. 6 exam instead because he has lots of other commitments (mostly academic) coming up after the summer. He practises about two hours a day and has no difficulty getting through the advanced repertoire. He will probably enter the Gr. 8 exam next spring.

First off - how long did you spend preparing for G7?
I did my grade 8 back when I was 17, I did the ABRSM G7 exam at 15, the Trinity G8 at 16 and then the ABRSM G8 - so my teacher must've thought there was a reasonable jump there (I think at that stage the trinity one was considered slightly easier - I make no judgement on the current state of play!).

Doing the Dip last year it was a real effort to do an hour's practise on a weekday evening. I'm lucky, no kids, but it's still an effort to MAKE yourself do another hour of 'work' if you've already done nine or ten in the office!

So if you use the 07/08 syllabus when's the earliest you can take the exam? I'd start on the pieces a year out from that, or plan a month break in the middle, else you run the risk of getting bored. If you're not ready at the end of that year period, you still have plenty of time to polish up and sit the exam in 07/08.

Maybe have a read in the TEacher's forum see if there's any wisdom there?

Good luck!