Congratulations for passing your Grade 7 RCM piano exam last week!

Emily and Maya

Hello, my name is Emily.  I’m in Grade 3 at school and in Grade 7 piano.  I just completed my Grade 6 last week.  While I was waiting for my exam I was a little nervous but when I went in I wasn’t nervous anymore.  Becky is my 2nd piano teacher. I did music for young children for 3 years and started Grade 1 piano with Becky and now I’m in grade 7.

Mondays, I have drawing class with my sister. On Tuesday I have spirit of math, Wednesday I have synchronize swimming, Thursdays I have nothing, Friday I have nothing, Saturday I have Chinese class and Dancing and Saturday night is family night.  Sunday is piano.

I like piano because I like music.  I practice everyday except Saturday and Sunday.  When i’m practicing for my exam and for the competition I was practicing for 1 hour each day.  When I’m not practicing for exam or competition I practice for half an hour each day.

I’m ridiculously busy but I actually enjoy it.  After school activities are: Mondays, acrylic painting, Tuesday is photography, Wednesday is extra biology class and robotics, Thursday is extra work period.

What a great recital today.  15 students volunteered to perform for the residents at Mississauga Extendicare.  5 students M.C with funny scripts and every student delivered top notch piano playing.  The audience had a great time if you can judge from their smiles, humming, toe tapping and singing.  Great Job EVERYONE!!

I’m in IB at school.  Mondays, I have nothing, Tuesday I have English tutor, Wednesday I have figure skating, Thursday I have art, Friday is free, Saturday is skating and then math and Sunday is piano.

I generally practice when I have time and it’s anywhere from 50 mins to an hour 20 mins everytime I’m at the piano.  With such a busy schedule I dream of summer when life is just sleeping, eating, and watching tv shows, but doesn’t everybody.

I don’t like piano but I like practicing. I’m finishing grade 4 piano and starting grade 5.

Becky is my 2nd piano teacher.  I like coming to Becky because sometimes I get cookies.

I practice piano from 4:30 til 5 but sometimes I practice until 5:05.  But on Thursday I practice from 4 to 4:30.

Hi, I’m Richard.  I’m 7 years old.  Ms Becky is my 2nd teacher. I am in Grade 3 piano.  Mondays I have spirit on Math, Tuesdays I have basketball, Wednesday is Free, Thursday Kumon, Friday piano, Saturday Chinese school and drawing, Sunday Free.

I practice piano everyday from 4 o’clock til 4:30.

That is EVERYDAY.  Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Hi.  I’m Thomas.  I’m 13 and I’m in Grade 7 piano.  Becky is my 2nd teacher.  This year has been nuts.  September, I started Intermediate Rudiments Theory.  Becky would give me 30 pages to do every week and if I didn’t complete them, I would have to do them in class on my couch.  My mom signed me up for the examination in December so we had a deadline to get everything done.  Half way through, I was sick with the flu and didn’t finish all the pages of the book until 3 days before the exam.  Luckily, I was able to get a 99% on my theory.  Then, my mom decided I was going to do my Grade 6 piano exam in April.  We hadn’t really started grade 6 because of theory, so I was in a crunch to finish that too.  However, I managed well and passed my Grade 6 piano exam with honours after just 3 months.

Piano is not the only instrument I play.  I also play the trombone in both of my school bands.  I am gifted in math and play hockey.  I even had to double up on my practice time in piano so I could go to one of my hockey tournaments.  With balancing hockey, band, and homework, it’s hard to find the time to practice piano.

I usually practice for half an hour before dinner and half an hour after.  I remember one time when I was practicing my scales, Becky got so bored that she decorated me with christmas lights…and PLUGGED ME IN!!.  It hurt my eyes.

I love the band Coldplay.  For Christmas, my sister got me a book of Coldplay songs, and I love learning to play them.

I have students of all levels who do piano examinations for every grade level. I also have students who skipped all the examinations til the end and only do them at the advance levels for the highschool credits. Few have been positive experiences and few have been ugly.

Personally, the only piano examinations I did were for Grades 4, 8, 9, 10 and ARCT. I suffer from extreme stage fright and I specifically recall after my Grade 9 piano examination, running to the nearest pay phone to call my teacher in tears thinking I’ve failed it miserably.

I had a 15 year old student who has completed examinations for every grade found them so agonizing and upon her parent’s insistence, went in for her grade 7 examination. She was so nervous that when the examiner greeted her, she burst into tears.

A few of the students who are not self motivated to practice, I use examinations as a goal that forces them to practice to pass each level. Others, we work through all the requirements and instead of the required piece from each section and studys, I require the students to learn double the required pieces. On top of the technical requirements, we also work on sight reading and ear training. The kids are not losing in their lessons by not having an examination, but by knowing what I require from them to go on to the next level, they have their own goals.

By not having a specific timeline, as examinations are only held 3 times a year, most of my students who are self motivated to practice, complete the levels at a quicker pace. We do have regular performances held every 2 months which in itself allows the kids to work towards making their pieces performance ready.

The goal of learning the piano should be for the pleasure of it in itself. Rarely do I find a child who started piano to not like it. There is excitement on their faces when I play new pieces for them to select from. I haven’t met a student yet who did not beam in happiness everytime I checked their music and deemed it performance ready and finished – ready to move on to the next.

I found as long as the students know there is a clear structure to the levels as the RCM is great at providing and the students know clearly what is required from them to progress, examinations should only be used as a tool when necessary and not be the end goal in itself in learning.