Piano Grades / Lessons

[GerrySly]

Ok so with all the music genius' on this board I figured I'd throw a few questions out there in regards to beginning piano.

I want to begin learning piano, I would like to do grades except I got no idea where / how to go about it.

I was wondering what am I looking at paying for a decent piano teacher and then how much ($$$ and skill wise) it takes to move up grades?

Also how long does it take to move up grades? I mean it's not something that annoys me, I am just curious if you do a grade a year or what.

So many pro piano players around (feel like a noob asking these questions when people have finished grades and I just wanna start lol)

[TrueTears]

Have you ever played piano before? If not you can look for a beginner teacher (maybe an AMEB examiner). They could charge anywhere between 30-60$ for 45 min lessons.

You don't have to do every single grade, ofcourse you can if you want to but if you want to save a bit of $$$ and instead of doing the same thing over and over again for each grade, you can skip some grades. However you can try grade 1 first maybe just to see what a piano exam is like. Or you can just play pieces from grade 1, 2, 3... etc and then do a higher grade. When I began piano, I played grade 5-6 pieces but never did the exam, the only grade I did was 8.

Moving up the grades depends on how fast your skills develop etc, so really it varies from person to person, if you are thinking about taking piano for fun you can do the leisure exams.

[ninwa]

PLUS KARMA TO YOU FOR WANTING TO LEARN PIANO <3

Grades: you can do the AMEB system (which is recognised around Australia, not so much overseas AFAIK), or the Trinity system which I don't know anything about but I think is recognised pretty much worldwide.

The teachers on this website are quite good - for beginners you don't really need the pro teachers, it should cost anywhere from $30 - $60 per hour (any more and you're either being ripped off or you're really really serious about it and want to get a very solid foundation).

Moving up grades depends on you. Most people should take a year to move up the grades from preliminary to about grade 6. Grade 7/8 might take 1.5 years on average. After that, if you're going for the diplomas (A.Mus, L.Mus, F.Mus) it can take anywhere from 2 years to 10. You don't have to do an exam for every grade either. A lot of people skip some grades - I skipped grade 6 because I couldn't be bothered.

From experience a lot of people do grades 1-8 then bail out once it gets to A.Mus because that's a whole new level of difficulty.

[GerrySly]

Have you ever played piano before? If not you can look for a beginner teacher (maybe an AMEB examiner). They could charge anywhere between 30-60$ for 45 min lessons.

Well not extensively, my dad plays piano so I have played before (I can read basic sheet music etc.)

You don't have to do every single grade, ofcourse you can if you want to but if you want to save a bit of $$$ and instead of doing the same thing over and over again for each grade, you can skip some grades. However you can try grade 1 first maybe just to see what a piano exam is like. Or you can just play pieces from grade 1, 2, 3... etc and then do a higher grade. When I began piano, I played grade 5-6 pieces but never did the exam, the only grade I did was 8.

Wow so do you choose what you want to do? Like I could do grade 1 then if I find that too easy skip grade 2 and do grade 3? That sounds pretty awesome

Moving up the grades depends on how fast your skills develop etc, so really it varies from person to person, if you are thinking about taking piano for fun you can do the leisure exams.

What's the difference between leisure exams and the other exams (what are they called)?

[GerrySly]

Thanks ninwa, I've always wanted to learn but never gotten serious about it, but I figure if I don't get off my ass now it'll be way too late by the time I do lol

Moving up grades depends on you. Most people should take a year to move up the grades from preliminary to about grade 6. Grade 7/8 might take 1.5 years on average. After that, if you're going for the diplomas (A.Mus, L.Mus, F.Mus) it can take anywhere from 2 years to 10. You don't have to do an exam for every grade either. A lot of people skip some grades - I skipped grade 6 because I couldn't be bothered.

I keep seeing those words, A.Mus and L.Mus (never seen F.Mus) what are they and are they progressive like A.Mus > L.Mus > F.Mus? Or are they just different diplomas?

[TrueTears]

Ahh that's good then, and yeah you can choose what you do, there's no preqs for doing grade 8 (except that to get the certificate you gotta pass grade 6 theory).

The leisure exams: The pieces you play are of same difficulty, however there are not as many scales as the normal exam. Also you can pick between sight reading or aural.

[TrueTears]

Thanks ninwa, I've always wanted to learn but never gotten serious about it, but I figure if I don't get off my ass now it'll be way too late by the time I do lol

Moving up grades depends on you. Most people should take a year to move up the grades from preliminary to about grade 6. Grade 7/8 might take 1.5 years on average. After that, if you're going for the diplomas (A.Mus, L.Mus, F.Mus) it can take anywhere from 2 years to 10. You don't have to do an exam for every grade either. A lot of people skip some grades - I skipped grade 6 because I couldn't be bothered.

I keep seeing those words, A.Mus and L.Mus (never seen F.Mus) what are they and are they progressive like A.Mus > L.Mus > F.Mus? Or are they just different diplomas?

F.Mus > L.Mus > A.Mus

I think when I did piano there wasn't F.Mus? heh but yeah you can skip A mus too if you want and go straight to L.mus. Personally after I finished grade 8 I did A mus and then L mus, so yeah you can pick whatever grade you wanna do

[ninwa]

I dunno, F.Mus has been around awhile AFAIK.
A.Mus.A -> Associate in Music, Australia
L.Mus.A -> Licentiate in Music, Australia
F.Mus.A -> Fellowship in Music, Australia

Basically some wanky-looking letters which you can put after your name (I've seen people who've had something like Mary Smith BA, BSc, L.Mus.A lololol).

Piano for leisure doesn't have diplomas, also the repertoire is a LOT more fun and interesting. If you're not planning on doing any full-on competitions or going to the diploma level, do piano for leisure. I've seen the syllabus and I want to do it it's so fun

[GerrySly]

I dunno, F.Mus has been around awhile AFAIK.
A.Mus.A -> Associate in Music, Australia
L.Mus.A -> Licentiate in Music, Australia
F.Mus.A -> Fellowship in Music, Australia

Basically some wanky-looking letters which you can put after your name (I've seen people who've had something like Mary Smith BA, BSc, L.Mus.A lololol).

Piano for leisure doesn't have diplomas, also the repertoire is a LOT more fun and interesting. If you're not planning on doing any full-on competitions or going to the diploma level, do piano for leisure. I've seen the syllabus and I want to do it it's so fun

I was thinking about doing the diplomas so should I just put leisure out of my head? Or are they just two separate things? Like if I did grade 8 leisure (hypothetically lol) then I'd have to also do grade 8 non-leisure to do diplomas?

I'm really liking the flexibility. Really cool.

One last question is, how do I do exams? Just through my teacher or do they just train me and I sort the rest out?

[ninwa]

Make sure you have time to do the diplomas. They typically take a LOT of time - not only is it an approx 45 minute recital, but there's also a general knowledge component which can be quite tough (I know people who got asked absolutely ridiculous questions like what brand of piano Beethoven preferred). You also have to do grade 5 theory (for A.Mus) and grade 6 theory (for L.Mus) which in of itself is quite a challenge.

Yes you can go from leisure grade 8 to attempting diplomas. There are no pre-requisites for doing the diploma exams (the theory requirement is if you actually want a certificate which proves that you've done it lol).

Hmm actually

You can start at whatever level you feel comfortable with. However, you would need to consult the Manual of Syllabuses if you intend to sit a Diploma level examination ie. AMusA and above as these examinations have prerequisites.

but I think they're referring to the theory requirement...

Anyway once you get to that level you can just ask your teacher.

As for registering for exams, I wouldn't have a clue, I always just signed up through my piano teacher. I think for my diplomas my teacher gave me a form to fill in and we sent it off with the payment (diploma exams are friggin' expensive btw, a few hundred dollars usually)

[AzureBlue]

You can start at whatever level you feel comfortable with. However, you would need to consult the Manual of Syllabuses if you intend to sit a Diploma level examination ie. AMusA and above as these examinations have prerequisites.

but I think they're referring to the theory requirement...
[/quote]
Yeah, grade 5 theory or musicianship for AmusA and grade 6 theory or musicianship for LmusA. Have they introduced Music Craft above grade 4 yet? When I was doing my Amus, the Music Craft was only available for up to grade 4 because it was relatively new.