Working through the ABRSM piano grades

[Hellzero]

18 hours ago, bass_dinger said:

With the piano, I am always playing beyond my skill level - two-handed parallel scales that I can't play with the right fingering; pieces with independent left and right hands; music full of accidentals; music with written timings (not by feel or ear).

My recommendation, as well as any teacher I had, for the two-handed parallel scale as well as independent left and right hands is to play each hand totally separately with the correct fingering measure by measure, then merge them without paying attention to the left hand, which should become an automatism by itself.

 

For music full of accidentals, the trick is to learn these, and forget them, it should also become an automatism.

 

And for the written timing, listen to the original piece or étude, or record it on any midi software like, for example, Musescore and try to memorise the said timing.

 

But always practice slowly, decomposing what you play to merge easily and make pauses, do something else, and start again the next day or even a day after.

 

Too much practice is useless as your body (muscle memory) and brain have to memorise what you're learning.

 

Yes, piano is hard, and I still consider being nowhere even if can play some mildly complex pieces, but I can compose on piano, which is a great plus and an extraordinary powerful tool for that goal.

[Rosie C]

6 minutes ago, Hellzero said:

Yes, piano is hard, and I still consider being nowhere even if can play some mildly complex pieces, but I can compose on piano, which is a great plus and an extraordinary powerful tool for that goal.

 

This exactly. This is  the reason I've persisted with piano despite a lack of natural aptitude toward it. I have a MIDI keyboard on my Mac and use it extensively for arranging and composing. The piano is such a fundamental instrument - its compass covers virtually every instrument - I can play a double bass part on it or a descant recorder part. I can play chords against a melody. Also the piano keyboard is a visual representation of a music score more so that the other instruments I play. I can think 'Gm7' and see it in my mind's eye as piano keys. And so I keep bashing away at it.

 

[Norris]

You are learning muscle memory. That takes time and repetition. Don't beat yourself up if you are struggling to play along to a metronome - that can come later. You are at the stage that requires more conscious thought. Get the notes right first, then think about speed and timing.

 

Btw I got to grade 6 in my youth, but haven't really played piano since. I also got to grade 8 bass trombone. It wasn't done in 5 minutes - there was a lot of repetitive practice involved. Have patience - it won't take too long to get past the beginner grades

[80Hz]

I don't see any point at your stage of life of rushing through ABRSM grades. You don't have to pass Grade 8 by the time you leave school 😄 The experience of growing through music should be positive, so if rushing towards grades is impacting your enjoyment and adding unnecessary stress, absolutely kick that out of your way.

Learning, actually tackling any large task, for me has become about playing mental games with myself. It can only be done incrementally. I now understand that when I'm angry or frustrated with whatever I'm trying to tackle, it's time to step away. Make a cup of tea. Lie on my bed for 10 minutes. Read. Take a walk. Pick up a bass - or sometimes put it down! Whatever it takes to reset the brain chemistry.

 

That doesn't mean that learning shouldn't be challenging. All the "mechanics" of practise are important - scales, exercises, playing with a metronome, etc - but I'm now sure that it has to sit within an overall approach or attitude to growth.

 

In terms of learning strategies I found "A Mind For Numbers" by Dr. Barbara Oakley opened some doors for me. It's about maths, but the "learning how to learn" aspects, understanding how the brain learns, can be integrated into anything. (Learning How To Learn is also a Coursera online class by the same author, which IMO is well worth anyone's time.)

 

Reading back this sounds like a load of influencer woo, but it's taken me a long time to actually understand that I have to work with my grey matter.

[bass_dinger]

On 23/03/2025 at 17:42, bass_dinger said:

 

So, I practice, and focus on the syllabus.  And if I am ready for the exam in June, then all well and good. And if not, then November is an option too.

 

It's November already, and I am barely ready for the exam, scheduled for the 10th.

 

Grade 2 has been a very unsatisfactory experience. I have played the exam pieces so often that I have grown to loathe them. 

 

For Grade 3 piano, I plan to try a different approach. I will play each piece for two weeks, and then move on to the next piece regardless of whether it is exam-ready. Hopefully, that will stop me getting bored with playing.  Moreover, I will practice for longer each day, without distraction. 

 

 

[Hellzero]

I understand your point of view as I've been playing the 4 same pieces since September to get them perfectly: That bloody Rondo alla Turca has been driving me mad, but I got it...

 

Tuesday is my lesson day and we'll move to a new piece, certainly something by Bach.

 

I practice one hour a day at the minimum, with great rigour, and it's paying a lot, but I'm not into grades anymore, only learning and playing for my own pleasure ... only pieces I like.

 

And my tutor totally agrees.

[bass_dinger]

On 02/11/2025 at 20:08, bass_dinger said:

the exam, scheduled for the 10th.

 

Well,  that was a very unsatisfactory experience. 

 

D minor, I played wrongly.  Wrong notes in two of the pieces.  My singing was off-key.  Terrible. 

 

However I already have the Grade 3 pieces, and am playing them already.  

 

So, I have not let the bad experience put me off. However, I plan to do things differently for the next few months, and don't plan to focus on the exams for a while.

[bass_dinger]

This, from my piano teacher:

 

"Congratulations Robert on passing your grade two piano exam with a mark of 117. Just missed a merit. Here's to grade three. Onwards and upwards. "

 

 

So, I have passed, but I am inexplicably grumpy about the whole experience. 

 

I am already working on the grade 3 pieces. I will spend two weeks on each piece and then move on to another piece, regardless of whether the music teacher feels that I have used the right amount of staccato or legato in Bar 27.

 

For now, I want to play music, not work toward the exam. 

 

Yours grumpily, Robert 

[Norris]

Well done for passing!

 

Maybe it's time to learn something for pleasure? It doesn't need to be difficult, just something you enjoy. You can always learn your grade 3 pieces at the same time. It's important to keep it fun.

[bass_dinger]

15 hours ago, Norris said:

Well done for passing!

 

Maybe it's time to learn something for pleasure? It doesn't need to be difficult, just something you enjoy. You can always learn your grade 3 pieces at the same time. It's important to keep it fun.

 

With 48 different Grade 3 pieces to choose from, and a World Of Books account, I have found a few pieces that are both part of the syllabus, and great fun too.

 

In other news, my neighbour's daughter is one Grade ahead of me, and has the same piano teacher. Dad handed me her now-redundant Grade 3 books.  So, I have 12 pieces from the syllabus to try.

 

I will nevertheless be working on other things, such as some pieces by Bach. 

 

As for scales, I will give them a miss for now.

 

However, if I carry on at the current rate, I will be taking Grade 5 piano by March 2027, so should l want to aim for the Theory exams soon?

 

 

[Norris]

2 hours ago, bass_dinger said:

so should l want to aim for the Theory exams soon?

It's up to you really. I only took grade 5 theory because I had to in order to progress onto higher level practical exams. I didn't take any other theory exams.

 

There again I did do music at A level so wasn't exactly lacking in the theory side either.

[Rosie C]

2 hours ago, bass_dinger said:

However, if I carry on at the current rate, I will be taking Grade 5 piano by March 2027, so should l want to aim for the Theory exams soon?

 

 

People seem to either love or hate theory. I have two friends who are both fantastic violinists and both saw grade 5 theory as a horrible thing to just get through. Whereas I have grade 6/7 theory now and can't enough. 

 

As well as it being necessary for progressing to higher grades I find it invaluable for songwriting and for improvising parts on the fly. 

 

[SumOne]

On 18/11/2025 at 19:29, bass_dinger said:

This, from my piano teacher:

 

"Congratulations Robert on passing your grade two piano exam with a mark of 117. Just missed a merit. Here's to grade three. Onwards and upwards. "

 

 

So, I have passed, but I am inexplicably grumpy about the whole experience. 

 

I am already working on the grade 3 pieces. I will spend two weeks on each piece and then move on to another piece, regardless of whether the music teacher feels that I have used the right amount of staccato or legato in Bar 27.

 

For now, I want to play music, not work toward the exam. 

 

Yours grumpily, Robert 

I've been tempted to do Piano lessons and grades to help have a target but worry I'd fall in to that 'I want to play, not do exams' mindset. Overall, do you think it has been worth it vs just having piano lessons? 

 

I did grade 1 when I was 10 years old and haven't had any lessons in the 35 years since then - but I have been playing a lot over the last couple of years (YouTube and 'simply piano' app lessons, lesson books, and the theory I've picked up from Bass) and I've started playing keys a bit with a band so reckon it is at least time I had some proper lessons, and perhaps do grades. 

[bass_dinger]

13 hours ago, SumOne said:

Overall, do you think it has been worth it vs just having piano lessons? 

 

For me, it was worth it (in spite of my occasional grumpiness about things on this thread).

 

I have benefitted from the discipline of forcing myself to work on aspects that I struggle with; of playing stuff that is initially beyond me; of getting ready for a gig wherein the audience (of one) will not just listen to me, but assess me.

 

Again, for me, I was not very good at teaching myself the piano  - I could not muster the ability to independently move the fingers on both hands, until I started lessons in August 2024. (45 years prior, I had learned to play a two manual organ; 15 years ago, we had a piano in the house. In spite of all that, I still couldn't manage an independent left hand, so I started lessons and passed Grade 1 piano seven months later).

 

Importantly, I feel that there is a difference between the lessons, and the syllabus,  and the exams. 

 

The syllabus requires that I (for example) play a D minor scale with both hands, perhaps using the recommended fingerings; or play three of 48 pieces; or listen to and sing back a phrase.  

 

The Grade exam will test how well the candidate does so.

 

And the lessons teach how to work on the syllabus (and perhaps, how to pass the Grade exam).

 

So, the Grades don't teach one how to play the piano - the lessons do.

 

In conclusion, I could have had lessons, and ignored the exams.  However, after 45 years of bumbling incompetence and failure, it felt like the right time to try something different  - and that was Piano lessons, with Grades. It worked for me.

 

 

Edited November 25 by bass_dinger

[bass_dinger]

 

15 hours ago, SumOne said:

Overall, do you think it has been worth it vs just having piano lessons? 

 

Just to add, that my initial few months of lessons were spent undoing bad techniques and habits.

 

I am currently frustrated by how unmusical I am on the piano. 

 

So, if you take piano lessons, do not be surprised to feel that you are going backwards, in terms of skills and ability to play.

 

However, I am now at the stage of being able to improvise stuff without thinking about it. That's because the lessons have given me the necessary technique.

[bass_dinger]

A very different lesson this week. My teacher happen to have a copy of The Real Christmas Book on the piano when I arrived. In spite of the name, it was a Fake Book - one of those books beloved of jazz performers.  Melody line, chords, bar lines, time signature,  and nothing else. 

 

He suggested that I have a try (he knows that I know the chords, so, it wasn't totally cruel of him!)  I spent a happy hour picking out the melody with my right hand, and working out how to play C^7 , D-b5#9, Ab-11 etc.  And it sounded wonderful!

 

I am now looking for the full Book- and other Fake Books too.

 

Edited 19 hours ago by bass_dinger

[Hellzero]

Playing with these "Real Books" is an excellent way to learn the songs instead of using a score, it's what I've been doing for so many years.

 

A bit of an accident (in fact 5, if you look at the key 🤦🏻 ) as it was requested by my wife... I'm learning a non Christmas tune bearing a Christmas title and I love it.

 

Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence by Ryūichi Sakamoto aka Forbidden Colours by David Sylvian.

 

In fact, I was a bit fed up by classical musical scores these days, especially Moonlight Sonata, and my wife said, you could try to play Forbidden Colours.

 

Being a David Sylvan fan, I said why not, so listened to the last piano solo instrumental version available on YouTube with Ryūichi Sakamoto himself playing the piano (one year before he died, his playing was so fluid and emotional), bought the official score from the official website and ... I'm having so much fun.

 

Even my tutor was delighted by the tortured Japanese sounding chords and great melody (melodies in fact) that she's also learning it.

 

 

 

Sorry for derailing your thread...

[bass_dinger]

1 hour ago, Hellzero said:

Sorry for derailing your thread...

Not at all! This is a thread for everyone learning the piano, by whatever method. I simply started the thread. 

 

If I (and others) can share their learning journey, then those who follow us can more easily find out what works for them.  

 

I wouldn't have known about Fake Books were it not for my 78 year old teacher.  I wouldn't have known that ABRSM exams are not always the best way of learning, unless others had shared their experiences.  I wouldn't have known about what piano to buy were it not for the thread on stage pianos.

 

 

Basschat.co.uk  - the home of the hijacked thread and off-topic comment.  And it is all the better for it!

 

 

[Rosie C]

9 hours ago, bass_dinger said:

I wouldn't have known about Fake Books were it not for my 78 year old teacher.

 

 

I learned about fake books from my double bass teacher. He had me buy a Jazz fake book and each lesson we played a game where I would flip the pages of the book and stop at a random tune/song and I would have to improvise a bass line to it. 

 

[Hellzero]

For those wanting to play Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence, don't use the Trinity Grade 7 score, as it's in the wrong key (Db when the original is in Ab, furthermore there is no pedal and most of the opening chords are wrong, "Europeanised and simplified", and I stopped there...), but buy the official score here instead: https://score-en.sitesakamoto.com/products/merry_christmas_mr_lawrence_piano_solo