Grades on piano

coffeelover

Hi
Just wondering how long does it take people to practice for a grade on the piano before doing the exam?

The Mad Hatter

Depends on the student, and on the grade.

What I tell my students is that they should add on roughly five minutes of practice a day per grade, something like this:

Elementary: 15 minutes per day
Preliminary: 20 minutes per day
Primary: 25 minutes per day
Grade 1: half an hour a day

etc.

(Note that these are really suggestions of minimum, not average...)

Like this, most students are able to get through grades up to grade 5 in half a year. From grade 6 upwards, I usually advise students to spend an entire year learning the pieces, but I've had students that have done the higher grades in less time. Like I said, it depends on the student.

Basically, the less time you spend on daily practice, the longer it'll take you to learn the pieces overall. Also, if you wind up spending a long time learning them, the pieces can get unbelievably boring (for student and teacher!), so the best thing to do is to try to get them as fluent as you can as early as possible.

What's far more important than the amount of time you spend practising, though, is the way that you practice. A lot of students just play through each of their pieces once a day without paying very much attention, and then do their scales, and think they're done. That isn't really a lot of good. Especially when you're starting a piece, it's often best advised to practice in small chunks and not worry too much about the big picture. Your teacher should advise you on things to listen out for while you're practising, and you should be listening to the music while you play. And you'll get extra points if you can sort out a tricky area or make some part sound better if your teacher hasn't got to it yet:)

coffeelover

Ya I'm on grade 5 and its taking me a year for the exam while all the previous ones took half a year. I have only myself to blame though as I didn't put in enough practice at the start of the year. The extra five minutes for each grade is actually a really good idea. Thanks .. Thats what my teacher says too, take the pieces in small chunks.