Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum Piano Exam Group

For RCM 3, I would need to identify a minor 3rd, major 3rd, perfect 4th and 5th. You can choose to do 1 of the following:



OR



I can't sing, so that won't work. Whatever I sing and hear in my head is wrong anyway because if I were to record it and listen back, it's a completely different sound

Can you sing "Happy Birthday"?

Almost everyone can (if pitched in the right tessitura for them), yet it's one of the hardest to sing. There's a major 3rd, perfect 4th, perfect 5th and an octave interval in that song. Most pop songs don't even go that far. (The commonest mistake when singing it - especially for men - is not making that octave interval, because you can't sing that high up.)

And you don't have to sing an octave interval for your exam.......

I had to learn how to sing again now in my late fifties, just for this ear training. The last time I had done any singing was in primary school. Thankfully you do not need to sing well but I do believe you need to make a link between the mental and physical to achieve results.

Can I sing Happy Birthday? Well, I've certainly sang it many times, but I really don't know if I'm singing it correctly and in tune

It has to be tough to be tone deaf. I use to know a girl practising her ABRSM 4th grade aural test with my then teacher decades ago. The teacher would play a random note and ask her to sing just that one note, and she just couldn't. Could you play a random note (between middle C and an the C an octave above) and sing that note?

I've never struggled with this so I don't know how it's like. But if I imagine I cannot sing a note I hear, I'd perhaps try to play a random note anywhere on the entire keyboard, hold it, even use the sustaining pedal, and just listen to it. I wouldn't worry about singing it or trying to do anything with it in my head. Just listen to it intensely, enjoying it until the sound dies. I'd imagine listening to it so intensely I can hear the sound wave. I can imagine I start to identify characteristics the sound, sharp and piercing, broad and even roaring, soft like a pillow etc. I'd play one note using different dynamics (pp, p, mf, f, ff). I'd find a dynamic easier for me to hear and start practise listening in that dynamic. It's almost like meditation, clearing the mind of everything else except listening to that sound.

After a while, perhaps a few days or a week learning how to truly listen and do nothing else, when I feel that I've got the note, then I'd try to mimic that note with my voice. I won't sing it if I don't feel I've got it. If I'm not sure, I haven't got it yet. I will know when I do. So I'll just keep on listening to it until I do.

Do you think something like that will work for you? Sound meditation? There's no such thing because I just came up with it :-P

The written exam prep for the RCM intermediate theory...now called level 6 theory is tough. It gives me a headache. The first practice exam I allowed myself "open book" or use the internet as needed. But my teacher checked it and I got it right. However, she tells me "I haven't done this in 50 years so it's a brain challenge for me too". The second practice exam I'm trying to do more just from memory and it is taxing me. If I created exams like this, my students would report me to the dean. There are questions within questions so they are tricky and easy to make mistakes without careful attention. I have never seen a piece with the complicated rests that are tested...I know it's theory not composition. LOL.

Tubbie and all...I've liked the "tune" approach too. My teacher has perfect pitch and can just know them but hearing a song helps me a lot. I still confuse the 2nds and thirds occasionally. Just started on descending.

I'm still working on multiple pieces but getting closer to finalizing my exam repertoire.

The next exam dates are in May and I believe I'll be ready...maybe not perfect but....

Tone deaf? I don't think so, at least not if I understand the definition correctly. I can hear the difference in notes, I just can't always get minor/major thirds right. 5ths are easier.

Can I play a random note above middle C? No, I can't sing that high, at least not without screeching. I was playing around with the Perfect Ear app on my Android tablet last night. It has an interval singing section that allows you to sing and it will detect the note. How accurate is it? Very accurate. It would detect the correct notes I played on the piano. I tried singing what I felt was a comfortable do-re-mi solfege scale. I remember having to do that all the time in music class in primary school. Anyway, my range is consistently F2 to F3. So I went to the piano and played an F major scale starting at F2 and singing at the same time. Did it sound the same? I guess it kind of did, so maybe I just need to listen better.

Sound meditation? Maybe - I though about recording intervals and saying the word Major or Minor Third afterwards. Perhaps if I loop that and listen to it while sleeping it will become part of my subconscious

Good going. Intermediate theory isn't so bad. RCM 7 (advanced theory) will hurt your head! Every question is like 5 or 6 questions in one. I know what you mean about the rests! Who does that? Apparently, 21st century composers, but we don't see it often. What about the "plet" higher than triplets? 7-plets? LOL. How much did your reading skill jump as a result of learning theory? Mine jumped up a lot after writing so much music. I am also surprised that teachers don't teach intermediate or advance theory to the kiddies for piano lessons. Even teachers are rusty. A lot of people claim oh, I passed RCM 6 or 7 when I was a kid, well, they didn't. Most of them never bother with the theory. My teacher called them jocks. No open book for your practice exams, sorry.... LOL!

I don't think that qualifies as tone deaf. It's more like not having a sufficiently trained physical instrument (voice box) to hit the notes correctly. Now if one couldn't hear the difference between a C and an F, that would be tone deaf.

It sounds like RCM aural and theory are quite different from ABRSM. The grade 5 ABRSM theory is quite challenging, but a lot of it is just memorization. The questions are also multipart, and there is a composition questions that is quite challenging.

On the aural,RCM and ABRSM sound similar through grade 5. You have to sing intervals, sing back a phrase, do a clap back, describe a piece and recognize time signatures. The upper levels get a bit more challenging. Prabably the same is true for RCM.

I have been struggling with the grade 7 aural, so I scheduled some extra lessons to work on it. My teacher had me play both the upper and lower voice of a phrase, then sing the upper and play the lower, and then sing the lower voice and play the upper. In four tries, I could not consistently get it right. Concentrating on two voices with different rhythms and singing at the same time was way beyond my capacity. So, that is my practice assignment for the week. If I can do this, I at least have a start on the "A" part of the aural. Then, only parts B, C, and D to go!

According to ToneDeafTest.com, I'm not tone deaf

I don't think being tone deaf is a real human condition. In Asian languages like Chinese, it has been shown that hearing and speaking distinct tones is integral to the meaning of words. (I heard it on NPR.) Obviously, if some people are born tone deaf, then you would find some people not able to speak or hear Chinese properly, but you just never find that. Everyone born in a Chinese speaking country could speak Chinese just fine, including the Europeans. Everyone can hear tone. It just gets harder and out of practice if you don't use it, like you only spoke English. It can be trained to come back and sharpen with work, like everything else in your brain.

Since I do RCM exams, I score 100% on Tone Deaf Test really easily. It's like crazy obvious. No talent involved. I started learning RCM 1 in 2010. Aural learning doesn't happen overnight. It just takes time and practice. Just do it everyday and within a year, you'll be amazed the progress you make.

My teacher has suggested that I do my grade 3 exam either in June or August. Of course it is up to me whether I want to take the exam at all. What value have you guys found in preparing for the exam? I'm worried about getting bored of playing the same piece forever. I'm also worried about preparing for a million years and then messing up at the exam (I get very nervous) and feeling like crap because I know I could have done better. And since I don't *need* to take the exam, why would I put myself through that agony?

Can you guys tell me a bit about your experiences? I'm totally on the fence here.

I'm sort of in the same boat as you, sara. There is no need for me to take the level 3 exam at the end of May. I won't be changing careers here anytime soon I too worry about screwing up during the exam and the thought of it makes me nervous. But maybe it's good I try to go through that once.

I guess one thing I like about the process so far is the curriculum approach, having a set of pieces to work from including technical pieces, scales, etc. I find that to be more interesting than Alfred's or Faber. There is also the musicianship part (ear training, playback, etc). I wanted to learn more about that. The school I'm at has a weekly lesson on it and it starts tonight. 1 hour for the next twelve weeks focusing on the musicianship part, in a group setting with other students. That might be fun, I'll know more after tonight

The time spent with my teacher will be on the repertoire (and sight reading), but I feel like I have a solid set of pieces to choose from now. I'll certainly practice them over the next 3 months, but I don't want that to be the only thing I work on. I'll make sure to express that to my teacher tomorrow.

Anyway, I figure I'll go through this process once and see what happens come June. I can always change things up then if need be.

When I started piano four years ago I was adamant I would never take exams but now I am preparing for my first exams, AMEB Grade 5 practical and Grade 3 Music Craft, (a theory exam). What changed in my thinking was that even although I have always had a teacher, I felt I was not on the right track to learn this beautiful instrument properly. I had also reached a level of playing where I knew it would not be a big stretch to take an exam, (I may have been a little too cocky there ). I knew that in order to take exams I would have to overcome my more laissez-faire attitude by working harder and smarter particularly at small details in the hope of improving my overall skill. In the seven months since deciding to take an exam it has been really interesting to see the changes, all for the good, in my playing and the way I practice. I believe now I am back on track, perhaps because of the tight focus required on a small selection of pieces and exercises.

For me it would not work if I did not enjoy the pieces, and for that I am grateful the AMEB syllabus has so much variety it is difficult not to find wonderful pieces. My scales and arpeggios seemed adequate at the start, but on taking a more critical and detailed view it turned out they were woefully inadequate. I am happy about this in a way for I had been blissfully unaware how poor my left hand was, and I am now working to solve this problem. Taking exams also requires overcoming several fears, which I am sure is different for everyone. One of my irrational fears at the time was melodic scales, and without the need to learn them for my exam I might still have found a reason not to do them to this day. Thankfully the fear was greater than actually learning the scales.

Perhaps one of the bigger reasons to take an exam would be to know how we are going on our own piano journey. I must admit that the awarding of a grade seemed a little too arbitrary or even worthless at first. Now I view exams as a way of defining targets I will need to reach to get to my ultimate goal.

One of the bigger reasons not to take an exam would be the idea of being judged, and the idea of failing at the exam through nervousness. Having my teacher stand behind me as I play my exam pieces is my most frightening experience to date, (and I have done live recitals ). I think the only way round this one is to be over prepared so mistakes are less likely. For this reason I have given myself eighteen months preparation time.

Practising for an exam makes you more critical of your playing. If you take that criticism positively, you practise longer, practise for higher precision, practise for better musicality and etc. It elevates your overall skills and abilities in a shorter time.

There will be self doubts and there will be fear of failure. But exams make you want to do your absolute best within a given time period. It makes your next goal very clear. How many pieces or scales have you practise to the point you could play your absolute best?

Once you've passed the exam, regardless of the results, you get a new found confidence that opens up possibility to advance further. You won't second guess yourself anymore.

Some people that are highly disciplined don't need exams to achieve this. For the rest like me, exams are like carrots that make me want to constantly raise my game. Hopefully one day when there are no more carrots to chase, I won't be needing them anymore.

Good luck!

I am sort of leaning toward taking the exam. I think it will force me to really polish a piece better than I have been doing so far. I think after my recital on Sunday I will have a better idea about whether my nerves can handle the pressure.

I agree with Tubbie. The first exam can be nerve wracking, but once you pass it, you have a major boost to your confidence level. I think they are well worth doing!

I found someone's doctoral thesis online, it was all about the process of becoming an RCM examiner. It was very enlightening. They are under a huge time pressure and the job is quite stressful. There is also a big push for them to make the exam experience as positive as possible so that people keep coming back to participate in the exam process. They are all very highly qualified with lots of teaching experience. It was a very interesting thesis.

If you are interested, google "Approaching the examiner's chair RCM thesis".

I signed up today for the AMEB grade 5 exam, to be held in my area 28th Oct - 4th November. No pressure then