IMPORTANT NOTICE : This is a really simple and small question which some of you may consider silly and useless so please don't blame me.

p.s its abrsm
Me and my teacher had just started grade 7 (2-3 weeks) we got all the books( Sight reading grade 7 and the exam book). Now I feel that I do not want to do grade 7 but do grade 8 for various reasons such as since I am in year 9 atm I am very free now considering the fact that next year and the year after that I will have my gics exams therefore making those years slightly hectic leaving me less time for practice. I also really enjoyed listening to the pieces in the grade 8 book rather than the grade 7 book. I honestly never enjoyed any exam pieces before and always ended up forcing myself to enjoy them but for the first time in my life I actually enjoyed hearing the grade 8 pieces... how do you think I should tell my teacher this? will she be annoyed that I am asking for too much since she already bought the books and will be troublesome for her?

1. We could blame you for asking any kind of 'silly' question, because you actually asked it in the first place. I mean it makes sense, no?

2. Yet another new thread. You need to relax. I'm not a mod here, so perhaps I shouldn't be telling you this, but RELAX! Take your time. You have work in your hands and you have a teacher with whom, apparently you have communication issues.

3. Didn't we cover your questions before, in your other thread in this forum? Just talk to her! If she's bought the books FOR YOU, just go ahead and buy the grade 8 ones.

BTW, to other teachers: I remember when I was teaching in the UK, the ABSRM was a little pain for me. I'm used to a rather free program and style of teaching and having one single book with 3 groups of 3 works each, is exctremely limited. So many missing, so much not there...

Perhaps ABRSM should just eliminate level 7. It doesn't appear to teach students anything new, has boring repertoire, and when students finish level 6, they are fully prepared for level 8.

Okay, I'm being sarcastic. I have students who come to me who often feel they are ready for more difficult repertoire than they really are. I'm not saying you should stretch, but be careful that you don't teach yourself a dozen bad habits, which will then prevent a major hurdle for you going forward.

FWIW the exam pieces book is not the syllabus. There are quite a few other pieces available in each section at each level. I don't really understand why they don't print them all (cost, I guess), but the official ABRSM CDs usually have them all, and students do sometimes pick stuff that isn't in the book.

FWIW I'm not hugely impressed with the choice in the latest Grade 7 book either.

The real expert who knows what is possible is your teacher. Why don't you tell her your whole concern, which is that you have more time this year, and anticipate having much less time next year. Planning ahead is actually mature thinking. She may have some solutions you haven't thought about and put it all into perspective for you.

Tell her what you typed here. I used to do something naughty which made my teacher not happy for a while (It was about exams as well)... Things would be much simpler if I just told him instead of hiding it. Honesty is important between teacher and student

Ok I'm gonna tell here about this later on when I have class with her in a few hours.

Oh but should I just print out the music scores in advance and go through the first page just in case?

You don't want to start with your solution (that you want to do the gr. 8 exam). You start by putting her into the loop about your concerns and give her a chance to find solutions with you.
Ask her what she thinks about doing the gr. 8 because of what is happening next year - that you want to use the time you have this year. Listen to her answer and take time to think about it.

Ok I talked to her today and she said it was ok... she did not recommend it she said that it was not about whether I wanted to do it or had the time but was if I could do it so she allowed me to get the pieces and try it out to see if I could manage it.

Your poor teacher. By the same token, in another thread you explain how you won't be sitting Grade 7 until April 2012. That's a crazy long time to be preparing for Grade 7. You should learn the Grade 7 pieces first, work as if the exam is in August or September, and then get cracking on the Grade 8 material around then.

Here's something to ask yourself: how quickly could you learn one of those Grade 7 pieces? 1 week? 3 weeks? 3 months? If it takes you more than 3 weeks to master the basics (be able to play all the way through with a sense of flow from beginning to end) then you are not advanced enough to be aiming for Grade 8 just yet.

Do you know all your Grade 7 scales? Have you prepared all the Grade 7 Aural Tests? And how is your sight reading? Grade 7 sight reading is WAY easier than Grade 8. Pieces are only a part of the picture.

If you HAVE already mastered all the Grade 7 scales, aural tests and can sight read at Grade 7 standard, you are good to go!!!

The grade 7 pieces were not hard at all, all seemed to be manageable and made good progress in just 2 weeks. Yes, I know all the scales already but is not too sure about the news things... ah I forgot the same :s . Have not even started to practice the aural tests yet and my sight reading is honestly good in my opinion.

"good progress"? Can you be more specific?! Can you play them through from beginning to end?

Well I had the pieces for only 14 days but if you mean extra slow tempo then I can go through the piece without much difficulty