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Congrats on your exam Zoe! Most excellent news!

And thank you for the in-depth breakdown of working for the exam. I'm looking at taking my grade 1 and have no real idea of what it looks like or what it would entail to get it, so that helps alot!

Thankfully I work on scales everyday as a warm up!

Zoe, it was very interesting to read your overview of what you needed to learn for this exam. It sounds like a lot of work. Congratulations on your accomplishment!

ZoeCalgary, thanks for that explanation. I think I'm in the same boat as you as far as aural skills. I'm at about a level 2 for aural skills, but could possibly play up to level 6 for repertoire. Decisions, decisions. I've just finished ordering a bunch of level 3 aural skills training material. I've been working on scales a lot so that doesn't seem so daunting (though I need to work hard on being able to reel them off correctly the first time, without errors).

The other thing that seems difficult to me is memorization. I know it's not required, but given that my aural skills (specifically: playback and intervals) are so weak, I don't want to just give up another 6 points for nothing on the memorization.

I'm going to ask my teacher about it this week and see what she thinks as far as level.

In good news, I think with a very little extra learning I'm prepared for the Advanced Rudiments exam already, so that will take care of the co-requisite theory exams for several levels all at once. Hooray!

BeccaBb, you can get a sense of the requirements for the RCM's daughter program in the U.S., The Achievement Program, here. I think the RCM and TAP requirements must be pretty much the same if not identical because the prep books they sell for it in the U.S. seem to be the same as for the Canadian exams. For your own exam though be sure to check the actual RCM materials.

Zoe
I asked this question on another thread but maybe this thread is better. Could you tell me how the process worked. Did they have you play each scale and arpeggio. How do they test theory? Same day as playing the 3 pieces and 2 etudes? I want to understand how the testing process works step by step. Maybe I'll get one done yet

Thanks for the link PS! I have a ways to go to get there! LOL

MaryBee and BeccaBb - thanks so much for the kind words.

Wisebuff: I'd be glad to tell you how the exam worked.

My whole exam lasted 15-20 minutes. There was little breaks between each thing to give the examiner time to write her comments (she wrote a lot!).

With RCM you are allowed to do either your 3 repertoire pieces first (in any order you want, but they must be played together) or second after technical requirements. You get 2 bonus marks for each piece you've memorized and they don't have to be memorized.

Or you can start with your technical requirements (my teacher suggested this so as to get used to the piano as you don't really get a warm up or anything). With your technical you are allowed to start with scales, etc. or your studies first. You don't have to memorize studies and you don't get bonus marks even if you did.

So you need to know all of your scales, chords, cadences, arpeggios, etc. But you only get tested on a handful of them. I didn't really count how many I did or even remember all of them now but I was surprised they didn't test for more. I guess this makes each scale just as important as the next and each counts for the same amount of marks.

This is the order I did my exam in. (again I could have chosen to do repertoire first, but it made sense to get a bit of hands on time first.)

Total Exam is out of 100 marks. This is the breakdown for Grade 4. Other grades vary slightly.

Technical Marks were broken down as follows: (24 marks)

- technical test (scales, etc.) = 12 marks
- studies/etudes 6 marks each = 12 marks

Repertoire Marks were broken down as follows: (50 marks)

List A piece = 18 marks
List B piece = 18 marks
List C piece = 14 marks

(memory 2 marks for each piece) = 6 marks

After you've done both of these there is the Ear Tests: (10 marks)

Clapback = 3 marks (one short melody, 2-3 measures)
Intervals = 3 marks (I don't remember how many I did but I know it wasn't one of each type you need to know (7))
Playback = 4 marks (one chord, short melody ~6 notes)

Finally Sight reading: (10 marks)

Playing = 7 marks (one line of music, 6 measures)
Clapping = 3 marks (one line of music, 4 measures)

I'd be happy to let you know anything else. Just let me know if you have any other questions.

Wisebuff: Sorry I forgot to say. For RCM theory requirements don't start until Grade 5. But if I understood my teacher right you can do your practical exam without having done your theory (or ever doing your theory). However, you won't get your certificate for completion of that grade until your co-requisite theory is done. The theory exam is a separate exam than the practical exam done on a different test day. I'm not sure how long they are.

Theory lengths: (this is for the U.S The Achievement Program, but I strongly suspect RCM is the same):

Preparatory Rudiments, which is not required for anything but is suggested as preparation, 1 hour. You can download a sample test from the TAP site and see if you would gain anything by studying this material or if you know it already.

Basic Rudiments (corequisite for Level 5): 1 hour.

Intermediate Rudiments (corequisite for Level 6): 2 hours.

Advanced Rudiments (corequisite for Levels 7-10 and beyond): 2 hours.

Each exam can substitute for the earlier exams. For example if you skip Basic and take Intermediate, that will count as your Level 5 corequisite and your Level 6 corequisite, and similarly taking Advanced alone can count for either or both of those two preceding exams.

Sample Preparatory Rudiments test and answers available from this page (scroll down).

I am practicing learning parallel and contrary scales for C and G. Last night I got home really late and hadn't practiced yet so I just turned on the DP, put on headphones and did both in the dark with no book! I did all of them perfectly. I was very happy about that..

but even better this morning I sit down at Jazzabella to practice and I notice the key and suddenly it snapped in my brain how to read key signatures! Now I'm really excited! I was frustrated trying to figure that out before.. the number of sharps in a key is noted on the staff..

Why I couldn't put that together before who knows.. but I got it now!

And teachers know this sort of thing happens all the time... There is no "right" approach to teaching anything. Just the one that works for that person, then.

Congrats - for someone with Bb in their forum name that seems very ironic!

So, it's always a good idea to study music theory a little as you go along. Your brain is now wired to link sharps with the key signature (and perhaps you already know to go a semitone up from the last sharp to get the key); what about flats? And then minor scales from the major ...

My teacher has me on Fundamentals of Piano Theory which are pretty good (a little repetitive from book to book though). I'm about to start level 8 ... might be worth checking out or one of the other guides to theory that are often mentioned here.

I miss my teacher Wombat. I'm sure he does get that, he taught me the basics of the circle of fifths, which helped that snap into place for me.

Whoah there Andy! LOL No I did not know that you can go up one semitone to get the key (but I do now!) I haven't even touched minor scales.. yet...

That series looks quite good! What level are you in now? I started theory with this website (and I'm still slowly working through it)
Free Music Theory and my teacher put me into this book: Elementary Rudiments of Music but I haven't started it yet...

Starting level 8 ... mostly it has helped reinforce things I kind of knew OK. But the last couple of books have started taxing me in some areas ...

That free music theory website has a ton of stuff. You can tack learning onto your pieces too: Starting a new piece - find out the key; learn that scale; learn the minor key for it (or at least find out it's not already in a minor key), etc..

You need to know the order of sharps, F C G D A E B. And the order of flats, which is the sharps list backwards, B E A D G C F. You CAN work them out by knowing the first then recognising the pattern, but you really need to know the list!

Then it's simple. Just learn that G major has one sharp, F major has one flat. (You probably knew that already.) When it's sharps, the SHARPEST note comes on the 7th of the scale, one from the top. So for D major, go through the list up to C. 2 sharps, F and C. For F# major, go as far as E. (Yes, that's right, 6 sharps, F C G D A E B.) C# major is especially easy - you know C major where everything is a "white note"? There are 7 different notes in a major scale, so in C# major they MUST all be sharps!

Same idea for the flat keys. The flattest note is the 4th of the scale.

"Ah!" you say. "But how do I know whether it's going to be sharps or flats?". Easy. Barring F major, which is the one you need to "just know", all the flat major keys have flat names, Bb major, Eb major....


(Now, why did I put "white note" in quotes earlier on? Is a sharp always a white note?)

Oooh and I forgot to add.. that if you read my name like this:

Becca Be Flat, that is the pun on my klutziness! LOL

Natural are white keys and sharps and flats black. (im not sure if there are exceptions.. LOL)

Wow must digest new information... LOL

E# is the same as F natural so that's a white key; it's found in F# major as Exalted Wombat noted. Also, B#, Cb and Fb are white keys.

But at least you don't need to worry about those guys until you roll around to the bottom of the circle of fifths... down where Things get Weird.