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Piano students- even jumped from grade 6-8

Title- typing error should be *ever :/ lol

Hey I passed my grade 6 recently with merit. I am not that bad at Piano but could have done better.

Now I am thinking to skip grade 7 directly to grade 8,but one of my friend told me it will be a huge jump as there is a huge difference,and I do not want to fail as I never did! Do you think I should ask my teacher,what do you think?

Thank you :smile:

Hey guys,i asked my teacher today,he says to let me do grade 8 , :smile: Dont worry I will work hard

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Don't skip.

The jump from grade 6-7 is pretty large.
I skipped from Grade 5 to 7 in a term and found that managable.
Have a look at the grade 8 pieces and see if you think you could do them- if not do grade 7.
I skipped from grade 6 to 8, but I'd been playing for a few years before I took any grades, so I took a selection (3,5,6,8). If you're willing to work very hard at it and accept that it'll be a lot more difficult, then you shouldn't fail. :smile:
Reply 4
The jump between grade 6 and grade 8 is huge, and I would not recommend it. It's not like jumping from 1 to 3, or 5 to 7. Grade 8 pieces are very long and much more technically difficult.
Reply 5
I have passed royal schools grade 6 exam for piano wit merit as well.
I did grade 7 last year which was quite harder and I am doing my grade 8 this upcoming june.
Grade 8 is SO MUCH DIFFERENT THAN GRADE 7 OR 6 . Most people take 2 years to do grade 8 because of its difficulty.
I recommend that you dont jump grades. its gonna be a huge jump and you ll probably not gonna make it.

good luck though :smile:
Reply 6
thanks guys for your advice! forgot to say ive done grade 8 in china,but here is much more harder tbh,even tho im good at pieces,there will be other things are difficult/new. So I am not gonna skip grade 7
Grade 8 in China is different to grade 8 in England?
They have ABRSM as well don't they? I saw the books in some music shop.
Tbh I don't think skipping it matters much. Spending 2 years on grade 8, you'll probably pass anyway because you would have done it for so long.
I think piano exams are pretty easy over here. The examiners are pretty lenient =)
Reply 8
It's a really bad idea skipping grades at the higher levels. Grade 7 is the foundation which Grade 8 is built on... Grade 7 helps you with the stamina and the technique, and if you don't spend time mastering that then you'll find Grade 8 even more challanging than it needs to be. Even if you don't want to take the exam, I'd really recommend learning Grade 7 up to exam standard before starting the Grade 8 syllabus.
Reply 9
Ballet_shoes
Grade 8 in China is different to grade 8 in England?
They have ABRSM as well don't they? I saw the books in some music shop.
Tbh I don't think skipping it matters much. Spending 2 years on grade 8, you'll probably pass anyway because you would have done it for so long.
I think piano exams are pretty easy over here. The examiners are pretty lenient =)


Hey, I saw your little flag :smile: nice to see you
well,I think it is difference,pieces r not tbh,but others r quite different. E.g in China they don't have sight reading or aural test :smile:
Personally,I think Chinese r easier to pass :smile:
And oh god,I think I will face a dilemma :wink:
looking back i probably should have, as i didn't feel much difference between 7 and 8, but i was really young when i took the exams so its for the best
Reply 11
Subcutaneous
looking back i probably should have, as i didn't feel much difference between 7 and 8, but i was really young when i took the exams so its for the best

omg really? o god hard decision now. I think ill have a look at grade 8 pieces
Don't do it to yourself! Even if you don't do the actual exam, work on some of the pieces and technical studies (if appropriate) before moving onto the Grade 8 stuff :smile:
Reply 13
can anyone tell me what do you do for grade 8?like every bits :smile:
MCYan
can anyone tell me what are the new things on grade 8?


Not quite sure what you're referring to, but this might help?

http://www.abrsm.org/resources/pianoSyllabusComplete09.pdf

:dontknow:
Reply 15
I skipped from Grade 4 to Grade 6. And have now moved onto my Grade 8 - the jump was reasonably big but achievable I think.
It's possible, but it varies for different people. Some people don't find much difference between 7 and 8, others feel it's a huge jump.
MCYan
Title- typing error should be *ever :/ lol

Hey I passed my grade 6 recently with merit. I am not that bad at Piano but could have done better.

Now I am thinking to skip grade 7 directly to grade 8,but one of my friend told me it will be a huge jump as there is a huge difference,and I do not want to fail as I never did! Do you think I should ask my teacher,what do you think?

Thank you :smile:


I wouldn't
I'm skipping 1 to go straight too 2 for Clarinet - but then I was already ready for Grade 2.
MCYan
Hey, I saw your little flag :smile: nice to see you
well,I think it is difference,pieces r not tbh,but others r quite different. E.g in China they don't have sight reading or aural test :smile:
Personally,I think Chinese r easier to pass :smile:
And oh god,I think I will face a dilemma :wink:


Hi =) Lol
O yeah, grade 8 aural tests are horrible, but I got a few extra lessons and passed. Ditto with sight reading, but I guess they're not really worth much. If you can master the pieces and scales, you'll do fine anyway. =)

My friend's doing her grade 8 atm actually. The pieces are pretty easy actually. I could sight read hers pretty easily, but must admit they are pretty boring. Our teacher said it's the worst lot of grade 8 pieces she's seen. :rolleyes:
Therefore if you can deal with the boredom, it'll be pretty easy =)
But I do agree with others, if you have the time and want to develop skills and stuff, do the grade 7. It's not that much effort really =)
btw i would ask your teacher what she thinks, she knows your ability better than we do and is able to judge.

As an ex-teacher i wouldn't have made a student have jumped straight to grade 8 after grade 6 with atleast 6 months of doing some pieces that are grade 8 level and ease them in