.... Of course with dedication. I am not wanting to give the impression can I buy these skills like modern day kids buy skills on a video game.

I have tried teachers but now due to personal reasons I am relatively house bound so a teacher is out of the window.

If I look at a note on the staff I know what note that is. IE middle C and up. I haven't taught myself to read chords or anything yet.

What else would I be required to know and is it doable.

I know this thread title is for grade 2 but I have to get grade 1 yet. Just incase it gives a false impression.

Quite tricky.

There's more to it than just playing the right notes in the right order and running through a few scales - a teacher will show you HOW to play the notes in the right order and play your scales and arpeggios as well as things like choosing the best pieces for the exam (plus entering you for the exam, etc.), helping you with the aural tests, sight reading tests, etc..

And you won't learn 'chords' as such - you'll be learning pieces.

You can teach yourself to drive but you mightn't (probably wouldn't) pass your test, not first time anyway.

Can't you find a teacher who will come to you? Our daughter's teachers do.

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Website / Music Lab Machines / Blog

Hmm, I was hoping with it being such a low grade it would be relatively simple. I understand a higher grade would require a good teacher.

I found this since originally posting....

http://www.abrsm.org/regions/fileadmin/user_upload/syllabuses/piano0111.pd f

......and it doesn't look to hard if I reverse engineer. Basically, learn 3 pieces parrot fashion, a few scales and chords but also know how to play them as a broken chord (or arp as I would have previously called them.) Also be able to read music to the point you can play an unknown piece just by reading.

Or am I missing something big?

Quote kolakube:

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Basically, learn 3 pieces parrot fashion, a few scales and chords but also know how to play them as a broken chord (or arp as I would have previously called them.)

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That's the thing...

Learn to play a few pieces "parrot fashion" and it won't work in your favour - the examiner will be looking for some degree of 'expression' even if it's rudimentary.

And there are ways to play the scales and arpeggios that the examiner will be looking for... pacing, accuracy, fluidity... all sorts of subtle things that only someone with experience of the music exam system can really help you with, things that will earn you extra marks. They will show you how to pass an exam, in other words ... much like a driving instructor will help to pass a driving test by showing you all the things the examiner will be looking for.

A music teacher will (or should) know when you're ready and will know when and where exams are taking place (some venues are better than others), etc..

And so on.

(*) Something I am slightly at odds with

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Website / Music Lab Machines / Blog

I see. Thanks Hallow Sun.

Mind I don't suppose Ive got anything to lose by giving it a whirl? The exam must cost the same if you book through an instructor or direct by myself.

If I fail ill still be drastically further ahead than I am now.

Not meaning to buck you advice, im thankful for your experience.

Quote kolakube:

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Mind I don't suppose Ive got anything to lose by giving it a whirl?

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Well, only your confidence, etc., perhaps.

Quote kolakube:

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The exam must cost the same if you book through an instructor or direct by myself.

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It would but you will have to know when and where and how to and the ABRSM can be a bit snotty about who enters you, etc., and - as I say - a teacher will know all the little tricks about when and where to take an exam. For example, you can take your exam at an approved ABRSM teacher's home. This is a much more relaxed and comfortable experience, usually on better pianos. And different home venues are better than others. Alternatively, the exam could take place in the upstairs of a local music shop or at a school on a piano that's been banged about by loads of people. A teacher will know all the local ins and outs. You will not (and I doubt very much you as a private individual could manage to secure an exam at an approved home).

Quote kolakube:

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If I fail ill still be drastically further ahead than I am now.

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You might not. You might have just spent/wasted a good few months teaching yourself bad technique playing pieces that are irrelevant to you. Even with a teacher, the pieces may be irrelevant but they (and the scales, arpeggios, etc.) are structured to build your technique gradually over the grades which can then be applied to playing stuff that IS relevant to you. A teacher will (or should) also spot your weaknesses and structure your practice regime to overcome those. You won't on your own - you'll just keep banging away thinking you're making progress but more than likely reinforcing bad technique and not overcoming weaknesses.

You COULD do it yourself in theory but it's going to be a tall order and I fear that disappointment lies ahead for you. Sorry but there is no easy (or necessarily cheap) way round this - if you want to learn to play properly, acquire good technique and go through the grades (or even get Grades 1 and 2), you will need a (preferably good) teacher.

Looking at the other thread you have started about scales, you're tripping up over your first scales - not a good sign. Rather than engaging in pages (and days) of (possibly futile) forum discussion (and still ending up none the wiser or more confused than when you started), a teacher could help you with that in a matter of moments simply by showing you!

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Website / Music Lab Machines / Blog

Thanks for the reply. I have PMd you.

I wouldn't say im tripping up over scales though. More today is the first day I have thought about this route.

So im asking and learning and now know a ton more for this. And this is day one :]

Agree with what's been said above. Question though....any particular reason why you are going for grades? You can learn, develop and improve without being "graded"; your progress will just be measured in a different way.
If you do want to do grades that suggests you're not going to stop at 2; sorry if that's an inaccurate assumption, but if I'm right you're certainly going to need a teacher to do that.
And what sort of music do you want to learn / play? You might find the grades syllabus is not your cup of tea and you'll lose interest.
I'm currently learning from pretty much scratch with a view to playing with my band (I'm currently a guitarist) and am having lessons. I honestly wouldn't have made anything remotely like the progress I've made without a teacher. Apart from anything else there's the discipline of having to go back to him each week and show that I've been practising (and therefore improving) so there's the element of encouraging you to practise regularly as well.
But I also asked my teacher about taking grades and he basically said that there was no need given what I wanted to do. Ability-wise, I can play some good piano tunes (the piano Coda from Layla for example) and play an acceptable number of major and minor scales. I can't sight read though - which is (I believe) a grades requirement. But there's no point in me being able to. At least not yet....

There is NEVER "no point" in having ANY musical skill! The trained man does what he knows. The educated man can be creative.

Too right that there's never "no point". However, "other priorities" certainly do exist - just check my list of unfinished DIY projects for evidence.

Kola, forget grade 2. For that matter, forget grade 1 too. Start by learning how to play the thing, learning how to read music, learning what scales do, learning what notes go into chords, and learning what chords can go where. These are the core skills you *NEED*, so prioritise that. It doesn't mean you need to be a slave to theory though - play with chords and see how they go together, and learn how to play some music you might actually like, instead of boring studies. At some point in the future you'll want to get a teacher to correct your bad habits, but for the moment fugeddaboutit.

Re major/minor chords: You can play scales using chords, but doing it requires the use of major and minor chords. The trick is that you want all the notes in all the chords to belong in your chosen scale. So suppose we use C major, that gives us CDEFGAB, as you'll know. Then the chords you want (with the notes that form that chord) are:-

C major (CEG)
D minor (DFA)
E minor (EGB)
F major (FAC)
G major (GBD)
A minor (ACE)
B diminished (BDF)

It's a neat trick, and it makes sure you're getting chords that suit the key you're in. (The same set of chords also works for A minor, incidentally, if you want to be playing minor key stuff.) So that's a starting point to see what chords can combine to do stuff.

Also, suppose you want your tune to hit a particular note - B, for example. No-one ever said that the tonic (the "base" of the chord) had to be that note, and in fact it sounds a bit boring if it does. So if you want your tune to hit a B, you could use B diminished - but you could also use E minor or G major chords which have a B in them too, and they'll all bring a very different feeling to the tune.

And finally, don't get too trapped in the idea that scales are the only notes you can play together. Try bashing a chord of C repeatedly with your left hand whilst you play every piano key (white and black) from C to C, and see how those notes work with the basic chord. Bb for example should give a definite "we're-coming-to-an-end" kind of feel to the overall sound. Learn the names for these extra chords later, but for now just get an idea of how they work.

The important thing is to know how to use all these chords and scales, not just to know what their names are. I did classical music lessons as a kid, and I could have happily written down a whole bunch of strange chords. Did I know what they sounded like, or how I'd use them in a piece? Not a hope - all I knew was how they looked on paper. Don't get caught in that.

Bunk,

I think I just feel I know where I am if I reach a certain grade. I admit the type of music I will have to play to get that grade will most certainly not be my cup of tea at all. I do think though having a decent background in the production side of things I learning highly complex pieces of classical could surely be dumbed down and applied to what I want where as I couldnt do that the other way around. Sort of train hard fight easy as we used to say in my Army days.

Grab

wow, what a top and detailed reply. Thanks so much for taking a half hour out of your day to write this.

I feel I have learned a lot from you with just one post.

especially......

Quote:

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Re major/minor chords: You can play scales using chords, but doing it requires the use of major and minor chords. The trick is that you want all the notes in all the chords to belong in your chosen scale. So suppose we use C major, that gives us CDEFGAB, as you'll know. Then the chords you want (with the notes that form that chord) are:-

C major (CEG)
D minor (DFA)
E minor (EGB)
F major (FAC)
G major (GBD)
A minor (ACE)
B diminished (BDF)

It's a neat trick, and it makes sure you're getting chords that suit the key you're in. (The same set of chords also works for A minor, incidentally, if you want to be playing minor key stuff.) So that's a starting point to see what chords can combine to do stuff.

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and.....

Quote:

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Also, suppose you want your tune to hit a particular note - B, for example. No-one ever said that the tonic (the "base" of the chord) had to be that note, and in fact it sounds a bit boring if it does. So if you want your tune to hit a B, you could use B diminished - but you could also use E minor or G major chords which have a B in them too, and they'll all bring a very different feeling to the tune.

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Thank you so much for sharing. Little tips like this could make all of the difference to my productions.

No worries.

FWIW I agree with the other guys that lessons would be a *very* good move, and grades won't hurt either. But given how things are with you, it's better to pitch in on the stuff that takes time from you. Theory should be a tool to support your ears and experience, not an end in itself, and knowing how chords fit together is just as useful as keyboard skills.

For a useful exercise, find a recording of some classical piece in C and *really* listen to it. Try to listen for the chord changes until you can hear them happening. Then take a short section (maybe 20s or so) and try to work out what the chords are by ear on your keyboard. Mozart is good for doing this to - he mostly didn't do too much changing keys mid-piece, and although there's lots of twiddly stuff everywhere, the basic chord structure tends to be well-defined and fairly easy to spot. Then do the same with a simple rock tune ("Rocking all over the world" is in C as well, I think) and see where the same chord sequences are used.

This is great for figuring out how chords fit together, and how it sounds when you change from one chord to another. And because chords and scales work on intervals between notes, if you know what it sounds like when you're in the key of C and you run through the chord sequence C to F to G, you'll also know what it sounds like in the key of D when you run from D to G to A, because the intervals are the same (just with a different starting point).

It's also good to see how the same chord sequence can have different stuff playing over it - and that major chords aren't all Tellytubby!

Quote kolakube:

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Bunk,

I think I just feel I know where I am if I reach a certain grade. I admit the type of music I will have to play to get that grade will most certainly not be my cup of tea at all. I do think though having a decent background in the production side of things I learning highly complex pieces of classical could surely be dumbed down and applied to what I want where as I couldnt do that the other way around. Sort of train hard fight easy as we used to say in my Army days.

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Other way round, really. The simplicities of early-stage "classical" study very often don't fit in with the realities of current popular music.

For instance, you've just been given a comprehensive list of chords built from the scale of C major. This might give you the quite false idea that while writing music in the tonality of C major that only these chords were permissable, or that other chords couldn't have a structural function. It's almost a FAQ on this forum where someone comes up with "I'm in C major, but there's a Bb chord! How is this possible? Have I modulated to another key?". It's perfectly possible (Beatles - "Get Back" for one example) and no, you haven't modulated. But people get the idea somewhere that only the notes of C major scale are somehow "in" the key of C.

A little theory is maybe not a dangerous thing, but may not be a lot of use :-)

Quote kolakube:

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Bunk,

I think I just feel I know where I am if I reach a certain grade. I admit the type of music I will have to play to get that grade will most certainly not be my cup of tea at all. I do think though having a decent background in the production side of things I learning highly complex pieces of classical could surely be dumbed down and applied to what I want where as I couldnt do that the other way around. Sort of train hard fight easy as we used to say in my Army days.

---

Yep, I'm with you entirely on your first point there - that's exactly why I asked my teacher about doing grades; I wanted to get a feel for where I was in terms of development and grades would seem to provide the clearest answer. His point to me was that I'd more or less told him that I wanted to be able to gig with my band and that "doing the grades" wasn't neccessarily the quickest way of getting me there in my particular case. Am I a grade 2/3 pianist? I've no idea, I doubt it. Can I play 5 or 6 Stones / Beatles numbers with the band? Yes.

That said, he has been giving me some classical stuff to learn - Mozart as mentioned above for example, and I'd agree with what Grab has said. I'm working on one movement of Sonata XVI which is by and large G, C, D7 and Em. And I should add it's a joy to play and has got useful technique aspects to it as well. You could do worse than some Elton John stuff too - "Candle in The Wind" is pretty much E,A,B, C#m. And my teacher has also dug out a "dumbed down" version of "The Entertainer" too. (And yes, Rocking All Over The World is in C - that's another one).
The point keeps coming back to the teacher though - he's the one that's pointed me in these directions and I couldn't, I don't think, have done it myself.
The point I made earlier about sight reading wasn't meant to be dismissive; it's just not top of the list of things I need to be able to do now. It's a valid point that there's never "no point" in doing anything to do with your musical development, I would just add a caveat about prioritising.

Quote Exalted Wombat:

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But people get the idea somewhere that only the notes of C major scale are somehow "in" the key of C.

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That is because they are.

It has been brought to my attention you can buy a DVD set to learn from.

What are peoples views on learning this way?

http://www.learnandmaster.com/piano/

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1450721486/ref=asc_df_14507214861882967?smid=A3 P5ROKL5A1OLE&tag=googlecouk06-21&linkCode=asn&creative=22206&creativeASIN= 1450721486

Quote:

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This might give you the quite false idea that while writing music in the tonality of C major that only these chords were permissable

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Hope not!

If it sounds right, it is right. Theory should always be a servant to the tune, and not the other way round. Since there's nearly always more theory that you don't yet know (however far you get), you don't want to stick rigidly to just what you know.

Quote grab:

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If it sounds right, it is right. Theory should always be a servant to the tune, and not the other way round. Since there's nearly always more theory that you don't yet know (however far you get), you don't want to stick rigidly to just what you know.

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It can't be said too often - theory is a description of what has been found to work. It isn't a set of rules, unless you're following an exercise in writing in someone else's style.

Quote kolakube:

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It has been brought to my attention you can buy a DVD set to learn from.

What are peoples views on learning this way?

http://www.learnandmaster.com/piano/

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1450721486/ref=asc_df_14507214861882967?smid=A3 P5ROKL5A1OLE&tag=googlecouk06-21&linkCode=asn&creative=22206&creativeASIN= 1450721486

---

You're really set against getting a teacher aren't you? Why? You've got a house stuffed full of music gear which must include a few keyboards. Teachers are mobile. They teach in schools, private homes, institutions of all kinds. Your circumstances can't be THAT horiffic that a teacher would run away screaming!

Hi KolarKube

I appreciate your anxiety over the whole private tutor thing, especially with organising them to come to your house, but....

It will be really REALLY hard for you to try and teach yourself the 'grade' system. As has already been pointed out, teachers will teach you how to pass the exam, not just how to play the piano. The analogy with driving instructors is a very good one. A driving instructor teaches you the safest way to drive in accordance with the requirements of passing the test that says you can drive. In the same way, a music teacher tutoring someone in ABRSM grades will teach you the techniques and skills you need to pass the ABRSM grades. In both circumstances, it doesn't make you the best driver or instrumentalist but, like with everything, once you've mastered it you can play around with the rules and even break some of them sometimes. (Who, honestly, does the feeding the wheel through your hands thing?)

For now, especially as a beginner to theory and 'classical' piano in general, I would recommend that a teacher would be of great help to you. In the same way that many pop singers are self-taught and pick up bad habits (from a 'classical', 'correct' perspective) from those around them, teaching yourself an instrument can instil bad habits from a technical perspective that an ABRSM examiner will immediately pick up on. A teacher can help to guide you in the right way and ensure you are practising good habits in order to pass the exams. They'll also help to give you confidence when you're feeling overwhelmed, calm your nerves before the exam by preparing you for what you will be expected to do, demystify the world of theory without confusing you by telling you what you need to know in a way that makes sense to you, and know what challenge you need to be given next so that you can progress with your instrument.

All the best on your piano adventure! Keep us uptodate on how it's going

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@ Wombat

Quote:

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It can't be said too often - theory is a description of what has been found to work. It isn't a set of rules, unless you're following an exercise in writing in someone else's style.

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An excellent point!

Quote:

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You're really set against getting a teacher aren't you? Why? You've got a house stuffed full of music gear which must include a few keyboards. Teachers are mobile. They teach in schools, private homes, institutions of all kinds. Your circumstances can't be THAT horiffic that a teacher would run away screaming!

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Im not dead set about getting a teacher at all. However the condition that I have being diagnosed with. Its not as simple as people are either im ill or not. Some people have symptoms that manifest themselves at unpredictable but different times of the day. Meaning I cant keep an appointment as I haven't a chrystal ball as to when ill be ill. I couldn't even offer a 3 hour window for certain.

So I doubt very much the teacher will run away screaming but I will end up forking out for many many lessons that I just cannot make. Naturally also my finances are not superb at this point of my life either as I cannot work either.
Learning piano was more of a way of keeping moving forward.

As said earlier, I really do not want to go into all of this on open forum or by PM and already have said far too much. I really come on SOS to get away from things.

Please can you all just understand I cannot get to a teacher, and a teacher cannot get to me. No matter how many details I have to give away this is still the bottom line answer.

Did anyone see my links above to learning from a DVD? Is this a good way to learn? Id guess motivation would be the worsted thing. You'd have to be fairly disciplined.

Yes, Kola, I had a look at the DVD you suggested.
I must admit my first thought was not to touch it with a bargepole - certainly not for £76. It's calling itself "Learn and Master The Piano". Learn it, maybe. Master it? Highly unlikely.
As you are resigned to having to learning it your own way, self-taught effectively, I would certainly shop around more before committing that sort of money to a DVD set. As regards "is that the best way to go?", I honestly wouldn't know but you've recognised that you'll need self-discipline, patience and dedication, although that's required whichever way you approach the task.
If there is such a thing, maybe look at a correspondence course of some sort? One thing that will be of immense value is feedback on your progress from someone who knows what they're talking about, which you won't really get from a progressive DVD set. If you've got the facility to record at home, maybe see if there's a way you can interact with a tutor in some way who can give you advice on how you're progressing, what you're doing right and wrong and how to move onwards.
Best of luck, though. Stick at it, it's worth it.

Hmm.

TBH, I'd stay away from that kind of thing. Books have always made more sense to me - that's the kind of thing I used for learning guitar. If you can already read music (even if not fast enough to sight-read) then that'll be fine for you. Rocket Piano seems to get some decent write-ups, but someone like Jennifer may know of better tutorials. What works for you will also depend on what you want to play - if you're particularly into Jerry Lee Lewis then a tutorial that heads down the classical route probably isn't the best move, for instance.

Don't forget too that you're trying to learn two completely separate things here. One part of what you're learning is keyboard technique, which lets you play the piano well. And the other thing you're learning is musical structure concepts which you can apply to your own music. Don't lose track of the fact that these are two very different things, even though they're complimentary in many ways. If you're wanting to expand your knowledge of musical structure and push your own productions forward, then you're probably better learning lots of easy songs in different styles, instead of particularly focussing on keyboard skills.

I'd also go looking on the web for piano-playing forums - I'm sure there are some out there. If you can post a quick vid of your hands in action and ask for feedback, same way that folks here ask for feedback on mixes, that'd be good. Your piano course says it offers that, but their forum doesn't actually seem that active, so I'm not sure how good it'll be.

Not much to add except to say that I took up cello in 2002, took lessons for a couple of years and then stopped playing due to a couple of impinging unforeseen circumstances, but in that time I did my Grade 2 within about 6 months, and was getting ready for Grade 4.

I learnt more about musicality, expression, playing, harmony, structure and development and all that gubbins, than I ever would have looking a book/website/etc. The guiding hand of a pro is a great benefit.

If you "teach yourself" your tutor will likely have to spend time undoing what you thought you had got right. Also you have to keep up to thing or they do drift away - I struggle now to play what I was most keen on and most proficient at, and would need lessons to get back to where I was...

Even just a few lessons to get you started might be beneficial though, so if money's an issue phone a few tutors and speak to them about what you're after. Musicians (and teachers) might be a bit bonkers but they're mostly human. As for your comments about paying and then not going, I used to pay at the end of a session in cash or by cheque, not for bulk in advance.

Edited by nathanscribe (28/01/11 01:06 PM)

I hope this is relevant, but I set myself a goal of passing a lowly grade 1, this year, just to see if I could.

Up until a few months back I had not touched a keyboard of any sort other than playing chopsticks and learning Axel F, about 25 years ago.

I bought a few books on theory and chords and how to write songs and an 'Idiot' guide to music creation. That part, I think, is down to me just getting on and reading it - chord progression, chord types, modes, keys, time signatures, circle of fifths, etc. I've certainly learnt a load since reading them by dipping in and out and can even knock up a tune, now, to some degree.

However, through trying to put these examples into practise I've already started to get into some bad habits - a 'C Major' chord with my right hand using fingers 1, 2 and 5. Instead of 1, 3, 5 because it feels more natural and easier. Though, I know further down the line this is going to be a problem, if I need to start reaching for the bigger chords like 7ths and onward.

I plan to take one lesson a month. I've only had one, so far. Hopefully, enough to keep me on the straight and narrow. Half the lesson is me being told off for what I've done wrong and the other half with me asking a bunch of questions. It's probably far from ideal but, like you, I have no interest in classical music. Who knows how many bad habits I will pick up without someone who actually knew about such things.

One of the hardest things I've had to deal with is fully-weighted piano keys Vs. the semi-weighted keys of my synth. It just feels weird!

Neil

Quote Dilithium:

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One of the hardest things I've had to deal with is fully-weighted piano keys Vs. the semi-weighted keys of my synth.

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As a committed 'not a real player' I loathe weighted keyboards. If I could replace the semi-weighted monstrosity in my K2600X I would!!

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An Eagle for an Emperor, A Kestrel for a Knave.

Quote The Elf:

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As a committed 'not a real player' I loathe weighted keyboards. If I could replace the semi-weighted monstrosity in my K2600X I would!!

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Interesting. I find it hard to play with any dexterity on an unweighted keyboard. I'd adjust if I had to, of course. Technique can be learned.

I dread to think of trying to play one of my typical Wakeman/Banks solos on a weighted keyboard - I'd be into bar three before the first key had finished bouncing back!

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An Eagle for an Emperor, A Kestrel for a Knave.

Think what Paderewski might have achieved on a 61-note unweighted keyboard!

(Doh, noticed the date of the last post on this one! Apologies for bumping an old thread!)


Hi KK

No idea how old you are, but I did what you want to do as an adult. (I'm 45 now, this was about 5 years ago)

I have a piano and decided I wanted to learn, so I bought a book on how to play and started. Learnt a few chords and away we go. Then I thought I would do an adult education class, and did that for a term or two, but 5 people round a piano doesn't make for good instruction. So I bought the Grade 1 book and picked 3 pieces and started to learn them on my own. Well I thought I was doing ok, and when my son started piano lessons, I decided to do them too. I took along my Grade 1 book (it was just in date, they change them every so often) and played my pieces. And they were not good! The basics were there, but I had been doing loads of things wrong, bad fingering/technique, too fast, no expression etc etc.

And that brings me to my point: yes it is possible to learn at home, but eventually you get to the stage where you will need someone to critique your work and identify your faults. With a teacher, I was able to progress through the exams fairly quickly and did Grades 1, 2, 3 and 4 and started to learn Grade 5 before the real world got in the way. It was odd pitching up at the exams with my (then) 9 year old in tow, only for us both to do the exam! Got some strange looks!

Now I understand your reticence in getting a teacher because of the unpredictability of your illness, (the same will apply to any booked exams I assume?), so you have no real choice but to go it alone. In which case I would save your money on the DVD and find a suitable book.

If you are dead set on doing the exams (I was, no idea why) then try and get a friend who plays (well), just to come in every so often to assess you, if you really can't get a teacher. You will really struggle otherwise, as others have said. You have the syllabus, you can also get the pieces in audio format (my teacher had a CD, though you may be able to d/l them now).

If you are not bothered about the exams then have you considered an 'online' teaching tool? There are loads out there, though I have no idea how effective they are, maybe someone else could assist with that.

Good luck anyway, with some perseverence you will get a long way. Whether that's through the exams is another matter, but you will have fun; it's a lovely instrument. (And that's from a drummer normally!!)

Oh and unweighted keyboards... god, they are so hard to play!! Guess I could get used to them but I don't feel as though I am pressing the keys!

Stu

The basic pattern of any teaching is

Teach
practice
get feedback

If you don't have a teacher you won't know if you are doing it right. You might read about technique, but you have noone to tell you how you are doing. And assuming you did manage to get several grades in without a teacher. By that stage you'd have crap technique and probably be unteachable. Just get a teacher. It surely can't be that hard to be humble.

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Daniel Davis
Edinburgh Recording Studio Windmill Sound

"Is it relativity easy to get your grade 2 piano being self taught?".

I would say very easy. I taught myself piano and got to grade 6 in 6 months from nothing and passed Associated Board with 111 (quite reasonable given the circumstances). I needed it to get into music college so perhaps there was more riding on it.

Piano is easy to learn. Classial guitar, French horn or oboe on the other hand, yeah - you're gonna need a teacher.

Just requires hard work. I know lots of excellent self-taught musicians.

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Quote kolakube:

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Basically, learn 3 pieces parrot fashion, a few scales and chords but also know how to play them as a broken chord (or arp as I would have previously called them.)

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That's the thing...

Learn to play a few pieces "parrot fashion" and it won't work in your favour - the examiner will be looking for some degree of 'expression' even if it's rudimentary.

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He's not gonna be expecting Alfred Brendel at grade 2. Parrot fashion musicality is fine at this level. Like if it says 'P' you play soft etc - that's all that is required.

Must admit to never having done grade 2 - first exam I did was grade 4. That is not hard but after that it gets steadily more difficult until at the top level (which was called licentiate when I was doing it), you really have mastered the piano, or at least classical piano (R&B piano is actually an entirely different beast - not neccesarily easier, if you want to play at the highest level, but technically different).

You do need to sight read. You do need to be able to play scales and arpeggios with the "correct" (i.e. official) fingerings. You do need to know a little about the pieces you are playing (and their composers, if important - e.g. Bach, Mozart etc) even though that's probably not in the syllabus.

It is worth going to a teacher for one or two lessons before you take your exam in order to get checked out but, more importantly, to check out the teacher. If you can find a good one they will be able to help you greatly as you advance.

Quote damoore:

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You do need to be able to play scales and arpeggios with the "correct" (i.e. official) fingerings.

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There are more than one "correct" fingering system. When I arrived at the RAM the first thing my new piano teacher did was teach me a different one, in order to make me re-think my technique.

I believe the AB requirement is to use "any logical and consistent method of fingering".

Which, I would add, is very unlikely to cover one that a pre-grade II player makes up for himself :-)

Anyone considering self-tuition - start by describing how to pivot on the thumb when playing scales. If you don't know what I'm talking about, get a teacher!