How To Achieve First Class Honours With Distinction (RCM)
Scout, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
This is how the Royal Conservatory defines First Class Honours with Distinction: “This standing is achieved by truly exceptional students who demonstrate complete technical command and perform with a confident, masterful style. This mark identifies that your child clearly demonstrates an authentic, personal spark in their performance.” - TIPS FOR PARENTS, how to interpret examination results.
Complete technical command.
“Complete technical command” is achieved when a student could play a scale in his sleep. It comes with a naturalness and sensitive ear and touch. To achieve this all technical exercises should be practiced with great variety. For example, for any given scale a student should practice it at ff, f, mf, mp, p, pp. All the while tempo should be varied. If a scale is to be played at 80bpm the student should practice at 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, and 100 bpm with every possible dynamic indicator. All technical exercises should be practiced with and without the aid of a metronome. Every technical exercise should be performed with proper form. All technical exercises should be repeated many, many, many times. Then play them again. :)Perform with a confident, masterful style.
Before getting to this point, a student will need to memorize the repertoire. Once memorized, she can move on to playing with confidence. To play with confidence we must overcome a fear of mistakes. This is done by a desire to bring something special to the piece. A student needs to be able to explain the feel of the piece, the emotions or lack thereof, the key moments in the piece. The student needs to be able to show she understands how principle ideas are developed as the piece continues. With a deep understanding of the music comes a sense of obligation to the objective of the piece. What is the objective? What is this piece supposed to make my listeners feel? What are some practical things our student can do to achieve this?Authentic personal spark.
Students need to inject their own personality into their performance. Please check out Lang Lang's sparkling example in this video:. Learn to love the piece you are playing, what are your favorite moments? What do you want to bring to it that no one else can? Here is a sample exercise to help. Take 3 commonly performed classical pieces, for example Fur Elise (Beethoven), Claire de Lune (Debussy), Turkish March (Mozart). Find 3 recordings of each piece. Taking one at a time, listen to all 3 recordings and rank them from most liked to least liked and identify the differences. Then decide what you will bring to your own piece.
Of course in addition to these things you will need to pay attention to your musicianship. Make sure to practice your ear training and sight reading until you can identify the required intervals etc… with over 90% accuracy.
The step by step guide
The following is a step by step guide to help you achieve the best marks possible on your exam. It's worked to help my students get honours with distinction, and I know it will help you do the same.
1. Listen to the repertoire pieces
Once you have selected your repertoire pieces, it's important to listen to professional recordings. I reccomend listening to 5 or 6 different recordings to find the one that you enjoy the best.
Once you've found your favorite, listen to it many times. Ask yourself: What makes this piece special? How does the pianist bring out the true character of the piece? Where does she pause for effect? Which notes are clearer or louder than the others? Which effects do I need to bring to my performance?
Now go to the piano. It's time to isolate the improvements you wish to make to your piece. Some of them will be simple, and you can include them with little effort. Ask your teacher to help you with any that you are still struggling with.
2. Refine your Technic
The following points can be applied to all technical exercises. So, if it's scales, triads or arpeggios, apply the following strategy.
Vary tempo. You need to be able to play at the prescribed tempo. The mistake a lot of students make when they play scales is to practice them only until they can play at the required tempo.
This will allow you to perform acceptably, but it won't contribute to a "complete technical command" that the examiners are looking for.
In order to play technical confidently at the required tempo, you should practice at a faster and slower tempo. Once you've gained confidence at a range of tempos, you will play the exercises with the kind of maturity of someone who is not playing at their fastest, but has simply selected the correct tempo.
Not only that, but you'll avoid the trap of having tempo fluctuations within the exercise. Especially if you use a metronome consistently during your practice.
Vary groupings. (This mostly applies to scales) Another problem many students have is "clumping" notes together during a scale. We want our technical exercises to sound as if a robot is producing them. So, how do we avoid "clumping"We assign different time signatures to our scale.
First, play your scale by emphasizing every 2nd note (2/4). then every third note (3/4 or 6/8) and every fourth note (4/4) and every 5th note (5/8).
Now you probably have a "default" time signature, and it's probably 4/4. So you may be emphasizing the 1st and 5th note of the scales you're working on.
So when you practice your scales, simply omit the time signature that is your default. For example, play your scale once 2/4, then 3/4, then 5/8.
If you practice using a variety of time signatures, you'll find your ability at noticing changes in emphasis is heightened. Then, you'll be more equipped at keeping changes of emphasis to a minimum during exams.
Dynamic variationsYou're probably noticing a pattern here. A lot of times students allow dynamic fluctuations within an exercise. In order to keep our hands sensitive to variations of pressure on the keys, we can play a given exercize at different volumes.
This helps us keep our volume consistent and improves mind-muscle connections.
3. Invest time into musicianship
Unfortunately, if musicianship or a specific part of it is a problem, it may take time to build it up. It is worth the effort.
The awesome thing is that there are lots of great apps you can use to improve your abilities
Check out This article for a few of the best ear training apps
As far as sight reading goes, check out Czerny op. 139. Start at the beginning and keep going. I guarantee the process will bring up any sight reading issues you may have.
If your still in the introductory RCM levels, check out a sight reading app like Simply Piano or Music Crab (free) to get used to reading fresh music.
Conclusion
I hope this helps you figure out a good strategy for your next exam.
Good luck!
The Ultimate RCM Guide
This PDF answers all of your questions about enrolment in the RCM (Royal Conservatory of Music) What to expect, how to get the most of the program, and everything you need to do along the way. It contains:
- A 16 week exam prep schedule
- What books and materials you will need
- Tips on how to get the best grade possible
- The dates of the next exams