On the Road in June: Alberta, PEI, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick

For three weeks very June, I go out examining for The Royal Conservatory's Certificate Program. Over the years I've had a chance to hear a huge number of students of all ages all over North America playing exams at every level. It's always a pleasure to support so many young musicians on their road to success in whatever form that might take, musical or otherwise, and this year was no exception.

I've done lots of traveling before, but this was the first time that I've worked in five provinces in one month. Starting out the month finishing up my teaching in Oakville and Toronto, the first week of my trip saw me visiting Lloydminster, Edmonton, and Drayton Valley in Alberta. The next week I travelled to Charlottetown, PEI for a single day of voice exams, then on to Moncton, New Brunswick. A last-minute cancellation had me re-routed to Halifax and New Glasgow (instead of St. John), and then back to my original route with a week in Fredericton. All in the span of three weeks!

Needless to say, I'm ready for a few weeks of downtime when I get back to Oakville tomorrow. The second week of July I'll be coaching at The Royal Conservatory's High School Vocal Performance Intensive while preparing for my talk on technology in the studio the RCM's Summer Summit 2018.

Here are some pictures from my trip so far:

The view from one of my walks on a break in Edmonton.

So I travel to one of the most picturesque places in Canada and the only
picture I take is at Cow's Creamery.

This is my second time in Halifax this year. What a fantastic city to visit!

The exam room in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia. 

Dinner by the water in Pictou was worth the half-hour drive. 

The exam room at Christ Church in Fredericton. That's a lovely vintage
Baldwin in the sanctuary. 

Observations on the Road

My setup in Sault Ste. Marie
before a day of voice exams

For the last few weeks I've been on the road examining for both The Royal Conservatory in Canada and for Carnegie Hall Royal Conservatory's The Achievement Program in the US. To give you an idea of my travels, here is a list of the communities I've examined at in the last year alone:

• Matawan, NJ
• Spotswood, NJ
• Spring Valley, NY
• Brooklyn
• Boston
• Davenport, Iowa
• Waterloo, Iowa
• Chicago
• London, Ontario
• Sarnia
• Sault Ste. Marie
• Halifax
• Calgary
• Edmonton
• Lethbridge
• Grande Prairie
• Grimshaw
• Dawson Creek (where I am now)

Observing the similarities and differences between communities has been eye-opening, including these kinds of real-world issues in various places:

• The difficulty of being able to afford lessons in the midwest, and the challenges that parents face overseeing a child's daily practice when both parents have long commutes to work.
• The unique way that home-schooled children are able to fit multiple practice sessions into their everyday learning routine, resulting in increased musical fluency and confidence.
• How the Brooklyn Conservatory has embraced the TAP program as a way to bring standardized assessments into their integrated programs and achieve greater relevance in the community
• The difficulty in getting students interested in music lessons everywhere.
• In Grande Prairie, the extensive performing experiences that piano students can have (master classes, guest artists, community concerts, festivals), which can be far more extensive than students in far larger places, thanks in large part to the astonishing amount of work that private teachers do to create a musical culture in their community. 
• The desperate need for private piano teachers in the smaller communities of northern British Columbia. 
• In spite of these challenges, the sheer number of musicians who have gone on to universities and careers after growing up in these grassroots musical communities. 

Once these students arrive at universities, their musical horizons have partially been formed. The real engine behind the increasing standard of musicians in North America is the power of smaller musical communities, driven largely by the efforts of private music teachers.

Which is where I fit in.

As an examiner brought in by the Royal Conservatory, I have the opportunity to observe an extremely accurate snapshot of their strengths, their weaknesses, and their passion for music. I grade each exam and write my remarks. When the students review their results, they'll be able to get a remarkably clear idea of where they are on their musical journey, as well as where they stand in relation to thousands of students who also played the same exams.

Teachers also benefit enormously from this process. By viewing the exam results of their entire studio, they can chart their own strengths and weaknesses as educators, as well as plot the way forward in their pedagogical development.

Potato Crusted Halibut with
tartar sauce, almond rice, and
cowgirl salad

But I also love to travel for the sake of traveling, and in every city that I visit, I'm driven by an inexhaustible desire to find interesting and unique restaurants. The picture at left is from lunch yesterday at Dawson Creek's Browns Social House, whose seafood is as good as what you'll find nearly 2000 kilometres away in Vancouver. On Wednesday, I fly back to Toronto to embark on my summer teaching adjudicating, and opera coaching schedule. 

The Unauthorized Guide to Achieving Your Best Royal Conservatory Exam Result Yet

Image by Fire Bird Flame

As we move into late spring, exams are just around the corner for those enrolled in Carnegie Hall Royal Conservatory achievement exams in the United States and Royal Conservatory exams in Canada. This is traditionally the time when many students do their last few weeks of frantic practicing in order to make up for lost time earlier in the year. Students who traditionally get the best marks aren't necessarily the best technicians or performers, but the ones who do well at all the sections on the exam including repertoire, studies, technical requirements, clapbacks, intervals, chords, playbacks, sight reading, and sight clapping. Especially in the later grades, the amount of preparation required in order to excel at an exam is can be somewhat daunting. Here are 20 ways to make the most of your last few weeks of practice

1. Play through all the technical requirements every day. Playing technique well isn't about being smart or talented. It's about playing the scales, chords, and arpeggios day after day until you know them in your sleep. Your fingers and mind will both benefit from the workout.

2. Target problem spots in the technical requirements and work on them in detail. Minor scales and seventh chords in particular can often be neglected. Spend the time to really work on these and all the requirements that aren't up to snuff.

3. Play through all your repertoire and studies every day. It's vitally important to get beyond the learning stage of pieces and into performance mode. Running pieces without stopping will both help you make that switch and help you to identify pesky spots that still need work.

4. Do detail work on studies and repertoire. On the other hand, having performance-ready pieces doesn't necessarily mean that you need to neglect the detail work, which can often reap major dividends once your pieces are finally performable.

5. Do memory work on repertoire. Extremely few of us are blessed with a flawless memory. The rest of us have to work at the art of memory, relying on visual, auditory, kinesthetic, intellectual, and emotional cues to learn how to play pieces from heart. Also remember that for Grades 1-7 piano exams, two memory marks are awarded per piece, regardless of what mark you are actually awarded for the performance. Needless to say, these are marks that you're really going to want.

6. Perform your repertoire. Playing your pieces in festivals, master classes, or studio recitals will add some high-stakes situations to your musical development. And once you're in the exam room, you'll notice the benefits - it's just another performance.

7. Work on intervals. Play them, sing them, write them, learn songs that use them. You can even play online games that feature intervals. See this previous post for more details and resources.

8. Work on chords. Learn their constituent parts. Listen to how they sound, and in what contexts they can be found. Play through the chords in your technical requirements every day (see #1).

9. Practice drilling clapback and playback exercises. The Frederick Harris Comprehensive Ear Training series is an excellent way to work on these important skills.

10. Practice playing cadences. Sight-read Bach chorales and identify the cadences (see #12). Play cadences in all 24 keys. Write them.

11. Work on identifying cadences. See #10.

12. Sight-read every day. This is another core skill that has very little to do with being gifted or intelligent. It requires steady practice, day in, day out. The greatest benefit: a lifetime of being able to sit down at the piano and discover a world of musical compositions in any style.

13. Go to a church or temple service and sing along to the musical parts of the service. When you sing in a congregation, you're sight-reading! Following along in the hymn book can help you familiarize yourself with the basic musical literacy of intervals, scales, and rhythms, and you can take away all of these skills to help you improve musicianship at your instrument.

14. Listen to music while following along with the score. Listen to string quartets, chamber music, operas, and symphonies with the score. Here's one for starters.

15. Watch performances of your repertoire on YouTube. Do a search for any repertoire you're doing and watch a broad cross-section of performances, be they brilliant or pedestrian.

16. Practice for longer amounts of time. Here's how to do it.

17. Practice at more optimal times of the day. Read my previous articles on how to build a regular practice schedule here and here.

18. Practice more times per day for shorter periods. Having trouble concentrating? Are personal or academic demands only letting you practice for short bursts? Take a look at my previous article on 15 ways to add 10-minute practice blocks to your routine.

19. Write a practice journal. Taking a bit of time to write down your start and end times, processes, insights, and questions while practicing will help you develop even more mindful intention to your time at the instrument.

20. Get your teacher to give you a practice exam. Doing a practice exam will help you get into the rhythm that will ensure you play to the best of your ability come examination day. After all, the best marks don't come from candidates who perform one or two things brilliantly, but ones whose broad preparation allows them to score well in as many parts of the exam as possible.

Best of luck to everyone playing RCM/CHRC exams this June! I'll be examining in New Jersey and southern New York State in a few weeks, followed by a week-long stint in Vancouver.

For teachers who are unfamiliar with Royal Conservatory exams, now might be an excellent time to familiarize yourself with the specific requirements for your instrument, so be sure to check out the syllabi for piano, theory, guitar, voice, violin, viola, cello, double bass, flute, woodwinds, brass, and percussion,

Examining in Ohio

This week I'm examining for the National Music Certificate Program in Cincinnati, Ohio (West Chester, to be precise). The terrible internet connection in my hotel room resulted in a frantic search for fast and free wifi in the neighborhood. Fortunately, I discovered a Barnes & Noble location a few minutes from my hotel, so the B&N Starbucks is now the location of my regular West Chester office hours until Sunday.

What makes this experience memorable is that I'm examining in the performance space at Premier Pianos, which features a brand-new out-of-the-factory Steinway D Concert Grand. It's a rare experience indeed for these young pianists to have the chance to play a world-class instrument for their exams, so thanks go out to Greg Kottmann for making the space and piano available.

I've also quickly become addicted to Skyline Chili's 3-way chili and coneys (thanks to a recommendation from Jan Grimes). If you have any other tips on great Cincinnati restaurants and hangouts, post your comments now, as I'm only in town until Sunday...

8 Ways to Improve Your Marks in RCM/NMCP Piano Examinations

Doing an piano exam for the Royal Conservatory of Music or National Music Certificate Program anytime soon? Here are some ideas on how you can improve your mark based on simply knowing and preparing for the correct examination requirements in your grade level.

1. Learn the correct number of pieces for your grade. You would be surprised how many students lose unnecessary marks by not learning pieces from each applicable list. Learning the correct number of studies is important as well--one for the Introductory Grade through Grade 2, two from Grade 3 onward. Another common problem occurs in grade 7 and 9, where lists are split into Parts 1 and 2--even though the list is divided into two parts, only one piece is needed for it. Taking a look at the piano syllabus will clear up any misunderstanding for what repertoire you need to learn.

2. Learn the correct movements for longer works. To quote the syllabus, "Each bulleted item represents one selection for examination purposes." Looking at the movements underneath the bulleted item (marked with an arrow (--->) will tell you which movements you will need to prepare for that selection. Here are a few examples from the Grade 10 list. In List D, if you're playing the Deux Arabesques, you'll need to learn either #1 or #2, not both. In the same List, those playing the Poulenc Suite française will need to bring 3, 6, and 7. From List E, those preparing the Bartok Dances in Bulgarian Rhythm will need to bring any two of #148-153 from Mikrokosmos VI.

3. Memorize your repertoire. In Grades 1 to 7, each piece played from memory gives you two marks per piece. This can add up considerably and is worth the investment of time and effort. In Grades 8, 9, 10 and ARCT, memorization is expected and is integrated into the mark for each piece. Memorization is not required for studies.

4. Learn the correct technical requirements and be able to play them at a high level. Spending time on perfecting your technique, as I have previously written about, pays dividends both in your exam marks and in your overall quality of playing. For my students, I emphasize both being able to find and begin each technical form correctly and then to play it with fluency (and correct fingering!). Some of the trickier technical forms in the middle to later grades include dominant and diminished seventh chords and arpeggios.

5. Work on the skills needed for the ear tests. Playback, rhythm, intervals, chords, cadences, and metre all play a part in building musicianship and excelling in these skills requires work.

6. Work on your sight reading. Great sight readers are made, not born. For some ideas on how to integrate sight reading into your daily practice take a look at my previous posting on 10 ways to improve your sight reading.

7. No cramming! Do your preparation in the weeks and months before your exam rather than in the last few days. It will "stick" better that way and help you build a better work ethic.

8. To be absolutely sure of what you need to prepare in your grade level, take a look at the latest Piano Syllabus for the Royal Conservatory of Music. Knowing the facts about what you need to prepare takes the guesswork out of exam preparation and gives you a much clearer idea about what to expect in the exam room.

look inside

Celebration Series!: Piano Repertoire 3 (2015 Edition). Composed by The Royal Conservatory Music Development Program. For piano. This edition: 2015 edition. Celebration Series!. Baroque, Classical, Romantic, 20th century and 21st century. Elementary (Level 3). Method book & listening CD. Published by The Frederick Harris Music Company (FH.C5R03).

The New Technical Requirements for RCM Piano Examinations

RCM Examinations (which operates in the US as the National Music Cerficate Program) is currently overhauling their entire piano curriculum for the 2008-09 season. Some of the changes have recently been announced, including new technical requirements for all grades, which include:

• the introduction of Preparatory A and B into Canada (already available in US)
  
• preparation for the tough level changes that occur between Grades 4-5 and 7-8
• different major/minor relationships throughout the grades
• staccato scales introduced
  
• earlier introduction of hands together forms
• different listings of scales at the 3rd and 6th in later grades, as well as the introduction of scales at the 10th.

To get a better idea of these new changes and how they will apply to the RCME curriculum one year from now, read Part 1 and Part 2 of Christopher Kowal's articles on the subject in the Music Matters newsletter published by RCME.