Materials needed for ABRSM practical grade exams.

For grades 1-5 you will need:

The relevant ABRSM piano grade pieces book, published by ABRSM.

Improve your sight- reading, ABRSM edition, piano, for the relevant grade. Written by Paul Harris and published by Faber.

Scales Shapes for piano, ABRSM edition, for the relevant grade. Written by Frederick Stocken, published by Chester.

For grades 6-8 you will need:

The relevant ABRSM piano grade pieces book, published by ABRSM.

Improve your sight-reading, ABRSM edition, piano, for the required grade. Written by Paul Harris and published by Faber.

The ABRSM Scales and Arpeggios book for the relevant grade, published by ABRSM.

Exam entries for ABRSM practical and theory grades.

Just a little reminder that fees are due this week if you or your child are taking an ABRSM exam.

Cheques are payable to me or you can do a bank transfer and then I pay all the fees together.

Exam fees are listed on the two photos.

Summer Term 2016!

Welcome to the Summer Term of piano lessons.

Private Piano Lessons: some begin this week and others next week. You should have all been notified. Contact me if you are unsure.

MHS Lessons: these begin on Tuesday 19th. Please check the timetable for your lesson times.

Cathedral Primary School: lessons begin on Wednesday 20th. Don't forget your music!

This term we have the Summer piano pupil concert at the Salvation Army Hall on Friday 24th June. I would like as many pupils as possible to perform so start to think about a solo piece or a duet. At the Summer Concert I will be presenting the Points Mean Prizes trophies AND there are other awards...more details later! 

Top Ten Practice Tips.

The end of the Spring term and advance notification of the Summer concert.

Cathedral School: this term I was asked to teach 9 lessons, which I have already done. Next week I will be in school and will teach week 1 of the Summer term; this will give us the ability to cope with sports days, trips out, visits to new schools and the joy of SATS.

MHS: there are 2 more Tuesdays of lessons.

Private Teaching: there are 2 more weeks before the Easter holidays.

Exam pupils: we continue our exam countdown with a pre- exam plonk through at my house this Saturday starting at 3pm. Be prepared to play 2 pieces and a selection of your scales, arpeggios and broken chords etc.

Summer concert: I have booked The Salvation Army Hall for Friday 24th June. Points Mean Prizes trophies will also be presented then so keep practising!

After half term Points Mean Prizes.

Half term is over and it's time to get into a regular practice routine again. Also more points are on offer, this time for completing Listening Sheets. These will be given out in lessons this week, feel free to photocopy them as many times as you like. Listen to a piece of music ( from YouTube, Spotify, CD etc) and then complete the Listening Sheet fully with your child. Bring it to the next piano lesson and points will be awarded if it's filled in fully.

Good pieces to listen to are:

Any movement from Holst's Planets' Suite.

A movement from Vivaldi's Seasons.

Ballet music by Tchaikovsky.

Piano pieces such as The Entertainer, Moonlight Sonata, or Debussy's Arabesques.

Pictures at an Exhibition.

1812 Overture.

Keep it short and enjoy listening and discussing the music with your child. 

Charlie, pictured here with his certificate and prize, really enjoyed completing Listening Sheets last year. I look forward to hearing about what you have listened to.

Today's Points Mean Prizes winners.

These are today's Points Mean Prizes winners from The Cathedral School and my private teaching.