I am 20 years old now and I am thinking of continuing my piano. I did ABRSM grade 4, 7 years ago. but there are some things that I wanted to know.

I think most people goes for ABRSM.

For ABSRM, you must do Grade 5 then only you can take exam again either grade 6, 7 or 8?

because I only took Grade 4 exam. It's like you cannot straight take Grade 6 or 7 exam? Must get Grade 5 first right?

Apart of ABRSM. I would like to know more about other 'boards'? I dunno how to refer to it. I do know there is Trinity and one more 1 forgot.

Correct me if i am wrong, most people said that ABRSM is harder than Trinity. And some of my friends who are not so good in piano actually goes for Trinity instead of ABRSM.

I am kinda blur now.

If I am serious about this, if I wanna continue until diploma, which one should I actually go for? ABRSM? It seems like better to take ABRSM. But if ABRSM and Trinity is just the same, which one is more recognized?

I am curious, how do u get diploma after grade 8?

This post has been edited by toccatina: May 10 2009, 10:28 AM

to get diploma, u just go for exams lor.

er the requirements for the grade 5 wan is to pass the theory paper.

then u can do the practical for grades 6 7 and 8.

ABRSM theory grade 5 is IMHO a must, even if you're not taking any exams. it's like a foundation of music knowledge.

ABRSM grade 5 theory is in fact very important, especially if u wanna continue to higher grades. without this, u wont be allowed to move on to the next stage.
so yes, must take grade5 theory first if u wanna continue.

if not mistaken, the other one is guildhall, but it is now joined with the trinity board, so currently there are 2 examination boards :

i)ABRSM
ii)Trinity Guildhall Examination.
owh and Yamaha Higher Grade Examination too, if ur learning at Yamaha.

Most people would usually finish their ABRSM grade 8, then continue with trinity for diploma, im not sure why, but yea my piano teacher once told me that the ABRSM syllabus is generally harder than the Trinity's.

its your choice actually, but both are equally recognised.

if u wanna get a diploma, find a teacher who teaches diploma, then go for the exam..

usually after people get their diploma, what will be the next step?

some people start teaching.. some further study to get a degree or higher in uni.. some just stop there because they wanna study something else..
it reli depends on which route u wanna take..

even if you know what people are doing after diploma, it won't help your journey much.

always ask yourself a simple question - why you want to learn music? you'll get your answer in no time.

there's a musician that can really play, got a diploma at age 13, but eventually become a doctor, though still play casually. there's also a musician who got a diploma in his very young year (*wink* *wink* empire), and further develop himself into a versatile pianist/keyboardist who play many styles, and have been a performer since then until now. quite a number of diploma holders further study to get degrees.

it doesn't really mean a thing about having a diploma or not. the only thing that helps in career by getting black and white written qualification, is when you want to teach, or when you want to tell the public of how good you are with mouth.

mind you, getting a cert doesn't 100% reflect the person's true qualification. exam is only a few songs, and will only prove that you can play that few songs. if you truely are the kind of level, you'll be able to play more than just those few exam songs.

Well, you can also consider taking higher diplomas, like LTCL, FTCL for Trinity, or LRSM. FRSM for ABRSM, if you have the time and ability. Nowadays more and more people are taking up to the LTCL or LRSM level.

other exam boards i know,
London College of Music
GUILD
ANZCA