Mr Kimi has been safely back home for a couple of weeks now, after an epic 40-hour journey back from Europe. Life is much better when we’re in the same country.During the school holidays (which are also a holiday from piano lessons), I decided to drop music theory. I’ve been studying Grade 6 theory, vaguely thinking I’d sit the exam later this year, but I came to the realisation that it had become a drag rather than rewarding. I really enjoyed Grades 1-5 theory, and found it quite easy. I got at least 95% in each of the exams. But to get a good mark in Grade 6 I’d have to spend a lot of memorising things like sequences of chords, and I’m just not that motivated.
I know I have some musicians among my readers, and I know that the Royal Schools grades must mean little in countries that don’t use the British system, so here’s a brief description of what’s covered in Grades 1-5: note values and their equivalent rests; time signatures, simple and compound, regular and irregular; key signatures (all of them); treble, bass, alto and tenor clefs; chromatic scales; all the intervals of the diatonic scale; chords and their inversions; terms, symbols, ornaments (appoggiatura, mordent, etc); transposition; musical directions in Italian, French and German; composing simple melodies… that’s probably enough for now. So it really does cover the basics quite well.
Grade 6 introduces things like figured bass, writing harmonies, etc., and Grades 7-8 take that further. I find it interesting enough to read about, and it does increase my understanding of music, but I have no desire to take up composition myself. I might well amble through the workbooks at my own pace, but I really don’t want to spend hours memorising the details for an exam.
I feel a sense of relief! I also have more time for playing, which is what I really want to do.
My teacher seems to have done some thinking over the holidays, too. She’s talking of possibly retiring at the end of the year, she and her husband might even be moving to another town. It’s hardly surprising, as she’s in her mid-70s and her husband is several years older. She’s an amazing lady, though: thin as a whippet, she runs, cycles and swims pretty well every day, and has a lively mind. She’s quite inspirational.
I really don’t want to start with a new teacher at this stage, and I’d been thinking I was near the end of the (practical) examination process, anyway. Grade 5 practical is as far as most people take music lessons, unless they plan a career in music. So I’d been thinking of sitting the Grade 5 exam next year. But now it looks like I’ll be trying it this year. If I pass, great. If I don’t, it doesn’t really matter. Whatever happens, I’ll keep playing.
I bought a book of some really lovely Grieg pieces, and have started learning one of them. With the emphasis on “started”.
I’m currently fighting off a cold. We shall see who wins.
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