Rock School Grade 8 - Free Choice Pieces?

hassleham · January 2018

Anyone done/doing/teaching Rock School Grade 8 got any suggestions of suitable Free Choice pieces please?

Second question for teachers out there:
I've got a student who's just passed grade 5 with a merit. His parents want him to do his grade 8 in 9 months time before he starts GCSE's. He's a bright student when he applies himself but he's not a wizard..

Whether he does the Grade Examination or just the Performance Certificate, is there any likelihood of him being able to take the exam and pass within 9 months? (I think they only really care about the UCAS points so my inclination is to say we'll start learning 5 pieces for the performance exam and see how we're doing in a few months time)

Cheers for any suggestions

koss59 · January 2018

Frustrates the hell out of me, I’m having to teach a lad grade 8 pieces at the moment as his school has said that’s the only way to achieve an A in A level music. He’s probably in reality only grade 4 standard yet I dont have a choice but to teach him what his school/parents want him to achieve.

Phil_aka_Pip · January 2018

@koss59 tricky! G8 assumes techniques and ability way above G4, and they take time to acquire

hassleham · January 2018

@koss59 ;;
Something sounds wrong there.. Perhaps miscommunication somewhere between what the school has said and what you've been told bu the parents?

I gather GCSE music requires grade 5 ability to pass, so expecting grade 8 for A level (2 years after finishing GCSE's) is a bit ridiculous? Surely it should be based on theoretical understanding and enthusiasm rather than just physical ability?
I also wonder if his A level teacher has the ability to tell the difference between a grade 5 and a grade 8 player!

In any case, it's sounds like you're having the problem that I'll have in a few months time when he's booked the exam and there no going back! Haha

DefaultM · January 2018

A bit of a hard question. If you can't answer it and he's your student then someone who doesn't know him isn't going to be able to give you an accurate answer.

I got distinction for grade 5 in the first year of college, and then a merit for grade 8 in the second. However, it was a full time music course and I already practiced all day every day in general. Not sure that there would be time to get it as well as revising for GCSEs. Unless he just goes through the book every day for 9 months, but that's incredibly boring.

Lestratcaster · January 2018

I recently took on a new learner who was doing lessons through his school for 30 minutes a week. For some reason they entered him for Rockschool grade 5 despite the only exam grading experience him having was a grade 1 in classical guitar.

I saw him for an initial consultation/trial lesson thingy and discovered he couldn't play any of the technical exercises to the grade level at all. As he had already entered we had to commit to the pending exam date which came through the following week in 4 weeks time! So we had to go intensive, doing 2 hours a week to brush up on his technique. I was livid his school teacher put him in on evidence he was good at the performance pieces. There's another 4 sections to the exam which he wasn't good at.

He sat the exam a month later and passed, but barely. We've since switched to RGT as I find this syllabus a lot better structured.

There's a considerable jump between 5 and 8 and it will take a lot more work to get to that standard. 2 key factors will determine if he can do it in 9 months, 1. how regular his lessons are and 2. how often he practices "correctly" in his own time.

As for the free choice piece I'm not sure as I haven't had anyone enter that high yet for a grade exam.

koss59 · January 2018

If you ask me the whole thing of exams is wrong for most people wanting to learn an instrument. It put me off Piano and Sax as a kid. Guitar I’ve never done any grades on and make a good living out of now. In my opinion grades are good for those that don’t know what they want to do on an instrument. For those that know what music etc they like they just hold them back further as it’s so much time wasted learning an perfecting 2 or 3 songs at a time.

Lestratcaster · January 2018

I would say half my learners do grades half learn for fun. Grades give you structure and something to work towards, as well as measuring how good your playing is. I find its more for younger learners I might add, but I have also noticed people doing the grades with can already play i.e a few chords, scales and songs. They're just a bit shoddy with ear tests and theory.

There's also performance based syllabuses as mentioned above, RGT do a solely pre-prepared pieces (as do RSL) which require you to play 3 pieces. No scales, no tests or theory.

A couple of my students have also done the grades til 5 and then learnt songs or whatever as they've got all the key components needed to play music, secure timing, good rhythm and technical ability of chords, scales etc. Not to mention a good ear for hearing chord changes, how long each bar is and holding the beat.

hassleham · January 2018

Any ideas for songs guys? I did Always With Me by Joe Satriani for mine but vaguely remember my teacher saying it was harder than it had to be for grade 8.. Thoughts?

guitarmangler · January 2018

hassleham said:

Any ideas for songs guys? I did Always With Me by Joe Satriani for mine but vaguely remember my teacher saying it was harder than it had to be for grade 8.. Thoughts?

'Always with me' is in the new Trinity rock and pop grade 8 syllabus.
As is :
Peaches En Regalia
Reeling in the years
Crazy Train
The spirit of radio
Sweet Child
The trooper

hassleham · January 2018

@guitarmangler ;

Super, thanks!

clarkefan · January 2018

Nothing useful to contribute but wanted to comment. This thread is a real eye opener for me, I had no idea the songs above would be used in any sort of academic exam, and I'd no idea there were grades for rock guitar, wow Reeling in the Years or Crazy Train as part of a school test!

Are we talking note for note?

Does Yngwie stuff count?

guitarmangler · January 2018

clarkefan said:

Nothing useful to contribute but wanted to comment. This thread is a real eye opener for me, I had no idea the songs above would be used in any sort of academic exam, and I'd no idea there were grades for rock guitar, wow Reeling in the Years or Crazy Train as part of a school test! Are we talking note for note?

Does Yngwie stuff count?

The trinity rock and pop books/grades are actual real songs and not made up expamles, which gives them a little more gravitas than some of the other grades.
The songs are pretty much note for note at the higher grades, but lower grades the songs get shorter/edited as students aren't expected to play for as long. They've recently re vamped their syllabus. Black Dog for Grade 7, anyone ?

At GCSE in the performance part of the coursework, playing a Grade 3 piece really well can get you about C+, Grade 4-5 potential for A.
Grades 6,7 and 8 can garnish you with UCAS points depending on the mark.

Thing is with the Yngwie stuff, is that you'd be marked on how well you play the song, regardless of if it's super difficult. Better to play an easier song well ( e.g. sweet child), than a hard song badly. That goes for examiners as well as audiences.
I'm constantly batting with kids who want to play some ridiculously difficult tune for GCSE and getting them to meet expectations. For example, one kid played 'hey Joe ', along to the backing track this term and got the highest mark possible for his coursework as it is in the old grade 7 book.

I'm not affiliated with Trinity, but use the books and grades for my students.

west · January 2018

years ago i had to teach one of my students midnite ( joe satch _) as a free choice grade 8 .....

Teetonetal · January 2018

guitarmangler said:

hassleham said:

Any ideas for songs guys? I did Always With Me by Joe Satriani for mine but vaguely remember my teacher saying it was harder than it had to be for grade 8.. Thoughts?

'Always with me' is in the new Trinity rock and pop grade 8 syllabus.
As is :
Peaches En Regalia
Reeling in the years
Crazy Train
The spirit of radio
Sweet Child
The trooper

None of which are anything like as difficult as classical grades.

I'm really surprised to hear that A level and GSCE require grades? It seems odd as how could the examining board accept marked content from another system and he sure it was to standard.

When I taught the only link was that the performance pieces should be of a grade 5 (gsce) or grade 8 (a level) standard.

I would record the student, make notes and give a provisional mark which the exam board would then renew.

Grades were always a guide line, never a requirement. We used to push them simply as it would ensure the student reached the required level.

thegummy · January 2018

clarkefan said:

Nothing useful to contribute but wanted to comment. This thread is a real eye opener for me, I had no idea the songs above would be used in any sort of academic exam, and I'd no idea there were grades for rock guitar, wow Reeling in the Years or Crazy Train as part of a school test! Are we talking note for note?

Does Yngwie stuff count?

I didn't know this happened either.

What's the benefit? Is it to help kids who want to do music at college?

Are these things looked for from session players these days?

hassleham · January 2018

Grades 6+ give UCAS points which is an incentive to people wanting to go to university. Apart from that it's just useful to have a syllabus to stick to or for people who want to gauge their progress, I guess..

Supposedly they look good on your CV as well but i'm not convinced anyone gives a crap what exam you've done unless the job you're after is music related.

hassleham · January 2019

Just wanted to post a quick update on this.. Turns out he is a wizard after all! He took the performance exam in December and managed to get a merit! He worked his socks off but I didn't expect such a good result. Proud teacher moment

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Rock School Grade 8 - Free Choice Pieces?

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