Exam prep recital - January 17th, 5pm
Hi everyone!
Some of you know already that I’ve been working toward taking the RCM Grade 10 exam. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the Royal Conservatory of Music (this institution is much bigger in the UK and Canada than it is in the US), it offers a series of “grade level” exams that have a musician prepare repertoire and technical selections, and then you perform them for a judge, who offers detailed feedback about your performance. This exam is the kind of thing you’d usually do near the end of high school, and a passing score is required by some college music programs as a prerequisite. Because I lived in the US for most of my life, I never had any contact with this system, so now I’m using this as a way to get that feedback, as well as to create a goal to work toward. You’re given a long list of stuff to choose from for each grade level - if you’re interested in reading about the requirements, you can take a look at the syllabus.
Well, I’m nearly here. I’ve prepared a lot more music than I’ve ever had to work on at one time in my life. And it would be wonderful to play that for more than one person. You’re not allowed an audience of any kind in the exam room, so it’ll just be me, a judge, and a friend playing the piano for a couple of these. It freaks me out a little bit, to be perfectly honest.
So that’s where you might come in. I’d love to play for some friendly faces, and let people actually hear what I’ve been working on for more than a year. I’ll also talk a little about what I’m doing before each piece, and you can ask questions if you want.
I’ll be playing at my friendly local coworking space, https://www.thedockvictoria.com/, as well as on Zoom, if folks are interested in zooming in. Reply to this email (if that’s how you’re reading it), or mail me at the email address at the bottom of this page to let me know. Or, if you work at or near the Dock, come to the Harbour conference room at 5pm on the 17th. We’ll probably start a little bit after 5, to get everyone a chance to get settled.
Here’s what I’ve been working on, in the order that I’ll be playing it:
Nigun, by Bloch
Symphonie Espagnole, movements 1 and 4, by Lalo
Siciliano, from the g minor sonata for solo violin, by Bach
Sonata for Violin Alone movements 1 and 2, by Prokofiev (some of you have heard this before, I played it for a lockdown recital)
Number 28, from 42 Studies by Kreutzer
A couple of orchestral excerpts, if we have time
Scales and double stops, if you really feel like nerding out or getting me to play tenths for a room full of people
That seems like enough stuff, right? The exam is on the 20th, so this will be so valuable to help me prepare and to help me feel good about having worked on all of this because I’ll get to share it with other people.