how many of you pianists here take official exams?

i took the Royal Conservatory of Music (Canada) exams when I was a young'un, and recently the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (UK). I took their professional diploma exam in performance...but failed sightreading by two points....(you have to pass every section to get the diploma)

i got pwned, the recital and viva voce q&a session, and program notes were good, but 4 flats...too many flats for me to sightread. Lol. dammit...that was 300 dollars down the drain....

i also am aspiring to be a pianist(self-taught but looking for a teacher) but i don't think there's a official exam here for that (usually the fingers here do the talking)

i meant stuff like....

http://www.abrsm.org/?page=home
and
http://www.rcmusic.ca/ContentPage.aspx?name=home

sure, you don't have to have one....it's like saying, a doctor can be a doctor if he has the skills, but people aren't going to have much confidence in him if he doesn't have all the certifications...

they also provide you professional certification in program writing, theoretical knowledge, etc...

I got my ARCT from the Royal Conservatory. Which grade did you get up to for RCM? I think grade 10 is the last level that required sight-reading for the exam . .

I'm still in level 8 of RCM but thats only because i have no interests in the songs i have to play for exams, i'd much rather play for my own interests, which doesn't consist of much classical pieces even though some of them look/sound really impressive when performed.

well, i left canada in 2001, and i got my grade 8 before that...i think it was....6th grade? maybe?

now, i'm doing the uk associated board...i passed its grade 8 (the standard stuff)...i took and failed the performance diploma (stupid sightreading....but thanks to my bullsh!tting skills, had pretty good program notes =D)....if you pass it (which the english don't really like passing you), it's the equivalent to a bachelors in music (but not really, since you don't actually have any class "credits"...)

you gotta prepare a 35 minute program, a 1200 word program notes, and a half hour long viva voce question-answer session, where the english ask you questions like "why did beethoven not give this piece an opus number" and you're supposed to know....

I did all my RCM Canada exams except for grade one and I've been delaying my last exam for about.. two years. Partially because I've been too busy to practice the exam pieces lately and partially because my teacher decided to go on vacation just when I was finally ready. Grr. But I don't really feel that they're a neccessity for me to continue playing the piano and I wouldn't do them at all if it weren't for *certain* people pressing me to complete them. Eventually. :\ I'm sure there is a good point to them, but I could care less. I hate being under the pressure of it, since I see piano as being something one should enjoy as a hobby; rather than something I should be worrying about as if it were all hard labour with no pay (but an extra credit). And plus, I am a lazy slob that has issues with her work habits.

i did ABRSM exams. did grades 1-8 flute and grade 8 and dipABRSM on piano (flute taught, piano self taught)

you should do the diploma again. just work at your sightreading. i think its evil they failed you just for dropping 2 marks on one section but i suppose thats what makes the qualification so high...

those abrsm people are strange...i remember the grade 8 repetoire from a few years back...it was some easy stuff, a few dinky dances only like 2 pages long...

then recently...four voice bach fugues...

not exactly comparable material...

you're all so hard core!