3 Unique Reasons Why the Royal Conservatory Music Program is the Best Piano Exam Program For Your Child
This Royal Conservatory Music Program Review is meant to inspire young musicians to strive for excellence in music.
What is Royal Conservatory?
Royal Conservatory of Music is a well established international music program that provides examinations for students learning a musical instrument.
Founded in 1886 by Edward Fisher at the Toronto Conservatory of Music, the program quickly became a nationally credited program in Canada.
It became widely popular in the United States soon after, and has become increasingly well known since its partnership with Carnegie Hall in 2010.
It provides three essential ingredients for the success in music:
- Internationally Acclaimed Education
- Consistent Motivation
- Inspiration Through An Impressive Roster of Successful Alumnae of the Program
Education
What does an exam cover?
RCM exams include training in
- Technique
- Repertoire
- Sight reading
- Ear training
- Music theory
- Music history
When should a student start taking the exams?
Exams begin in the first year of piano study with Preparatory A and Preparatory B exams.
The student can then take exams from level 1 through level 10.
After that, the student can also take the ARCT exam if they wish to have a piano teaching certification.
The beauty of this program is that it is very flexible.
1. Age
There are no age requirements for the students, so even adult students can take the exams.
2. Schedule
There are multiple times tests are offered each year, so students can create a custom schedule that works for their learning style and pace.
3. Membership
There is also a large amount of flexibility for the teacher. RCM does not require the teacher to be part of any teaching organization in order to enroll their students in the testing program.
Why should a student take these exams?
Because the program is so well rounded, detailed, and flexible, it will cause the student to feel more accomplished, better educated, and more confident than other music exam programs will.
Royal Conservatory prepares music students to continue their musical studies at the collegiate level and then the professional level, if desired.
It paves the way for each student to have success because of the confidence and diligence instilled to successfully complete the program.
Motivation
The main benefit of the program is that it motivates the student by offering them clear direction and consistency in their lessons.
Location
There are many wonderful exam programs that are offered at the state level, especially here in California. The draw back is that if a student has to move out of state, or even out of the country, a lot of times they have to start over with a different exam program, or stop taking exams altogether if that area does not have an established program.
The Royal Conservatory is offered throughout the United States and Canada. This creates consistency and direction regardless of where the student lives.
Direction
Royal Conservatory creates a clear direction for students because it allows them to easily set goals.
A lot of exam programs have an ambiguous way of scoring students that can be difficult to interpret. For example, there is a popular exam program in California that scores students on a scale of 1-5.
It can be difficult for students to grasp how well they did because those numbers don’t match up how they are graded in school.
In this program, the student is graded on a scale of 1-100%, which is identical to school grading. This makes it much easier for the student to recognize and track their success.
If the student’s goal is to score 90% or higher in order to play in the Recital of Excellence, they will work harder and accomplish more that year.
Other students make it their mission to master a certain concept. And when they accomplish this, the sense of achievement keeps them motived to learn more and more each year.
Consistency
The program creates a consistent pace for each lesson because of the required elements for each level.
Because the student is tested on technique, sight reading, repertoire, ear training, etudes (levels 1 and up), theory (levels 5 and up, and music history (levels 9 and up), the student expects to learn all of these things right from the beginning.
This allows the teacher to create a well rounded lesson plan and helps prevent an over focus on things that come more naturally to students.
It also provides feedback through the adjudicator’s comments that offer insight to the teacher which will then help the student to progress more.
Inspiration
Many renowned musicians have completed the program and pursued successful careers in various fields.
Alumni: Oscar Peterson, Sara McLachlan, Teresa Stratas, Sir Roger Norrington, Diana Krall, Angela Hewitt, Jon Vickers, Glenn Gould, and David Foster
Whenever you looking at services online you always look at reviews to see if it’s good. It should be the same when you choose what program is best for you child.
At Royal Conservatory of Music, a prestigious alumni group demonstrates the program’s effectiveness.
Signing up for Royal Conservatory gives your child the best chance at success. It will inspire them to dream bigger dreams.
