Major Problem!! (1 Viewer)

[ZaraKu]

Hey I was wondering if anyone could help me out here.

I do music 1 and have been playing piano since 2005. I've never been graded but my class teacher says I'm around grade 3-4, as did my old piano teacher (she stopped teaching me due to uni commitments, and have not had lessons since around end of term 2 this year). But my class teacher has told me to swtich to singing as I might be able to score better, considering I'll be competing against grade 5/6/7 pianists, and I'll prob dysmally fail... I've never had any type of singing training, but would probably be able to pull off a pop/jazz/rock song ok-ish.

Therefore I have a few dilemmas:

1. Should I find a teacher/tutor pronto?
2. What pieces to perform?
and the major one...
3. Listen to my teacher and do singing, or continue with piano, or even do both??

hope someone can help with this!!
thanks

 

[Lani89]

Do you have a good voice? You will definately need a tutor regardless of what instrument you play and you will need to practise. Having singing lessons is good for your musicality and aural skills but think of all those singers doing music 1 that are grade 5/6/7 and have been singing for years. You'd have a much better chance at playing an instrument you have had a bit of experience with rather than something new coz singing is not just a case of opening your mouth and making a sound! It is really technical.

The good thing about music 1 is that they mark you on how well you perform not necessarily on how advanced a player you are plus they don't expect you to be fantastic. Music 2/Ext are for those who have been playing for years and in those higher grades.

 

[Nicci_15]

If you do decide to go with singing as your instrument, then yes, you should find a contemporary singing teacher asap. You are more likely to do better singing jazz, so I suggest you listen to some Ella Fitzgerald songs as a starting point. Familiarize yourself with as much jazz music as you can find. The other option is to sing musical theater songs.

Anyways, I hope this will be useful to you. Let me know how everything goes, or if you need help in finding a singing teacher.

 

[ZaraKu]

To Nicci_15: Thanks for that. We did jazz in our prelim course so I have a fairly good knowledge of jazz artists, styles, etc... I'm only doing 2 performances for my HSC (core and 1 elective) so it shouldn't be too stressful.

To Lani89: We had two girls in our year 12 class this year who had no singing training at all but did very well in overall class rankings, etc... And I understand about grdings and all that, that's why i worried a bit about my piano playing, considering I'm only around grade 3/4.

 

[Cerry]

From what my teacher has said, it would seem that if you did Jazz for the prelim course, you practically have to beg the BOS to let you do it again this year. Of course, you could do an instrument and it's repetoir, and sing a jazz song for it (this is how I'm getting around having done musical theatre last year).

As for whether you should sing or play the piano - it doesn't matter if the other people are at L Mus level and you're at 3rd. Your mark comes from how well you play, not how well you play compared to others. If you play a piece that is simple, and do well, you'll still get a good mark. If the 7th grade pianists play a really complex piece and screw it up, they'll do badly. And if they do well, it still shouldn't have an adverse affect on you.
You have piano training, whereas you have no vocal training. It would make more sense to stick with what you have experience in, even if only to help with nerves