Piano Guidance
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How many hours does it take to grade 8?

If a grade 8 student is doing 3-4 hours a day, 6 days a week, for 50 weeks; that's 900-1200 hours just for grade 8. But are those numbers realistic? Sounds suspiciously high to me.

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OP, great questions. I believe you assumptions are correct. I myself started to think in similar, detailed ways as for the time I put into practice. One must realize that an exam is an indication of the skill level you have on the piano. But it's not 'a start' as someone said. An exam isn't the end all, but it helps me to make concrete plans and ideas about what I should practice, how, and for how long. Much better than keeping it all in my head with a 'oh yes, I have done some practice in the past'. As for your question, it depends on where the practicing musician is starting from. If he is a very good grade 6 pianist then 1200 hours , I believe, should be sufficient to pass the exam confidently. Note that I assume the pianist is already at another grade at all. Long topic, but to make it short, until a couple of years ago I had no idea about exams or grades. I simply learned as a self-taught, then I started taking classes and tutors told me I was a very solid grade 5. Note that I had never practiced consistently before then, because back then I was much less interested in performance than I was in other areas of music, such as writing music. Then I realized I wanted to be a good pianist. I believe this grading system to be excellent, it made me organize my goals in much more concrete ways, and since then I practice more and more consistently. The mistake is believing that an exam is the end all. It isn't, but it's still a best guess and indication of skill of the pianist, since no one can pass at grade 8 if they have some major flaws in any area. A grade 8 pianist is definitely in the pro category, especially someone who has practiced 10000 hours. It doesn't mean he's a virtuoso, it simply means he's a serious about what he does.

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Does Elton have short fingers?

Pop legend Elton John has said that he moved from playing classical music to pop music because his fingers were too short.

Elton John stopped playing classical music due to short fingers

Pop legend Elton John has said that he moved from playing classical music to pop music because his fingers were too short. Speaking on Monday at the University of Southern California to an audience mostly made up of students, Sir Elton John said that his fingers are like "cocktail sausages", and therefore not long enough to play classical music. The 66-year-old singer and songwriter was trained in classical music after winning a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music at the tender age of 11, allegedly after reciting a four-page piece of Handel piano music after hearing it just once. John also performed a selection of his hit songs for students at the events, and answered several of their questions. Notably, he implored them to listen to music of all genres and said that he still listens to as much new music as he can. In contrast to Elton John, Sergei Rachmaninov was famous for his incredible handspan,which reportedly could stretch to well over an octave on the piano keyboard.

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