Terry and Philippa Rolison are the top specialists in Colchester for ABRSM music exams for guitar and piano. We specialise in the new performance grades which can be recorded in the home. This is particularly beneficial for any child who lacks confidence as they are playing on their own instrument in their familiar environment.
ABRSM is the gold standard and we use it for most of our teaching. A pass in ABRSM exams is internationally recognised and can, from Grade 6, give UCAS points for university entrance. From Grade six onwards, we also offer Trinity exams which do not require a grade five theory pass. However, theory lessons are offered for grades 1-8 as required.
The set pieces for these exams are updated biennually and now offer a much wider range of styles than formally, including jazz and blues, with an option to play a graded pop piece for the fourth exam piece. Most children respond well to this wide variety of musical material.
Because we teach piano for ABRSM exams, we will not be able to teach learners with 61 note digital keyboards. We do not teach the Prep grade; we start at grade 1. If you want to learn keyboard and Midi, you will need to use another teacher.
You may start a child on a small keyboard but you will need to replace it soon, as the music pieces require more notes to take the first grade. It is a requirement of the exam boards that any digital piano must have 88 notes, have pedals and be fully weighted and touch sensitive. Most importantly, it must sound like a piano. Keyboards with multiple sound effect buttons are not suitable. It is essential that before you purchase a digital piano you check with the teacher that it is suitable for piano exams.
Please ask for advice before purchasing your digital piano as this is NOT a digital piano.
Unsuitable keyboard
The cheapest we have found is around £260 without a stool, but the sound at this price point is unlikely to be sufficient for grade 2 upwards, for a decent product it is likely that you will need to spend upwards of £400 for a new instrument.
Music Maths & English learning in Colchester
Students who do face to face piano lessons in Colchester have access to the Bosendorfer grand piano, which is kept tuned to A440. This piano has a huge range of dynamics and is extremely beautiful in tone. We also use a Roland FP 10 keyboard which is particularly useful for beginners with small hands, as the keys are easily depressed.
Children taking piano exams require an 88 note, touch sensitive keyboard with pedals - we can advise you as to which models are suitable.
Here is what we would all like to see – if we care about old instruments. These are the hammers of a square piano by Buntebart & Sievers, 1788, which was in my possession recently. What we see are the original hammers, in pristine condition, hardly marked by any use. The screw you see had never been taken out, and when I did unscrew it I found all the original white leather hinges in perfect condition. What surprised me most was that the maker lined the aperture in the hammer shank with soft leather so that it would make no sound as it rubbed against the guide pin.
This was something I had never previously seen in a London made piano of that period – usually they are plain wood, so sometimes they do make a slight noise. I mention this because during this last week I have been struggling with the problem of how to replace such tiny bits of leather in a piano by Leonard Systermans of Paris, 1797.
As with so many other lost skills of the piano trade we have to try to recover it by trial and error (and much thinking!), but I think I have now arrived at a satisfactory method, though it is a long tedious process. Maybe it's the sort of work that was given to a low-paid apprentice or a nimble fingered girl. As there are none around I will have to do it myself!
This piano was sold to me by Mr. James de Salis, who stated that he had known it since he was a child, at the family home Palazzo Salis, in Soglio, Swizerland. It used to stand in his father’s/grandfather’s library.
The internal condition of this piano suggests that it has never been in a damp atmosphere. I find this story entirely credible. It has clearly never been playable in the twentieth century. Many strings were broken or missing. However, the pristine condition of the keys and hammers is very unusual. They have clearly never been touched. Please retain this. Gabriel Buntebart, the maker, came from Strellitz in north Germany in or about 1761. He served the new Queen, Charlotte, wife of George III as instrument maker, probably before she left Strellitz for England. The internal ticket reinforces
After 20 years working as a piano tuner, I wanted to find an early piano that had not been got at by the piano trade. This square piano is as good as it gets, apart from replaced pedals and bass strings the piano is virtually untouched. The instrument came with its original tuning crank.
