Royal Conservatory of Music – Overview
An Overview of the Royal Conservatory of Music
The Royal Conservatory of Music program is well-respected and recognized throughout Canada as a piano education system. The RCM is based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and was founded in 1886.
The Royal Conservatory of Music provides a curriculum of two Preparatory Levels, Level 1-10, and then an ARCT (Associate of the Royal Conservatory of Toronto) level where you can choose to specialize in various diplomas: Performance, Teaching, Piano Pedagogy, and Theory and/or Composition.
The students are evaluated on their performance of repertoire, etudes, technical tests, sight reading, and ear training at each level. Performances are expected to be memorized. Theory co-requisites introduce a written component to the examinations with tests on subjects such as theory, history, harmony, counterpoint, and analysis.
Why should I take the Royal Conservatory of Music exams?
The Royal Conservatory of Music curriculum gives students, teachers, and parents a leveled approach to piano study. Students are exposed to a wide variety of styles of music written specifically for the piano. The repertoire is organized by historical time period from Level one and up. The RCM recently revised their 2015 Celebration Series Repertoire Books, with significant additions to the Contemporary, 20th Century, and 21st Century compositions. Canadian composers are well-represented, as are living composers!
The music is well-edited and thoughtfully chosen. Fingering, articulation, dynamics, metronome markings, and phrasing are all notated in the music. The 2015 syllabus provides many choices for repertoire that will motivate and suit a wide variety of students.
The exams require a high-level of preparation. Students learn things such as:
- how to work towards a goal
- how to prepare a piece to be “exam-ready”
- how to read and interpret the music language
- how to work with a metronome
- how to perform under stress
- how to play with rhythm
- how to organize their practice time
- how to play in front of people you don’t know
- how to memorize pieces
- how to choose a recital program
Depending on various factors, including the student’s practice commitment, it takes (on average) about six months to a year to prepare for the lower levels of exams. Written theory examinations are required as co-requisites in order to complete the level. (The written exams are required starting at Level 5, and optional prior to that). Level 8 and up requires significant practice time to prepare for the exams , and preparation may stretch to a year or two because of this.
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