Seven Ways to Improve Success on RCM Exams
In my previous blog, I mentioned that in 2007, the Royal Conservatory of Music made eight excellent suggestions to help students improve their achievements on RCM exams. And, I went on to point out a single factor that may have led to these eight common deficiencies as noted by RCM examiners. Here, now, is my own personal list of seven ways that Talent Canada Music Academy seeks to improve our students’ overall success.
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1. We use what we believe to be the best possible curriculum available and follow it religiouslyList Item 1
We skip no pages of the books, skip no books in the curriculum levels, and skip no levels of the curriculum itself. Skipping always causes learning gaps that slow or even prevent success altogether.
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2. We encourage students to take an RCM exam at every graded level of their developmentList Item 2
because we know that learning how to do the exam itself is half of the battle. And, the more experience you have in doing the exams, the more your exam performances will improve in time.
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3. We always try to register students for exams at a level lower than the one at which they are currently working Write a description for this list item and include information that will interest site visitors. For example, you may want to describe a team member's experience, what makes a product special or a unique service that you offer.
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4. We make the development of our students’ skills the highest priority.List Item 4
The purpose of exams is to measure student skill development, not to acquire certificates. Certificates of great achievement will be the natural outcome of proper training, but should not be the goal in and of itself.
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5. We know that independent practice can actually cause frustration, especially for beginners who lack the necessary foundational skills to teach themselves in the first place
And so, eventually, being taught HOW to practice becomes of far greater value than being told WHAT to practice.
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6. Because novice students don’t know how to practice on their own, we ask all of our students to simply REVIEW beginning with five minutes daily for beginners
Review time increases by 5 minutes at each level of advancement, and at every level half of daily practice continues to be review.
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7. The traditional 30-minute weekly lesson for about 30 weeks out of the year has failed more than 99% of all beginners for many decades
Our unique system, however, creates a motivational learning synergy with the our prioritization of frequency, intensity, and consistency of expert training.
Student success in becoming talented is a process of a number of inter-related steps. There are no short-cuts, however, at Talent Canada Music Academy, we actually provide some exciting fast-tracks for those who are interested in committing to a strategy to advance more quickly.New paragraph
