Our Piano Program follows a syllabus designed to prepare students for participation in the Royal Conservatory Music Certificate Program. This Program offers a comprehensive music education that combines tools for high-quality instruction with opportunities for personal development. Candidates graduating from each grade level gain nationwide recognition and lifelong skills.
Curriculum examples:
Preparatory A and Preparatory B
The Preparatory A and B program is designed to introduce beginners to a positive assessment experience by supporting student success and celebrating individual achievement.
The Elementary levels are appropriate for students in the early years of music study. Students continue to build their foundational skills and encounter a wider range of repertoire.
Students at the Early Intermediate Level have established reading skills, familiarity with keys and patterns, solid technical facility, and are ready to continue developing their musicianship skills as they explore a wider range of repertoire.
Students at the Intermediate Levels expand their technical and musical abilities significantly. Substantive musical engagement is promoted through a more diverse selection of repertoire. Motivation and goal setting support student success.
Achievement at this level opens the door to the world of concert repertoire. The required musicianship and technical skills support artistic development and the study of more advanced repertoire.
The Advanced level challenges and rewards students with repertoire by the greatest composers of the piano literature. This considerable accomplishment celebrates dedication and commitment to excellence. Advanced Level study also prepares students for future musical studies, toward the Royal Conservatory Associate diplomas in Performance or Pedagogy and the Licentiate diploma in Performance, and/or at a post-secondary institution.
Curriculum examples:
Preparatory A and Preparatory B
The Preparatory A and B program is designed to introduce beginners to a positive assessment experience by supporting student success and celebrating individual achievement.
- Students discover the joy of making music at the piano
- A wide range of repertoire encourages the development of musical imagination and creativity
- Pieces can be chosen from a variety of leading method books and other attractive publications, but teachers are not restricted to these books
- Students build on their basic understanding of keyboard geography and the fundamentals of note reading, rhythm, and articulation
- Favorite repertoire can be included as a Teacher's Choice selection
- Students build on their basic understanding of keyboard geography and the fundamentals of note-reading, rhythm, and articulation
The Elementary levels are appropriate for students in the early years of music study. Students continue to build their foundational skills and encounter a wider range of repertoire.
- Students are introduced to elements of Baroque and Classical style through dances in two- and three-part forms
- Character pieces engage the imagination and allow students to continue their creative development
- Two-part inventions develop hand independence and contrapuntal awareness
Students at the Early Intermediate Level have established reading skills, familiarity with keys and patterns, solid technical facility, and are ready to continue developing their musicianship skills as they explore a wider range of repertoire.
- Students add more complex forms such as movements from Classical Sonatinas to their study of Baroque and Classical dances
- Character pieces continue to develop creativity and imagination while requiring a wider range of tonal color, greater awareness of phrasing, and development of pedal techniques
- The Popular Selection list introduces popular arrangements, an attractive option for some students
Students at the Intermediate Levels expand their technical and musical abilities significantly. Substantive musical engagement is promoted through a more diverse selection of repertoire. Motivation and goal setting support student success.
- Larger works by major composers present new challenges
- Sonata-allegro and rondo forms prepare students for longer sonata movements at higher levels
- A wide selection of twentieth- and twenty-first century pieces enriches students’ harmonic vocabulary with modal, blues, and atonal scales, patterns, and textures
Achievement at this level opens the door to the world of concert repertoire. The required musicianship and technical skills support artistic development and the study of more advanced repertoire.
- Students at this level explore easier concert repertoire by master composers
- Technical and musicianship skills continue to develop with the demands of the repertoire
- The Advanced Rudiments assessment provides students with the basic skills for reading and writing music
- Some high schools may accept Early Advanced Level assessments for credit
The Advanced level challenges and rewards students with repertoire by the greatest composers of the piano literature. This considerable accomplishment celebrates dedication and commitment to excellence. Advanced Level study also prepares students for future musical studies, toward the Royal Conservatory Associate diplomas in Performance or Pedagogy and the Licentiate diploma in Performance, and/or at a post-secondary institution.
- Repertoire at this level brings new musical demands for the hand, ear, and mind: complex textures, delicate balances, and subtle articulations, as well as complex harmonies and forms
- Three- and four-part contrapuntal textures, contrasting movements of Classical sonatas, and more technically and interpretively demanding Romantic and Contemporary character pieces form the basis for developing artistry
- The theoretical co-requisites for this level encourage students to integrate their repertoire into a larger musical context
- Musicianship skills provide a foundation for active music making in both solo and ensemble repertoire