Preparing for Jazz Piano Exams
Preparing for jazz piano exams adds an extra element of structure and concrete goals to your piano lessons, and provides an excellent source of motivation.
Conservatory Canada offers graded jazz piano exams through the Contemporary Idiom program, from Grade 1 to Grade 10. The Contemporary Idioms exams offer the same accreditation for high school credits with various provincial ministries of education as the classical exams. The jazz piano exam program also works great on its own!
Everyone is eligible to take these exams, and our jazz piano teachers can make sure that you pass with high marks!
If you wish to benefit from the Conservatory Canada Contemporary Idioms exam program, the first step is to tell your jazz piano teacher. Your jazz piano teacher will assess your current level, and recommend the appropriate jazz piano exam grade to begin preparing for.
Once your grade level has been determined, it is time to purchase your jazz piano exam books. The exams use the repertoire and etude books from Christopher Norton’s American Popular Piano Series, and you can also select repertoire outside these books from the syllabus directly. These books are widely available in music stores.
The last step is to choose the date for your exam. You can book the exam yourself, on the Conservatory Canada website, and your jazz piano teacher can help you decide which exam session to enter, in order to give yourself enough time to adequately prepare.
One of the most exciting features of the jazz piano exams is the space they leave for creativity. There is fully notated piano music, and sections of the exam pieces that are devoted to improvisation. However, even the fully notated sections are flexible, and the exam notes encourage students to change the music to develop their own interpretation - as any professional jazz pianist would do.
It’s important to note, however, that the Conservatory Canada Contemporary Idioms piano exam program, on its own, is not complete enough to encompass the entire course of study for your jazz piano lessons. Your jazz piano teacher must supplement additional material and instruction in order for you to achieve a well-rounded and thorough jazz piano education.
In addition to jazz piano exams, Conservatory Canada also offers exams in music theory and classical piano.