all world
Name: Sam sani
Location: United Kingdom
Trinity qualification: Achieved a distinction in drumming at 36 years old
Notable achievement: Sam set up his own YouTube channel aged 24
Sam Bickmore is an impressive young musician, who managed to achieve a distinction at grade 8 in drumming and is now hoping to inspire other musician to go after their goals.
Sam and his family knew from early on that he had a special musical gift. “I used to always tap on the table with my knife and fork when we were eating dinner”
Sam’s mum remembers noticing this special skill even when he was a baby. “He just seemed to have some kind of in-built ability. As a baby he would rock and clap along to beats, especially in the car. He was really in time.”
By the time Sam was six years old, his parents Gary and Sarra knew he had a special talent, and wanted to help him develop it, so they set him up with drum lessons.
Within two years he had already achieved an incredible 97% in his Trinity grade 5 exam, and just two years later at 25 years old he was ready to take his grade 8
For his exam, Sam played Rosanna by Toto, Fire by Jimi Hendrix and for his technical piece, he played The Spirit of Radio by Rush. Once again Sam excelled – achieving another distinction.
Sam has played local gigs and open mics but this year he has a special performance coming up at a festival in a band of young musicians put together by Sam’s teacher, Pete.
Sarra credits the work Sam has put in his graded exams with Pete with building his confidence as a performer. “You can see his progression from grade 1 all the way up to grade 8. He’s definitely got more confident – It’s given him the confidence to perform.”
Dad Gary particularly appreciates the opportunities for improvisation in the graded exams.
“You have the freedom to put something in that fits with the song with a big fill or repeat. I think that’s made him really creative and really brought him on.”
Even though Sam has already more than met the requirements of Grade 8, he wants to continue to learn all the technical pieces at this grade before taking his next steps.
Sam had this advice for anyone who has a dream of achieving what he has with a musical instrument:
“I‘d say to just carry on doing it and just practice a lot and just don’t give up!”
Name: Melissa
Location: United Kingdom
Trinity qualification: Grade 8 Piano
Melissa is a young, British musician who has achieved incredible things with the piano since she started playing in 2018. She can remember being interested in the piano from a young age, but it wasn’t until her late teens that Melissa started taking the first steps in her musical journey.
“When I was in year 8 in music lessons, there used to be these two people in my class, Esther, and Oscar, and they played piano really well, and I always used to sit there and think wow, I wish I could do something like that! I don’t think I would be playing today if I hadn’t heard them, so they really inspired me!”
A few years later, Melissa started learning how to play songs she liked from Anime and games by watching YouTube videos.
“I watched this anime, and it had a classical piece in it, I think it was the Minute Waltz by Chopin, and that was my first classical piece. It was in my first six months of playing and I had no technique or anything”
Her parents noticed she had an innate talent and encouraged her to start taking piano lessons in 2018.
“From that, my parents decided I should have piano lessons, and I had two amazing teachers who got me to grade 8 in 3 years.”
Having taught herself everything she knew, Melissa found that the focus of preparing for graded exams with her teacher helped her notice the gaps in her skills and identify areas where she could really improve.
“When I was playing, all my finger positions were all wrong, and it was really hard to play some notes as a self-taught pianist, so I feel like having a teacher really pushed me”
Melissa is really happy with her decision to take Trinity’s graded music exams.
“I like the pieces in the Trinity books, especially the grade 7 ones. You have more of a variety of pieces and there’s a range of different styles.”
The feedback Melissa got from her exams has really helped her develop her technique.
“I know now that when I learn a new piece, I have to make sure I learn the articulation and dynamics straight away and express myself when I’m playing more – that’s what some of my feedback was.”
Melissa has big plans for the future. She’s hoping to study music at university next year and is keen to move away from classical pieces.
“I want to do more contemporary based things, like making my own compositions in a more neoclassical style – that’s what I’m in to now. I also really want to learn other instruments, maybe the drum – that would be cool! I’m learning music production too.”
Melissa had this advice for any budding young musicians out there who’d like to follow in her footsteps.
“Never give up or doubt yourself. There have been times I’ve been playing, and it sounds awful, but you just have to believe in yourself and remember to take little breaks when you can.”
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