At the age of 88, most of us imagine our exam day is long. But for Ray Eveleigh, the challenge of taking Grade 8 piano was too much to pass up and he passed with distinction, 67 years after taking Grade 7.
Eveleigh, a venerable retiree, who lives in the East I will eat The village of Kilham, near Bridlington, said he was bombarded with interest after his story was filmed for the BBC radio station, television and the local paper.
He said: “I am surprised that it has received so much attention because there is so much news about the problems of weather and wars, of course, and the state of affairs in America. And then I thought: This is a bit silly, you know. There’s an old man in Kilham who’s in 8th grade.'”
Eveleigh describes keys as a “personal friend,” one of the passions that help keep her brain active. “You know, sometimes, especially at my age, I’m very tired. And sometimes I think: This is good. I don’t want to spend my life sleeping in a closet. Come, Eveleigh, rise and sing.
“And what takes me from that, you know, because what a privilege it is to sing, which has been written by the great geniuses of the century or more. Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Mozart. It is strange, of course, to me.
He said he wasn’t a perfect piano student as a child and was always getting frustrated by not practicing, but it was at Cardiff University when he met his singer wife Brenda that he decided to take up the instrument more seriously.
“She was a soprano at the Royal College of Music and Drama in Cardiff. The company wanted me to do the work. I learned to read music without passion,” he said with a laugh.
It was Brenda and her daughter Jenny Bray, also a musician, who convinced him to take the Grade 8 practical music exam, the highest in the UK, to do the test. “I got to the base and I thought, ‘Yeah, I’ll have it.’
It took him about six months of work, with his instructor Ann Martin-Davis having lectures on Zoom, to pass the exam almost seven decades after the previous one.
Whose advice is anyone who thinks of trying something like this at an age?
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“What’s important is to keep some creativity, not necessarily the piano,” he said. “I don’t think I would recommend that everyone my age should start at level 8 piano. But most people, nay, all men, I believe, have acquired their talent and strength, either by art or by a new way of writing.
And because they were younger it was important to stick to it, said Eve. “The art of singing or painting or writing poetry or stories is a long-term one. It’s not instant gratification. In fact, you can spend hours and hours feeling very frustrated because you’re not making progress. It’s hard work.”
“But I would say that the most important thing in life is to make music and do it well.”