A year ago I had a big ranty thread saying why I thought music exams were a really bad thing for younger children www.mumsnet.com/Talk/primary/1189631-any-other-musicans-against-music-exams-for-primary-age-kids and found lots of people agreed.
DS1's piano teacher then told me she wouldn't teach him any more unless he entered for his grade 2...... Ds1 had to choose... I lined up an alternative teacher...but he chose to take the exam. And I have to confess it was a positive experience.
Things that made it positive were:
- it was his choice and he had genuine options (I had an alternative teacher )
- we went through not just the main but the alternative lists and chose the pieces that we as a family could all bear hearing for a long time.
- he'd been playing pieces a little above that level for a while.
- he's nine and very mature for his age
- his teacher felt that practising the scales strengthened his fingers.
- we all knew, him, me, teacher, that once this was over she wouldn't be suggesting any more exams till grade 5.
Things I would change are:
- I'm so glad this is an isolated experience for him because it seems to really encourage the children just to think about themselves.
- I hated having to temporarily undo his good habits. For instance, if he gets lost, it is second nature for him to keep the thread in his head and start again at a later place - as you would in an orchestra. But for a piano exam you can't skip five bars of your piece so you have to do the awful "stop and hesitate and do it again thing".
- I think the technique in the scales could be learned in a more interesting musically varied way. We played them in thirds, we started at the top, we accompanied each other.
- I hated the way the exam encouraged him to be so self-centred. I think it would be nice to have a jamming element. The examiner plays three well-known tunes, the child chooses the one they like best, the examiner tells the child what key it is in, and the child then joins in using mainly tonic but getting extra points for being able to switch to dominant/subdominant at appropriate times. But keeping the pulse is the main thing. It could be done instead of the aural tests (after all, it isn't a singing exam).