piano grade 1 or jump to 2?

[RedBugMug]

dc has had lessons for 2 years now and is progressing nicely.
teacher has said dc is ready but has thrown in that grade 2 would be possible.

wwyd?

[Fleurdelise]

If the teacher believes he/she is ready for 2 I'd go for grade 2. It depends though, is dc ready for 1 passed at distinction level or 2 at pass level? In that case I'd go for grade 1 to give them better sense of achievement.

[Ferguson]

Personally I would consider the confidence boost of a Distinction at Grade 1 (which should be easily achievable after two years) could be preferable to scraping through at Grade2.

Is he/she fully confident with sight reading, aural, scales, theory and are all pieces played with appropriate feeling, style etc. A lot more than just playing the correct notes is required to make good progress through the Grades, and interpretation and sympathy for the music is very important.

[RedBugMug]

thanks a lot.
the teacher will give us the exercise books at the next lesson to see what's achievable.
dc is very able (if I say so myself) but so far has not practiced towards a test.

[Mistigri]

I think I would opt for an easy and quick grade 1 pass just for the exam experience, then skip to grade 3. Or no exam and do grade 3 in a year or so.

[RedBugMug]

thanks
have decided to do grade 1 now and then see next year if we do 2 or 3.

[Fleurdelise]

Good decision, dd did grade 1 followed by 3 and now 5 planned for the next term. This gave her time to focus on other things to learn, not just exam pieces.

[LooseAtTheSeams]

I think that's a great idea - especially if you didn't do the prep test. Get the exam experience from 1 and then set 3 as a target.
DS2 is plodding through each exam but after grade 4 he's going to have a term focusing on theory and doing some fun pieces before starting grade 5. I missed out grades 1 and 2 and started at 3, which is a bit more of a shock to the system!

[raspberryrippleicecream]

DS2 did Grade 1, then skipped to Grade 4. No need for everyone at all.