Music Exams For? Against?

I think they are a useful bench mark and something to work towards. However it's a bit like learning to read where you need to experience a wide range of texts, print etc in order to progress. Children need to be exposed to a variety of music and musical experiences and not just focus on exam pieces only. Balance is crucial.

My children's clarinet teacher seems to be suggesting the 'landmark exam' route.

DS has never taken an exam, as he used to be on the in-school 'stages' scheme moderated by the LEA teachers, and since that petered out with the removal of all LEA peris has just continued to play.

His great love is jazz, and he has moved up through e.g. county jazz groups, into the school orchestra, been selected for concerts etc on the basis of his playing rather than any piece of paper.

However, his teacher has suggested that he should do Grade 5, probably at the end of this year. He has, I think, learned all the pieces - in amongst a constant diet of new pieces, learning to improvise properly etc - and returns to them periodically once he refines aspects of his playing on other pieces (so if, e.g. fast runs are proving tricky, he gets some other pieces with lots of fast runs, focuses a lot on those, then returns to an 'exam' piece with improved fast runs IYSWIM).

I don't anticipate him doing any others for a while unless he wants to. Grade 8 would obviously be a final aim, though what may happen instead is that he takes up sax as a parallel intrument and decides which to take forward to higher grades.

DD - currently around Grade 3-4 standard - loves the absence of exams (her main interest is dance and her progress through that is wholly through exam) and may never take a music exam unless she actively chooses to do so.

They can be a confidence booster. Ds2 gets extremely nervous beforehand and comes out either in silence saying he's failed. He hasn't yet. It is the same for school exams. I'm just hoping that the experience of doing music exams might help when he does his GCSEs etc.. Hopefully he'll have worked out how to deal with the pre-exam nerves. He actually performs well in exams, it is just the before bit that stresses him out!

He also likes ticking them off, so has done all the grades in order. Only the one theory though!

Plays lots of different pieces not just exam pieces - that would be very tedious!

Also just to add to my previous point, we have a teacher who will not let them do the exam pieces for more than a month or so. His view is that if they can't do a piece well for an exam within a month or so then they are not ready. It also means they are not as polished perhaps and may get lower grades, which might not suit some parents. But I am happier with the fact that my children will have enjoyed all sorts of other music before each exam. If it was 3 pieces for 6 months I would put my foot down and refuse to let them to the exam, I think....

Totally depends on the child and what motivates them.

I agree with whoever said performance opportunities are very important too. My DH holds termly pupils' concerts which are informal and sociable and give them all from beginners to very experienced performers a chance to start to learn to play in public - and they inspire each other too.

I would say overall though finding a way to play with other people seems to be the best way of getting kids into really loving playing.

Agree with jessjessjess. Best not to take all the exams but perhaps every other grade. It is good to get grade5 and grade8. That way it is not a constant cycle of exam preparation and there is time to play just for fun.

I play two instruments and gave up doing exams as a teenager as I used to get nervous and didn't enjoy the theory side. As an adult, I regret not getting grade 8 on my main instrument as it would have opened some doors that are now shut.

I think the key thing is not to do all the exams but skip to the level that suits you best - I went straight to grade 5 on my second instrument and that was pitched about right for me.

My dd has at the moment chosen not to do exams. The routine of playing the same pieces over and over again for months nearly killed her love of the piano so we agreed with her that for the moment she should just have fun with it. Have noticed that lots of people ask what grade she is on so she does learn the exam pieces for fun so she can tell them.

I think it is a balance between exams and performance opportunities, a bit like with other disciplines (ballet, for example).

It's good to have exams as a baseline of achievement but it is fundamental to try and keep it fun and also work on performance opportunities, as after all that's what music is all about...

So to answer your question I'd say a bit of both..

My DD1's clarinet teacher seems to think that if she doesn't rush from one exam to the next she will lose interest - she did Grade 1 in Apr and is meant to be doing Grade 2 in July. Not sure that's true. I could do with a little less pressure tbh!

I think it does give them a sense of achievement to do an exam, but I don;t really see why they have to do them so quickly - it's nice to have a bit of time off between working for exams and play fun stuff - and consolidate skills.

For some things, like joining orchestras for example, you often need to have a certain grade, so then having done the exam helps.