Skipping Grade 1 piano?

I skipped and went straight to grade 5 (I think then it started at grade 3 for some reason). In my mind if she can do a different grade why bother with earlier ones

I'd let your DD choose. Having or not having grade 1 is not going to have any real impact on her life is it? If she wants the experience of doing the exam and the recognition of a result, let her do it. If not (which sounds to be the case ) don't bother.
I think a PP made a very good point about the grade 1 pieces probably being boring by now. A friend of mine is a dance teacher and her school was ready for exams which got cancelled due to Covid. When they did get back to class she said it was hard to motivate the pupils to do the grades they were on and that the exam results when they did do them weren't, on the whole, as good as she would have expected if they'd done them at the planned time. Her theory is that as well as obviously missing lessons, they'd lost the enthusiasm for the grade work, got a bit over familiar with the exercises and just didn't show themselves to their best advantage in the exams. She says with hindsight she wishes she'd just moved everyone who would have taken exams up to the new grades when classes restarted and forgotten about the missed grades.

I see you already have made a decision n I skipped grades 1-4 and so my first exam was grade 5. I covered the syllabus and the exam pieces in my lessons, just didn't have the hassle and expense of exams.

DD, who isn't in my view naturally musical, skipped grade 1 and also a later grade (though that was largely Covid-related as couldn't take it and got bored of same music!) so perfectly reasonable - but in my view it's good to treat it as a practice run. And she might say she's not bothered by the certificates but I expect would still be quite proud of herself if she got it. But equally do make sure that her playing and lessons aren't always focussed on exam music and she can sometimes just play for fun some music of her choice.

@PyjamaMamma - this website has details of most of the UK festivals and when they are so you ought to be able to find something near you. Last year some went online so might be worth seeing if any still are as then you can take part with out having to go in person.

www.federationoffestivals.org.uk/festivals

The downside is that there are usually a handful of festival "groupies" kids that seem to do nothing but learn flashy music to go along and play at festivals. You need to tell your DD that it is not about the winning/getting high marks but about having a dummy run to play the music to an experienced adjudicator who may well also be an examiner and getting their feedback.

My DD got so fed up with the groupies that she either took along pieces that were a work in progress or entered the non competitive classes. Her younger sister was a born show off however so took to the flashiness like a duck to water and did very well on it.

Skipping exams is quite normal . If DD wants to skip onto Grade 2 you could look for a local music festival where she could run her Grade 2 pieces before the exam. SOme offer non competitive classes where you just get feedback rather than marks and places if that suited her better.

For piano, my kiddo did initial (trinity equivalent of prep grade), g2, 4 and 6. Won't do another til g8.
For second instrument, has done 3 and 5 exams. On g7 work but won't do anything til g8.
Third instrument, there'll be nothing til g8.
For main instrument, went straight in at g8.

I do think when they've never done a music exam, the easier grade that they're super prepared for is a benefit. The confidence boost and the positive experience are worthwhile.

Even better. Know your place, parents! We're just here to pay the bills really

It’s not at all unusual to skip grades. My son was ready for his grade 4, then COVID happened and he has moved on to his grade 5. Therefore, grade one for her could be a good practice run. However, exams really aren’t for everyone and mean nothing. For example, my son’s teacher does teach a little too much for the exam. He is 10 and preparing for his grade 5, because as he finishes one grade he moves on to the other. There’s a lot to be said for just learning to play lots of pieces of music well and improving sight reading. He enjoys his lessons and that is the main aim but grades aren’t everything.

Divided opinions!
I would say skip.
If she was ready in the summer she'll be sick of the pieces by the time exam comes round this term. Specially being an older learner she'll probably be able to move along quickly, as she has so far.
Re a test exam, any grade can be easy if you leave it late enough. I'm not a huge exam fan but if you're going to do them my teacher and Dd's both had approach of wait till you're a bit more than on top of the difficulty level so you can pick up the pieces fast and concentrate on performance quality.

You can skip all lower grades but I would advise against skipping grade 6, 7 and 8. For his first instrument, my DS did do all grades but second instrument only grade 2 and 5. My other ds who is 7 went straight to grade 2 violin, then grade 3 and now on grade 4. Dd also did all grades on first instrument but only 2 and 5 on second and then 6,7,8 on both. She has friends who did nothing but grade 8 too. It doesn’t really matter, grades are expensive and for some kids like mine they are good structure and incentive to practise but other kids hate them/too nervous etc all fine. But if you don’t do many grades try and do little performances to friends and family for confidence building

Do it as a practice warm up run. It is not uncommon to skip grades however. My sister skipped grade one and went straight onto two.

Former piano teacher here. I skipped straight to grade 6 as a kid. My own kid went straight to grade 5. It’s fine to skip. Bear in mind though that they’ll need grade 5 theory if they want to do grade 6 (didn’t realise this and we are now plugging through the music theory grades as quickly as we can so as to get to grade 5 😩 and it’s a right faff)

Grade 1 and grade 2 are very similar for the piano. Our kids teacher often has them doing grade 1 and then straight onto grade 3. I can’t see any harm in just going straight to grade 2 if she’s ready for grade 2 level. There is a performance version of the piano exam too. No scales/sight reading etc and play 4 pieces in a row whilst recording them (so can’t keep playing one till get best performance- have to play all 4 in one sitting) and send the recording in.
Hope that makes sense. It’s a way of passing the grades with out the whole going to send an examiner set up. One of our kids likes the exam set up so will continue with that. Another doesn’t so is going to try the performance version instead.

I’m a bit envious! We have the most ‘thorough’ slow piano teacher in the world. Dd1 learnt with her for 3 years before taking her grade 1 (and only dropped 2 marks from a perfect score she was so over ready) then of course wanted to give up when she went to secondary.
Now dd2 has been learning for 3.5 years and hAsnt taken it. It’s driven me mad and I feel like we’ve picked the wrong teacher. She’s very thorough about hand position, technique etc and also likes them to do theory. Probably good if they’re going to be concert pianists but I think the problem is that if they don’t get enough under their belt by secondary school they lose interest and give up. She’s always said they take a long time to get to grade 1 then they go quickly from there but now hearing of people getting there in 6 months….

If she might want to take exams later, and if she is the sort to get nervous about them, then taking Grade 1 could be really useful. the examiner knows it's the first one, they'll be extra kind, and it will be (hopefully) be a nice gentle start. If you wait until she is really ready to take it (a bit advanced for Grade 1 even) then she will find the sightreading and scales etc all quite easy, and that will make it go quite smoothly.

If she doesn't care about exams and isn't likely to ever want them, or if she might want them in the future but isn't the sort to get worried or nervous about them, then save the money and wait!

Nobody needs to take any exams, unless for a few things they require evidence of a particular level. Usually auditions and teacher reports are what shows how you can play, if you are going for something like that.

But it can be a useful thing to get you used to performing, doing tasks that aren't in your comfort level, preparing, dealing with nerves, making you learn pieces that you wouldn't have chosen etc. I refused all exams in one of my instruments, and really wished later that I hadn't, as I am still very bad at any kind of performance or audition, and never feel that I'm confident enough with some of the technique.

In future years it might be useful. Ds is currently about to apply for music degree courses and I made him take Grade 5 theory a couple of years ago as many places ask for it. But he hasn't actually taken any grade exams at all. It's useful to know roughly what standard you are playing at for applications to courses/ensembles but you don't actually need the certificate. That can be determined at auditions.

Some piano tutors do say it's entirely your call if you want to sit exams. Your playing isn't defined by a certificate. I play piano for fun. Your DD will get there in her own time. If she's not bothered about the exam just leave it til she is a few grades in. No rush.

It sounds like your daughter isn't really fussed to taking exams at all. In which case just let her have the lessons without the pressure (and expense) of the exams,