To not think ABRSM grades are worth it?

[Veeveebee]

Dd, aged 7, does piano lessons once a week and has done for about a year. She really enjoys her lessons and does a fair bit of practice in between which she genuinely seems to enjoy. Her teacher wants her to start working towards Grade 1 - as she says that without doing grades you have 'nothing to show for it'.

I'm wondering though whether it would be better for dd not to do grades, or at least not yet. I played the piano throughout my childhood, and eventually got my grade 8 - but after taking that exam I realised that I'd spent 18 months perfecting 3 pieces, but had no ability to play anything else. It also got so repetitive, working on the same pieces for over a year before each exam. I've barely touched a piano since I left home for university.

It's making me wonder whether dd would get more enjoyment out of the piano without taking ABRSM exams - she can work on a far greater variety of pieces, without feeling she needs to perfect any of them and play them over and over again for months.

If dd reaches a higher level at some point - maybe equivalent to grade 5/6 - and wants to start doing grades, then I would of course support her, but AIBU to not let her teacher start her on grades yet?

DS1's first piano teacher didn't like exams so he didn't do any to start with - until about grade 4/5 when it was useful for school entrance (state secondary with performing arts status). He's off to start his 4 year conservatoire course next month so it didn't do him any harm .

YANBU

When I was 7 I failed my grade 1 by one point. My parents entered me for Grade 2 but I struggled with playing the same pieces over and over and they withdrew me and from then on I only needed to play pieces I enjoyed. I’m sure this contributed to the fact that when we hit high school most of my friends who had sat exams gave up playing and I carried on. 30 odd years later and I’m still playing.

I may not be the most proficient player but I play for fun and have played at weddings and concerts without needing any grades.

She doesn't have to do every grade - they could roughly follow the demands of each syllabus as they are well-designed to introduce incremental improvement, but not have her do grades until age 15 or so when she could do 6, 7 or 8 depending on her standard.

Not sure they even look that good on a CV tbh (I have G7 in an instrument under 'skills/interests' and I bet employers just go 'ah another spoiled MC kid, why does she think we want to see this'...but then what else did I do these painful grades for!).

If she's not the kind of child that needs this external recognition in the form of following a clearly-planned route & certificates, then more power to her and definitely no harm done if she just concentrates on building technical ability and increasing her repertoire according to what she likes to play. Some kids do need to be climbing a grading ladder in order to create motivation.

If I have one suggestion it would be to really work on the sightreading while she is still young - I absolutely love being able to SR stuff, also allows you to develop skills in improvisation, but I'm not that good and it's mostly stuff I learned before 12 that seems like second nature i.e. 'sound at sight' rather than having to 'read' the music. That is a skill that will bring her so much in that she'll be able to play for fun when older long after stopping lessons.

It really does take the joy out of it, but I saw it as part of learning to play classical music. My DS is going to be learning jazz piano instead.

Good advice from velourvoyageur

Sorry if I come across like a bitch, but if you are spending 18 months learning your pieces then you are not that level. As I remember, I could pretty much sit down and play my grade pieces straight away and then spent a bit of time perfecting technique and dynamics, so on. My teachers always had me doing other studies and pieces at the same time.

My own DS has so far taken 2/3 months to prepare for his grades.

I think you have been pushed to learn music that is much too hard.

That's not the fault of ABRSM.

Agree with velour's advice. You don't need every grade. I don't teach piano, but another (string) instrument. I reckon you lose a term's progress for every grade you take.

I have one very able pupil who has had lessons with me for 3 years, but already played a different string instrument. She missed all the early grades on my instrument as I couldn't bear the thought of her stagnating for a term whilst we worked for an exam. She did take grade 6 and did really well and now plays in the same adult orchestra as me, which has been a real eye-opener for her. Her reading has come on immensely. We have played all the scales and some pieces for grade 7 but are missing it out and heading for grade 8. It saves a fortune!

ABRSM Music Medals are a much more child friendly way to get some recognition of achievement. Really varied repertoire, and options to include improvisation, plus ensemble playing. Kids at our school are loving them.

I learned an instrument continuously for years but only did grades 3, 5 and 8.
Technique and playing in groups and orchestras was always more important (both of my parents are musicians).

DD is 7 and learning an instrument and wants to do an exam so she can show what she can do. Only 1 in 4 lessons I’d say focuses on an exam piece.

We've been pretty tough on our 12 year old and he just passed his grade 6 violin, there was no option of no ABRSM. Bluntly, we wanted it on his school applications.

He has some talent, but is far short of a prodigy. He recently told me that he appreciated us dragging him along when he was at a low ebb because he would have never come to love it as much as he has without as much work as he's put in.

He now goes off-piste and plays rock-n-roll songs with his brother and generally loves it.

@Grumpyoldpersonwithcats
I love the word conservatoire. I'd love to be able to say "When i was at the conservatore." It sounds really impressive!

Also my older son's friend is grade 8 at guitar and skipped several tests - he is pretty formidably talented and driven, though.

My DS is now playing at diploma level and has never done a grade exam. It's not held him back as he plays in national ensembles where you have to demonstrate your ability by playing, not by pieces of paper. You'll come across Those Mummies who are absolutely obsessed with getting through the grades as quickly as possible - to what end? Grades don't even test technique - I've seen young musicians who have Distinction in Grade 8 but bloody awful technique.

Also, it's an easy way to teach just sleepwalking through the grades. My son's teacher loves the freedom that no grades gives him to choose interesting repertoire etc but I know that not all teachers enjoy this approach. I hope that making music being a pleasure and not a chore will stay with my son for the rest of his life.

if you are spending 18 months learning your pieces then you are not that level

Interesting view - I always saw learning pieces as a learning process in itself - as in you started out not being quite there, and you became comfortable with unfamiliar technique through encountering it in a piece, whether it was for an exam or not. Not that you only took them in order to confirm your level. I suspect you must be musically talented, but I always saw grades 1-8 as pretty open to everyone whether or not they were particularly musical - diploma level is a different story.

Of course there are people who hold the same grade but are streets apart, but it doesn't mean that they shouldn't take the exam until they can get 30/30 - that's why there are the 3 sublevels.

...if you are spending 18 months learning your pieces then you are not that level.

I agree with this. Even for Grade 8 it shouldn't take much more than an academic year. Spending 18 months preparing for a low grade would be soul-destroying.

yes Inert I think def worth pushing kids through practice in order to get to that sweet place where they can have the solid basics & can have fun with playing!

I teach music and think grades aren’t a good fit for everybody. For some kids, having something tangible to work towards is great, but others are better off exploring music in other ways.

In my opinion, another good option is to study the grade pieces alongside other work so students know roughly what level they are. They can then tackle the technical bits and if it works well for them, they can look at taking the exam.

Lastly, there are alternative grades! Take a look at Trinity Rock and Pop in particular. More contemporary songs, but also more accessible (arguable easier) than the classical stuff and with far less demanding technical skills but grade 1 is still grade 1.

They motivate some children and hold back others so you should do what suits your child. I personally like them because my kids feel like they have achieved something when they get them. My kids aren’t prodigies or scholars but they do like a bit of recognition from time to time.
Also the higher grades do carry qualification points.

I played a brass instrument for 10 years without taking a grade- although I did do GCSE music in the middle. I enjoyed playing, made progress, took part in a band and performed regularly and travelled abroad on several tours.
It was well worth it, without a scrap of paper to show for it.

Grades can be a useful motivation tool, but also they aren’t for everyone nor is every grade for everyone. If you are spending a year practising the same three pieces, then you’re probably not ready to start working for the exam. I like doing a mix of music and repertoire and some of my pupils want to do every exam, so we make sure we drop down onto them so we don’t spend long working on the pieces and others don’t want to do any and some do a mix - ABRSM/Trinity/Rock School and we sometimes swap around boards depending on what they want to do.

I’d find a different teacher. First off, it’s not absolutely necessary to do exams, so I wouldn’t like that attitude. And secondly, if only exam stuff is worked on for a year/18 months at a time, then there’s not a lot of teaching going on.

It’s not essential to do all exams. And you certainly want a breadth of music being taught/experienced - different styles, different techniques.

I have a dc who plays a string instrument - took grade 2, mostly to see how they fared under exam pressure. Then took grade 4. Has managed a music scholarship to senior school, so clearly not held back by lack of exams. It was the depth of knowledge of instrument, plus good musical knowledge, and he sheer love of music that counted.

OpalTree. Thank you - we're quite impressed - he is (obviously) very musical but we had no idea if he was good enough to get in - so he applied to normal universities for music as well.

For us the teacher has always been key - someone who can enthuse and encourage - exams are useful to indicate a level of playing but we have always regarded them as something to do when at that level, rather than a target in their own right.

Just got ds (age11) through grade 3 because he needed it for his new school orchestra but he over shot and was bored rigid by the time the exams came and his pieces were rubbish. He could have done grade 4 instead but we filled the time learning tonnes of fun repertoire and it was way way better. Also remember they can't do higher than grade 5 instrument without grade 5 theory so rushing through exams for the sake of it means you have to take a child through what's the equivalent of a GCSE almost when they are too young to appreciate it.

My DD is on grade 7 piano. She has always been quick, is and independent learner and enjoys challenges. She has always pushed herself at exam times . However she enjoys composing and likes to play up to date tunes and will happily play for ages. However she also plays Cello ( which she will be dropping this year and harpsichord) my DS on the OH worked really hard for his exams and only ever scraped a pass, he got demotivated and miserable and put him off. For him we should have allowed him to simply learn. He is at grade 4 but we have stopped his lessons as he is starting secondary and he would prefer to focus on sport. So it really does depend on you as the DP and what makes your DC tick

I worked my way through all the grades and scraped each pass by the skin of my teeth because they just didn’t suit my style of playing. I was much happier improvising a pop song or song from a musical. I’m now a primary teacher and my ability to ‘just play’ has definitely got me jobs. So I guess it depends what you want to achieve. Accuracy or flexibility.