How to progress in Piano without grades!

[Trying2bgd]

Any advice would be appreciated!

My dd1 is learning piano but just for fun and is adamant she is not taking grades which is fine by me. But how do you ensure she makes progress & stays motivated without them? Her piano teacher wants her to do them but I am trying to come up with an alternative but am completely not musical so have no idea!

help!

I'm teaching DC to play the piano, and we have no plans to take any exams. In my mind I just imagine us learning more and more complex pieces - that takes care of the progress side, surely. Would that not work? As for motivation, I never thought exams would be a motivation anyway ... I'd imagine one has the same problem about motivation whether one does exams or not.

I am self-teaching piano the past 4.5 years, I never want to take any exams.
I think motivation has to come from within, I really want to improve so I push myself to learn more and more. My guess is that's the only way you'll progress OP, make it fun and if she wants to do it, she will progress with or without pieces of paper.

Plenty of teachers don't bother with grades, especially with primary aged children. If her teacher is pushing for them might you think about changing teacher?

You should not need to come up with "an alternative", the teacher should be quite capable of teaching someone to play the piano without taking exams! It might be wise to make the most of any performance opportunities that come your way eg school concerts or even just playing for friends.

Plenty of teachers would be happy not to have the distraction of grades.

If the teacher is not confident teaching without exams then find another.

It's scary how much that exam mentality permeates music teaching. Some teachers like them because it's a pat on the back for them if their pupils do well. I did every piano exam as a child and looking back on it it was incredibly limiting. I only ever learned stuff that was connected to the next exam. There are plenty of progressive music schemes teachers can follow to ensure their pupils are making steady progress.

A decent teacher will be perfectly happy to teach without using grades. My mother taught me from the age of four, gradually harder pieces of music and I taught myself stuff, but she wanted me to go to someone professional when I was a teenager, to learn some really good proper exercises and so on which she didn't have time to teach me.

It was great, I had a fantastic teacher who taught degree students, didn't have to bother with grades, we just did what I wanted to do.

dd has never taken a music exam and I am planning to keep it that way. Just keep learning new things, trying harder and longer pieces.

People taught music for a very long time before these exams were introduced.

You would ensure it by gradually increasing the complexity of pieces she plays. No need to be so hung up on exams.

Thanks, food for thought!

I would make sure that things like sight reading and scales are worked on as well as pieces. You can work through the various grade syllabi but just not do the exam. That way you and DD (and the teacher) can 'see' the progress.

Where I grew up they don't have grades for music teaching, but they still seem to manage to produce professional musicians. Grades are one way of motivating children. The chance to play more interesting music, to join an orchestra, to put on a performance are other equally valid motivators.

Find some simple piano accompaniments and some friends who play other instruments to accompany. DH got so much out of accompanying his sisters violin practise and playing with others is something pianists can miss out on!

Other than that, have you heard of Music Medals? Group exams done with the teacher and a video camera. Start at Copper (6 months of playing kind of standard) and work upto Platinum (about Grade 3). Some teachers abandon Grade exams for these altogether as they are far less formal!

DS (16) only started lessons last year to complement his other instruments (and to improve his general musicality and sight reading skills) and has no desire to take exams. His piano teacher is very accommodating and provides challenging pieces for him to learn (in addition to exercises and scales) and he is vv happy with that as am I!!

There is absolutely no need to take exams. I agree with Cory, there are other motivators. If your DD's teacher is not open to that, then maybe it's time to change teachers?

exams aren't necessary for sure, but they are quite useful for getting periodic feedback on your playing from an independent expert, however, you can achieve this in other was too - most easily by entering a local music festival occasionally. Also, exams are useful for ensuring a student keeps up with a range of musical skills, (aural, scales and sightreading) that might otherwise be neglected. I'm sure my children would never be pursuaded to learn or practise scales if it weren't for exams, but a good teacher would probably set a little time aside for these skills whether or not exams were being sat (something to watch out for though).

Hi all depends what you want to achieve some parents pay a fortune for their child to learn so can get into best schools etc as piano skills are looked at favourably. on the other hand its great for utilising the areas of brain we dont use and it helps with concentrating and unlocking areas in the brain which helps acdemically!! I thibk all children should be offered the chance to learn a music instrument from young ages ad i think we would be plsently suprised what playing an music instrument can do for a child!!

I'm a teacher and have worked on grades and also taught other areas that focus the mind e.g. learning a favourite song, concerts, competitions.
Being creative with incentives is important. The child ultimately wants to see progress but exams are not the sole barometer. I have a 6-yo that's flown through 3 books in 2 months - a phenomenal achievement. Because of his progress he's happy and motivated and the parents have no intention of putting him through exams which I agree on.

Also it might be an idea to get your child to see others doing what he wants to acheive on the piano as that can act as another motivator.

Suzuki method

Clives Rock School teach without the grades. My DS (10) has done the drums for a year and a half and is now also doing keyboard. He now wants to do the grades and so we will just get a one-to-one tutor for a couple of sessions to prepare him for the grades. Rockschool concentrates more on performance and enjoyment.

I think it's more difficult for pianists to be self motivated as it's such a solitary instrument. Whoever said about accompanying has hit the nail on the head. Also, piano duets and trios with children of a similar standard - there are some very simple ones out there if still at the beginning stages. It's a completely different skill to playing alone so well worth doing. It's worth learning the odd piece from 'official' exam books, just so you know roughly how you're doing - physically seeing the progress is a great motivator. Also agree about scales, studies and sight reading being essential skills. A chance to perform is important too, so there's a 'reason' to be learning and putting in all that time practising. Good teachers will incorporate little performances once a term or so, but it seems to be a rare thing, unfortunately. If school lets them play in assembly, or at informal school concerts, that's another way to motivate. I think it's a bit sad if you only play for yourself - music needs to be shared with others.

I think it's more difficult for pianists to be self motivated as it's such a solitary instrument. Whoever said about accompanying has hit the nail on the head. Also, piano duets and trios with children of a similar standard - there are some very simple ones out there if still at the beginning stages. It's a completely different skill to playing alone so well worth doing. It's worth learning the odd piece from 'official' exam books, just so you know roughly how you're doing - physically seeing the progress is a great motivator. Also agree about scales, studies and sight reading being essential skills. A chance to perform is important too, so there's a 'reason' to be learning and putting in all that time practising. Good teachers will incorporate little performances once a term or so, but it seems to be a rare thing, unfortunately. If school lets them play in assembly, or at informal school concerts, that's another way to motivate. I think it's a bit sad if you only play for yourself - music needs to be shared with others.