Piano ABRSM Grade 1 Exam - Other Parents opinion

[gloriousparent]

Hi There,

My DS is 7 now (last month December) and learning Piano since last September for approx 4-5 months now. Having started from scratch and having no prior experience at such a young age, I wanted him just to have some fun and distraction from the time spent on xbox and PS. He is really good in his studies in class as well and well ahead of others.

His teacher has suggested him to take the ABRSM Grade 1 Piano test in March. He practises quiet regularly on Piano, with him spending anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours in a single day. I was quite surprised to hear about his recommendation for Grade 1 test, but his teacher says he is the fastest learner student she has currently. He is perfect in his scales, sight reading and aural parts of the exam. The three pieces are also going on quite well and hoping to get complete proficiency by March. His teacher was very surprised on seeing his ability on sight reading - the pieces which he is playing for the first time.

I am personally in no hurry for my DS to pass the exam, but at the same time if it is something which can boost his morale at this stage of life, happy to go along as suggested by his teacher.

My only concern is I should not be loading my DS with the burden of exam at such an young age. But at the same time, I would prefer him to spend time on piano rather than some unproductive video games. The time we used to devote to Maths, Science and English has reduced a little and so is his time on the video games, which is now a bit less and more rationed( more during the weekends). Just for the record, he does have football and Taekwondo sessions on weekly basis.

Would like to know the opinion of other parents with similar background and situation.

Thankyou

Both my DCs took their grade 1 at about that age. And with a lot less practice! I'm impressed that he will do up to 2 hours a day - he obviously enjoys it. The teacher wouldn't be recommending he take the exam if she didn't think he was ready - it's her reputation on the line!!
If he is keen to do it, and understands the process of an exam, then why not let him?

Thankyou Seeline for such a quick response.

To make his time more interesting and attractive, we do several things, including trying everything from some film music notes, to nursery rhymes, to even singing sessions, sometimes these sessions are hilarious

He is the right age, so I wouldn't be reluctant. Lots of children like doing exams in music as it shows their progress.

I agree with the other posters.Our Ds is a little older at 8 and a half and has,we suspect,got Dyspraxia (co-ordination problems).He has been playing the violin for 3 years and sat his grade 1 just before christmas.We haven't heard the results yet.We were also a little concerned at first about putting him through that but we were told that it is great discipline for them as long as it's done gently with regard to practice.Our Ds is so passionate about his music and plays in 2 orchestras outside school and the school orchestra so has set very high hopes for himself.

As you say,it is a fantastic way to keep them away from iPad/xbox/wii and whatnot.
The main thing is as long as he is happy to do it and you praise him for practicing with positive reinforcements,you can't go wrong.

Good luck with it all.

My dd is 7 and she has been playing piano for 1 year. She is due to take her grade 1 exam in March. When the teacher decided she is ready to start preparing for grade 1 she had a discussion with dd (rather than myself) and asked her if she wants to take the exam, explained her what the exam consists of and asked her if she wants to do it. My dd agreed and now she is preparing for it.

What does your DS want to do? Is he happy to take the exam?

By the way, what pieces is he preparing for the exam?

Different instrument but my DS took G1 when he was seven and G3 four months after his eighth birthday. He didn't seem to feel any "burden of an exam" on either occasion, it was an afternoon off school with the promise of ice cream on the way home so fun, fun, fun with a spot of playing thrown in. (I was nervous enough for both of us)

If you feel he's too young for it then you could always skip grade 1, there's no requirement to take them all (or any of them at all come to that).

Our DS did Grade 1 about that age, but he had also been playing 'informal' music on our Yamaha organ from the age of two.

Listening to Classical music, particularly piano, but any thing he likes, and other genres of piano music, such as jazz is also useful.

Formal piano study can teach the reading, playing, coordination, style and 'emotions' of music, but doesn't always cover the UNDERSTANDING of music Theory so well.

(I will watch this thread, and come back sometime.)

Seven is about the right age, though not every child is ready for the exam situation at that age and it depends on personality. The short length of time is surprising, but not if you factor in the amount of practice that he's been doing. Most of mine who start at six or seven will likely take two years to reach a secure grade 1 standard and by the time they take the exam they'll have played lots of pieces at grade 1 "difficulty" but they usually do an absolute maximum of 10min practise a day with little or no parental guidance. There would be a few exceptions, children who'd be ready earlier, but they tend to do a million extra-curricular activities and possibly another instrument, splitting their practise time between these.

It's your call, though, as to whether your DS has the personality for it. He could just do a 'mock' grade 1 with his teacher and wait until he's older, then take grade 5 or something. You don't have to do all the exams.

Go for it.

I once asked the best pianist in DDs school how come he'd so good and his answer was he'd got quite good very quickly so practicing wasn't hard work.

My DDs both gave up piano/violin because the basics were always heard work, practice never seemed to have any reward so they got fed up. If your DS will practice for a reasonable time from choice he must find it rewarding and that's incredibly valuable.

Singing is DD1's thing. She works really hard at it and practices very happily. Same kind of reason. She's always been able to sing in tune, practice quickly shows results. She's dyslexic and instruments just require too many things at once.

@Fluerdelise

DS's teacher did ask him about exam which he said he wants to take, we did also see the youtube video of the exam and how it is taken, but being such a yound age, I do not think they really know what an exam is, what it means and its importance.........which is good and I want it to remain this way so they do not feel unnecessary pressure and the exam hype. I do not mention him about the exam and we just practise the piano with one aim of doing it good.

He has selected three pieces as :

Arietta
Song of the birds ( El Cant ...)
The Giant's coming.

@Ishouldbeweaving

We did think of skipping the Grade 1, but having already skipped the preliminary Prep test already, thought of having him used to the first test, so in case if he pursues Piano any further, he gets some encouragement and experience.

DS being a competitive child, in a non competitive education system, we thought of going for it. Marks and high ranks always excite him !!

Just don't make it the most important thing ever to do well in the exam and he'll be fine, if he's up to it technically. I'd probably give different advice if he was five, or if he was generally timid. I had a 6yo do the Prep Test last year, after learning with me for about that length of time (she'd had lessons previously... so I spent three months correcting things and forcing her to read music without numbers written on every note). While the Prep Test is slightly less formal, it still involves going into the room and playing in front of the strange examiner person etc. and she coped fine. She'll be doing grade 1 next term, I hope. Her friend will be doing Trinity Initial Grade - a proper exam but pre-grade-1 in terms of technical requirements - this term with any luck, and she's only just 7 as she's one of the youngest in the year.

My violin students do Music Medals because we can just do them when they're ready and don't have to guess what they'll be playing like two months later!

Gloriousparent- all very nice pieces. My Dd wanted the Giant is coming also but then she heard House on the Hill and changed her mind. She is doing Minuet in G from the Abrsm book but for B and C options she wanted the alternative pieces so she is doing House on the hill and Dance of the Hours.

JulieMichelleRobinson- how do you recommend sight reading practice? Dd is doing it with the teacher via the pieces she is learning but no other formal sight reading as such. Her teacher says she is quite good at it but should she practice this at home?

I know what you mean about the notes written in, I got told off second lesson she ever had when she started as I had the initiative to write the notes in. Dd's teacher is very determined and very rarely writes one note or a finger number in and only if dd seems to miss the note a lot of times.

@Fleurdelise.
For some strange reason we were not made aware of the option of alternative pieces outside this abrsm book. Thanks for letting me know, next grade onwards it might be a good idea to choose from more pieces rather than just the standard three from one book. Did you have to buy any extra book for these alternative pieces ?

Fleurdelise my dd is doing Arietta then the same 2 others as yours! I love Dance of the Hours

gloriousparent: all the pieces are listed on the abrsm website, along with very short clips of the music for free. You can pay for a CD of all the pieces so they can hear the music and choose the ones they want, then yes, you have to buy books to have the other pieces. I have a child doing 2 instruments so this gets expensive, particularly as most teachers simply use the standard pieces (and some don't even know there are options). However it is worth also looking on youtube for demonstrations of the pieces as some of the ones I found had the music shown too, so at least you can see the notes and your child/teacher can decide whether they want to play it before you buy the book. For reference while it is not illegal to copy music for practice you will need a proper paid for copy for the exam.

I quite like the idea of doing pieces that the examiner won't be bored of (and won't know and be expecting where all the common problems are) - when dd did violin grade 1 with an alternative piece he had obviously never come across it before!

Gloriousparent: we bought the abrsm book with the cd as I thought the cd would give her the option to listen to all the pieces. As she listened she liked the two outside the abrsm book and I bought the alternative books. It turns out more expensive however the books have a lot of other pieces in them which can be used to build repertoire going forward.

The book that has Dance of the Hours in has also got a grade 2 piece in it (one of the alternative pieces for grade 2).

Petra: yes I love Dance of the Hours and also House on the Hills as it is a bit spooky and my Dd likes to dim the light when playing it to make a bit of an atmosphere around it. :)

Thankyou all for your inputs.

Another question possibly for teachers, how perfect the piano pieces have to be to get a perfect score. In my experience some of the errors DS does sometimes is...

1. Taking a bit longer to transition from one note to another.
2. Treating quavers like a crotchet ( duration - wise)
3. Repeating a note to get into flow.
4. Not getting into rhythem of the song.

We have been listening to the recorded music by the experts ( and abrsm) and teacher does correct the notes and guide DS, but would like to know your experience on the same.

I have read it somewhere, that the marking scheme starts by giving passing marks and then adding and removing marks based on the performance.

Since Notes carry maximum marks, they should be given maximum importance in my opinion. DS is good in other areas like sightreading, scales etc.

Cheers

A perfect performance is more than just playing the right notes at the right time. Playing the notes correctly and in time, with a few slips on the day but no stopping, will get you 22/30 in my book. Getting all the notes right but the rhythm wrong is worse than playing in time with a few wrong notes. Conveying the character and enjoying the piece also count for a fair bit. On non-keyboard instruments playing in tune is also a factor.

us.abrsm.org/en/our-exams/information-and-regulations/graded-music-exam-marking-criteria/

Thanks Julie, In line with what you said my DS's music teacher has now been concentrating solely on the "rhythm" and "character" of his music, since he already reached a stage where all the notes are correct, timing is good, and knows the notes by memory.

One other thing which has helped him immensely in my opinion is to buy a new proper Piano rather than practise on keyboard. Previously he used to practise on real Piano only at teachers place and would practise with keyboard at home. He now understand more about the dynamics part of the music notes since switching over to Piano.

Teacher is happy with her progress and before he appears for his ABRSM grade1 exam, his teacher has also enrolled him into a local council run music festival where he is playing the same two music pieces as selected for grade 1 exam. So hopefully this would give him a nice exposure and some confidence before the exam as well.

Hi All,
Thankyou for all your inputs. DS passed his grade1 with distinction and seems to be very pleased with his certificate. Although he did enquire the meaning of "distinction"

Well done to your DS. My DD got a distinction in one of her dance exams when she was small and got a bit confused with extinction, and was rather concerned

Congratulations Glorious! I hope he found the whole exam experience as joyful and happy as my DD found it. She keeps asking now when is the next exam because she loved it!

I am so curious about what made her love it so much, apparently the examiner was lovely.

Congratulations! He really deserved it!