Does anyone's musical dc not do exams?

[Dancergirl]

Interested in opinions. Oldest dd, now 14, plays the flute and piano. Flute is her main instrument and she took up a bit of piano to help with GCSE Music. With her flute she had a bit of a slow start due to repeated change of teacher at school, but I then found a fantastic private teacher and she progressed rapidly doing Grades 1 and 2 within a year both with Merit.

She then had a gap and did Grade 3 a year or so later. Even though she was well prepared it went a big wrong on the day and she scraped a pass. Bit disappointing but I told her a pass is a pass and to move on and enjoy her playing. She has now decided she doesn't want to do any more grades for a while and I am fine with that, she is old enough to make sensible choices. She is very much enjoying playing both instruments without the stress of doing exams.

Youngest dd started piano last summer and made very fast progress and is really enjoying it. She is due to take Grade 1 in a couple of weeks and her teacher says she should do very well. But I can't help feeling that a bit of the joy has been taking out of playing, focussing on playing the exam pieces well plus scales, aural etc. Dd is keen to take the exam but is also a bit worried about it. I'm worried it will put her off something she was really enjoying.

I play the piano myself and worked up through the grades as a child. I didn't really give it much thought but I quite liked the challenge of exams.

So my questions are - what are the benefits of doing exams, and can you become a competent musician without doing them?

My dcs had music lessons at school - I insisted on no exams, music teacher was flexible covered music dcs were interested in, dcs practiced without being asked, got excited about what they were playing it was really good. Moved to Secondary, school agreed reluctantly to drop the exams but insisted that they follow the exam syllabus - within 3 months both dcs didn't want to practice anymore, music had become a real drag and I cancelled the lessons.
It took 6 months for them to come around and beg me for more lessons - I found a great vocal coach quite by accident who is very open minded about music and they really love their lessons. I've just found a piano teacher and I have told her that the dcs need to agree to the content (within reason) of the lessons and the type of music they play. I will gauge the success of the lessons on how much the dcs wish to practice without being prompted.
I have chosen this route because I believe that music is something they should hopefully get a lot of joy from as Maryz said a release from other pressures in life and if they want to do grades then they can chose to do them later on - actually if they wanted to do grades now that wouldn't be a problem.

My dd1. funnily enough, also plays both the flute and the piano.
Refused to take any exams after Grade 3.
Used to rarely practice and was progressing pretty slowly anyway.
After giving up exams she really blossomed and started to enjoy both instruments MUCH more. She now helps out a Yr7 musical group at school, plays in lots of concerts, has become the 'guest flutist' for the choir I'm in, and plays piano two or three times a day, sometimes for 1/2 hour or more.

She did take GCSE in music, but has steadfastly refused to consider taking anymore instrumental exams even though both teacher say she could easily do Grade 6 or more.

DD plays piano & guitar, has just started theory & singing and will be doing GCSE music from Sept. Of these she's only currently doing grades on piano. She did take grade 4 classical guitar but shortly after switched to acoustic guitar and a new teacher. I'm happy for her just to enjoy music rather than taking exams and she currently plays in bands both at school and away from it.

DS will be taking Grade 2 piano next month but i don't know if he'll continue with them. He's very shy so not great at the aural though he has found the confidence to play at a school show.

I'll just follow their lead with regard to exams. I'd rather they practice the pieces they like to play than nag them into playing grade pieces.

Hi,professional musician here. I did all the grades (violin and piano) but it is not essential IMO. Grade 5 and 8 are but you don't need to do all the ones in between.

No grades are essential. Not even to get a place at Music College. Many students at the conservatoires are from overseas and have never been through the exam mill.

A good teacher will include theory, history, pieces in a variety of styles, technical work including a far more interesting range of scale-type work than the set ones for exams and many other things during lessons. Working towards an exam is ok, but can take up a lot of time when there's so much other rewarding stuff to do.

I've even heard of pupils who are only playing three pieces at a particular time because they are "exam pieces" and only playing scales on the list for the grade they are working on. Stultifying.

As for parents who want their children to take exams so they can brag that Fred is Grade 6 at age 11 or whatever ... don't even get me started on that. As I have patiently explained to parents many times, music was around far longer than ABRSM. Did Bach or Beethoven's mum brag about their son's grades?

DS only does the exams he needs as 'entry tickets' to ensembles - so he and his teacher worked out a schedule for up to the end of Y13 (when he was about in Y8!)

The 'second tier' jazz ensemble wanted Grade 4 - he was already above that, so he did grade 5 clarinet as his first music exam.

He then wanted to swap to playing the saxophone in that band and in a county music centre for which senior band needed Grade 4+ - having taken up the sax after passing his grade 5 clarinet, he then took grade 4 saxophone and passed it.

For the senior county jazz orchestra he needs Grade 6, so he's just taken that on clarinet and is auditioning on clarinet. If he doesn't get in he'll do grade 6 saxophone ASAP to be able to audition on that instead.

Then I think there's a gap of a couple of years, They have a plan for him to take both grade 8s before he leaves school, so that he has a record of his 'final standard;' should he want to play in jazz groups at university or beyond.

Of course, you could argue that none of these are necessary, and an audition + recommendation from his teacher would be equally good 'entry tickets'. However, having the pieces of paper has proved a very useful 'shorthand' method of proving level.