Piano lesson advice

[Knitjob]

My 10 yr old has been playing piano for 3 years. He passed his grade 1 exam in June last year and is aiming for grade 2 in November.

He's been plugging away at his exam pieces for months and is making slow progress. His teacher I feel is a bit of a perfectionist. I understand why. You are not going to get amazing grades if you just aim for average. But at the same time, ds has been stuck on the same pieces for flipping months. He is really bored.

I want to suggest to his teacher that maybe we need to lay off the exam prep for a while and just play some fun things. Maybe some short pieces more round about grade 1 level that he can master in a couple of weeks and have a bit of fun with. The last thing I want is for him to get bored of playing and give up.

But if he doesn't sit his exam by November the new syllabus for ABRSM comes in and he will have to start all over again.

I actually wonder if he should just have a break from exams altogether and in a few years with a bit more maturity he can sit whatever exam he is ready for. Does anyone know if you have to sit the exams in order or if you can skip some?

If you were his teacher would you be irritated by me interfering and suggesting something different or would you not mind? How should I word it?

I think ds just doesn't care about the finer detail right now, so I'm fighting a losing battle getting him to concentrate every week.

Hi knitjob. Come an post on or monthly music thread, lots of posters on there to help.

Sounds like he definitely needs a break from his pieces.

There is an overlap period with exam syllabuses, you can actually use the current one until next May.

You can most definitely skip exams. My own DS2 did Grade 1 , Grade 4,5,6, and 7 on piano. My DS1 only did Grade 5.

I used to buy some books for my DCs just for fun, and actually they never let the teacher see them ,as she would pick them up and use them as teaching books! But she also uses a lot if different repertoire anyway. DS2 has had a big gap between Grade 7 and 8 partly to play lots of different repertoire, not just exam pieces.

Can you arrange a chat when DS2 is not around to explain how he feels? Good luck

I would maybe have a quick chat with the teacher . Dd is about to do grade 1 but gets herself in a tizz and so the teacher has now decided to back off - she could aim for perfection but actually it was confusing her . I still feel like she has been learning these pieces for months and I think we are both looking forward to her learning new stuff. I will second what rasberry has said about just getting some fun stuff to play and yes you can skip grades - Ds had done 3 5 and 7 on trumpet and will probably do 5 ( and maybe 8?) on piano . Dd will probably skip grade 2 cornet . Ds will also have had a long gap - almost 2 years I reckon between 7 and 8 ( partly because I can't get him to do his theory but mainly because it's good to play lots and lots of different stuff) I am quite passionate in my belief that musical
instrument learning should be about enjoying music and that exams aren't everything and are maybe best taken to show what level you are at when you are ready - not something to aim for in themselves !!

You don't need to do the exams in order. My first exam was G5. Don't worry about irritating the teacher. It's your son; you know him best and you are paying for the lessons. Maybe you could consider a different teacher. Having said all that, sometimes it is only the looming prospect of an exam that gets children practising, but it is deadly to stay on the same pieces for ages.