Music teacher - who is right?

[Grumpyrobots]

I am ready to admit it’s my fault as a mother, but would like to have an independent opinion. DC is getting ready for a grade 5 music exam. Exam is in one week, the teacher just discovered that DC does not know all scales and they have not yet played all the pieces through with accompaniment. The teacher told me off for DC lack of knowledge, saying they had to learn the scales of their own accord, that DC is not good with listening to instructions and have not made much progress on their instrument and basically going to get a pass and it’s all our fault because DC is not practicing enough at home (which is not true and they practice a lot, but often not sure what they are doing).

So I guess my question is - do DC learn scales without any instruction from teacher? Is it normal to play the piece through for the first time with accompaniment during the exam (till now only playing small bits of various pieces, never start to end). Is it normal to have a 10 minute one-off introduction to aural part of the exam because they did aural in previous grades and therefore don’t need further instruction? I am not musical and out of my depth so not sure what I should expect really.

I’m on the fence. Whilst it’s not great that the teacher has only just found out the scales aren’t known, it’s pretty common. I always get my dcs exam scales on a list and put them on the wall. With aural I buy the ABRSM CD. My dc has been sent for grade 5 with no aural from teacher. With the pieces, you can get the accompaniment on CD so again, I do that. That said, if the teacher makes the child feel shit, that’s terrible and totally not the point of music lessons.

Thank you for your comments. I found a new teacher for DC and we switched two weeks ago. The difference is amazing, unfortunately DC had to start again from scratch with technique, it was not taught properly. I regret not switching years ago, but hopefully things will improve quickly from now on. DC is also happier and more enthusiastic about their instrument.

Did your child take the exam in the end? How did it go?

I've been teaching for 30 years and I make sure scales are well prepared even before I enter a student for an exam. I'd never expect a pupil to learn them themselves; they are vital to good playing, and are not a separate box ticking exercise just for exams. Apart from anything else, the examiners are looking for scales with musical shape, even tone etc, not just a barrage of notes.

Recently, I've been asked to help a student on saxophone ( not the instrument I teach) because their teacher had entered them for grade 5. The teacher hadn't so much as mentioned aurals, had barely looked at sightreading, hadn't finished teaching one of the pieces or a lot of the scales. The teacher cancelled 2 lessons on the trot, 3 weeks before the exam too.
I did as much damage limitation as I could ( the student was sent to me primarily for aurals a couple of weeks before the exam) but that poor child came out of the exam close to tears. They managed to pass the exam, but had the ability to get a good merit or even distinction, if only the teacher had done their job.

Sounds familiar! Exam was a disaster, I was listening outside, the pieces sounded wobbly as DC did not know when to come in with the accompaniment. Scales actually went sort of ok, but aural did not sound right to me. Still have not found the mark, we left our teacher soon after the exam and I have not contacted the teacher to ask about the results as our parting was quite unpleasant...

I'm really sorry to hear that, but very relieved you've binned the teacher! Terrible that you paid for lessons and the exam but the ex teacher hasn't had the professionalism to pass on the results. You are well rid of them.

I am regretting not binning the old teacher years ago. All this time wasted!

You could explain to ABRSM and try to get the result. Your dc might have passed anyway.

I mean email them offering a copy of child’s passport for id