Grade 1 piano

[mumof32015]

My DD who is in year 7 started having Piano lessons at the start of term. She has been able to play by ear since she was around 5 or 6 so I don't know if I can say she was a beginner or not, but she has been having beginner lessons. Anyway tonight her piano teacher said to her that because she has been doing so well, he wanted to know if she wanted to start practicing for grade 1 and then take the exam. Is this a good thing to start thinking about grades so soon or is it average?

Yes I’d say that was good. She’s obviously picking it up well. But she’s an older starter than usual so would expect that.

Really good, grade 1 piano is not easy. For a complete beginner, people usually say reckon 2 years. Sounds like she's got herself a good head start playing around by ear. And being able to play by ear is also a good sign of musical potential. Has she ever learned to read music for other uses? That can also help.

Grades aren't compulsory, it's really if she wants to. If she's making really quick progress it might actually slow her down to do an exam. Wouldn't hurt to learn the music and if the timing doesn't seem right to enter she doesn't need to actually sit the exam. Though the various digital performance options are quite good at the moment for being able to record it when you're ready and move on.

@thirdfiddle she has only really just started to learn to read music, I would say she is more dependent on the sound. She has always been very good at listening to a song and then straight away she is able to play it on the piano. But she wasn't using both hands. Since having her lessons she's improved a lot, and as soon as her music teacher asked her about grading she just immediately said yes.

My DD mainly sings, but has piano lessons as well. We're doing exams for piano but not for singing.

The exams are useful in terms of providing a structure, but what I have noticed is that she is bored to tears of the same pieces, but because she's tied into an exam system is refusing to move onto the next grade until she's done the current exam. Frankly she was playing them far better in June than she does now!

Covid hasn't help as she should have sat the exam in May/June but due to lockdown it's delayed till Nov, and she had to shift to online lessons which aren't quite so good. Like your DD, mine started later (last November, but has made fast progress).

In many ways I wish she'd just learn to play without the exams. With singing, she never asks what grade a piece is or feels she has to stick with a few songs or ones of a certain level - she just sings whatever she's interested in or her teachers introduce. Certainly we are never stuck for months on the same few songs.

Oh crumbs indeed, what a shame to wait around so long for an exam. I like DS's teacher's approach, they do some exams but not all - he was also preparing for one in June but he's just moved on instead.

Why not 🤷🏻‍♀️
I tend to trust the teachers with this.
My DD started taking ABRSM exams when the teacher recommended it, after a few months of learning. She ended up doing 3 of them in one academic year.
The teacher can introduce your daughter to the pieces and format. There is sight reading involved too. There's no pressure and he can sign her up to do the exam whenever.

Why are you concerned if it’s a good thing or average? Are you raising the next Mozart or just a child who enjoys their hobby? Of course it’s a good thing, wonderful that she can play an instrument, no reason to post this though...

Yes it's good - it's the theory side that it sounds like she might need to work on if she is going down the exam route.
I was grade 7 by 14 but started younger, she certainly isn't too young now.

And yes re doing all the exams - come from a very musical family and we did just grade 1 or 2 (generally straight to grade 2) then grade 5 (need grade 5 theory alongside the practical) and then 7 & 8.
Depends on what she's interested in though.

Why are you concerned if it’s a good thing or average?
This in conjunction with your username made me smile.