Piano - exams or not?

[crazycrofter]

Ds has been learning piano forever, or so it seems! I think he started in year 5 maybe and took his grade 1 in year 6. He then switched teachers in year 7 and took a year to settle into his new school, not making a huge amount of progress. We decided he'd do grade 2 in year 8 to give him something to work towards, which did encourage him to practise a bit and he passed. He was planning to take grade 3 in year 9 then lockdown happened. To be honest, he wasn't that bothered by piano and did barely any practice (once/twice a week).

During lockdown he decided to learn a rap song and this snowballed into a bit of an obsession with piano, which is still continuing. He's just almost mastered Turkish March which looks to me to be around grade 5/6. I did piano exams up to grade 8 and he's much more proficient than me now. He's also really keen and committed.

Is it worth him doing piano exams or should we just let him carry on as he has been doing, finding pieces he's interested in learning and then working on them? His teacher doesn't seem to mind either way.

It’s a hobby, I would let him explore and enjoy whatever aspect of music gives him the most pleasure. He will still learn how to master the piano and his music composed, just not in the universal way.
To push someone in a way which doesn’t engage them, is a recipe for disaster. (My personal opinion based on experience).

Thanks for your input and I understand what you’re saying. He’s not actually against doing exams, in fact it may give him a bit of a boost to his self-esteem. But he’s not that bothered. I was really wondering if he’d reach some sort of impasse without the technical side of exams pushing him forward? Obviously, it’s just a hobby at the moment and there’s no need for him to reach a particular standard.

I am sure something like piano exams the higher grades attract ucas points.

Dd is qualified in a few eca’s and despite only having a few GCSEs all at C grade she has enough points to get into university

Exams are not necessary to learn piano, they should only ever be done if the student chooses to do it and is enthusiastic. Doing piano exams when you're made do it instead of it being a choice is just miserable.

The teacher should be quite happy to work on pieces and songs that your son likes, but they will also need to make sure it's within his skill range, so they might try him to wait a little longer before learning certain pieces/songs. Also be prepared for less-fun things to be assigned eg exercises, scales, etc. Less fun, but helpful and necessary to progress as a player.

Btw there are such things as performance exams, where only the pieces are examined and no technical tests line aural, sight reading etc.

No I don’t think he would, what tends to drive people to learn is a passion for the instrument. Whilst he has that, he will explore and learn so much. Probably much more than if he sticks to an exam style syllabus. A good teacher will encourage him to try a wide range of styles and genres of music. If he wants to do the exams, it sounds very much like he will be supported by his teacher and yourself.
I don’t know if exams count anymore towards ucas or A levels. But is it worth turning a hobby/passion from something he loves to do into making it a chore to attain points? (I am passionate about music being for enjoyment not for a box ticking exercise!)

My DC's are all different, the eldest just likes playing for fun, though he wishes he had done grade 5 as he feels this is a good level. He's done grade 4 but musically is much higher, just less interested in the other bits required. He enjoys playing as a release from studying and still does scales etc, I think he finds it quite relaxing. His teacher is great and gives him a good variety. Hopefully he will continue for fun for as long as he likes.

I have two children that play piano at a decent level- one takes every exam going, the other does none. They're progressing at pretty much the same rate.
It's down to what motivates them as individuals, I think.
My child that does exams likes to see they're reaching milestones, and seeks external validation of progress made. The other is perfectly happy knowing that pieces are more difficult or take longer to learn. The anxiety induced by the thought of an exam was crippling, so he only sat G2, and that was about five years ago now.

I don’t know if exams count anymore towards ucas or A levels

Well they did last year

@Oliversmumsarmy

Thank you so much for that.

The thing about exams is that the prospect of them normally make the candidates practice as no one wants to make a fool of themselves in front of an examiner.
However if they are ABRSM exams, then for grade 6 and upwards there’s the terrifying prospect of grade 5 theory. (At least my dd found it terrifying - I know some people loved theory exams)

Thanks everyone. I think we’ll leave it for now and see how things develop. I was thinking of Trinity exams anyway to avoid the grade 5 theory!

Another bonus with Trinity exams is that the aural doesn't involve singing!

My ds is doing exams, I think it's definitely doing him good. He started to learn to play piano only because he wanted to play game music, but doing exams introduced him to learn variety of songs. And he started to learn theory too, which I think is going to help him in the long run, whatever he wants to play or compose music.

If it works don't fix it I'd say. There may be a time he wants to do a later exam for the ucas points or just to say he has.

Only thing I would say is don't let not doing exams = not doing scales or sight reading practice. He'll probably pick up the sight reading if he's playing a range of pieces for fun and some are easy enough to just sit down and play. Learning scale patterns without scale practice would require very careful choice of repertoire or exercises I'd think.

DD doesn't do exams for her main instrument but does do scales (one a week) and gets lots of sight reading practice through ensembles and studies so I don't feel she's missing out at all.

Actually grade 5 theory isn’t too bad provided the student has enough time to properly understand it.
It took me weeks to understand intervals but my dd had to do the whole syllabus in a term so no wonder 8 out of the 16 candidates in her theory class failed.

Another option could be to do the rockschool syllabus - more modern music and grades 6-8 are worth ucas points

Another option could be to do the rockschool syllabus - more modern music and grades 6-8 are worth ucas points

Thanks, yes my daughter does vocal Rockschool exams and they’re great. However, unfortunately his teacher (through school) says the school only enter for Trinity and ABRSM.