Piano - how to record ability without ABRSM

[Bruisername]

Hi. dd15 is very much into her piano at the moment. She did her grade 5 at the end of year 6 but has not done any more as she is not good with the theory (she knows it but doesn’t want to sit down and revise it iyswim). She dropped music gcse for the same reason - she loves playing but isn’t interested in the theoretical side.

grade wise she is around 8 now but doesn’t enjoy the pieces in the abrsm exam and the continuous practice of the same pieces wouldn’t work for her!!

are there other exam boards or such like that she could follow? I’m thinking ahead to uni applications I suppose and this is her main extra curricular activity

Is she wanting to apply to study music? If she isn’t then it won’t have any bearing on uni applications. She can mention her piano if it ties into any skills necessary for what subject she wants to study, otherwise she’s best focusing on super curricular.

my son got into uni for music not having passed any graded exams.

There are lots of other boards. Rockschool might be good - pop based with backing tracks. Does she need to know what grade she is and track progress if she’s just doing it for fun? If she’s wanting to pursue further ed in music then I’d really encourage her to take grade 5 theory especially if she already understands it, just get the exam done and dusted.

No she didn’t want to study music - she says music is something to experience and not study!! So pretentious

I guess I was thinking of non UK unis where extra curricular is considered

Other more varied piano practise techniques:

play for the school production
play for a local panto
open mics
join a band
hook up with a singer and form a duo
if classical, accompany other musicians

Unfortunately practise is a big part of music and repetition is a huge part of practise.

I mean god I went to see Raye on Thursday. There is no way she got that good without obsessive practise! Look at MJ, Taylor Swift, Elton John, whoever. They’re all obsessed and constantly learning.

Guildhall

Trinity and MTB are two exam boards with the same Ofqual accreditation as ABRSM and neither require grade 5 theory for the higher grades.

As a music teacher myself, I moved from ABRSM to MTB in lockdown and have not regretted it in any way. Also cheaper!

You do need to obsessively practise the same pieces for a long time for any higher grade exams though. That’s just the way it is!

https://www.mtbexams.com/

She practices for hours - it’s just she needs something she’s into - so at the moment she’s playing around 5 pieces and trying to get the harmonica right with Piano Man.

its the theory part that’s the problem!! She doesn’t do her piano at school but maybe I’ll talk to them bout letting her take part in concerts

Have a look at Trinity and LCM if she's still interested in doing exams - neither require the theory prerequisite and they have a variety of options that can play to different strengths. Plus choices to do in-person or recorded exams.

And as others have said, if she enjoys playing with others then finding opportunities to do that is great (in itself, plus shows/ builds good teamwork skills).

You can use jazz on whatever instrument you play to replace grade 5 theory.

my son played trumpet and did grade 5 jazz trumpet instead of grade 5 theiry.

Abrsm also offer jazz piano grades (and she might enjoy the change from classical)

I’m a piano teacher. There are other boards, and ABRSM do performance grades where you “just” play 4/5 pieces. I don’t use these so not exactly sure of the requirements.

However if she does an exam she will need to put in a lot of practice hours especially for Grade 8. If she wants to “have” Grade 8 then she has to do the work for it. As pp mentioned repetition would be a huge part of that.

The theory prerequisite proves really helpful down the line though - I’ve had to go back and learn it all as an adult with a life and a family, not understanding the theoretical side is a negative in the long run when actually working as a musician.

The issue for her is that she’s happy to practice and perfect but she likes to choose her own pieces rather than pick from the list (she has PDA which might feed into it tbh!)

thank you for all the suggestions - no rush really so she can mature into it

There also Practical Musicianship as an alternative to grade 5 theory. But I wish I’d done theory.

This is absolutely true. Understanding theory will really enrich her playing. The sooner she does it the better. It is so much harder to learn anything as an adult!

At grade 8 you can pretty much pick your pieces - there is a big long list.

if you want to just buy the book they choose three each from A B and C for you but my kids liked exploring the longer lists.

re theory - it’s not always convenient to do grade 5 theory at the time the exam boards want it. My DS was due to do it gcse year and he was supposed to be doing two practical grades - just not enough time in the day.

he did grade 8 theory a year later (no exams that summer)

I did a "performance assessment" through Abrsm which is not graded. Just feedback. I played a couple of pieces I had in my repertoire, such as it was. Still terrifying but not as nerve-racking as an exam.

I believe you can do ABRSM theory 1-5 anytime now as it’s online.

The theory is really useful, but it can be taught/ learned in other ways that don't involve sitting the exam. Better that than rushing or forcing it to tick a prerequisite 'box'. I've taught plenty of students whose practical skills progressed faster than their theory ones. And the occasional one who was the other way round!

Oh 100%, most of my students have zero interest and theory knowledge is faaaar below their practical ability. Most of them aren’t going to be pro musicians though.

Lots of advice so thank you! DD is very low in confidence after some brutal years so a ‘success’ in something she enjoys would also help there.

My DD is planning to do the ABRSM performance exams, where you video yourself playing four pieces and send them in. No theory required, plus you still get UCAS points. As others have said, you're not limited to the pieces in the book - there's a big long list of additional choices.

What about playing with others ? Some kind of band and performing that way ?

Trinity exams are great and the choice of pieces seems quite broad.

Just my opinion, but I do think the process of rehearsing, preparing and performing in an exam drives your instrumental playing forward - it’s a whole experience in itself and can be quite rewarding.

I don’t disagree but she has adhd and unless she’s hyper focussing it’s just not how she rolls

that’s more likely if she enjoys the pieces and I think the grade 5 pieces put her off