Gifted at Piano!?

[Swarski]

My daughter is 8 and passed grade one in Feb with a distinction after just under a year of lessons. Her teacher says she is very 'bright' (which we already know-she achieved a L5 in her KS1 SATS and has a reading age of 13+) and is doing well, ready for her grade 2 after the summer hols. My son has just started lessons with a teacher who comes to our house. My DD was practicing when he arrived and he got really excited saying she was 'gifted' at piano and that in 23 years of teaching he has only heard one other child with that sort of talent!

Then, on Friday at the pub a fellow dad spoke to my husband and said he had heard DD playing when she was round playing with his DD after school and that he thought that she was exceptionally talented (he is a professional musician). He said he thought that we should have her taught by a teacher focused on talented children.

Both me and my DH are excpetionally unmusical so have no idea if she is particularly talented - we are just impressed she can read music and play with 2 hands!!

Any views?

Does she take part in any music competitions? If she starts winning County cups then you will have some idea of how good she is (although judging is of course subjective and they don't always get it right ... but let's not go there)

Competitions are also quite good for teaching the DC confidence to perform in public. The judges are very nice to the little ones and critique them in a positive way and offer specific tips (a mini-masterclass, in effect). It also gives you a chance to see other teachers out there, and their relationships with their pupils.

I don't think you can say she's gifted at piano....just good.

I'm a professional musician, and teach lots of kids piano - I personally would never label a child at this age as 'gifted' as I think a 'clever' child will appear 'gifted', especially on an instrument like piano which is quite logical. Evidence of musicianship will tend to emerge later (even child prodigies are often emulating their teachers rather than speaking musically from within iyswim).

Happily, you don't actually 'need' to know if she is gifted - the main thing is she's enjoying it, and making progress. Plenty of time later on to work out if she is more talented than average! Keep it fun, and don't worry about exactly how talented she may or may not be!

"she achieved a L5 in her KS1 SATS " Sorry - no she didn't - KS1 SATS don't have a level 5.

It's not that uncommon to get Grade 1 quite quickly - particularly in the piano - but it does sound as though she is really good at it. What does her current teacher say?

Pixie, have you got experience of the Royal College of Music Junior Department as well?

Also, I'd be a bit at your ds' teacher - it's impossible to know how talented someone is just by hearing them play on a one-off basis. That would tell you nothing about how long they'd been learning a piece, how much was coming from them and how much from a teacher etc etc, and it is foolish to use superlatives that loosely!!!

not gifted, no just very bright.

My piano teacher offered to teach me for free so HUGE was my talent. But I hated it and so stopped at the age of 13

Thanks for all the messages and advise.

To clarify, not particularly relevant but she was entered for KS2 SATS at 7 for reading and achieved a level 5 on the comprehension paper and on teachers assessment.

She loves playing piano and we never have to remind her to practice, so will just leave as is at the moment...

Sounds like she is good enough to try and enter for a musical scholarship to a musical school. . .you would get an assisted place which means you only pay for 40% of the fees , , or thereabouts.
My 9 yr old son is a Chorister and plays the piano entering Grade 1 this week. He has been playing for two 6 terms now. He is at a very musical prep school and is getting on really well. They have music every day. Junior choir one day . hymn practice the next, singing in the Cathedral the next. . .It has done him a power of good .

Swarski, if your DD is keen to practice without being reminded then it is definitely a talent to nurture.

I hated practicing.

I wouldn't be at all surprised, it didn't look quite right to me.

BTW Pixie, I seem to recall that you had given up picking fights for lent...........

I have no idea - I am awful at spelling as well as music!

DD is so keen on her practice (or practise!), that I often have to ask her to stop as she is being rude to a friend that she has round! She also loves to make up tunes and has started trying to write them down. She seems to be able to work out most tunes that she has heard by herself on the piano (mostly popular musical show tunes or adverts, not classical stuff!!).

She has also started the clarinet - progressing well so her teacher says, but needs nagging to practice....

She is very happy with her current teacher and all your views have made me more confident to just let her carry on enjoying her music - she wants to be a vet when she grows up...not a concert pianist!!

practice = noun; practise = verb.

So: 'Go and practise' or 'go and do your practice' are both correct.

Pixie, good luck to your ds when he auditions at the RCM. I don't know much about it either, but dd's violin teacher has suggested it for her in a year or so, so I'm keen to find out as much as possible beforehand to see if it is worth a weekly trip to London .

Thanks too Snorkie. I have always been rubbish at Engerlish Gramma

why don't you ask the music teacher who said she was very talented (he comes to your house regularly, doesn't he?) what he recommends?

Aren't there summer courses your dd could do which might widen her scope a bit? If she is so talented, people there will notice and perhaps have recommendations. I've seen something of that type online a couple of times but offhand cannot remember who runs them.