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I have come back from my lesson tonight and have been strongly advised to take Grade 5 theory for my next exam. I am at the moment doing Grade 4. With the ABRSM examining body, you can do theory for the lower grades but it is not compulsory, and it is really up to the student. When you reach Grade 6 level, then it becomes compulsory to take the Theory because you cannot take any more exams after Grade 6 without a Theory exam pass. My teacher said it would be a very big step to go straight into Grade 6 Theory so she wants me to study and take Grade 5 theory to 'prepare myself' so that when I have to do Theory for Grade 6, it will be easier.

When my teacher told me what was involved in the exam I said but what do I want to put myself through that for, for merely doing piano as a hobby for my own enjoyment. It's not as if I am heading into making a living out of music so why push myself to the absolute limit mentally by doing this and learning about different instruments and orchestras and how an orchestra works in collaboration with a piano. Yes it is interesting and I did start a thread on the piano teachers forum and found it really interesting to read about how pianists and orchestras work together, but to an exam in it and get a qualification is lot of hard work and I am wondering if it will take the pleasure away from playing. My teacher said to me "But you like doing the Grade exams" and I do, its merely the thought of learning all this extra unnecesary stuff that usually people who want to take music up as profession would do.

I am exhausted mentally trying to work out if this is the best way forward and perhaps stop doing the exams at a level where I do not have to do theory.

Any thoughts?

You can learn how to play the piano well without taking exams. You can even enjoy yourself preparing the piano exam practical requirements, and not take the exams, if you like learning the requirements but don't want to take the exams. If you really want to take the exams too, have your teacher check whether you actually have to take the theory exams in order to proceed with the practical exams.

In the RCM system, for example, I believe that you can take the practical exams at any level without the theory exams. It's only if you want an actual certificate for your acheivements that you have to take the theory exams too (starting at Grade 5). I don't know exactly what the ABRSM requirements are.

There seems to be a continual miscommunication going on between you and your teacher about exams. There's sort of an ambivalence "I do/I don't want to take exams" from your side. This seems to be matched on her side (although I only have your reports of this) by an inability to wake you up to "Just Forget The Exams For A While; I Can Teach You To Play Piano And Then If You Want To Play For An Examiner Or Not, That's Your Choice." Whether this is because she can't conceive of teaching good piano playing outside of the exam structure, or whether because you and she haven't found the right language to communicate your goals and what she can offer to guide you there, I don't know.

It does sound like in suggesting the theory exam to you she is responding to your latest previously expressed desire: to go ahead with taking exams. So you can hardly fault her for offering it.

When you talk to her about your goals in piano, what is the conversation like? Is it a conversation about whether or not you take exams? Or is it a conversation about the kinds of music you like, the kinds of skills you'd like to have, the level of interest and commitment you have, how she designs what she has you do, etc.? It seems as if all your conversations have been centered around exams only. For example earlier, the choice was "prepare for the next exam" vs. "spend time playing pieces at this same exam level just passed". Now you're on to (I think) preparing for the next exam. Is there any talk about how to progress without checking if it agrees with ABRSMs curriculum? Or have you had a conversation about what ABRSM curriculum can provide and what it might be missing? Whether she thinks ABRSM curriculum is the best, or if she's preparing a piano to play well, and not just teaching to the test, she might do some things differently?

[ETA: and what do you think? Do you believe that you can learn to play piano well apart from preparing for exams? or do you believe that the only way to progress is by following the exam curriculum? What is your interest in the exams?]

Learning theory, especially being able to apply it to music so that you understand it better, is a useful thing to do. You don't have to do an exam for that.

I agree, and in a way my post was itself captured within the exam paradigm, in not talking about the value of theory and understanding music.

One question that arises is, can adultpianist learn theory from this teacher in a way that is integrated with learning piano or learning more about music, in a way that she finds it to be useful and enjoyable? Or will it be a painful forced march through disconnected facts? Which is not to say that all theory learned has to be immediately connected to one's playing -- witness adultpianist's pleasure in learning about concerto playing -- but her anticipation of the level 5 theory exam is so far dread of a bunch of unnecessary information, and unless she and her teacher can come to more of a holistic understanding about learning music separate from just ticking off exam boxes, I suspect her theory learning would be more of the forced march variety than the enrichment variety.

I don't fault either adultpianist or her teacher here; I don't know enough about either one of them; but they always seem to be like ships passing in the night from what adultpianist posts here (again, whether this is a jointly achieved result or whether one is more befogged than the other, I don't know).

adultpianist, you might find it interesting to ask your teacher to start teaching you more theory in a way that connects with what you are learning about playing piano. Not with a view to taking the exam (although you might at some point realize you know enough to take the exam), but as a way of increasing your understanding and enjoyment of music.

Hi Adultpianist,

I'm sure some UK teachers (which I'm not, I'm an adult learner in the US) will chime in with advice for you.

My understanding is that yes, in the ABRSM system you have to pass Grade 5 theory before you can take the Grade 6 practical exam.

But it may not be as hard as you think. Have you gone to their online store to get some of their books and workbooks? I think you can find ones aimed at the Grade 5 theory exam.

I have their "AB Guide to Music Theory, Part 1" by Eric Taylor, which I think (I could be wrong) covers most of what's on the Grade 5 theory exam. I don't think there's a lot in it I didn't already know from lessons on various instruments over the years. (I'm around Grade 2 piano at this point.)

I'd have to "study up" in order to regurgitate/process things meaningfully on an exam. Teachers over on the abrsm.org teachers' forum complain that that particular book is too dry. But hey, they're mostly teaching kids. For an adult, it's fine. Sure beats computer science or statistics or plenty of other stuff we adults have ingested for exams.

You may be over-worrying. Grade 8 theory might be a lot of new information. But Grade 5, maybe not so much.

I just spotted this, about adultpianist's ABRSM exams. That's different from how it works in RCM, I believe, except for the licentiate or diploma exams after grade 10.

I agree with her. I'd never look at learning theory as something I "have to" do to pass an exam, but rather that the exam is perhaps simply a date by which time I should've explored the new theory material for the sake of my musicianship. Learning more music theory is only going to make it easier to learn and memorize new/more music as well as making you a better interpreter and performer of said music. It's not like certain high school math you'll never use again in your life - it's interesting and applicable knowledge that will do nothing but benefit you for the rest of your time as a musician.

First of all you speak of me as a male, referring to me as he. I am a female. When have I ever indicated that I am a man?

Second of all, I like doing exams and whilst I have only recently started the study for Grade 4, I was asking my teacher about what Grade 5 entails so she saw that I was interested in finding out about the next grade up. We were doing some Aural and I simply asked what kind of thing would be required for Grade 5 and whether I would have to sight sing or indeed to any Aural for the upper grades. I have never been content to simply play without aiming for an exam. When I was doing Grade 3 and had taken the exam, I was waiting for the results and we did some fun pieces and then once I had my results we carried on doing fun pieces for a while longer and then I got the books for Grade 4. I could have ploughed straight into the exam syllabus, but wanted a break so when I felt ready to do 4 I got the books.

I guess I was panicking about having to do Theory but now when I think about it, it is a good idea because not only do you play but you have to understand why you do what you do etc. I guess a good teacher would be incorporating theory into the lesson so you learn as you go along, but we only play the pieces and do the scales etc and the required aural. We do not touch on transposition or the meaning of dominant and subdominant chords or the tenor clef. These are all things for Grade 5 theory. Why would I need to know about the tenor clef? Of what benefit would it be to me, an ameatur pianist who simply sits as home and plays pieces for relaxation. I do not perform in public so a lot of the Theory for Grade 5 would be irrelevant

There is another aspect of exams. Often there are other ways of looking at the music and theory, or several ways of finding answers that are at least as correct. But in preparing for exams, you have to know how they think, and what they want to see (the examiners). I did some theory exams while still studying my first instrument, and when we prepared for the exams my teacher would stress what the examiners would wan to see, but that there were other ways of seeing it in music. We had to also work "toward the exam".

adultpianist, I apologize for getting your gender wrong.

no problem but why did you think I was male?

You didn't indicate that you were female, therefore 'he' is the correct pronoun in English grammar.

There is a 50/50 chance of getting it wrong unless you choose a name like QueenMary of KingJohn. I vote that we all call each other "it".

Well, that would be adultepianiste ... p'raps not!

I have been caught out making assumptions about what variety of humanoid folks on this site are and guessing wrong. Hopefully I've used "they" and "you" where necessary. I disagree with Richard, I think it's a little old fashioned to use "him" if you don't know.

For the record, I'm male ... just in case there was some doubt!


P.S. At a "writing night" at my son's school, I said to one of his friend's siblings, "And what grade are you in, young lady?" At which point I got a fit of giggles from them ... she was a he. Ooops. Long blond hair and a five year old ... kind of difficult to tell!!!

I see you are currently located in Maine. Did you move there from another country? If not, it is pretty ridiculous that you got so upset over someone using proper English. I can't believe the other person actually apologized for it as well! For someone asking for public commentary and advice, you certainly have presented yourself poorly.

Unthinking sexism.

Daniel, are you getting us confused? I'm in Maine; adultpianist doesn't list a location.

Yes.

I've been watching your posts.

Your teacher seems to just want to push you through exams.

You seem conflicted.

I never went through exams, so take that with a grain of salt.

I can see that exams might give you a goal to aim for and help round you out as a pianist.

I can see that exams could make a student thrive, or could kill a student's love of music.

I can also see that exams could end up being a curriculum crutch for a not-so-inspired teacher.

I am given to understand that you may be in an area where it may be hard to find an alternate teacher.

But, what I read from your posts is that you are not so crazy about exams, but your teacher is pushing you through them at a pretty brisk pace.

Honestly, I don't think that teacher-student relationship is working.

Yes, sorry. I will just assume the OP is a non-English speaker. I normally don't speak out about such things, especially when it is off-topic, but the fact that several posts were exchanged about such an absurdity just couldn't go ignored.

This is true, but not ubiquitously. My college theory teacher always says/said (especially in the context of more complex theoretical topics) that sometimes the best answer wasn't the one in the textbook, but the one that you could justify... needless to say he graded accordingly. I would hope some procters might also see things the same way.