Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Teachers Forum Are you disappointed when a student doesn't take piano exams

My sentiments exactly.

The question in this thread is about exams. For some reason, Guild was mentioned a few posts into this thread, after which we got the explanation that Guild isn't involved in exams. But the discussion keeps going back to what Guild does. That would be ok, except that a teacher tried to get the discussion back to the topic, and listed four specific questions. I was hoping to see what the answers might be. There was a post addressing her right after, but only to state that she had been young when her teacher did Guild with her - that could not have been in answer to her question.

In case anyone (besides me) is interested in the questions the Missbelle raised, I'm bumping the post.

NO exams .... and no recitals. No children under eight. No half size keyboards. No children taking lessons who don't WANT to take those lessons. A half hour a day practice ...

And I promise that my students will love music .... will enjoy it all their lives. They will also LEARN the notes and the basics of playing without being drowned in technicalities and details which they'll never need or use. I will introduce them to the finest of the classics ( without telling them of course) ... I will play great music for them now and then so they can experience the thrill of a concert level perfomance. I will make those lessons enjoyable and sometimes we'll enjoy a laugh . I will give each child confidence without letting him slide or get lazy. This is my mission and I won't be swayed.

Parents who don't understand this ethos or don't agree can find their child another teacher. It won't be me. Music is one of life's great joys ... it is for me a sacred joy. I won't defile it for stupid pushy parents. And I won't waste learning time stalled on the same pieces played over and over to garner a few extra marks on a totally inconsequential exam or two minutes display at a recital.

( And I'm never a curmudgeon around my students ... LOL)

FYI.. My wife and I completed our Guild exams an hour ago. For those who are interested, I detailed my experiences in the ABF.

For a parent (or student) worried about saying "no" to "playing for someone other than your teacher in a formal situation from which you will get some kind of feedback, be it anywhere on the gamut from a minimal 'yes/no' to a maximal 'comments on at least 40 categories'", I would think that the distinction that Guild is not an exam would be a distinction that makes no difference.

The four questions seem equally questions one might ask a teacher who recommends Guild, as any other teacher, and for much the same reasons. Just substitute "Guild" for "exam" or "test" to have the correctly altered version of the questions, which address the same underlying concerns someone might have.

congratulations to both of you!

Thanks! Based on the last few months of preparing for today, and then having today finally happen, I have a new appreciation of why some teachers are for this concept in general, and why some are against it.

In re-reading some of these comments I now realize that there could be quite a difference between the way an adult student views something like this, as opposed to a younger student. I think this thread in general is geared toward the younger learner, which might explain why my own views are quite different from those teachers who have expressed a dislike for piano exams in general.

Realize that we are getting in further off topic but...

As a piano mom, I think the biggest difference between us as adults and our children is that we have much higher expectations for ourselves. I mean at 8, you make mistakes/ are corrected all of the time so they aren't so much of a big deal and I think that is one of the most powerful things about youth.

Interesting. I'm starting to operate in the opposite manner; I know I do some things very well. Playing piano happens to not be one of them. *shrug*