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Hi I am relatively new to the piano guild. I have entered my students for 4 years now; most are between 8 and 12 years old. I have one 11 year old student who is exceptional and I entered her in the piano guild for the second time this year at the National level-this time at Intermediate A. This girl has exceptional pitch, writes her own pop and rock arrangements of her favorite songs as well as writing original songs, while also working on her classical repertoire. Last year she received a superior plus rating in the guild, with 33 C's and zero A's at the Elementary E level. Over the past year, she has improved so much mastering an amazing set of pieces from classical to jazz, and her repertoire included Chopin, Beethoven, Bach, Gershwin, Schubert and Czerny plus an improvisation for her phase, representing a well-balanced blend of musical eras. I listened to all of my students at the door and they all did well, but she played flawlessly. When I got the report cards, I noted that this judge was much harsher than the one we had last year but my star pupil received more A's than any of the others (33C-s and 10As-still a superior rating but not the superior plus of the year before). If the judge had graded all of them equally, I might have been less perturbed but the rest of my students made far more mistakes and received far less deficit marks (although none but her received more than 25C's). When the judge met with me afterwards, she spent most of the time berating me for giving this particular student such an advanced repertoire, saying it was too much for such a small child. She praised all of my other students with comments on their dynamics and tone but her only comment to my star pupil was "good luck as you advance as a young pianist, a fine repertoire". Let me tell you, this little girl puts more feeling into a piece than most adults so why the judge couldn't complement her playing in her overall comment was a mystery to me. Her "A" marks were very specific comments, like "missed accent on measure 53" of one piece; "trill in measure 102 too long" on another, "watch your rubato" on the same piece as the aforementioned comment, and so on. Then she finished by telling me that Czerny shouldn't really count as a piece, as he composed only "exercise for teaching purposes". I see no rule in the guild banning Czerny or any other Etudes. Also, my past experience was a student only got an A if an error was either gross in nature or was repeated throughout the piece but this student got an "A" in accuracy for one wrong note-the only wrong note in any of her pieces. She also demerited only this student for her scale fingering (she and all the other students used the same fingering and I have watched her play her scales twice a week and never seen her finger the scales the way the judge argued she was fingering them. And did I mention this little girl is exceptionally polite and shy and unlikely to anger an adjudicator. A single mistake such as single missed accent or note rarely earned any student a demerit-and all of my other students had several missed notes and didn't receive "A" marks on accuracy. The whole thing is a puzzle and I am not sure what to make of it. Any insight from other teachers? Did this judge have it out for this student?
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Hi Kaitlyn and welcome to the forum. Let me take a stab at replying. I've done Guild auditions for 10 years now, and have found that judges vary all over the place. This is actually a good thing, as you won't get into a rut or have something in your teaching overlooked. Of course, you'll occasionally encounter the petty but if your students are well prepared, they will come out okay. About the Czerny etudes. I ran into the same thing this year, and I knew better. The Syllabus clearly states that this type of etude, eg, the Hanon or Czerny, which is simply technique, not musical, cannot be submitted by the student. What makes a Czerny etude acceptable is if it's a "named" etude. That means it has a title. The assumption is that if it's earned a title, it has a musical core and thus is acceptable literature to use. I had a student performing from an edition which omitted the titles, and forgot to go through my other volumes for the identical piece where a name was printed. The judge, if they are following the rules, is entirely correct to disallow this selection You might want to study the Syllabus a bit more. Phases are optional, not required. Guild may change this some day, so it's important to study the Syllabus each and every year, so you don't miss important changes. You will find that with most judges, as students advanced, the criteria for earning Cs and not receiving As becomes more and more challenging. Fingering isn't an issue, unless it leads to faulty performance. Most judges wouldn't mark down a student who reversed a finger crossing, unless it caused a stumble or incorrect rhythm. But if I were judging, I'd comment on poor fingering as it will impact the student as they try to increase their velocity. I, too, encountered a very pedantic judge this year. I was so POd that for a while, I was ready to stop submitting my students into auditions. Six of my students were in tears. But the reality of life is that you're going to encounter all kinds of evaluations. Some you'll do well with, and others, well, consider it a learning experience. My advice is to teach your students as best you can, well rounded, in depth, and musically. If the students receive high praise for their accomplishments, so much the better. BTW, I offer my students some additional awards and at the year end recital, I remind parents and students that throughout the USA, only a very small percentage of students achieve a fraction of what they've achieved. They should be proud of what they've accomplished and continue to work hard, as being an accomplished pianist is, in the end, what it's all about.
"Those who dare to teach must never cease to learn." -- Richard Henry Dann Full-time Private Piano Teacher offering Piano Lessons in Olympia, WA. www.mypianoteacher.com Certified by the American College of Musicians; member NGPT, MTNA, WSMTA, OMTA
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Wow john, thanks for the insight and the encouragement...and the info about the Hanon and Czerny etudes in the Guild (I guess I am sometimes guilty of skimming rules). Personally I think most of these etudes are more musical than some pieces considered "musical", but then everything is subjective. It's nice to hear other people get a little incensed at the judging-I am just so proud of this particular student and she works so hard. And I do have to be careful not to make her feel that her superior rating was not an achievement to be proud of.
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Six of my students were in tears. Sounds scary to take the test!
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I've entered students in Guild for the past three (3) years, with my students ranging in age from 5 to 16. I agree with John's post. The judging style varies from judge to judge, and over three years, I've had three completely different types of judges.
In our first year, we had a nice judge, but she did provide some constructive feedback. Last year, we had a very tough judge, who judged the intermediate students very harshly. This year, we had an extremely nice judge who gave all but two of my students perfect scorecards. My teacher's report this year didn't provide me with any constructive feedback on things to work on with my students. I know they did well, but they had some areas they could work on.
Children's piano instructor Member NGPT, MTNA/TMTA/PMTA, NFMC/SJFMC
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I just finished my 5th year with my students in Guild Auditions and we had the best judge by far. The judges do vary each year, but I think it's good.
Like John says, you can use etudes if they have names (like several do in the method books.)
And you know, judges are human just like all of us. Each of us has certain things that are more important to us than other things, and maybe that was the case with them judging your student. But my two highest scoring students (they tied) were no surprise to me. They are the hardest working students I have.
~Stanny~ Independent Music Teacher Certified Piano Teacher, American College of Musicians Member: MTNA, NGPT, ASMTA, NAMTA
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I'm just a parent, but my 11 year old has done guild 4 years. This spring, he was registered under Intermediate level C. He's also a small 11 year old (sized more like a 9 year old). He played a Haydn Sonata, Beethoven, Chopin, Bach Invention, Bear Dance Bartok, and a couple other pieces. His judge seemed to have no issue with him being "too young" for these pieces. I was listening outside the door and he just didn't have his best day IMO. His expression and dynamics were off, he made a number of small errors. He came out of the room completely mad at himself. He whined about it the next 2 weeks over the break and was completely nervous going to his next lesson! He got 34 C's and 0 A's and she wrote this crazy rave review that I thought might have been somewhat appropriate it he would have had a good day. Go figure. Last year I thought he played cleaner and he got a considerably lower score. His teacher told him he's going to have a hard time reproducing that score! I think it's really bizarre your judge didn't score more consistently across your students.
Amateur musician, piano and violin parent
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He played a Haydn Sonata, Beethoven, Chopin, Bach Invention, Bear Dance Bartok, and a couple other pieces. His judge seemed to have no issue with him being "too young" for these pieces. A couple of thoughts: when a student is playing significantly above grade level, they should be enrolled as ES, IS or PS, elementary special, intermediate special, or preparatory special. I mention this because the Chopin and Bach are, at minimum, IF, and depending upon the specific piece, may fall into the PA or PB (for the Bach) and higher for the Chopin. The Beethoven, if it was the F Major sonatina, is also IE or IF. There is a lot of flexibility for grade selection, but IC seems unusual. I wonder if the teacher was doing this to garner higher grades? I'm guessing that your son, at age 11, is probably completing 6th grade, and the normal progression would most likely be EE or EF or if somewhat precocious, IA or IB. I did have a 4th grader who was playing (very well) IA material, so I enrolled her at that level, but next year, as a 5th grader, she will be playing IC or ID material, so I will enroll her as an IS.
"Those who dare to teach must never cease to learn." -- Richard Henry Dann Full-time Private Piano Teacher offering Piano Lessons in Olympia, WA. www.mypianoteacher.com Certified by the American College of Musicians; member NGPT, MTNA, WSMTA, OMTA
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I had enrolled my student playing a similar set to your son at IA because she did EE last year and played mostly IA to IB pieces in that one. Most of her pieces this time were definitely above IB...one was rated PA, another IF but she was playing one IB level piece. If you ask me, she played her higher rated pieces even better than her lower rated ones. Congrats to your son, by the way, with his 34! That's even better than my student did last year when she got a 33...only to fall to a 23 this year because of all of her A's. She only played one wrong note in her whole set, though, and that was a chord in a jazz piece she had changed from a G7 to a B-dminished and forgotten in the heat of the moment, my asking her to change it back for her guild so that it matched the written music. And for that one note, she got one A mark in accuracy. I guess judging varies. John, I will take your advice regarding the IS and enroll her in that next time. Her mom told me she is already eyeing another Chopin waltz and so I don't I will heed the judge's suggestion to have her play easier pieces...it will just bore her. Thanks all!!
Last edited by kaitlyndavis1; 07/10/12 10:10 PM.
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Basically, everything I've stated is thoroughly covered in the Syllabus. The trouble for many of us, especially as we get older, is so much of it is typed in a difficult to read, condensed font. When my Syllabus arrives, I sit down with pencil and paper and read through cover to cover, making marginal notes and writing down anything of significance which I need to focus on during the coming year.
Also, I submit my audition schedule in early January, as is recommended, which means that by late May or early June, students may have progressed more than I anticipated or not as much. In the case where they've progressed faster, I use their easier repertoire, so students are not attempting a program which overly taxes their abilities.
"Those who dare to teach must never cease to learn." -- Richard Henry Dann Full-time Private Piano Teacher offering Piano Lessons in Olympia, WA. www.mypianoteacher.com Certified by the American College of Musicians; member NGPT, MTNA, WSMTA, OMTA
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PS I am concerned about a rumor I heard a year or two ago, that Guild was encouraging judges to inflate grades a bit, so as to encourage more student participation. Don't be surprised if one of these years, standards are yanked back to historic norms. Students receiving superior plus ratings should be capable of performing a public recital, that is, open to the public in an auditorium, on a stage with spot lights burning, with at least a near note perfect and musically interesting presentation.
"Those who dare to teach must never cease to learn." -- Richard Henry Dann Full-time Private Piano Teacher offering Piano Lessons in Olympia, WA. www.mypianoteacher.com Certified by the American College of Musicians; member NGPT, MTNA, WSMTA, OMTA
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Yes, my star pupil question has done that. SHe even performed in a Christmas play where she was asked to arrange and accompany herself on the piano while she sang Mel Torme's "The CHristmas song" and "It's beginning to look a lot like CHristmas", which she did night after night, note after note, perfectly...just before her 11th birthday. That said, I agree with you. best
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He played a Haydn Sonata, Beethoven, Chopin, Bach Invention, Bear Dance Bartok, and a couple other pieces. His judge seemed to have no issue with him being "too young" for these pieces. A couple of thoughts: when a student is playing significantly above grade level, they should be enrolled as ES, IS or PS, elementary special, intermediate special, or preparatory special. I mention this because the Chopin and Bach are, at minimum, IF, and depending upon the specific piece, may fall into the PA or PB (for the Bach) and higher for the Chopin. The Beethoven, if it was the F Major sonatina, is also IE or IF. There is a lot of flexibility for grade selection, but IC seems unusual. I wonder if the teacher was doing this to garner higher grades? I'm guessing that your son, at age 11, is probably completing 6th grade, and the normal progression would most likely be EE or EF or if somewhat precocious, IA or IB. I did have a 4th grader who was playing (very well) IA material, so I enrolled her at that level, but next year, as a 5th grader, she will be playing IC or ID material, so I will enroll her as an IS. Wow - that's really interesting. I think our teacher just ups us one level every year. My son just finished 5th grade, although he does have a fall birthday and is at the older end for school grade. I've always been curious about the levels because I thought many, if not all of his pieces seemed like they should be higher than IC and I just thought maybe you had to work yourself up through the system regardless of what you were playing. His teacher does not at all seem like the type who would want his students to get "easy high scores". He's super picky and is "harder" than any judge my kid has ever had for any master class or competition. I'll bring this up with his teacher next year when we're registering. Maybe he's just not reading all the paperwork! Although, you'd think a judge would set him straight afterwards? I think my kid can play at a "superior plus" rating. He performs ALL the time and is now getting requests to come play for different events. He won his first competitive scholarship this year (yay for this parents!). But I don't think he did the day of his guild audition this year when he did get that high score!
Amateur musician, piano and violin parent
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And he gets straight A's in math, right?! : ) I don't think many of my students play at the superior level, even. I think my star pupil can play at the superior plus level and did for the guild this year (despite her b-diminished and extra-long trills), but hasn't at every recital...only some. I have heard her fumble around in public performances. But when she starred in a play at a small San Diego as a piano-playing/singing girl and played her own arrangements, she played at superior plus level for sure. And she credited me in the program which was so nice. It sounds Kck, like your son is even more exceptional any student I have ever had in terms of reliability and attention to detail. He sounds like one of those kids that gives a hundred percent all of the time and doesn't gloss over anything. My little star sometimes "disagrees" with the original composer, which doesn't always please adjudicators. And she is probably going to end up being a rock musician (or a scientist like her mom and dad), not a concert pianist. But that Chopin influence should do her well. Your son sounds like future piano concerto material.
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And he gets straight A's in math, right?! : ) I don't think many of my students play at the superior level, even. I think my star pupil can play at the superior plus level and did for the guild this year (despite her b-diminished and extra-long trills), but hasn't at every recital...only some. I have heard her fumble around in public performances. But when she starred in a play at a small San Diego as a piano-playing/singing girl and played her own arrangements, she played at superior plus level for sure. And she credited me in the program which was so nice. It sounds Kck, like your son is even more exceptional any student I have ever had in terms of reliability and attention to detail. He sounds like one of those kids that gives a hundred percent all of the time and doesn't gloss over anything. My little star sometimes "disagrees" with the original composer, which doesn't always please adjudicators. And she is probably going to end up being a rock musician (or a scientist like her mom and dad), not a concert pianist. But that Chopin influence should do her well. Your son sounds like future piano concerto material. That is such a nice compliment! My son just finished algebra 1 and my husband and I have math and engineering backgrounds. So, I guess he's an A math student. He's homeschooled. He did go to school for a while, but it wasn't a great fit. My kid actually sounds a bunch like your student. He does theater too and he would LOVE to play a piano playing kid! What an amazing opportunity your student had - no wonder she played so well! He messes with the classics all the time. He "re-wrote" Fur Elise to sound something that Beethoven would undoubtedly hate. He feels it's a vast improvement. He's into horror movies right now and is trying to compose his own music for horror with plenty of minor keys and obnoxious pedaling. I could definitely seeing him going into a performance area (or a science/math area). But probably not a concert pianist either! He CAN play well, but it definitely helps if he's invested in the piece and the particular performance. He has a history of coming through in a pinch. When he won a scholarship this year he played his piece better than I had heard it. I was not expecting him to win. His teacher loves working with him and would love for him to go on in music. He argues on editorial markings all the time. I take notes in his lessons so I get to hear all these exchanges! It's way over my head at this point, but I do what I can. He's 11 in many ways too, so it'll be interesting to see what shakes out for him over the next few years. I wish I could find him a buddy like your student! He scored a 27 in guild last year and we were happy with that score. I really think the judge this year was a little loopy. Anyway, sorry again that you had the opposite judge we had this year! Hopefully, you will get someone more balanced next year.
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sounds like a great kid! In retrospect, the judge that gave my student 32 last year was probably a bit generous and a 23 with the pieces she played is probably pretty fair. I believe that like John said in the above thread that some judges will figure if a young kid wants to play advanced pieces with a lot of subtleties they are opening themselves to the possibility of more A's. They won't grade them the same way they'd be graded if they played at their level. Easier pieces are easier to play...so there are less C's and less A's, just as happened with my students. Other judges may bump up the score or go easy on the A's if a kid plays advanced pieces at a young age, accounting for the doling out of superior plusses by some and not by others. It's all good.
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Bringing back a zombie thread....
My son participated in Guild yesterday and I'm really perplexed by the grading. In all prior years (3) he earned a superior plus rating (28 or higher net) and had both Cs and As at the elementary level. My son said yesterday that he made two note mistakes in his hardest piece yet he didn’t receive any As- but his score was his lowest ever 25 Cs- (superior rating/ intermediate A level). He also said the judge stopped him from playing a scale for his second piece as he already played the G scale for his first piece- though his second piece was in E minor- which he said rattled him a little. Seems like judge made G major/ E minor mistake. He made his two note mistakes in his pieces afterwards.
In past years even when my son didn’t get an A the judge would put sometimes comments in the A section which I found helpful. There were no constructive comments this year. Just check marks in the C section and you played beautifully.
After our experience this year, I’m reevaluating my thoughts on Guild. Rather than thinking of it as an objective/independent evaluation I’m thinking that Guild as more of a way of encourage a kid to polish pieces- as it seems like grading varies so much between judges.
Last edited by pianoMom2006; 05/21/18 08:58 AM.
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I'm really perplexed by the grading. I'm not at all surprised. Any testing system is going to have its share of bad judges. We have one local judge who flew all the way to Toronto to be certified by RCM, and she continues to judge local piano competitions (because there are event organizers who are dumb enough to hire her). The lady hasn't had a student in decades. I'm about the same age as her daughter. I've judged a competition with her. She knows NOTHING about piano. She writes the longest comments among the judges, but it's a whole lot of nothing, bearing no resemblance to what's actually being played. Last year she gave my worst student honors. The kid can't sight read a slick. I'm not questioning her musical taste; I'm questioning her competence.
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AZN- Thanks for your story!
If there is a silver lining to all of this- it's that your long term engaged parents probably get it more than you realize and appreciate you and your teaching more as a result.
Yamaha G2
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