Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner Is memorising pieces necessary in AMEB grades 6-8?

Necessary for a good mark, that is.

What does the syllabus say about marks awarded or deducted for memorizing or not memorizing?

Check it here : AMEB Syllabus

Regards,

You might want to ask in the Adult Beginners Forum, where a few pianists from Australia has done the AMEB (like "Tubbie"). They never post here in Pianist Corner, so I assume they never look here.

But as far as I know, of the main national/international exam boards in the UK (ABRSM/Trinity), Australia (AMEB) and Canada (RCM), only RCM deducts marks for not playing from memory.

Though they put a positive spin on it by saying that they award marks for playing from memory. Like calling a half-empty bottle half-full . Personally, I prefer to be pessimistic (and I hate spinning, even on a stationary bike).......

RCM (Canada)
Levels Preparatory through 7: two marks are rewarded for each repertoire selection performed by memory.
Levels 8, 9 and 10: 1 mark deducted for each of four repertoire pieces not memorized out of a total of 56 points
ARCT Performance diploma: Six repertoire pieces with possible marks of 20, 25, 15, 15, 15, 10. "Any selection played with the music will receive a mark of zero."

Regards,

Thanks for the clarification.

I guess that what all the blurb means is that if you play from memory in levels 1 - 7, you'll get at least two marks per piece. i.e. you can't get zero, no matter how badly you play (or not play). Whereas if you play with the music in levels 8 - 10, you can get -4.

I've never understood such a rationale, that music students have to learn to play from memory right from the beginner stage (and all the stress and nerves that go with that), even though they may never need to after they 'graduate', even as professionals (if they become teachers, or accompanists, or répétiteurs for instance). Of my four teachers, three had never played any piece from memory, though they all had teaching diplomas. I did play from memory for my performance diploma, but as a solo (amateur) performer now, I can easily see why I needed to.

But for the vast majority who learn to play the piano and do grade exams - and play purely for pleasure with the music in their own homes, like most amateur pianists I know - why??

I think John Browning said in a YT video that Rosina Lhévinne particularly emphasized memorizing the entire score (whatever the length).

She taught budding concert pianists. And the Russian system of music education is geared towards producing soloists, I believe. (Including hothousing them - as I saw in a documentary film about it once).

Whereas the typical demographic of the amateur pianist in most Western countries is quite different. I've visited many elderly folk in their homes, some of whom live alone because they've lost their spouses (usually husbands). Those who learnt piano as children and kept it up almost invariably fared better in terms of overall wellbeing, because they have a lifelong hobby and an inexhaustible source to feed it (sheet music). And their services often come in useful: amateur choirs always need accompanists and subs - which help to reduce their social isolation. Not to mention their ability to read music and sight-sing (aural skills are an important part of grade exams).

BTW, many of the 'lapsed pianists' and amateur pianists I know of, whose children have flown the nest, sing in amateur choirs, even though most are still working. Just like for my youngest sister (who gave up piano after Grade 5 ABRSM when still in her early teens), who secured a good job with a music publishing company on the strength of her ability to read music fluently, even though she'd not touched a piano since she stopped lessons. Not on her ability to memorize music........