Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Teachers Forum Question for the teachers: grade exams

My 8-yr old has been taking lessons for a little over 3 years, and is making good progress on her playing skills, OK progress with theory, and not so much with ear training. To some extent, the lack of balance is a choice. Given the limited time availability per day, and the way she is picking up new material, right now it does seem to be the best choice to focus her time on the actual playing.

Overall I am very happy with her current teacher. The one concern that I have is that she is not a believer in the grade level exams. I have not been bothered by that so far. Now that I am familiar with this wonderful resource on the web, I thought I would solicit the opinions of the folks here about the importance of taking the tests beyond just the student's musical development. Do you think it is important?

Also, does the teacher need to be a member of the entity that administers the tests?

Is your teacher a member of MTAC? That's the only way she could participate in their leveled exam program called Certificate of Merit.

Here's the link to more info on CM : https://www.mtac.org/programs/cm/index.shtml

Evaluations are in the spring but the deadline to sign up is Nov 15.

In CM, students (at the lower levels) perform 2 memorized pieces, scales/chords, do a short sight reading and ear training segment, and a written theory test. Levels are from Prep to 9/Advanced).

It's a wonderful program for students and for teachers. It helps me make sure I'm covering all aspects of piano and it's motivating for students as they progress each year to a new level.

We piano teachers are split on this issue. Personally I'm pleased you have found a teacher who does not believe in testing. You might ask her why sometime.

But you are also raising bigger questions about testing, measurement, education, and society that only you can answer on behalf of your daughter.

There is no right answer.

It depends on the teacher. It depends on the parent. Most importantly, it depends on the student.

It has its benefits. It has its flaws.

I know some who were very thankful to go through them. I know many more who now hate the piano because of them. Some who are thankful are wonderful pianist, while some are just plain awful. Some who hated them can barely play, but others are quite good.

There is no right answer.

If you do like the idea of what the tests do but don't want to put your daughter in testing, you could always ask the teacher to look at what is required at each level and make sure she can do at least that (so, for example, her ear-training doesn't fall too far behind).

As a parent, I'd consider them once my daughter is in late middle school. I think by that time, they may need a reason to give their peers for practice time (I have a test coming up...). Also, it adds something for college resumes down the road. They don't have to be super stars, but to show that they can commit, is a positive.

As I understand it (I could be off the mark), the testing my daughter's teacher uses is ABRSM and she doesn't have to take all the earlier tests.

I would be more proactive if she didn't already experience a testing environment. But she has tested and competed in stressful situations so I'm not worried so much about testing at this age.

Thanks everyone for the thoughtful responses.

My daughter's teacher is not a member of MTAC or ABRSM. I need to talk to her to see if she is at least willing to support the process. Personally, I do not think that my daughter cares much about the exams, at least now, but I won't be surprised if in another 3-4 years, it does matter to her.



These are two very interesting observations. To some extent my consideration of this question was spurred by your second point. Two of our friends, whose daughters also learn piano, brought up exactly this point. As much as I really do not want to get fixated on stuff like this, its hard to avoid thinking about it once its been planted into your head. Your first point is really insightful. Glad that you brought it up.


I have indeed discussed this with her teacher. I have played guitar all my life, and never taken an exam. So I can't say that I am completely disagree with her stand on this topic. But she is not thinking about the college admission process

What purpose do you think exams would serve? Would you like your daughter to have ear training, and if so, have you mentioned this to her teacher? If her teacher does not believe in these tests, has she explained her views on them, and on teaching music to you?

I'm a big believer in exams for piano, but it's definitely not for everyone. Both the parents and the student need to be super dedicated, and the teacher needs to know what she's doing. The deal-breaker is the student. If the student is not cooperative and obedient, then you can forget about testing.

Some students found me because they want to take the CM test. In my experience, their previous piano studies have been so shoddy, including a complete lack of knowledge in theory, sight reading, and [gasp!] ear training, that six or seven years of piano lessons is tantamount to CM Level 1. I kid you not. Whenever I get a transfer from a non-MTAC teacher, a giant red flag is raised.

Let's celebrate an 8yo California girl pursuing music for its own sake with an agreeable piano teacher. But it sounds as if her guitar-playing mom might enjoy taking some belated exams now in guitar and theory and ear training.

I'm all for celebrating music study for the enjoyment of it.

That reminds me: Last week at the end of his lesson an 8 year old boy was grinning widely. I thought he was about to laugh. I asked "Is something funny?" He said "I just like playing piano."

That made my day.

My piano teacher from 3-18 was *strongly* against exams, from the point of view that you end up spending a lot of time polishing 3-5 pieces, when you could have worked on 20-50 pieces in the same time, not polishing, but working on sightreading (which isn't going to progress significantly working on 3-5 pieces for 6-12 months) and getting a feel for different styles and composers.

Unfortunately though, some students wouldn't progress at all if they didn't have exams to work towards. That deadline is the only thing that can get them to the piano away from lessons. Kids (and parents!) also like to compete against one another, and be able to say what grade they have accomplished.

Personally I believe in a 50/50 approach. Playing lots of pieces that can be learnt in 1-3 weeks as well as some harder ones, but also working towards an exam for about 3 months once per year, to give a marker of where we're at and something to work towards.

It's also largely a matter of temperament. If your child is competitive or loves to perform they may get a lot of fulfillment from doing exams. If they love playing piano without needing external motivation than they might be better off without them.

Same ideas here. Among my students and parents, I give them choice of doing exam or not, and final decision is made by them, not me. Students are the main factor here. If students are not willing to cooperate, there is nothing the parents or the teacher can do.

Thanks again for all the input. Given the feedback I asked my daughter what she wants to do. Looks like she is inclined towards taking the exams.

Well, it's too late to do CM for the 2012-2013 year. The registration deadline is coming up in a week.

She can start next year -- there isn't any particular rush. Also I need to ask her teacher to support the process, since she is not a member of CMTA.

Sounds far-fetched to me. But I guess if mom wants her kid to do exams, even against the wishes of the teacher, then her kid will tell her mom she wants to do exams, even against the wishes of the teacher.

The world is a screwy place for us piano teachers.

Are exams really so dreadful?

If the teacher doesn't do them - you have talked to the teacher and they already confirmed this, are telling the teacher that if she doesn't do it you will find another teacher?

Speaking of wishes of a piano teacher...
I have student that is so good that I think he should do the exam, and the parents would not want to.
I also have student that is so bad that I think he should not do the exam, but the parents are pushing the student to do it.

If I am insisted in my wishes, I will lose all good and bad students.....

It is only dreadful when the expectations of the parents, student, and teacher are mismatched. You can have the best parents and teacher, but if the student refuses to do the work, that's dreadful. You can have the best student and teacher, but if the parents are lazy and irresponsible--like being 2 hours late to exams?!--that's dreadful (yes, I've seen that happen!). And (maybe in this case) you can have the best parents and student, but the teacher is totally not on board. That's dreadful.