Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Teachers Forum Exams vs Enjoying Music

Yes, I totally agree! But why can't we have MORE pieces that the kids want to play, & want to learn! A separate selection of pop/Disney/blues/jazz pieces along with "SOME" classical as required playing material! Jazzy Beatle's music for pete's sakes! Why the heck not!!!!! I have a book of complicated Jazz Beatles music that would be more than worth learning & in the same difficulty category as some of that aweful "classical" music they ram down the kids necks! "

My point is "kids will play more if they are playing pieces that they like!" . . . pieces their friends would like & "heaven for bid" their friends might just want to take piano too because they are hearing music they want to learn! The music schools would be "FILLED"!

The music selections in exams has got to change!

Trinity Rockschool do offer contemporary music exams you know...

I'm reading all this, and have a reservation to attend a seminar this week on the "Carnegie Hall Royal Conservatory Achievement Program". I am curious, and the seminar is free. I like to see what other teachers are up to, and learn what I can. But the idea of a rigid program and tests...ugh!

I had a long conversation with the RCM who were calling teachers to get their opinions on RCM exams as enrollment for exams has been dramatically dropping! (surprise surprise)!

The Carnegie Hall... program is just RCM with a new name. I like their repertoire list very much, lots of interesting pieces for kids to explore whether they take the exams or not.

Do you have evidence to support that? Any stats?

I'm in California, and recently I've been bombarded with e-mails from RCM (the US version). What they don't realize is that California is cornered by MTAC and its testing system (CM), so any attempt at introducing a new testing system here will be met with ambivalence.

It's very similar to the CM repertoire list. However, year after year, you see kids playing the same old Kabalevsky Op. 39 for their exams. You can list all the wonderful repertoire that you want, but piano teachers LOVE recycling old pieces over and over again.

This is why you notice there is a high proportion of Asian race in American competition circuits. Asians are generally more result driven whereas most Caucasians tend to adopt a more relaxed attitute towards education. The majority race in Singapore is Chinese and pretty much everybody here aims to get the best possible grades in study and extra activities such as piano or ballet.

I would like to address the idea of "results". For me, the purpose of education is to learn knowledge and skills. It can be for the purpose of future jobs or out of interest. The purpose of piano lesson is to learn to play music well on the piano, which again involves skill and knowledge. If I know enough to enter the field of medicine, and if eventually I can heal a patient, that is a result. If I have technique at the piano, understand something about music, and can read that music to let me learn and perform new pieces, these are results.

Grades in exams, or rewards in competitions, are not results in this sense. They are a measurement. There are times that some of us actually stay away from these devices because we want to learn and get real results.

Supposing that to win a competition I have to play music that judges tend to like, according to generally accepted interpretations. Supposing that I have to spend a great deal of time being choreographed by my teacher, and at the same time I cannot get at skills that are not visible in competitions. For example, a judge cannot see how well I sight read music. If I learn to interpret music, my interpretation may not be as suave as what my teacher can come up with. Supposing that I have to spend lots of time on a few pieces rather than expanding my musical experience through many more pieces - for the sake of the exams or competitions?

In this hypothetical example I may come home with a ribbon and accolades, but I have compromised my chance to learn to sight read, interpret music, and get varied experience. These are also "results" which are lacking. The pursuit of grades or rewards goes toward the more superficial things. If the grades and rewards lead to a greater application in learning music ("motivation") then they are leading to results that have substance.

This is the view of one particular Caucasian. And I am anything but laid back in my pursuits.

I have a few questions about whether it's really all that practical to put in so much energy to piano when the goal is to be a doctor, for instance.

Asians are by nature very practical people. There must be real world benefits in learning something. There was a very well known child prodigy here who won competitions and could really play well. When he finished his high school, his parents ordered him to stop learning piano immediately even though he loved the instrument very much. The reason? He had won enough competitions, enough to secure a scholarship for medical study. The only reason his parents supported his piano learning is just to get enough achievements for scholarship leverage. Becoming pianist for his parents is much less glamorous than becoming a well known doctor or lawyer.

This is tragic, but such is the reality of many Asian cultures. And I agree the exam systems only feed on these mentalities that many Asians have. But I am glad to see that many of the the younger parents are eschewing this mentality and are now committing to bring a more well rounded education to their children without any superficial pursuit of grades.

I have always recognized the strong desire for success in Chinese people. But I don't really understand the origins of this belief. Why are Asians so practical in your opinion CW?

I have a few questions about whether it's really all that practical to put in so much energy to piano when the goal is to be a doctor, for instance. I would think spending time with one's grandparents assisting them would be a more practical choice. And if you wanted to be a lawyer, taking private philosophy lessons might be more beneficial than piano lessons.

I tutored a 21-year-old man from Hong Kong English 101. The big compliment he gave me at the end was written in his thank you card to me: "Thank you for teaching me that working smart is more important than working hard."

The artist in me wonders what a "real world benefit" is if not cash. I'm curious if Chinese people wonder what earthly success is, as I do every day. I'm fascinated. While you seem to be trapped in a piano teaching environment that stresses exam results, I feel trapped in a culture where few people believe they need the best teacher, or even a great teacher. They are so easily satisfied. If their kids are healthy and passing at school, they seem content.

I have a few questions about whether it's really all that practical to put in so much energy to piano when the goal is to be a doctor, for instance. I would think spending time with one's grandparents assisting them would be a more practical choice. And if you wanted to be a lawyer, taking private philosophy lessons might be more beneficial than piano lessons.