Piano4t Exams
[ Home ] [ Up ]

 

 

All Students preparing for Grade exams are recommended to use the Hofnotes on-line training pages to practise for the aural tests. 

At higher grades  you must be able to discuss with the examiner musical features such as texture, form, style, and period of a piece of music.  My own  web pages to help with these parts of the test at Grade 5+ and at GCSE are available here!

 

 

 

 

 

Advantages

  • exams are an external benchmark of ability
  • they give you the chance to perform to an outsider
  • pupil and teacher get useful feedback
  • they provide an extra incentive to regular and structured practising
  • the exam structure aims to develop a rounded technique
  • exams provide a target
  • scales etc do help technique, memorising, sight reading, etc
  • you get to play pieces from a range of musical periods and styles, which you may not encounter otherwise

Disadvantages

  • taking exams can get obsessive and competitive
  • the process taps into the extrinsic motivations of pupil, teacher and parent - not intrinsic ones
  • feedback is far from immediate
  • a disappointing mark can be a big set back if expectations are not realistic, or if you just have a bad day
  • exams could be said to narrow the music-making curriculum (jazz, theory and general musicianship are separate strands)
  • many exam boards exclude certain areas of repertoire (eg. contemporary)
  • the exam 'track' pre-judges a 'normal' rate of development - "I must do an exam a year!" - instead of being responsive to the development of the individual learner

I advise students and parents to think very carefully about going in for exams. 

  Are you prepared to play the same pieces for a long time in order to perfect them, even the ones you don't particularly like? 

  Do you have time for the daily practice of pieces and scales you will need in the weeks before the exam? 

  How would you feel if you didn't do as well as you hoped?

Remember, you could get a lot of the advantages, and very few of the disadvantages, from preparing and playing in festivals, concerts and master classes.  Exams are NOT the only way to measure progress and performance!