All About ABRSM Grades & Support

[Dreamaurora]

sautille:

Dreamaurora:

Yes I am aware that the girl in article only got a pass. I contacted abrsm and according to them there are 6 year olds who has managed to get grade 5 distinctions before in singapore. However for obvious confidentiality issue, they cant disclose more info. So I figure I may ask here if there is any news of this for the last couple of years. I am doing a study on graded exam system currently and planning to write a paper on it.

Your research topic sounds interesting. What would you like to know about 6-year-olds who passed Gr 5 with distinction?

I am actually quite interested in studying the correlation between accelerating young children to high standard of piano playing and the impact on their childhood. Singapore has one of the most competitive piano market in the world and one of the most lucrative market for music exams. There are music schools specialized in accelerating young children. Notable ones off my head are School of Young Talents, Yamaha Gifted Program, Seimpi Music School, and Music Workshop.

I ask some people without revealing the fact that I am the teacher that passed these 6 years old with distinction what would they think about this achievement. There are positive answers but more interesting are some the negative ones:
\"The teacher must be a slave driver\"
\"This is bordering on child abuse\"
\"I hope the kids have a life\"
\"Poor kids must have been forced to play piano\"

It seems that many people believe this could not be done without emotionally scarring the children. There are horror stories about obssessive teachers and children who eventually hated piano when they grew older. I perused some past postings about School of Young Talents in this forum and there were comments that many parents would not rather not send their children to this program because they wanted their children to enjoy learning music.

So, the question now. Do you believe trying to push your children at this age to get good results and letting them enjoy learning piano are mutually exclusive?

[violin_lover]

Dreamaurora:

sautille:

[quote=\"Dreamaurora\"]Yes I am aware that the girl in article only got a pass. I contacted abrsm and according to them there are 6 year olds who has managed to get grade 5 distinctions before in singapore. However for obvious confidentiality issue, they cant disclose more info. So I figure I may ask here if there is any news of this for the last couple of years. I am doing a study on graded exam system currently and planning to write a paper on it.

Your research topic sounds interesting. What would you like to know about 6-year-olds who passed Gr 5 with distinction?

I am actually quite interested in studying the correlation between accelerating young children to high standard of piano playing and the impact on their childhood. Singapore has one of the most competitive piano market in the world and one of the most lucrative market for music exams. There are music schools specialized in accelerating young children. Notable ones off my head are School of Young Talents, Yamaha Gifted Program, Seimpi Music School, and Music Workshop.

I ask some people without revealing the fact that I am the teacher that passed these 6 years old with distinction what would they think about this achievement. There are positive answers but more interesting are some the negative ones:
\"The teacher must be a slave driver\"
\"This is bordering on child abuse\"
\"I hope the kids have a life\"
\"Poor kids must have been forced to play piano\"

It seems that many people believe this could not be done without emotionally scarring the children. There are horror stories about obssessive teachers and children who eventually hated piano when they grew older. I perused some past postings about School of Young Talents in this forum and there were comments that many parents would not rather not send their children to this program because they wanted their children to enjoy learning music.

So, the question now. Do you believe trying to push your children at this age to get good results and letting them enjoy learning piano are mutually exclusive?[/quote]
What's the point of pushing kids to get distinction in grade 5 at 6 years old? To go for grade 8 exam, you need to pass grade 5 theory.....don't think kids can handle theory at such a young age

[Dreamaurora]

chamonix:

Dreamaurora:

Hi parents,


just like to ask you this. I don't always follow the local news. Is there any instances in the last 3 years that a 6 year old manage to pass grade 5 piano with distinction? I could only find this article that dated two years ago.

Congratulations on your students' achievements!

I have not come across any such cases but I would not rule that as impossible. As you have mentioned, it is not unachievable if there is a complete synergy between teacher, parents, and students. Nonetheless, I think it's indeed a remarkable accomplishment I, for one, have no such discipline with my kids :siam: .

However, I did read about a case of one 7 year old passing grade 5 theory with distinction in another forum.

Thank you for your compliment. You will be very surprised that the majority of the time the kids practiced by themselves (according to their father), although the father did make an effort to at least sit down with one hour with both of them to help them.

[Dreamaurora]

violin_lover:

What's the point of pushing kids to get distinction in grade 5 at 6 years old? To go for grade 8 exam, you need to pass grade 5 theory.....don't think kids can handle theory at such a young age

I am actually quite surprised at the intelligence of youngsters nowadays. I am trying to teach grade 5 theory to these 2 kids now and so far they are doing quite fine. Not as fast as my teenager students, they are like 50% slower, but they are so far able to understand the concepts. I guess those Angry Birds and Plants vs Zombies games do help make kids smarter.

[metz]

[quote=\"Dreamaurora]


Thank you for your compliment. You will be very surprised that the majority of the time the kids practiced by themselves (according to their father), although the father did make an effort to at least sit down with one hour with both of them to help them.[/quote]

That's exactly what I mean I am lacking in.
Not every parent would want to do that.

[corneyAmber]

Dreamaurora…why need the study on the co-relation?


Would you like to be pushed into doing something if you have no real talent nor interest? One time result may not be talent, it might just be diligence and luck.

Assuming if you have the talent but no interest, do you like to be pushed into doing something?

So I think the answer is quite clear why people avoid those talent academies.

In fact, I think by putting up such information of performance of your students without qualifying their background properly, you are potentially helping to "slaughter" more children by giving the impression that any 6 YOs can do it with pushing.

[sautille]

Dreamaurora:

So, the question now. Do you believe trying to push your children at this age to get good results and letting them enjoy learning piano are mutually exclusive?

I do not believe in hothousing as it suggests something that is not sustainable. I believe in allowing the kid to learn at the right pace. So, if a kid is a fast learner, has the facility and drive, then there is no need to make the kid learn at a slower pace. While I don't know any 6yo with Grade 5 distinction, I know a few who have diploma with distinction before P6 and still enjoy music making. And none of them belongs to any of the talent academies you mentioned.

[phtthp]

he must be a musical child prodigy.

[Dreamaurora]

ksi:

Dreamaurora....why need the study on the co-relation?


Would you like to be pushed into doing something if you have no real talent nor interest? One time result may not be talent, it might just be diligence and luck.

Assuming if you have the talent but no interest, do you like to be pushed into doing something?

So I think the answer is quite clear why people avoid those talent academies.

In fact, I think by putting up such information of performance of your students without qualifying their background properly, you are potentially helping to \"slaughter\" more children by giving the impression that any 6 YOs can do it with pushing.

Thank you for your view. Your view is quite common among young parents nowadays that I have encountered. But yet judging by the amount of parents trying to audition for these talent academies, the demand is still very much there.

Let me reveal more background now about the children now that the responses are coming. I did not teach this pair of twin (one boy, one girl) from beginner level. They started out from a music school first at the age of 4, then they auditioned for School of Young Talents approximately around last year mid-year and got rejected. Upon recommendation by a friend of theirs, they switched to me in September.

At this point, their previous teacher just started them on a grade 2 ABRSM exam piece. They improved rapidly and I secretly introduced grade 5 exam pieces into their repertoire (I did not use pieces from the exam book) but I did not tell the parents yet. By the time the registration for July-September exam closes in early March, they could play 2 of the grade 5 exam pieces from beginning to end and around half of the grade 5 scales requirement. The parents are convinced enough to let the twin try for grade 5.

Now, is there any hothousing involved in this whole process? Believe it or not, no. I had a good talk with the parents when they started out with me and we agreed that the most important thing is for the kids to enjoy playing piano. Both of us agree not to scold the kids if they do not play well or do not practice as much as they should. One of my main philosophies in teaching is that my students must smile and be happy when they come to my lessons or perform and I intend to keep it. We praise the kids when they made good progress and encourage them as much as we could. The parents would try to sit down with them at least one hour per day even though neither of them play piano, but the rest of the time the kids practiced themselves. I had to say the two kids enjoyed coming to lessons and they always could not wait to play their pieces in my lessons. The only thing the parents had to force them to practice were the scales, understandably because scales are damn boring to practice anyway and grade 5 ABRSM has A LOT of scales. But in any case, I was pleasantly surprised when I got back the results. I actually predicted they would get low merit (120-125) or worst case scenario good pass (110-120).

I sincerely hope I do not give the impression that 'any 6YO can do it'. The main purpose of this 6 year old grade 5 experiment thing is basically to see if it is possible to achieve good results at this young age without compromising their enjoyment of learning piano. Is this the result of luck and pure diligence? Maybe. Will I be willing to try this again with another children? I do not know yet.

By the way, the children will not be taking grade 8 any time soon. I discussed with the parents and we would prefer to give them more performance oppurtunities first since the kids enjoy learning pieces (and not so much of scales, sight reading, aural). So we are actually working towards their first recitals now.

[sacredmusicals]

I apologize if i sound hostile to you earlier. Its just that i got very agitated whenever a teacher tried to brag about exam results to public. I read through your last post and you seem to be a genuinely passionate educator. But still i question your motive in entering these two kids into the exams. I have a feeling that you deliberately aim to break that record set by khoong sook meng in 2009. I hope you do not use these kids as your quick ticket to fame as I understand that you have been only teaching for 4 years. Your philosophy on students smiling and enjoying lesson is a beautiful one and I hope you keep to this even as you get more famous.


As a teacher to another teacher, if everything you said is true, the twins are fortunate to have you as their teacher. I hope you do not squander their gifts.