Levels on Piano...

[jackreacher]

I am an amateur who recently joined the Pianostreet... Remember, I am not a professional piano student. I just enjoy playing the piano.

Eh... So. To the main point. Lots of 'threads' mention something called 'levels' on piano. Now, I don't really understand what these mean. Can someone explain to me what these 'levels' are, in detail?

Forgive me for the Grammatical errors.
Thanks in advance, J.K.

[stevebob]

A number of different grading systems exist for classifying pieces according to difficulty.  Some countries have national associations for music education that administer examinations and decide the standards and curricula for various levels, in which case a syllabus for each one is probably available to the public and may even be published online; some well-known examples of such organizations are the ABRSM (in the United Kingdom), the RCM (Canada) and the AMEB (Australia).

In other locales, categorizations may be inconsistent, idiosyncratic and/or arbitrary.  Teachers, authors of books about musical repertoire, and even sheet music publishers might use numerical systems (typically Grade 1 through Grade 8+), or might instead opt for descriptive groupings such as Beginner, Intermediate or Advanced.

Unless you're a student in a country in which a diploma depends on formally recognized strata, you'll probably find them useful just as general guidelines that may have been reached by consensus but are nevertheless, to an extent, a matter of opinion that's subject to debate.  Various boards may rate a given musical work differently, and the level at which a piece is designated may even be reassigned at some point in time by the same governing body.

[jackreacher]

Thanks for such a detailed reply!

[johnk]

It is interesting that a level or grading of a piece seems to depend on the type of notation used. The Bach 1st prelude in C (WTC 1 , no 1) is listed in AMEB as grade 5, but when I had a student play it from block chords instead of the full written out figuration, the examiner complained that it was not grade 5 but much too easy. Instead of 2 pages long, in block chord form it was only one page, and the vertical chords are more easily recognised. So it seems the examiner recognised that my form of notation, in this case traditional, but non arpeggiated, was easier, but that in fact this was to be discouraged, we should use the original harder notation. Why? Hard work is good for you!

In another example I found a Satie piece, Saraband, that is in Db major (5 flats), but has millions of double flats that make your eyes go crazy and is 4 pages long. It is in 7th grade. I translated it into Express Stave and used repeat signs instead of writing it out fully, and it came to 2 easy pages and looks about third grade standard.

When i was a kid I had to sweep the floor of the shop my parents ran. It was full of sand from the beach, and to make my task a bit more enjoyable I pretended I was on the Micky Mouse club show singing a song about sweeping the floor. What a creative kid I was. It made the chore fun! Well my dad came along and roused on me , forbade me to sing and killed the fun. Chores were not to be fun, but work!