Poll 1, grade level?

[werq34ac]

I thought it might be interesting to see the distribution of grades on this site. Just to get a general idea of how experienced people are on this forum.

Of course, these grades are incredibly subjective and obviously some grade 7 pianists are better than grade 8 pianists, but this might show some interesting statistics of the people on this site.



I think I'll also make a survey for age.

[j_menz]

What's the criteria?  Pieces we play or exams we've passed? I'm an 8+ on the first and a 0 on the latter.

[werq34ac]

I guess pieces you've learned. I mean I've read through Scarbo, which sort of counts as playing it, but no way in hell can I learn it. Like I said, these grades are incredibly subjective.

[rachmaninoff_forever]

Well, according to almost every scale, everything is an 8+!  There are no such thing as easy pieces, everything is hard!  These levels, scales, or whatever you call them are garbage.  They're not sensitive at all.

I think this would be kinda difficult to do an accurate survey on.

[werq34ac]

Grade 6 people ignore the difficulty of grade 6 pieces. We only realize the difficulty of the pieces when we've matured sufficiently to understand. Like they say about Mozart. It's the hardest thing ever when you're between the ages of 10 and 70 (a bit of a hyperbole but you get my point).


I tried reading through Traumerei recently. Got all the notes, got all the dynamics, articulations, whatever. Still sounded like crap. It's the kind of piece we give to 7 years old. Doesn't mean they play it with musical maturity. Just that they can handle the notes.

But in the end, isn't a Chopin Ballade more difficult than a Chopin waltz?

[pianoman53]

There is even a part of the forum with the under title "Polls etc." Why not post your polls there?

[werq34ac]

There is even a part of the forum with the under title "Polls etc." Why not post your polls there?

Didn't notice until too late. Besides, these polls have to do more with the website than piano

[piano_vs_science]

HOLY CRAP!!!
I'm the only one on level 1
and I'm 12
man I'm hopeless

[j_menz]

HOLY CRAP!!!
I'm the only one on level 1
and I'm 12
man I'm hopeless

It's not getting older that will get you off level one, it's actually doing some work. Regularly and often.

[pianoman53]

HOLY CRAP!!!
I'm the only one on level 1
and I'm 12
man I'm hopeless

Omg troll!

[piano_vs_science]

spam

[werq34ac]

Back on subject,

Don't you think it's interesting that while 8+ is unsurprisingly has the most people, the second highest group is 4-6? Wouldn't we expect it to be 7-8?

Anyway, it's probably because the majority of people here are either teens who've been playing a while or adults ranging from beginner to whatever. Getting to 7-8 isn't exactly easy for adults and either they don't get there or they go beyond. As for students, 7-8 students probably aren't interested in piano enough to be on this forum.
Other thoughts?

[j_menz]

Anyway, it's probably because the majority of people here are either teens who've been playing a while or adults ranging from beginner to whatever. Getting to 7-8 isn't exactly easy for adults and either they don't get there or they go beyond. As for students, 7-8 students probably aren't interested in piano enough to be on this forum.
Other thoughts?

For younger players too, I think 7-8 is something that is either not reached (because people tend to get to that in their mid to late teens, where other interests may take over, or where they can finally say "no more bloody piano lessons for me"), or fairly quickly passed through onto advanced stuff.

[littletune]

Back on subject,

Don't you think it's interesting that while 8+ is unsurprisingly has the most people, the second highest group is 4-6? Wouldn't we expect it to be 7-8?

Anyway, it's probably because the majority of people here are either teens who've been playing a while or adults ranging from beginner to whatever. Getting to 7-8 isn't exactly easy for adults and either they don't get there or they go beyond. As for students, 7-8 students probably aren't interested in piano enough to be on this forum.
Other thoughts?

I don't understand... why wouldn't students who are level 7-8 be interested in piano? Wouldn't they have to be kind of interested if they got to level 7-8?  I'm only grade 4 and I'm VERY interested in piano!!!     

[roseamelia]

I'm in 4 too going in now I'm going into 5!.

[werq34ac]

I don't understand... why wouldn't students who are level 7-8 be interested in piano? Wouldn't they have to be kind of interested if they got to level 7-8?  I'm only grade 4 and I'm VERY interested in piano!!!     

How old are you? The thing is, grade 7-8 is where many teen students quit the piano (either they graduate or get bored). Whereas if they don't quit, they move fairly quickly into 8+. So the teen population of grade 7-8 probably don't have enough interest in piano (with some exception).

With adults, I'm not really sure. Though I'm guessing a lot of adults are self taught and so they can't really get beyond grade 6.

[littletune]

How old are you? The thing is, grade 7-8 is where many teen students quit the piano (either they graduate or get bored). Whereas if they don't quit, they move fairly quickly into 8+. So the teen population of grade 7-8 probably don't have enough interest in piano (with some exception).

With adults, I'm not really sure. Though I'm guessing a lot of adults are self taught and so they can't really get beyond grade 6.

I'm 13.

[rachmaninoff_forever]

I'm 13.

The power of youth!!!

[werq34ac]

I'm 13.

Hmm.. I guess you are one of those rare teens who are just plain geeky at a fairly early age. A lot of kids are too afraid their peers will judge them until they reach sophomore year of high school.

[pianoman53]

Sorry, I don't follow your arguments here...

[werq34ac]

Sorry, I don't follow your arguments here...

We're looking at trends we see in the polls and attempting to analyze them.

[rachmaninoff_forever]

Hmm.. I guess you are one of those rare teens who are just plain geeky at a fairly early age. A lot of kids are too afraid their peers will judge them until they reach sophomore year of high school.

How is he a geek?

[werq34ac]

piano forum? C'mon we're all geeks here.

[littletune]

Oh so we're all geeks here  ok   
Well I think it's just that I don't really feel like a teen, I mean at least not like a usual teen I guess, I don't care about clothes or dating  or those other horribly boring things  , so I don't really have that much in common with "normal" teens, so that's why I don't really care about what they think very much!  I mean of course I don't want them to make fun of me, but if they're that stupid than whatever.    and usually people don't make fun of me, maybe more like ignore me, but maybe that's cause I ignore them too if I feel I don't have anything in common with them. 

(Oh not that it matters but I'm a girl.  )

[49410enrique]

Oh so we're all geeks here  ok   
Well I think it's just that I don't really feel like a teen, I mean at least not like a usual teen I guess, I don't care about clothes or dating  or those other horribly boring things  , so I don't really have that much in common with "normal" teens, so that's why I don't really care about what they think very much!   I mean of course I don't want them to make fun of me, but if they're that stupid than whatever.    and usually people don't make fun of me, maybe more like ignore me, but maybe that's cause I ignore them too if I feel I don't have anything in common with them. 

(Oh not that it matters but I'm a girl.  )

i like where you're head's at.  good place, keep it there. who wants to be normal? soooo incredibly boring...i always thought it was funny how people strive for normal, ...."hey i want to work really hard to be unremarkable and average...."

[werq34ac]

Oh so we're all geeks here  ok   
Well I think it's just that I don't really feel like a teen, I mean at least not like a usual teen I guess, I don't care about clothes or dating  or those other horribly boring things  , so I don't really have that much in common with "normal" teens, so that's why I don't really care about what they think very much!  I mean of course I don't want them to make fun of me, but if they're that stupid than whatever.    and usually people don't make fun of me, maybe more like ignore me, but maybe that's cause I ignore them too if I feel I don't have anything in common with them. 

(Oh not that it matters but I'm a girl.  )

I mean it's good to not care about the norm and not to worry what people think of you. After all, Those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind. But don't forget to make friends! Life is miserable without friends.

i like where you're head's at.  good place, keep it there. who wants to be normal? soooo incredibly boring...i always thought it was funny how people strive for normal, ...."hey i want to work really hard to be unremarkable and average...."

It's the whole idea of fitting in. Kids at that age are usually desperate to fit in. They don't want to be alienated by their peers. Then they end up boring.

On the other hand, you don't want to run away from the norm so hard that you end up becoming someone you're not.

[littletune]

i like where you're head's at.  good place, keep it there. who wants to be normal? soooo incredibly boring...i always thought it was funny how people strive for normal, ...."hey i want to work really hard to be unremarkable and average...."

   Yes that's true! Thanks Enrique!   

I mean it's good to not care about the norm and not to worry what people think of you. After all, Those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind. But don't forget to make friends! Life is miserable without friends.

It's the whole idea of fitting in. Kids at that age are usually desperate to fit in. They don't want to be alienated by their peers. Then they end up boring.

On the other hand, you don't want to run away from the norm so hard that you end up becoming someone you're not.

Oh no I would never become someone I'm not!!! I know it's good to have friends, I don't have a lot of friends, but I do have some cool ones!  Maybe I will need to have more older and more younger friends! 

[werq34ac]

Just my opinion, but it's better to have a few close friends that you really like and trust than a lot of friends you don't like so much. So it's good that you have a few "cool" friends. And yes, you should make some older and younger friends (though younger I"m not so sure about at your age). There's a lot you can learn from having someone you look up to, or having someone look up to you. Not for the sake of having more friends, but having variety in your friends.


And what I meant about running away from the norm is that you shouldn't feel superior to others for your individuality. It's okay to embrace your uniqueness, but don't go around trying to prove it to others.

I feel like this is the wrong place to be discussing this.

[piano_vs_science]

piano forum? C'mon we're all geeks here.

GEEK POWER!!!

[chopinfrederic]

HOLY CRAP!!!
I'm the only one on level 1
and I'm 12
man I'm hopeless

It's ok, do not give up and keep practicing!