Grade Levels and Teaching

[pianoslav]

Hi,
I grew up playing the piano where my teacher had established grade levels for me and the rest of his students. He would tell us that we were in first, second, etc grade. This is was very helpful for me in terms of motivation because I always wanted my piano grade number to at least match my grade school grade number. I feel that this is also a very useful system for the teacher in which he or she has an organized way of keep track of the students' progress, avoiding endlessing keeping the students at the same level and avoiding to give pieces to his or her students that are either too simple or too difficult to play.
I am now a young teacher who's been teaching for a few years. However, I have never found out what skills are required for a student to pass each "grade". What kind of material or features must a piece contain to be considered level 4 or 5, for example? If you were to look at a given song, what distinct aspects must it have for me to label it to be a certain level?
I understand that the whole level scheme is very relative, but I have yet to find a comprehensive definition of each level that made sense to me (Maybe I am just using the wrong search keywords). Of course I am able to to determine whether or not a certain piece is easier or more difficult than another piece, but I am trying to find some clear boundaries that distinguish level from level.
If anyone can tell me distinct requirements that a student must master before they can move on to the next level, I would greatly appreciate it. Or if you can recommend some good literature for me to read regarding differentiating level from level, that would also be very helpful.
Thanks in advance!!

[chopin2015]

I think this could be a great discussion, but the title should be more informative, such as grade levels and teaching.

My piano teacher and I have a lot in common. She teaches me pieces that interest me that she has also played, as well as anything difficult, she always makes sure I am practicing it right. The main thing about little kids is that you will probably teach the same stuff over and over, and reading is most important at beginner levels of music, I think. When I was a little kid, I always compromised between reading and hearing so that I didn't spend the whole lesson reading for my teacher, so I was a pain in that teacher's butt. I don't think you should spend all lessons teaching reading, but it is very important to at least make it happen sometimes, and make it fun. Be very attentive to the process, as well. Many great pianists were exposed to famous composer works such as Mozart and Tchaikovsky, I think that is very important rather than teaching from smaller collections of unknown works(at the beginning of classical music studies, to get accustomed to it) Listen to a lot of it, to further interest in classical music, establish what sounds good to the student and see if they can sing.
  As for classical music beginner to advanced level, I believe there are a couple of systems for grading, check out the pianostreet one, it seems like they grade leniently. I usually just go for what I love and keeps the piano thing interesting and hot.

[slane]

Hal Leonard publish Getting to Grade X books, which I think are aimed at the AMEB and maybe ABRSM grades.
The idea is that if you can play everything in one of these books you've covered all the requirements for grade X. But I think you would have to infer what those technical requirements are from the pieces in the book.
There is a teachers guide to at least the first three books, but I'm not sure it contains the information you're looking for. Actually, I'm not sure the examing boards have it clear in their heads what the technical accomplishments for each grade are either!
More info here:
https://www.leatham.com.au/studio/elissa_milne.pdf

[pianoslav]

Chopin2015
Thanks. I renamed it like you said.
I do focus a lot on reading with my students. But the method books have a lot of miscellaneous material that has nothing to do with traditional classical music, as you said. I don't mind using the miscellaneous material at first, but as the students progress I want to have them play classical repertoire. The problem is that I'm not sure how to place my students into a specific grade level, and then based on that assign classical music for them to play.
I'm new to this website. Can you give me a link to grade levels on this website or tell me how to get there?

[pianoslav]

slane
That's what I have been doing so far. I look through various method books and see what is the approximate difficulty of the pieces in the book, and based off of that, I decide whether or not to assign a certain classical piece.
I was hoping there was a distinct list of skills out there that a student is required to have in order to move on to the next grade level.

[slane]

Errrmm .. I think you have misunderstood what the Getting to Books are.
They aren't method books. They are repertoire compiled by a person who is a big contributer to the AMEB syllabus. One of the best people to know what is required, technically, to succeed at Grade X.
So if you can play all the pieces in getting to Grade 2, say, then you know what you need to know to learn 5 pieces from the Grade 2 syllabus and pass the exam. Therefore, if you're clever, you can analyse these books and devise a list technical requirements.

What you're looking for, I think, is a set of technical criteria that defines a level so that you can map all your repertoire sources onto those levels. I think an easier thing to do would be to find an existing comprehensive list and use that. The NZMEB syllabus is freely available and would keep your students very occupied.
https://www.nzmeb.org/syllabuses/piano/performance/
https://www.nzmeb.org/syllabuses/piano/pleasure/

[chopin2015]

Chopin2015
Thanks. I renamed it like you said.
I do focus a lot on reading with my students. But the method books have a lot of miscellaneous material that has nothing to do with traditional classical music, as you said. I don't mind using the miscellaneous material at first, but as the students progress I want to have them play classical repertoire. The problem is that I'm not sure how to place my students into a specific grade level, and then based on that assign classical music for them to play.
I'm new to this website. Can you give me a link to grade levels on this website or tell me how to get there?

If you want to raise classical piano students, there are many collections of introductory work. I recommend the piano masters series, by warner bros publications. The collections are very thin books, so the pieces are miniature works that I would say could be taught as introductions to beginner/intermediate students. Hal leonard is a good suggestion, but I also look at Henle. They have a filter for works by level. Then you can select composer, you can evaluate the music yourself and see if it is something you could learn if you were your student. Otherwise, I usually just throw stuff at my teacher or ask for suggestions. 

https://www.henleusa.com/en/home/index.html
 

[ajspiano]

read this as one example. Really there isnt a distinct skill set.. too much grey area, especially the higher up you get.
https://www.gradedpianorepertoire.com/about/gpr_grading.php

I'm not sure if ABRSM or AMEB etc. systems are publically accessible.. probably not.

get a repertoire guide, Jane Magraths is good..  this will expand your options VASTLY beyond what you'll find in an exam syllabus..  and it has more information per piece, instead of just the pieces title.

https://www.amazon.com/Pianists-Standard-Teaching-Performance-Literature/dp/0882846558

[timbo178]

Thanks for the links ajspiano. That book looks fantastic.

[pianoslav]

Thanks for all the help. This will definitely clear up a lot of my confusion!