Skipping grades?

[igavin]

Hi,

First of all I'm 14 years old; and i'm doing grade 8 AMEB in a few months; my teacher doesn't seem to mind much about skipping grades; but one of my friends who is also doing grade 8 whose teacher is a former grader says skipping grades is the worst thing someone could do, I asked him how and he gave a vague description of how a lot of 'basic properties of music' aren't learnt. Can someone please explain?

[bronnestam]

No, but I live in a country where we don't have grades (at least not any I know about ...) and we seem to be doing well anyway. 

[snoa]

No, but I live in a country where we don't have grades (at least not any I know about ...) and we seem to be doing well anyway. 

I'm sayin'...

I could go on and on about how much I despise these grading systems. To put it shortly, it's silly to regulate an art form like this, and there's much more to piano than knowing how to play scales or being able to read music. But I digress...

To answer the OP's question, I believe what your friend's teacher meant was that there are some things in certain grades that you only really learn or explore IN that grade. Think of it like skipping a grade in school, for example. If you skip a grade in middle school, it's possible to go straight from pre-algebra to geometry, skipping algebra altogether. This may or may not cause problems depending on the person skipping a grade, someone who is able to skip a grade because they study above their grade level won't have a problem with missing Algebra class, but someone who skips a grade just because they're all-around smart might miss a few concepts which could cause problems down the road.

So I imagine that's what your friend's teacher meant, you could miss some core concepts by skipping grades, depending on who you are. But there are plenty of things you won't learn in these types of grading systems that are pertinent to being a musician too, so take it with a grain of salt.

[gregh]

Why skip grades? Do you get a prize when you graduate?

[igavin]

@anoa thanks, I think he meant I missed some essentially theory; and i'll catch up.

@Gregh no, why so hostile? I simply did grade 5 4 years ago and I haven't done any official grading yet; as my teacher at that point of time didn't know much about grading but was still a great teacher; however its been 4 years and I'm pretty sure i'm ready for grade 8.

FYI The only reason I'm after AMEB is due to the fact there is a more direct goal to be achieving.

[theholygideons]

don't do AMEB. all they want is money. you are merely funding their corrupt undertakings.

regarding skipping grades, why would anyone do grades 1-7, they're useless, you're making them rich, only grades 8 above are actual certificates of performance.

[gregh]

Sorry, igavin, I didn't mean to come across as hostile, just flippant. I don't personally understand what you mean to get out of one grade or another. If you're just curious, that's fine-- you'll never see me saying that curiosity is a bad thing. But if it ties in to your instruction, I understand them to be progressive, so that skipping a grade means you will skip material. You play as well as you play, and skipping a grade doesn't mean you will get better faster.

[slane]

It depends what you mean by skipping a grade.
If you mean you didn't sit the exam then who cares? All that proves is you learnt 6 pieces and nothing about whether you covered all the technical points inherent in the syllabus for that grade.
But if you meant you've never played any pieces at the level of the intervening grades, that would be bad. However, if you're ready for grade 8, that seems unlikely. Hopefully youve learnt many pieces at those intervening levels.
And remember ... a lot of music students are pratts! Don't listen to them.

[falala]

To answer the OP's question, I believe what your friend's teacher meant was that there are some things in certain grades that you only really learn or explore IN that grade. Think of it like skipping a grade in school, for example. If you skip a grade in middle school, it's possible to go straight from pre-algebra to geometry, skipping algebra altogether. This may or may not cause problems depending on the person skipping a grade, someone who is able to skip a grade because they study above their grade level won't have a problem with missing Algebra class, but someone who skips a grade just because they're all-around smart might miss a few concepts which could cause problems down the road.

So I imagine that's what your friend's teacher meant, you could miss some core concepts by skipping grades, depending on who you are. But there are plenty of things you won't learn in these types of grading systems that are pertinent to being a musician too, so take it with a grain of salt.

I don't know much about the AMEB, but if it's anything like ABRSM grades, with which I'm more familiar, I really don't think this follows. There doesn't seem to be any particular detailed scheme according to which specific concepts are introduced in specific grades ("grade 3 pieces will contain wrist staccato; grade 2 won't" etc.) There's just a general vague sense of what things are easy and what are difficult, and a general vague process by which each piece is appraised by a group of people for difficulty overall and assigned a grade accordingly.

I'm largely against teaching to grades, but when I have to do it I try to see it more as a confirmation of SOME of the content learned, rather than as driving the content in the first place. Covering the eight grades is absolutely no guarantee that you'll have a mastery of all the important aspects of piano playing, and you can obtain such a mastery without ever taking a grade in your life. Passing the test only means that you performed the content of that test to a particular standard on a particular day.

It's up to your teacher to teach you various techniques in a progressive and systematic way. If you want to take a particular grade to test how well some of that has worked, then by all means do so. But that's all it is.