ARCT........... Teachers vrs Performers

[Romantic_Keys]

When you want to get your ARCT...whats the difference between getting your teachers? and your performers? I know that ther's different stuff recamended for both, but aftrwards, whats the difference. Does it matter what one you take? Is one better required then the other?
 

[abell88]

It depends on your goals for after your ARCT...do you want a career as a pianist (performer) or as a teacher? The requirements are vastly different.  (Read the syllabus!) As well, you need to realistically evaluate your abilities and the amount and kind of work you want to put in. Your teacher can help you with that. Also consider the lifestyle implied for each.

If you get your Performer's ARCT, of course you can also teach, but you may not have specifically studied pedagogy and teaching material for younger grades (except the pieces you've already played yourself.) If you get your Teacher's ARCT, you will not have as big a repertoire of concert-level pieces, although you can of course work on them as well. 

Either one is a heck of a lot of work, so don't rush into the decision!

Alice

[lagin]

I'd go for both personally, but i have alot of time on my hands.

[nanabush]

I'm doing the perfomer's right now, and I'd personally suggest doing that before taking your teachers, which requirs I believe several pieces from performers.  I think however they do it in the US is more accurate though, there are more levels of pieces at the performance stage.  I checked the syllabus for performers and Fantaisie Impromptu, Gaspard de la Nuit, Petrarch Sonnet, Mephisto Waltz, and Hammerklavier are all performers, but it is obvious which ones are 2x as difficult as the others.  Honestly who'd play Mephisto Waltz over the option of 4 of chopin's preludes... 

Back to the subject...With your performers, you'll have a greater understanding of higher level pieces, and it would be easier to do the playing test for teachers with your performers...  but that's just me, and I'm probably not doing performers for another year and a half...

[IanT]

I think the standard of playing required is quite a bit lower for the Teacher's option.  You have to demonstrate that you are competent enough to play a piece for a student who might be learning it.  In the Performer's option you have to achieve a standard suitable for public recital.

From what I've heard, the difficulty of the pieces you pick makes no difference to the marks.  There's absolutely no point in picking Gaspard and the Hammerklavier.  You'll probably fail and the person who picked the easiest pieces on the syllabus will probably get 90%+.

There is more different stuff to do for the Teacher's exam.  You have to do technique and you also have to know how to teach.  One thing they have you do is to correct the examiner after they play a piece badly (hopefully you only correct the places they deliberately played badly ;-).  For Performer's you only have to play six pieces but, as I've said, you have to play them very well.

I don't think there's much difference between the two afterwards.  I think that with the Performer's, you'll be viewed as a better pianist and also you can still teach. 

Ian