Monday, September 18, 2023 by Louise Athwal | Exams

Grades - What are they?

When it comes to music grades, there are a lot of options!

Music Theory Grades focus on reading and writing music.

Practical and Performance Grades focus on playing music.

Theory

ABRSM Theory Grades - these can be taken at any time online.

Practical

ABRSM Practical Grades - these are face-to-face and include:

3 pieces

Scales and Arpeggios

Sight-Reading

Aural

Entry is available for these from Mon 18 September until Monday 2 October.

Performance

ABRSM Performance Grades - these are by video and can be taken at any time.

4 pieces are played one after the other.

Tuesday, January 25, 2022 by Louise Athwal | Piano Teaching

This week I've gone back to the first book I ever read on teaching a musical instrument:

The Music Teacher's Companion - A Practical Guide - by Paul Harris and Richard Crozier, published by ABRSM

Section One is called The Essence of Teaching

Chapter 1 is Teachers and Pupils.

Subsections are Effective teaching;  Making assumptions;  The teacher;  The pupil;  Assessing potential pupils;  Pupil profile forms

I ask a lot of questions when I'm teaching.  I do this to try to work out whether I've been successful in teaching someone a certain idea, so it's not the student I'm checking up on - it's myself.

I think sometimes I forget to explain everything.  There are so many signs and symbols on a piece of music, and I think as a teacher it's easy to forget a time when none of these made any sense.  I hope my students would ask me if they aren't sure, but I think I should try harder not to assume that anything is already known.  This is particularly important when teaching someone who has had a teacher before.

I love when my students ask me questions!

The book suggests that there are several attributes which are needed in an effective teacher:

Knowledge and understanding of instrumental skill;

A love of music;

Communication skills;

Musical imagination;

Sensitivity;

Administration skills;

Practical knowledge;

Personality;

Ability to inspire, enthuse and encourage;

Humility

Can you think of any more?

I have a lot of musical instruments in my music room.  This is because I want to constantly remind myself of what it feels like to learn a new instrument.

Personally, I'm not very keen on using ear tests or improvisation to assess potential pupils.  I'm really just looking for students who want to learn how to play.

Action:

I need to find out what it is that makes each of my students want to play the piano.