The "instant Fix" World, A worrying thing Options

[Gae]

I've become increasingly concerned by some pupil's low levels of concentration and/or impatience at learning new pieces of music. Very often they either expect to be able to play the pieces immediately, with little or no practice and minimum sight-reading skills, or they get bored of a piece before they've actually managed to learn it to the required level e.g. in preparation for an exam. With all the "Instant Fix" and disposable products now available in modern society is this a worrying trend or has it always been the same? Is this just the fickleness and impatience of children coming through or is it evidence of a deeper problem in Modern Society?

Gae

[carol*piano]

That sounds SO familiar - I think it is a sign of the times - also AB exams are some of the only ones left now where proper standards are required - I have had parents say to me "but surely they wouldn't fail an 8 year old doing their Grade !" as if the mere fact that they had turned up to do it was enough to pass!!
Carol :D

[AnotherPianist]

That's quite interesting: maybe soon if pupils continue to develop this attitude no one will be able to play a piece that they can't sightread! If that's the case progress will be much slower....

[carol*piano]

I also play for dance exams and a lot of these now don't like to fail children so a pass generally means you're pretty rubbish and anyone half decent gets a merit or distinction. Quite a few of my pupils come from the dance school so I am always having to stress that the criteria for music exams is different and you actually have to be pretty good just to pass - a concept which seems to be lost in today's new "improved" exam system!
Carol :D

[AnotherPianist]

I also play for dance exams and a lot of these now don't like to fail children so a pass generally means you're pretty rubbish and anyone half decent gets a merit or distinction. Quite a few of my pupils come from the dance school so I am always having to stress that the criteria for music exams is different and you actually have to be pretty good just to pass - a concept which seems to be lost in today's new "improved" exam system!

I remember a similar thing when I was doing dancing exams. I knew not a single person who got a fail, or a pass, the lowest anyone ever got was commended (required to be pretty bad), then there was highly commended (the usual mark for someone reasonably well prepared) and honours (actually meant one was good). An interesting system!

[janexxx]

I also play for dance exams and a lot of these now don't like to fail children so a pass generally means you're pretty rubbish and anyone half decent gets a merit or distinction. Quite a few of my pupils come from the dance school so I am always having to stress that the criteria for music exams is different and you actually have to be pretty good just to pass - a concept which seems to be lost in today's new "improved" exam system!

I remember a similar thing when I was doing dancing exams. I knew not a single person who got a fail, or a pass, the lowest anyone ever got was commended (required to be pretty bad), then there was highly commended (the usual mark for someone reasonably well prepared) and honours (actually meant one was good). An interesting system!

Hmmm ......I suspect this is not preparing anyone for today's workplace. We now have a forced distribution system for annual performance assessments which means that even if you have achieved everything and performed quite well during the year, if everyone else has (ie you are in a high performing environment) then your mark will be "forcibly distributed" downwards. (The bar is forever moving higher year on year), and you will be marked as "requiring improvement" or worse. I won't go into the ultimate consequences of this, but it sure saves on redundancy payments if we are in a "headcount reduction" situation :o

[jm-hamilton]

I also play for dance exams and a lot of these now don't like to fail children so a pass generally means you're pretty rubbish and anyone half decent gets a merit or distinction. Quite a few of my pupils come from the dance school so I am always having to stress that the criteria for music exams is different and you actually have to be pretty good just to pass - a concept which seems to be lost in today's new "improved" exam system!

I remember a similar thing when I was doing dancing exams. I knew not a single person who got a fail, or a pass, the lowest anyone ever got was commended (required to be pretty bad), then there was highly commended (the usual mark for someone reasonably well prepared) and honours (actually meant one was good). An interesting system!

But no one is allowed to fail now - it's called 'deferred success' !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[janexxx]

I also play for dance exams and a lot of these now don't like to fail children so a pass generally means you're pretty rubbish and anyone half decent gets a merit or distinction. Quite a few of my pupils come from the dance school so I am always having to stress that the criteria for music exams is different and you actually have to be pretty good just to pass - a concept which seems to be lost in today's new "improved" exam system!

I remember a similar thing when I was doing dancing exams. I knew not a single person who got a fail, or a pass, the lowest anyone ever got was commended (required to be pretty bad), then there was highly commended (the usual mark for someone reasonably well prepared) and honours (actually meant one was good). An interesting system!

But no one is allowed to fail now - it's called 'deferred success' !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Unless you are in the corporate world....see my previous post :o

[YetAnotherPianist]

But no one is allowed to fail now - it's called 'deferred success' !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Unless you are in the corporate world....see my previous post :o

One of the many many reasons that today's examination system doesn't prepare people for real life. Not everyone can get 'that job' - ultimately, people have to fail interviews and such purely because other people were apparently better....

[janexxx]

But no one is allowed to fail now - it's called 'deferred success' !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Unless you are in the corporate world....see my previous post :o

One of the many many reasons that today's examination system doesn't prepare people for real life. Not everyone can get 'that job' - ultimately, people have to fail interviews and such purely because other people were apparently better....

Absolutely. Sooner or later these "kids" will be applying for jobs and "failing" to get them. Or having got them "failing" their corporate objectives and being "let go". We are not doing them any favours in the long run :(

I just had to hear an appeal for a very capable guy who had been selected for redundancy simply because the team had shrunk and although everyone could do the job well, the others could all do it better than him. No-one was saying he couldn't do the job....he had been doing it very satisfactorily for some time...just that out of a very high performing team he was not as good as the rest.

Sometimes I really dislike my job :angry:

[amanda41]

I've become increasingly concerned by some pupil's low levels of concentration and/or impatience at learning new pieces of music. Very often they either expect to be able to play the pieces immediately, with little or no practice and minimum sight-reading skills, or they get bored of a piece before they've actually managed to learn it to the required level e.g. in preparation for an exam.  With all the "Instant Fix" and disposable products now available in modern society is this a worrying trend or has it always been the same? Is this just the fickleness and impatience of children coming through or is it evidence of a deeper problem in Modern Society?

Gae

It's probably a combination of all those points! Perhaps the problem is being aggravated by the "softly softly" approach which many schools (and some parents) are increasingly adopting?

I'm very new to piano teaching, but my approach is to let parents as well children know that improvement is only achieved through hard work etc... I hope that lessons encourage the kids to be a bit more self-disciplined - as it's a useful skill to have in whatever they do.

As well as that, some children seem to have an endless routine of after school activities/clubs that takes up so much time, there is little room left for a proper practise every day... One of my pupils comes to me straight from her Irish-dancing class, then is picked up to be whisked off to swimming class :blink:

I think the saying goes something like "Jack of all trades and master of none"

Amanda xxx

(p.s - ..... just realising I sound like my granny - and I'm only 25!)

[trio]

But no one is allowed to fail now - it's called 'deferred success' !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Did you know that with the new AB Music Medals exams you cannot fail - the awards are Excellent, Pass or Working Towards!

[amanda41]

But no one is allowed to fail now - it's called 'deferred success' !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Did you know that with the new AB Music Medals exams you cannot fail - the awards are Excellent, Pass or Working Towards!

When I used to enter Music Festivals, I remember sitting in on a sight-reading class.

What happened was, there was only one entrant for that class! He went on stage and performed the sight reading test, and the adjudicator came up afterwards as usual to comment on the performance (which wasn't a good one as it happens...)

Because this boy was the only contestant, the adjudicator then invited other kids from the audience to come up and have a go at the piece, and one girl played it perfectly!

After this, they called the entrants in for the next contest... Well, the boy's Father went up and asked why he didn't get a medal. Obviously he had expected his son to get a gold medal by default, because he was the only competitor. The judge was right not to award it, and explained very nicely why he felt it would be wrong in this case. The boy and his father may have felt a bit dejected, but surely he learned a very good lesson?

This was about 15 years ago, so not that long really, but I can't see that scenario happening now! I think they would be too worried about making the child feel like a failure, and give the award even when it may not be deserved, rather than giving constructive criticism and helping them to strive for better next time.

[jo.clarinet]

In my local Festival (Stratford and East London) they still occasionally DON'T give a First Prize for a class if they feel the standard is just not high enough - I must say I think that is the right thing to do!

[willobie]

In my local Festival (Stratford and East London) they still occasionally DON'T give a First Prize for a class if they feel the standard is just not high enough - I must say I think that is the right thing to do!

I agree with you but at the local festival (Beckenham) that I used to be involved with, adjudicators who did this were never asked back... :(