My piano teacher has lost faith in me. It is not for lack of practice on my part. I have been working on my grade 7 pieces since last autumn. The plan was to do the exam this summer. Now it has been put off to the autumn and my teacher is going on about resits. I rather feel that if he didn't think I was ready for grade 7 he should have said so before I started work on the pieces. I think it is unprofessional to prepare a candidate for an exam if the teacher thinks the pupil won't pass. What really annoys me is that he goes on about my playing not being up to standard while he fails to prepare me for aural and sight reading tests.

I reckon I could pass grade 7 if I had a teacher who had faith in me and who prepared me for all parts of the exam. I have done a huge amount of preparation for this exam and I don't want to give up even though my teacher appears to have given up on me. I suspect my teacher's pessimism may have more to do with his age. He is a retired school teacher and he has to be in his eighties. I don't want to offend him. I respect his musicianship but I think he has made a misjudgment with me. I don't think I am as bad as he says but his negative comments are putting me off practicising.

In a way this is the opposite from recent threads in this forum. I have confidence in my abilities but that confidence is being undermined by all this talk of resits and faults. When I did exams as a kid my teachers never talked about failing an exam and I got distinctions all the way. Why as an adult do I have to listen to all this talk about failing the exam? I don't think my playing merits that criticism.[indent][/indent]

It certainly sounds like your teacher is doing you more harm than good at the moment, Rhu. Have you told your teacher how you feel that his attitude is undermining you? What does he say to that?

Perhaps the best thing to do would be to take a break from the exam pieces for a while and play other repertoire. Don't go back to the pieces until a month before the exam session (assuming you decide to enter in the Autumn).

If your teacher won't enter you but you want to do the exam, you may have to consider doing it unilaterally. You can certainly enter yourself for an exam as an adult. When my piano teacher was reluctant to enter me for Grade 5 I offered to enter myself (to save her the bother) but she then changed her mind and agreed to put me in for it.

And you can work unilaterally on the supporting tests if your teacher won't do them.

I'd suggest getting hold of either "Aural Training in Practice" (published by the ABRSM) or Turnbull's "Aural Time" and working on your own behalf on the aural tests. Similarly there are tons of specimen sight-reading tests and sight-reading trainers out there you could use to prepare that part of the exam. The way I use the latter is that I have my MP3 recorder on while I do the sight-reading test, and then play back what I did with the music open in front of me so that I can see what mistakes I made without being distracted during the actual test. I do three or four specimens at a time, then review all of them.

Please note these are only a "last resort" approach, and if you've got to this stage, it may well be that you need to think about whether to stay with this teacher or not.

Hi Rhu

It sounds like you're a very competent player.

Perhaps your teacher is expecting you to pass with distinction and anything less is not a fair judgement of your playing so perhaps that's why he'd like to postpone your exam because he doesn't feel that you'll pass with the distinction that your playing deserves?

G

Hi Rhu

gwu makes a very valid point re distinction marks.

I also agree with yourself and katyjay though and your teacher should explain exactly why he/she feels you aren't ready. Have a discussion and let him know how you feel and as katyjay says it may be time for a change of teacher.

Good luck

Sue

...yes, I'd go along with that possibility. Is your teacher always on the negative side with comments? My teacher comes across to me in much the same way, and she has shaken my confidence considerably. I had very little input when it came to preparing for Grade 5 supporting tests, and she gave the impression she felt the pieces were never good enough (ok, I failed one piece, badly performed on the day, but for everything else had merits, except scales which were a high pass). She used to say things like "if you fail, will you want to resit?" ( ). I don't think I would want to go through another exam with my current teacher, because of the confidence thing - it's so important for the teacher to be encouraging, otherwise it's demotivating and feels like an uphill slog all the time.

"Every music teacher has to be a psychologist as well. Patience, humour, imagination and cunning are all as important to a good teacher as technical knowledge" ..... "Indirect Procedures", an excellent book about Alexander Technique for musicians by Pedro de Alcantara.

It would seem that you teacher is lacking in some of these qualities. It is really important to encourage confidence in students and if you have doubts to be careful with your approach. Who decided to go for grade 7 - you or your teacher? If it was your teacher and he now feels you're not ready, then perhaps it was his error of judgement. A year's preparation should be enough to be ready.

Try recording your pieces and listening to them with a critical ear. Are there areas that really need improvement, or is your teacher being super critical?

I had an experience like this, but the other way round - I had decided I wanted to do grade 8, and my teacher was very encouraging, but I was the one who felt I wasn't ready and put her off every time she wanted to put the entry in. I eventually took it after nearly two years, still feeling I wasn't ready, and passed - not brilliantly, but I'd done my best. I know now with hindsight that what I should have done was to go back to about grade 6 and work up from there (I'd had nearly forty years off from any serious playing), and I feel that my teacher should have suggested this.


I tried doing this and it didn't work - you need someone else to do the testing for you as otherwise you've seen the answer first! I bought the CD too, but this went much too fast - I couldn't even do the lower grade tests on this, which didn't do anything for my confidence either!

Best of luck, whatever you decide to do, and consider looking for another teacher if things don't work out.

In reply to Superpea the suggestion that I do an exam came from me but my teacher decided the level. My teacher, as you have worked out, is hypercritical. He picks up on every bit of phrasing and errant fingering which in some ways is good but he never tells me if I've played something well. His highest compliment is: "Well I don't have much to say about that".

Thanks for the tip about recording myself. I've never tried that.

I did raise my concerns with my teacher during my Tuesday lesson. The upshot of this was that he did feel I was on course for grade 7. I had to ask him for an assessment. He didn't volunteer but when asked directly he did say. His words came as reassurance to me because I felt I was failing because he was pointing out so many areas in which I could improve.

Gwu and Saxmanic made me smile when they talked about distinctions. I'd be pleased with a pass. I did get distinctions as a child but I am not sure that I have the same degree of physical control as I used to have when I was twenty five years younger.

Katyjay suggested looking at some fresh repertoire. I have done this. A couple of weeks ago I took a break from my exam pieces and began work on a Haydn piano sonata. I feel refreshed by tackling new material and I hope this diversion will mean that I can come back to my exam pieces with new eyes and ears.

I think I will stick with my teacher until after the exam. Then I will review matters. After my grade 7 I want to give myself a chance to play without the pressure of working for an exam. The big advantage of my current teacher is that he lives five minutes' bike ride away. I would have to travel further if I were to move to another teacher. I already do that with my bassoon studies. It is possible that I may do that with piano.

Wow, Suepea, you've been elevated to SUPERPEA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Isn't that great ..... thanks, Rhu.



It's well worth travelling to a good teacher.