Many of us are 'in the thick of it' with our pupils (we hope!) peaking as they approach their exams.

However, (and I am well aware that this does depend on the pupil and the level), how long do you spend before you start to approach the next level's exam pieces.

I'm after a bit of a 'straw poll' and a general interest in the experiences of other teachers and learners.

My main instrument's the piano. I have some pupils whom I know are ready to move on more quickly, yet I'd like them to gain some breadth. I have others who won't be ready for a little while. I also have a few 'pushy parents' and need to help them give their children some air!

Looking forwards to hearing your experiences (sorry if this one's been done before, couldn't find it when I had a look through past threads).

As a general rule, I don't do more than one practical exam a year with my students - I think it takes up too much time otherwise. For a very fast-moving student I might skip a grade rather than do more exams. The general pattern of my year for most students is

Autumn Term - Practical exams and Christmas concert

Spring Term - preparation for our local Festival and repertoire work

Summer Term - Theory exams and Summer Concert - start scales etc for next exam

Interesting, SueHM. Well done on being different. I think that most people tend to leave the AB exams until the summer term. Given the awful slowness of the results this time last year and the bureaucratic clogging up of the system, the excuse they made was that there had been an unprecedented number of entries for that Period B. Most people (here in northern Ireland in particular) regard period C as the least viable option, given our lengthy 2-month summer holiday, during which little practice is done. I will be the reverse of your procedure this incoming year. One theory entry in Nov/Dec '08 and some practical ones at Easter.

I'm glad to see that you are certainly not a examination factory, what with the little concerts and festivals etc. They certainly need a breather as you say and they need to pick up as wide a repertoire as is possible, taking account of teacher's and pupil's tastes.

LR

I teach privately, so tend to keep going through the holidays (at least a few lessons, not every week) for those who are doing an exam the following term. I seem to have evolved this pattern over a few years and it suits most people. I find the Summer term is taken out by school exams for many. September seems to be a good time to knuckle down - start of a new school year. I don't accept the 'no practice over the holidays' malarkey - as far as I'm concerned, holidays are an ideal time to do extra practice and make some real progress!

Also, I don't aim for particular exam blocks. For me it's simply a case of if the student is ready to play material from a grade then we will start looking at it and i will enter them when I'm satisfied they are coping comfortably with the syllabus requirements...doesn't matter when it is.

I teach throughout the year (no breaks for school holidays). I have two exam sessions a year - April and October (special visits), two student concerts, including duets and lots of group harmony work, in June and December, and festivals are in March, May and November. Theory exams are the AB ones obviously, but I tend only to enter for grade 5, preferring to do practice papers for the others, as they never seem tp peak "at the right time", so we move on rather than hold back.
With his constant flow of goals, I find that my students are continually working towards something and their achievement level since I have been doing this routine (three years) has been exponential, and commented on by the audiences at the concerts.

Thank you. It's very refreshing to read similar outlooks. I prefer range and repertoire to exam factory any day, it's sometimes hard to stick to guns with pushy parents as it never serves the child's interest, but I do try to!

grade 1-5 my teacher made me go straight form one exam to the next, grade 6/7 i had a different teacher who really made me enjoy piano again, we did lots of fun stuff as well as pieces, then i got sick of him becasue he never stuck at anything and kept missing my lessons.
So I swapped again about grade 7 ish, didn;t take the exam, but did the work, then spent a year doing 'fun' stuff, before satrting grade 8 prep. Have just done grade 8 so (fingers crossed) will be doing only fun stuff from now on.

I'd say it's best to ahve gaps beteeen exams, so that a pupil is not constantly working for exams. it took the enjoyment out of playing for me doing it like that.
x

I'm beginning to favour the exams just before Easter. Although I've just been very successful with a group who have taken exams this term, in general I find the end of the summer term a real pain with various end of year activities lined up in school and affecting practising, or having to ask the AB to avoid particular weeks if possible.

I do believe in having a break for other repertoire between exams, and am just experimenting with the "Best of grade ...." series that's quite new in the shops. This has a 2-fold effect - it keeps parents quiet because they see child has a grade x book (so teacher must be thinking about the exam sometime soon) and I can monitor child's progress according to the way they cope with the material in the book. Then when I feel the time is right I'll bring out the exam book. I do dislike the way some parents look to the next grade before the ink is dry on the last certificate.

I haven't seen the Best of Grade books. Just done a google, but can't find examples of the contents. I notice it's compiled by Anthony Williams, so I would think they would be good choices.

How are you finding them? Do you consider them Best of Grade, or has Anthony developed with a weird sense of humour