What do you think of Studying and practicing only 3 pieces for a year, and nothing else?
Just imagine studying 3 books, reading and re-reading them for a year or more and nothing else. JUST those THREE books.
What do you think of learning songs or pieces for months, even years to ‘perfect’ them as best as possible before performing them?
In other words, what do you think of music exams?
I say 3 pieces because that’s the standard number of pieces for a graded exam under ABRSM and Trinity College, two of the biggest examination boards in music alongside Royal College of Music.
Formally, I’ve been studying in the classical music environment and can say that it’s what I’m most familiar with as of late. Before this, the pop music/production environment was way more chill and less uptight, but that’s another topic for another day. Just my impression though my friends from these streams confirmed that. But I’m not sure about that on a wider scale beyond just my school.
I’m going to approach this from the classical music angle since it’s most familiar to me, and I, along with others that I know of when we hear ‘classical music education’, associate this a lot with the exam learning format.
There are two sides to the coin.
First, let’s talk positives.
You’ll have to learn the pieces really, really in-depth, and the process feels like preparing for a performance (which it is, just a graded one).
You will have to know these great pieces inside out. Really well, if you practice them right.
You gain so much from such a thorough learning process, and the time you spend to better each piece you play will be worth the effort. The more time you spend on something, the more you’re bound to improve on it. Technique, musicality and repertoire wise.
The exam syllabus exposes you to a wide range of songs and repertoires, some of which you otherwise might not have known because they’re so little known to the public!
Performance exposure! Even if it’s two just 1-2 adjudicators. They’re still your audience!
Now, the negatives are based on common practices, (as some of us may agree on)
You spend months and years learning the same few pieces. Learning and practising others take away focus and spotlight from these.
How to tackle:
Please don’t only practice those exam pieces. They sure are important. But your sanity and passion matter more. Rotate and expose yourself to music beyond these 3 to 4 pieces (or beyond your repertoire list, even for that period).
You’re good at those number of pieces. You’re stuck with them for this time until your exam. In the meantime, since the bulk, if not all of your practice time is spent on these pieces already, It can feel stuck-ish, and you get sick of these pieces quickly.
You might even get drained and feel demotivated to practice. You might even feel your love for music diminish as you find that pointless. You’re just doing it for an exam, even though it’s the same as preparing for any other non-examined performances — but that’s also not for everybody! → just me? Okay.
How to tackle:
Play the pieces that get you excited to play music in the first place from time to time. Practice and play what fires you up, what you’d love to hear. What you’d love for your family to hear in the house.
Try exploring pieces beyond your genre. If you’re a classical musician, try playing pop arrangements or jazz standards. Pop musicians? Try jazz, perhaps, since your knowledge of pop chords could be applicable and taken to the next level with jazz harmonies.
There are many certified musicians. I mean, those who have probably passed and did well in every exam they’ve taken. From the graded ones to diploma levels (difficulty level is roughly that of a college degree). But some of them are probably unable to improvise, analyse the harmonies on the page, or even tell you what’s on a page without referring to a book.
I think the biggest factor is the importance we place on certification, sometimes more than skills. It’s a way to show qualification and credibility. Parents want their kids to pass exams. They just want to see the certification as proof of learning, just like passing exams in school. Get an A, a pass, or an F. Which I can sort of understand since parents who are non-musicians only know the same way to measure ‘success of learning’ the same way as academic learning. And since exams are a thing in music, why not think of it the same way?
But that’s the same as passing exams in school and returning everything you’ve learned in school back to your teacher after the exams!
Whether you score an A, a pass, or less — which is all okay, we all learn differently!
But this creative art form will be measured with the same ‘learning’ system as the one in schools that we and our kids live in. We’re just passing exams, not learning.
Maybe the fault isn’t in the exam system. But the emphasis we put on them.