Piano Grades – Pianodao

‘Hanging on a Cliff of Sorrow’

Pause • Reflect • Sundays on Pianodao
Written by ANDREW EALES

The rather stark title of this week’s Fermata post comes from a quote found in a book written by two of the world’s leading education experts:

“We have piled onto our children stress upon stress, pressure upon pressure, standardised test upon standardised test.
There is no evidence that this has helped our children’s learning or their futures, but we keep doing it, year after year, to millions upon millions of children the world over.
We have done this helplessly, almost involuntarily, like the victims of some sort of hypnotism, like people in a dream, like lemmings heading for the sea…
This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense, for any society or for any child; it is childhood hanging on a cliff of sorrow.”

Pasi Sahlberg & William Doyle: Let the Children Play
(2019, Oxford University Press)

Assuming we respect the research, expertise and authority of Sahlberg and Doyle, as so many leading international organisations and educationalists do, then the strength of their impassioned plea will command our immediate and undivided attention.

Trinity Piano Syllabus 2023

EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES

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The summer months routinely bring a whole new set of piano syllabus publications from one of the major exam boards, and this year it is Trinity College London’s turn.

As ever, I hope my review will explain the most important changes, give readers a first impression of the new publications, and offer some general thoughts on the repertoire selections and direction of travel.

I am going to start by stating that this is a radical update, a riot of invention, but of course that also makes it rather controversial. Questions about whether it offers a comparable and valid educational route are inevitable.

I hope in this review to point towards some answers, based on my perspective as a jobbing piano teacher. So hold on to your hat, and let’s get started!…

Why use Graded Anthologies?

PATHWAYS FOR PLAYING

Supporting Your Piano Playing Journey
Written by ANDREW EALES

It’s hardly a secret that I have long had a somewhat ambivalent attitude towards graded music exams. Certainly, many of my students have found them positive, and over the years it’s been a joy to watch players that I have taught getting distinctions, with plenty of success stories across all eight ABRSM grades and beyond.

But while supporting independent assessment for its recognition and celebration of achievement, I am less enthusiastic about the extent to which a syllabus can skew the curriculum and compartmentalise learning. Worse, pressure (explicit or implicit) to take regular exams can for some cast a long shadow over what should be a joyous journey.

When it comes to Graded Anthologies, I have a more unequivocally positive view. As a general rule, these seem to me to offer most of the benefits of a progressive graded system, with few of the problems that mitigate against effective musical learning, and none of the exam-based issues that can so easily discourage and demotivate players.

Without further ado, here are four key benefits of using Graded Anthologies which I value, and which students have clearly found helpful over the years:

Edition Peters’ Graded Anthologies 2023-24

THE PIANODAO MUSIC LIBRARY

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In recent years, Edition Peters have been publishing anthologies of selected ABRSM Grade 8 pieces, a stroke of publishing genius predicated on the following ABRSM Syllabus statement:

“Candidates may use any edition of the music, except where a particular arrangement or transcription is specified. Editions quoted in the syllabus are given for guidance only and are not obligatory”.

With one of the most extensive music back-catalogues, Edition Peters have found themselves brilliantly placed to jump in with varied anthologies of the best syllabus choices, offering larger compendiums than ABRSM’s own publications (which offer just nine pieces).

With the advent of ABRSM’s 2023-24 Piano Syllabus (reviewed here), Edition Peters are back with a new set of publications which expand on their previous effort in two important ways:

this time, there are collections for Grades 5, 6, 7 and 8
in each volume, Edition Peters include a few own choice pieces in addition to the highlights of the published syllabus

Edition Peters would thus seem to have a more ambitious vision for this series, making it an ever more intriguing proposition. Some will see these books are alternatives to ABRSM’s official syllabus publications, while others will welcome them as hugely useful supplements that present a wider range of alternative piece selections.

In this review, I will offer a side-by-side comparison, listing the included repertoire so that readers can make an informed choice about which to buy, or indeed whether to purchase both…

A Streak of Calm

PATHWAYS FOR WELLBEING

Playing and Living • Beyond the Notes
Written by ANDREW EALES

A few years back I purchased an app called Calm, which has subsequently become one of the most popular mindfulness apps available on iOS and other digital platforms. With its range of guided meditations, ambient music, soundscapes, breathwork exercises and ‘sleep stories’, Calm has grown to become a superb lifestyle resource, and a deserved success.

Interestingly though, Calm also delivers user stats after each session, with a badge showing one’s ‘streaks’ of consecutive days of practice. I’ve regarded this feature with vague amusement; it seems to owe more to the culture of the gambling arcade than to the ethos of the meditation traditions.

There’s even the opportunity to share your official streaks on social media platforms, something I recently did myself having reached the modest achievement of 100 consecutive days, and curious to see whether it would generate much discussion with friends.

But then an odd, and instructive thing happened: it must have been less than a week later that I ‘missed’ a day…

The Gamification of Musical Learning

PATHWAYS FOR TEACHING

Supporting Educators • Promoting Learning
Written by ANDREW EALES

The rise and rise of electronic video, console and computer games over the last two decades has been spectacular. From Pokémon to Grand Theft Auto, and from Minecraft to Wii Sports, games have become hugely popular and lucrative, and some academics even suggest that they are now the dominant cultural form of the 21st century.

In his much-discussed paper Manifesto for a Ludic Century, Eric Zimmerman suggests that while the twentieth century was the age of information and of moving pictures, the twenty-first is the ludic (game-centric) century.

Zimmerman enthuses,

“Increasingly, the ways that people spend their leisure time and consume art, design, and entertainment will be games, or experiences very much like games.”

We certainly see growing evidence of gamification in music education, and in this article I will be considering and reflecting on the transformative impact this may be having, for better or worse…

Nikki Iles & Friends: Easy to Intermediate

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Reviewing the first two volumes in the ABRSM series Nikki Iles and Friends when they appeared in April 2021, I concluded:

“I have no hesitation in declaring this series an “epic win” for ABRSM. Don’t hesitate in getting copies!”

Suitable for intermediate to advanced players (UK Grades 4-8), the books have proven popular with players in my studio here in Milton Keynes and elsewhere. You can read my full review here.

Somewhat sneaking under the radar, a third book has now been added to the series. Nikki Iles & Friends: Easy to Intermediate will, I am certain, have huge appeal to players who are less advanced.

The sensibly age-neutral cover matches the designs of the previous two books, but beyond that there are some points of departure worth noting, so let’s take a closer look…

Singing in Aural Tests: the Bottom Line

PATHWAYS FOR TEACHING

Supporting Educators • Promoting Learning
Written by ANDREW EALES

The topic of singing in aural tests has long been a contentious one, but has become more so in recent years. Not only have growing numbers of teachers noted how unpopular the singing tests are, but research in the field of cognitive science now casts doubt on the previously assumed validity of such tests.

In this article I will explore the requirements of the five main boards, consider the links between singing and “audiation”, touch on some basic scientific research (with links for those wanting to read more) and suggest change.

The Mosaic Series

THE PIANODAO MUSIC LIBRARY

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Mosaic is a series currently comprising four music books, each showcasing fresh and varied repertoire newly commissioned and composed by piano educators from around the world.

The pieces are loosely graded, arranged in order of difficulty, compiled as books suitable for elementary, intermediate and advanced players, and published by Editions Musica Ferrum. A fifth book (reaching towards Grade 8 level) is currently planned.

I am honoured to be one of the composers featured in all four books, alongside such well-established names as Barbara Arens, Ben Crosland, June Armstrong and others.

The collections are a natural addition to the Pianodao Music Library, and while I obviously cannot ‘review’ them in quite the usual way, this article will introduce the series with an overview of the concept, several recordings, and hopefully sufficient information for readers to decide whether to take a closer look.

Women Composers: A Graded Anthology

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Hot on the heels of Karen Marshall’s lovingly curated HerStory from Faber Music, which I recently reviewed here, Schott Music bring us three brilliantly compiled and vividly presented collections of music by neglected female composers past and present.

Melanie Spanswick’s Women Composers: A Graded Anthology is equally as groundbreaking, and being a larger series these books offer space to a wider and more diverse range of repertoire, particularly in their inclusion of playful jazz and 20th century piano works.

It is interesting to note that of the 30 works in Marshall’s book and the 52 more here, not only are there no actual duplicates, but few of the composers themselves appear twice, an extraordinary confirmation (were it needed) that the pool of neglected music by female composers is a deep one indeed.

So let’s cast an eye over Spanswick’s series…