Article source: MILU Music

I once met a mother who was preparing to learn something with her child. When we met for the first time about musical instruments, I hadn’t decided what to study yet, so I asked: How long will it take for my child to pass the tenth level exam?

I told him that now the exams are usually held once a year, or twice a year, or as quickly as five years. So the mother hesitated, pacing back and forth in the room, mumbling to herself: Why is it taking so long?

At that time, I couldn’t help but silently complained in my heart: With this mentality, why should I learn the piano? Isn’t it just a fool’s errand?

It may be different from what you think. These days, level ten is nothing at all. And on the contrary, those who are really good at playing the piano never take any exams.

To popularize a little knowledge, all musical instrument "grading exams" sponsored by domestic institutions are amateur grade exams. Professionals do not do that at all. Take piano as an example. Piano amateur level 10 is placed in the primary school attached to the Central Conservatory of Music, which is the level of fourth grade children.

When you meet a major student from a conservatory of music, if you ask them, what level are you? This is simply swearing. If you have a bad temper, you may fall out with you on the spot.

Over the years, the grading examination itself has become more and more unreliable, and it means even less.

How can you tell that it is getting watery? First, the difficulty of grade-level examination songs is decreasing. The same piece of music may have been a grade-4 test piece in the past, but now it may be a grade-5 or even grade-6 exam piece.

On the other hand, the requirements for the completion of the music are also decreasing. As long as you can basically play without any major accidents, the examiner will turn a blind eye. Many children who have passed Level 10 are still far from the technical requirements of Level 10.

The speed on the score is clearly marked at 120. You might be able to pass it if you play it at 90 - yes, it’s just that bad.

But when I was a child, the grade examination was actually not good at all. If someone passes Level 10, in our opinion, he is as good as taking the exam at Peking University and Tsinghua University. He is forced to do so.

At the end of 1987, the Guangzhou Piano Society held our country’s first piano examination, and only more than 40 people signed up. But just one year later, in 1988, the Shanghai Musician Association organized the first piano examination, and more than 300 people participated.

Ten years later, in 1998, the number of people taking the exams exceeded 70,000. Another ten years later, by 2007, in Shanghai alone, the number of people taking the exams each year exceeded 250,000. Calculate the growth rate , It is not an exaggeration at all to say that there are millions of people taking the exam today.

But here comes the problem. The number of students is increasing rapidly, and there are not so many examiners!

The Chinese Musicians Association once revealed that there are 30 million children in China learning piano, but less than 20 will eventually enter a music conservatory. Wan, there are only a few professionals, and those who can serve as examiners usually have to be teachers with some qualifications. How is this enough?

So during the exam, I couldn’t finish listening to a piece of music, I could only listen to one section, and then ended it hastily. I didn’t have time to write a good comment, so I just wrote a few sentences. After all, my energy is limited, and I listened to so much just like a wheel battle. , very tired!

As exams become more and more popular, this business will naturally become more and more popular.

First of all, it is the organizer of each grade examination. If you want to take their grade, you have to buy their textbooks and pay the registration fee. They hope that the more people can take the exam, the better, so that there will always be someone to pay them. money.

There are also training institutions that work together with examination units to make money. Their promotional slogans are such as 100% pass rate for grade 8 in three years, and the tuition fees for each period are huge.

Now you jump out and say that your exams are too poor and will bring disgrace to the entire art industry! My friend, cutting off someone’s wealth is like killing one’s parents!

What’s more, taking the exam is easy, which is exactly what parents want.

In the past, after three years of study, you could only take the CET-4 test. Now, after three years of study, you can take the CET-6 test. When mothers meet, they ask, "Your child has only passed the CET-8 test?" My child has already passed grade 10.

Does Beier have face?

As for whether the piano playing level is solid, whether the child likes to play, how is the musical literacy, what? What's there to be concerned about? I'm level ten! Are you?

It is even more suffocating to meet unreasonable parents.

In the early years, examiners would still write their comments seriously. If you didn’t play well, the examiner would directly criticize and point out problems. However, some parents, seeing the examiner's harsh words, go online to criticize and complain.

Although such parents are not the mainstream, but as long as they happen a few times, is it not enough? So later on, everyone learned the lesson and didn’t write any comments or criticisms in the grade examination. Isn’t it okay to say hello to me and hello to everyone?

Examiners do not have the energy to be strict, institutions have no motivation to be strict, and parents are not willing to be strict. With the combined efforts of these three parties, the grade examination will naturally become more and more difficult.

Therefore, this kind of certificate can only be used to brag to people who don’t know how to play. If you are really good at playing, you will never say what level you are.

But sometimes, it is not useless at all. For example, in the college entrance examination, there is a saying of "artistic students". The registration conditions usually require, You have the highest grade examination certificate.

The policy for students with special talents changes every year, but it is not a new thing. I had it when I was a child. Nowadays, universities generally accept applications in the name of "high-level art troupes": each school posts a notice in advance to tell everyone what musical instrument players we are planning to select this year and how many of each instrument.

Not every university is qualified. In 2019, there were 53 schools qualified to recruit high-level orchestra students, and without exception, they are all 985/211 universities.

So many parents started to think about it, thinking, wouldn’t it be great if they could get extra points on this?

But the reality is cruel. Most of the time, parents are just dreaming: just having a certificate is useless.

The certificate is only a registration qualification, and the final selection is still an on-site test. Mark the key points and take the test on the spot! Again, it’s an on-site test – no one cares what certificate you have, whether it’s a mule or a horse, you still have to be taken out for a walk.

There are only a few schools and a few musical instruments. Each instrument only recruits one or two people. This competition is almost the same as the college entrance examination. It is still a matter of thousands of troops crossing a single-plank bridge.

As you all know, as long as you don’t practice a musical instrument for a few days, your level will gradually drop. If you want these extra points, spend every day playing the instrument. Not to mention too much time, half an hour or an hour is enough, right? Wouldn't it be better for you to use this time for cultural classes? Ten points and twenty points, isn’t it just a big question?

There are many children with special talents in the streets, but the extra points policy may not necessarily keep up with them every year. Policies vary every year, but the trend is becoming less and less strict. Instead of messing around with this policy just for the sake of scores, you might as well study two more sets of papers in a down-to-earth manner.

In a word, art is never a shortcut. If you want to gain something, you must be prepared to work hard. As difficult as mathematics and English are, it is just as difficult to practice piano.

What's more, parents are indeed very smart, but the teachers they select are not fools.

If you want a certificate, yes, I can give you a certificate, just be open-minded (gei) and (qian)~~ But there are other ways to screen out those bastards during the actual selection. Certificate water student.

For example, at the same level, it may be easy to "pass", but "excellent" is very difficult. If a certificate alone cannot identify students who practice piano seriously, then just draw the line to "excellent", is that okay?

For example, it is easy to take the grade exam, but it is difficult to take the regular orchestra exam. If the examination certificate changes, can I change the starting requirement to having performance experience in a regular orchestra?

For another example, the public examination has become easier. Can I add other more difficult examinations?

Starting in 2005, the Shanghai piano grading examination added a performance-level examination, and in 2006 a more difficult improvisational accompaniment-level examination was added; in 2009, Guangdong began to trial a new "applied piano grading examination" model.

Is it irritating?

At this point, you probably understand what the grade exam is about.

If you are an adult and learn piano by yourself, there is no need to take the exam and it is a waste of money. If you are determined to play the piano and practice it every day in a down-to-earth manner, that is the right way.

Maybe you don’t have children yet, but when the day comes that you become a parent, I hope you won’t become the kind of bad parent who insists on destroying children for their own vanity.

When your child learns piano, there is nothing wrong with taking exams to give him a staged goal, but don’t think that everything will be fine with the certificate. Let your child like music and let the instrument accompany him. The rest of your life is much more important than an empty certificate.

After all, the music is so beautiful, how can you only have one certificate in your eyes?