The Russian pianist Evgeny Kissin has performed and recorded both Chopin's piano concerti at the age of 12. Argentinian pianist Daniel Barenboim has recorded the complete Beethoven piano sonatas (that is more than 700 pages of piano music) during 1966- 1969 when he was only about 22- 25 years old.

Realising the examples above, you would not be surprised by a young primary school student who can pass grade 8 piano exam which often requires only playing one movement of a sonata plus a few other pieces (usually shorter ones in different styles).

Indeed passing a grade 8 exam is a milestone in many students’ piano studies. Sadly, it is often regarded as the final destination of the journey of learning the instrument. That means just by the time a student reaches the level of playing concert pieces by the great composers in the music history, they stop learning, or parents would think that’s enough.  

 

This can be due to the fact that it took too long for them to go from beginner to grade 8 level and even before reaching grade 8 some may have already given up. Another reason could be the fact that without understanding the fundamentals in music and piano techniques students would have to practice by rote for long time to achieve the fluency and the expression required in piano performance. The number of repetition can be irritating and that kills they joy of playing the piano and although going through so much pain, learning by rote does not promise a secure and expressive performance which make piano students anxious and not confident.  

Therefore when we teach piano, we must not just feed the students piece after piece without developing their music and technical skills.

I always tell my students there is no one single piece of music everyone has to play in order to prove they reach a certain level of playing. Two students can both pass the grade 8 piano exam but playing completely different pieces. Therefore once I see a student is capable of understanding the next level of musical concepts and work on the technique required, I will challenge them with a so-called higher level repertoire. In a way, a piece with many notes such as a Chopin etude, although seems more complex, at times can be easier for young students to express themselves as there are so many notes they can use to paint the colours and make the contrast, while an expressive piece with less notes such as a Mazurka or a Waltz can be much less straight forward with great demands of nuance in order to make them sound right. 

I make sure students and parents understand that when passing the Grade 8 piano exam, the door of classical music has just opened. It is a milestone but certain not the final stop. We try to reach there as soon as possible and then we should explore the masterpieces written by great composers such as J. S. Bach, Scarlatti, Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Chopin, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Faure, Debussy, Ravel, Scriabin, Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev. There is a whole lot of knowledge about composition technique, styles, expressions and tone colours for all of us to explore. With this mentality and my systematic methods, many students did achieve that and within a few years they not only reach grade 8 standard, but even passed the diploma exams (AMusA and LMusA). 

A good classical piano training is the best gift all of us as a teacher could give to our students and it has been a great pleasure for me to be able to help my students.