Ukulele Grades

farmerboy

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I've done a search and can't see this already posted, but please put me right if it has.

GrumpyOldMan put me on to Victoria Examinations yesterday, who are offering graded exams in ukulele. Although it doesn't really appeal to me directly, I am a school teacher and know of 60 uke players in the school. At least some of them may enjoy or 'get something out of', doing performance grades on their ukes. What I worry about is the validity of Victoria Examinations...

...In the UK, The Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM), Trinity Guildhall, Rockschool and London School of Music (LSM) exams all carry UCAS (university entrance) points, post Grade 6 and look great on the CV because they're verified by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA). The Victoria exams are a FOR profit organisation and therefore their primarily in it for the money.

As a professional music educator it is hard for me to justify kids spending £25+ per exam to get a piece of paper that means 'nothing' in the bigger picture, even though it may mean something to the kids.

So what do you think? Should I recommend it to them or just keep it to myself?
 
The only way I can see that these exams would help pupils with their UCAS would be to include the VCM grades in the personal statement as from experience pupils often struggle to qualify their statements regarding personal interests. Do the grades match up in terms of difficulty to the ABRSM grades? I have to say I quite fancy some of these exams myself!
 
I was approached to write some grade pieces for VSM, so please let me know what you discover. I had a talk with Colin Tribe, who last I heard was the only arranger of graded ukulele pieces. They also only went up to Grade 5 at that point.

I would assume that there is no possibility of UCAS points in the near future, but it's probably on par with doing other extra-curricular/voluntary work. It still looks good, shows commitment, etc.
 
I'm not a big fan of grades.

Sure, put grades on them "normal" conventional instruments like piano, trumpet, violin...

I'd rather the uke was spared the strict repertoire/curriculum.
For me, the instrument represents freedom from the mundane things like grades.


(but I guess there are also pro's of being a comprehensive learning program for those who wish to learn that way...)
 
I'm not a big fan of grades.

Sure, put grades on them "normal" conventional instruments like piano, trumpet, violin...

I'd rather the uke was spared the strict repertoire/curriculum.
For me, the instrument represents freedom from the mundane things like grades.


(but I guess there are also pro's of being a comprehensive learning program for those who wish to learn that way...)
We nevah have "grades" in ukulele class growing up in Hawaii. Das pilau if u ask me! You only got ding if you nevah show up fo class! Grades only spawn "elitism" if u ask me! Aloha!
 
To grade a student on any instrument is horrible in my opinion. Music is not a competition. Everybody advances at their own rate. Same with everything else (math, etc...). There should be no pressure in learning. Only one's own drive for knowledge.

I would not recommend it. It's kind of like parents who want their child to play. That's fine, but does your child want to play? If not, everybody is wasting their time trying to teach him or her.
 
I think some people need a target. It's just how they're built. I teach music, and don't have a grade on a single instrument. But having taught lots of young boys music, there are those who come in beaming because they got 64 on their Grade 1 Nose Whistle, or practice with more focus because they've got their Grade 4 Alto Sax coming up. Obviously, grades CAN be bad. Parental pressure. Artifical timing of enthusiasm. But having seen them up close, they're not the monster some think they are.
 
Thanks Ian - the grades or not argument has been there since instrumental exams were introduced many years ago and I hope it continues to be so. I, for example, have a 1st class degree in Popular Music from a prestigious college, but only grade 1 on any instrument. When I auditioned for my college place I was told I was over qualified though. Not because I had passed graded exams (obviously), but because I had done it - played music professionally on radio, TV, theatre, film, concerts, tours etc after leaving school. The point - it is more important to get professional experience than to have pieces of paper - to be able to DO the job, than to simply say you can. Not everyone is as lucky as I was, however, and for some musicians it is important to get the grades to get the university place to get the contacts to get the jobs. For me it was a chance to fill some gaps in my learning and to experience being a student.

Some instruments - you need the grades to go this route, but ukulele? Maybe not. This is why I posted the thread. I'm still undecided...
 
To grade a student on any instrument is horrible in my opinion. Music is not a competition. Everybody advances at their own rate. Same with everything else (math, etc...). There should be no pressure in learning. Only one's own drive for knowledge.

I would not recommend it. It's kind of like parents who want their child to play. That's fine, but does your child want to play? If not, everybody is wasting their time trying to teach him or her.

i generally agree with you, but this i will have to respectfully disagree with. when i was little (4-9yrs old), my parents made me take piano. i hated it. i was so happy when they gave me the choice of piano or baseball. now i wish they would have kept me in piano even though i disliked it.

i have studied music on a college level and each year you have to be at a certain level to move on to the next year in school. this is a "basic" level they expect people to be at. ukulele may be different, but without some pressure, you will become lazy and not grow. i have experience with that too. most humans are lazy and if they don't need to try, they won't exert the effort.

and if music isn't a competition, ask anyone who is trying to get into an orchestra how un-competition-like music really is. professional orchestras people are blood-thirsty. it's like a business, they will take any advantage possible to get ahead of you. ukulele players are different for the most part because generally people play to relax and have fun.
 
I reckon this is why people use forums like this and post stuff to youtube - the pressure can be self-inflicted too and the thrill of performance is enough of a carrot for most of us to keep plugging away so we don't disappoint ourselves (or the audience) when we step up in public or on a public forum.
 
I'm not a big fan of grades.

Sure, put grades on them "normal" conventional instruments like piano, trumpet, violin...

Old Conventional instruments can and should be graded. Mainly as performances are not improve, its how close tot the sheet music you are.

Uke grading would be great in theory for me at least. But how in the world would you grade say a blues riff or melody when a lot of uke is improve would be hard.
 
Suggestion:

Grade 1: Elephant Town (and other 1 chord wonders)
Grade 2: You are my sunshine (and other 2 chord wonders)
Grade 3: Competence in 3 chord songs, basic strumming techniques
Grade 4: Competence in intermediate strumming techniques, basic to intermediate plucking
Grade 5: Competence in advanced strumming and plucking techniques
Grade 6: A hundred subs on youtube, partial "Musical theory" competence
Grade 7: Aldrine, when asked about your up and coming skills, responds sarcastically with "who?". Full "Musical theory" competence.
Grade 8: The Jake/James syndicate dispatches ninjas to sabotage your ukulele
Grade 9: The RIAA sues you for playing the "C" chord. As we all know, the "C" chord is a vital component of the song "Happy Birthday", whose copyright is owned and routinely extended by Warner Music Group (WMG). WMG therefore owns the "C" chord and will protect and enforce its Intellectual Property ownership rights. WMG owns you. You will submit your first born to WMG's "reeducation camps".
Grade 10: The end of the internet. No one has beaten the big boss yet.

Any thoughts?
 
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Old Conventional instruments can and should be graded. Mainly as performances are not improve, its how close tot the sheet music you are.

Uke grading would be great in theory for me at least. But how in the world would you grade say a blues riff or melody when a lot of uke is improve would be hard.

what you said doesn't work. if you are a serious player of a conventional instrument, you still have to be creative and play things that are not on the sheet music. ever heard of a cadence? ever hear of embelishing?

sorry to be on the defensive here, but i don't understand why so many people think people with "traditional" music training have no music "soul" and don't know how to be creative. music is an ART. it is meant for you to be creative and put your own take on music. the notes on a page of music are nothing but a guideline. besides, jazz classes are graded all the way through college and don't tell them they're not being individualistic on a blues riff because they're being graded.

if done right, teaching kids the uke will be good. i did it in school. we did recorder and uke. it rekindled my love for music and got me into playing the trumpet and bassoon (and eventually the uke again).
 
what you said doesn't work. if you are a serious player of a conventional instrument, you still have to be creative and play things that are not on the sheet music. ever heard of a cadence? ever hear of embelishing?

s

I play classical piano and played the violin for 10 years up to the youth philharmonic in LA. There is NO improve in classical music, there is no cadence if its not in the sheet, there is no free form. Its how close to the sheet you can get PERIOD> in grading.
 
I play classical piano and played the violin for 10 years up to the youth philharmonic in LA. There is NO improve in classical music, there is no cadence if its not in the sheet, there is no free form. Its how close to the sheet you can get PERIOD> in grading.

sorry, i realized this morning my error. it's a cadenza, not cadence. you obviously knew what i was talking about tho haha.

i'm sorry you had creativity restricting instructors. as a violinist, you must not have had too many opportunities to play solos. cadenzas don't have to be written in. some pieces now have the "traditional" cadenza written in, but what a cadenza was used for was to really show off a soloists abilities before the end of the piece. they were generally totally improvised. i have made up my own cadenzas.

if you want to read something interesting about cadenzas, check out the wikipedia article about it.

as for being a classical pianist, have you never improvised part of your music or embellished a piece you were playing? i suck at piano, but my wife is a concert pianist. her first teacher, like most japanese, believe you have to stay right with the music 100%, even though they do want you to be artistic and not a robot; her second teacher encouraged her to start branching out and be daring with the music. the way you're talking, you make it sound like people who take traditional music classes are robots. it's true that normal people in music classes are graded on how well they play the music. but there is a bit of pressure to go beyond that. in music, like anything else, you can give your minimum and get by and still get a good grade. but to excel, you have to become more than that and put your soul and individual elements into what you play. while those people who just "play" do get A's, those who are individualistic and creative go beyond that and get scholarships.

so, if there is no improv in classical music and you have to do the music EXACTLY how it's written on the paper, why is every recording of the same song different? no two recordings are the same. like i said before, sheet music is just a guideline.
 
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Grade 9: The RIAA sues you for playing the "C" chord. As we all know, the "C" chord is a vital component of the song "Happy Birthday", whose copyright is owned and routinely extended by Warner Music Group (WMG). WMG therefore owns the "C" chord and will protect and enforce its Intellectual Property ownership rights. WMG owns you. You will submit your first born to WMG's "reeducation camps".

We could just use the D chord?
 
I can't help but feel that it's the teachers that let us down as far as creativity and improvisation go (speaking as a teacher myself). If I hadn't sought out tuition or taught myself much of my music making I would never have known that improvisation was possible. For many young people learning music for grades (and therefore not just for fun), it is a technical exercise based on getting the notes in the right pitch and the right order. Even dynamic contrast has to be dictated and kids (like me) who disagree with the "suggested" dynamics are immediately wrong.

There are loads of teachers out there like this - because they're the ones who don't DO it - because that's how they were taught themselves. It seems a shame to me that so much creative freedom and enjoyment is discouraged from a young age. Music has similarities to maths, but that's not what it is. Music is the creative organisation of sounds, but it must also provoke an emotional response to be meaningful and that means it has to be played with genuine emotion (i.e. not necessarily someone else's emotions).

I teach improvisation as soon as the kids are able enough and their creative work improves by leagues (and grades, interestingly), when they get the hang of it after only three or four lessons. My previous colleague refused to teach the same scheme of work as she felt it unfair to the kids to make them do something she "couldn't do herself". She was, of course, an excellent musician in every other regard; a graduate of the Royal Northern School of Music, trained opera singer, choir leader, conductor and amazing pianist (could sight read diploma standard pieces!). Improvising with just three notes, however? Impossible.
 
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