Guitar exams for children in dublin

stateofflux

Hi,

my nephew is 12 year old is becoming quite good on guitar. His mother is interested is him getting exams / grades.

would anyone know the best place to do this? , she did mention the royal academy do it.

any help appreciated:)

il gatto

stateofflux wrote: »

Hi,

my nephew is 12 year old is becoming quite good on guitar. His mother is interested is him getting exams / grades.

would anyone know the best place to do this? , she did mention the royal academy do it.

any help appreciated:)

They exist but your lack of responses probably indicate how most people feel about them. Many guitarist are completely self taught, most partially self taught. Grades are anathema to most guitarists.
I suppose I would say buy him a Led Zep/ZZ Top/GnR album and point him at YouTube. Why suck the fun out of it at that age? If he wants to take the piano approach of exams and grades, let him do that himself in a few years.

endacl

il gatto wrote: »

They exist but your lack of responses probably indicate how most people feel about them. Many guitarist are completely self taught, most partially self taught. Grades are anathema to most guitarists.
I suppose I would say buy him a Led Zep/ZZ Top/GnR album and point him at YouTube. Why suck the fun out of it at that age? If he wants to take the piano approach of exams and grades, let him do that himself in a few years.

Many are self under-or-badly taught though. What if the young fella hears zz/zep/gnr and hates it? There's nothing wrong with sitting down with a qualified tutor. There's also nothing wrong with grades if the student is happy to do them. There's definitely nothing wrong with learning good habits, as opposed to being stunted by bad ones. YouTube won't tell you when you're doing it wrong. It won't tell you when a minor adjustment might make all the difference. It won't let you know if the tutor is full of cr4p.

Guitar is weird. I've met many who have made the instrument a central fact of their life, yet refuse to acknowledge that there's anything to 'learn'! Grades certainly aren't 'anathema' to most guitarists. They may not suit many. They're certainly not necessary. I've never been asked to produce certificates before being booked. They are nice little milestones to some, and rewarding acknowledgement to others. In fact, most of my students don't bother with them at all. 'Anathema'? Inverse snobbery of a particularly humorous kind. Piano players don't do that.



Where are they based OP? I'll make a recommendation based on who I know teaching in the area.

Edit: the lack of responses probably doesn't indicate how most people feel about grades. It probably indicates that people didn't see/open the thread. I only noticed it when it was bumped by silly advice.

il gatto

endacl wrote: »

Many are self under-or-badly taught though. What if the young fella hears zz/zep/gnr and hates it? There's nothing wrong with sitting down with a qualified tutor. There's also nothing wrong with grades if the student is happy to do them. There's definitely nothing wrong with learning good habits, as opposed to being stunted by bad ones. YouTube won't tell you when you're doing it wrong. It won't tell you when a minor adjustment might make all the difference. It won't let you know if the tutor is full of cr4p.

Guitar is weird. I've met many who have made the instrument a central fact of their life, yet refuse to acknowledge that there's anything to 'learn'! Grades certainly aren't 'anathema' to most guitarists. They may not suit many. They're certainly not necessary. I've never been asked to produce certificates before being booked. They are nice little milestones to some, and rewarding acknowledgement to others. In fact, most of my students don't bother with them at all. 'Anathema'? Inverse snobbery of a particularly humorous kind. Piano players don't do that.



Where are they based OP? I'll make a recommendation based on who I know teaching in the area.

Edit: the lack of responses probably doesn't indicate how most people feel about grades. It probably indicates that people didn't see/open the thread. I only noticed it when it was bumped by silly advice.

Bless. Aren't we testy?
The lad is twelve. He can make the decision on "milestones" himself when he is ready. Regimentation of learning an instrument is often what turns kids off. How many failed pianists are there out there?
I've assumed the lad is taking lessons as is. His tutor can point out his mistakes. The Led Zep etc. advice was a light hearted attempt at suggesting he is let play that which he may want to learn not what is specified to attain a grade.
You disagree, fine. "Inverse snobbery", not even slightly. I'm a realist. A show of hands at an open mic night or even a jazz session might indicate how many guitarists do grades.
I've taught many people in my 20 years playing. Some good, some bad. None ever wanted to do their grades and I felt most wouldn't have really benefitted from doing them.
As I said, disagree by all means. My advice is no less valid because you have deemed it "silly".