Convention Session - June 2015

Did you miss the MMTA Convention this year?

Here's a few reminders from the Piano Exam Development Committee's session.

Our session was titled, Getting Started with Piano Exams, Part 2:  Repertoire Selection.  The big question on everyone's mind was, Part 2?  Where is Part 1?

Part 1 was last year's session.  It covered topics like, using the syllabus as your studio's core curriculum, helpful resources, building your studio library, getting parents on board, what to expect at the exam, and how to help your students benefit from the written critique.  A number of these topics were turned into newsletter articles and blog posts.  Check out the link to all our Getting Started articles.

We reminded our session attendees that the primary resources needed to get started with exams are the Piano Syllabus, Piano Exam Prep Packet, and Resource Reference.  These three items are available in the MMTA Store for the bargain price of $30!

To help visual learners with keyboard skills, we are in the process of developing a print resource showing all the keyboard skills required at each level.  The Prep, Level One and Level Two keyboard skills are available to members at no charge -- download from the Member Resource area of the MMTA website. (Log in to access.)

Another new resource for members is the Repertoire Substitutions: 5 Year Contest List database. This is also in the Member Resources area of the website - log in to access.  Here you can search previous contest lists for repertoire suitable for your student.

Watch for our next blog posts, where we will share panelist suggestions for repertoire selections.

Piano Exam Repertoire: Substitutions Made Easy

By Kirsten Levorson, NCTM

Choosing repertoire for our students taking piano exams can be a complicated business.  We consult the syllabus lists for music that will appeal to the student and match their skill level, we consider the books the student already owns, we consider how the piano exam repertoire fits with other contests and festivals the student will prepare in the same year.  Sometimes it all fits together easily, and other times we need to dig a little deeper to find just the right combination of pieces.

Fortunately, our options include repertoire from the MMTA Contest lists for the current year and four previous years.  That’s a lot of choices! It can be a challenge to remember which year’s list can be used, keep together all the corrections and clarifications, and have all those choices at your fingertips.

MMTA has recently developed an online tool to help you manage those substitution choices and find pieces for your students easily.  Log into the members’ area of the website at www.mnmusicteachers.com and go to https://www.mnmusicteachers.com/repertoire-substitution-list. 

Here you have a searchable database of all the eligible Contest pieces from the combined five year list. You can search by composer, title of the composition, anthology or source, Contest year or level, or Piano Exam level and musical style period (Baroque, Classical, Romantic, Impressionist, 20^th Century and Beyond).

Let’s say you have a student preparing for Piano Exam level four.  You have selected Baroque, Classical and 20^th Century pieces from the syllabus lists, and you’d like to substitute a Burgmuller piece for the Romantic list, but you can’t find your contest lists and don’t remember whether the piece was on the list four years ago or six.  So you go to the Repertoire Substitutions page, enter Burgmuller in the Composer field and level four in the PE Level field. 

Click the Search button, and here are the first of many results shown.

That was easy!

• ·        You can search by the name of an anthology or book title to select pieces from a book your student already owns. 
• ·        Search results indicate at which Piano Exam levels a Contest piece may be used.
• ·        Search results include Notes about using the piece – whether or not to take repeats, for instance.
• ·        Search results also verify the list (Baroque, Classical, Romantic, Impressionist, 20^th Century) where the piece can be substituted for piano exams.  No more guessing and risking an error message.

We hope this new tool helps you plan your students’ repertoire choices with ease.

**Please let us know how this tool works for you – our long term goal is to have all the repertoire for the 2020 edition of syllabus available in a similar searchable database.

Syllabus Savvy

by Elaine Wipf

How is your Syllabus Savvy?  Are you able to maximize the teaching resources of the syllabus?  The syllabus, PEPP, and resource list are valuable tools that will help you with many aspects of teaching.   Certainly the syllabus helps with exam preparation, but the syllabus also is a wonderful resource for planning curriculum, evaluating student level and needs, and determining the available options for printed music.  The syllabus is truly a teacher’s helper.

The syllabus is in three sections, the Syllabus (repertoire lists and requirements for each level), PEPP, and the ResourceList.  These three sections work together to help guide you and your student through exam preparation.  The syllabus contains level appropriate lists of repertoire.  This is a great way to plan curriculum, not only for the current level but in planning ahead for advancement.  Even if your student is not preparing for the exam, you can be sure of making a quality selection of repertoire if you use the syllabus lists.  

Using the syllabus also provides you with an opportunity to evaluate your student’s level and progress.  Since each level includes appropriate technical skills, theory requirements, sight reading, and questions about style and form, you can be confident that your student is developing into a well rounded musician.  Also included in each level is a list of student expectations, so you and your student can evaluate their progress and readiness for testing.

The PEPP section (Piano Exam Preparation Packet) will help you assess readiness, and also build student confidence.  There are practice keyboard skills tests, and charts that help you track the progress of your student.  Even if your student is not taking the exam, the keyboard skills tests can be used for in studio testing and awards.

The last section of the Syllabus consists of the resource list.  Are you wishing to locate a specific piece?  Or are you wishing to know which pieces from the syllabus are in a specific book?  Many teachers use the resource list to make cost effective selections by finding books that contain pieces from the current level, and an advancing level for the future.  The resource section can help you locate, and plan your selection of printed music for your students.

The MMTA syllabus is a guide for exam preparation, but it is so much more.  Get the most from your syllabus and use it to plan repertoire, locate repertoire, evaluate your students, and plan a curriculum that is balanced and well rounded.  Be a Syllabus Savvy teacher!