Are School Exams Too Demanding For Guitar Players.

Some of our guitar teachers have been talking about the demands of GCSE/A-level performance pieces for guitarists. Here is what one of our guitar teachers said about his experience of teaching this to his guitar pupils;

“Some teachers are taking the GCSE / A’level boards description too literally as students don’t have to play only pieces that’ve been ‘graded’ as Grade 5 (or 6) but simply any suitable piece comparable to that standard. I regularly help students in one of the schools where I teach guitar prepare their GCSE recordings and over the years we’ve used a huge variety of pieces depending on what rocks their boat – everything from Guns ‘n’ Roses to Slipknot.

Our Head of Dept explained to me when I started there that as along as the technical challenge and level of musical performance is roughly comparable to what might be expected by any exam board at Grade 5 level then it’d be acceptable. This means you can teach them the songs they like rather than spend ages insisting they learn some imitation ‘nearly song’!”