Does failing mean the teacher taught badly?

Not necessarily. Repertoire suitability, practice method, the depth of musical analysis, and how solid the fundamentals are — any of these can have room to improve and affect the outcome. Rather than blaming a single cause, a full assessment to find the real direction for improvement is more useful.

How is the ATCL diploma different from Grade 8?

ATCL (Associate of Trinity College London) is a performance diploma, a step beyond Grade 8. Its focus is not only playing the notes accurately but presenting the complete musical language of a work — structure, harmony, colour and narrative. Foundations not fully built earlier tend to surface all at once at this level.

Can a consultation help a candidate who has sat the exam several times?

It's especially suitable. An objective assessment before a retake helps pinpoint what hasn't been fully grasped, so you don't spend another year on the same approach. The actual plan for improvement varies with each student's situation.

Two Years of ATCL Preparation, Still No Pass — When Effort Isn't the Same as Method

"Not enough practice" is the easiest explanation, but rarely the whole truth.

The Student's Background

This student travelled from Tuen Mun to Tai Wai for a one-on-one professional music consultation. He teaches piano part-time himself, and had spent two years preparing for the ATCL performance diploma without passing. His original teacher told him: "It's because you don't practise enough." But as someone who also teaches, he knew he had genuinely been working hard.

Someone willing to spend two years and travel across districts to study is never someone you can sum up with the words "not enough practice."

The Consultation: Three Structural Issues

In one short consultation, I heard three issues in his playing:

• Room to deepen musical understanding: he could produce the notes, but wasn't yet "telling a story"

• Foundations still to consolidate: sight-reading, theory, harmony, pedalling and aural skills hadn't grown in step to ATCL level

• Practice method not yet targeted: he met difficult passages mostly by "playing them again" — which can keep deepening imprecise muscle memory

When the direction needs adjusting, more practice can take you further off course.

The Way Forward: Four Points for a Fresh Start

1. Consolidate the foundation first. Go back and firm up sight-reading, theory, harmony and pedalling to lay solid ground for the diploma level.

2. Relearn musical analysis as a discipline. Read structure, harmony, colour and emotion — not just the notes.

3. Learn targeted practice. Isolate difficult passages, design a practice plan, build speed in stages with a metronome, use recordings to check yourself — so every time you sit at the piano, you know what today is for and why.

4. Rebuild the attitude to practice. Practice isn't the accumulation of hours; it's the achievement of goals. Thirty minutes with direction often beats three hours without it.

In Closing

When he left the consultation, he carried away not anxiety but a clear roadmap. Two years of effort needn't be wasted — with the direction realigned, he can move into a different rhythm of learning.

If you or your child is facing a similar exam wall, rather than betting on another retake, consider starting with a one-on-one professional music consultation to diagnose the problem at its root and plan a suitable direction.

Frequently Asked Questions

Ms. Kannaz Kwok

Thirty years of piano teaching experience. Holder of internationally recognised qualifications from the Royal Academy of Music and Trinity Laban Conservatoire.