# Are You Free Once You Pass Grade 10? This Sentence Turned Piano into a Task

A mother told her daughter, who was already tired of playing the piano: once you pass Grade 10, you can stop practicing. The daughter accepted this and carried on, with feelings she could not quite put into words.

This conversation opened an article published in October 2025 by the account “The Growth of the Big Tree and the Little Tree.” Its title was “Most Child Piano Students in China Stop Touching the Piano after Passing Grade 10. Does Learning Piano Still Have Any Meaning?” More than 12,000 people had read it. Here, Grade 10 refers to the piano grading context in China.

The author said that Grade 10 is like a task with a clear goal: once it is completed, parents no longer have to tear their hair out, and children can take a break. The article also cited a girl whom psychological counselor He Lingfeng had written about. She had won first place in a provincial youth piano competition and later entered the Central Conservatory of Music to study voice. Yet she had firmly decided never to touch the piano again, because as a child she had been hit with a chopstick every time she played a wrong note.

“You won't have to practice after the exam.” The problem is not Grade 10 itself. Grade 10 originally represents an ability: being able to play pieces of a certain difficulty and read more complex scores. But as soon as those words are spoken, Grade 10 turns from an ability into a stretch of time to endure. When that time is over, of course the child wants to leave.

Parents rarely say this after carefully thinking it through. The words most often slip out at three moments, and at each moment there is another way to put it.

## At Nine in the Evening, Your Child Is Crying over the Piano

Your child has played the same phrase several times and is still getting it wrong. They lean over the piano, crying, and say they do not want to practice anymore. You want to give them something to look forward to, and the easiest thing to say is: keep going for a few more years, and once you pass Grade 10, you won't have to practice anymore.

What your child needs to look forward to at that moment is actually much closer: when tonight's practice will end. You could say instead: play this phrase two more times, and then we're done for today. Freedom several years away is too distant. Finishing after two more repetitions is within reach.

![Editorial illustration of two dialogue cards. The Chinese wording means “No more practice after the exam?” and “Let's stop here for tonight.” A little girl's silhouette changes from looking down to looking up, without childish cartoon styling or exaggerated crying.](https://static.lianmuse.com/image/blog/5a933c5e7b4acc34fb72228f935918d9.jpg)

## In the Month before the Exam, Your Child Asks Whether They Can Stop Practicing Afterwards

A month before the exam, all the practice is devoted to those three exam pieces. Your child asks: can I stop practicing after the exam?

A casual “yes” from you amounts to admitting that these past few months have been about paying off a debt. You could say instead: after the exam, you'll be able to read scores that are a little harder than these on your own. Then you can choose a piece you want to play. Let your child start looking for that piece now. In the China version of Wonder Piano, the music library supports searching by piece title or composer. They can save a few favorites first, then choose one after the exam. What they look forward to becomes what they will be able to play afterwards, rather than the day they can stop playing.

## A Relative Asks What Grade Your Child Has Reached, and Your Child Is Listening Nearby

A relative asks: what piano grade has your child reached? You answer: almost Grade 10. Once the exam is over, we'll be free.

These words are meant for the adults, but your child hears them all. What piano means in this family is something they often learn from conversations like these. Try a different answer: she's recently been playing a piece she chose herself, and she really likes it. There is no need to make her play it on the spot. Hearing you say that is enough.

![At a family meal, a child listens nearby as adults talk about piano grading exams.](https://static.lianmuse.com/image/blog/a98d6669933c952e27aa4ce48d7f4e1e.jpg)

## The Children Who Keep Playing after the Exam

Among the comments on that article were accounts of children who continued playing after passing Grade 10. One parent wrote that her daughter had passed Grade 10 and had practiced independently since Grade 6, without the family managing her practice anymore. What piano had left her with was a love of the instrument and a way to let out her emotions.

On the day she passed the exam, there was nothing she needed to be “freed” from.

At the end of the article, the author wrote: if a child grows up unwilling ever to touch the piano again, or even experiences it as psychological trauma, then this choice has still failed, even if they passed the highest grade.

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Wonder Piano provides AI-assisted piano practice for families at home. Here, we write about practice methods and the difficulties families encounter when putting those methods into use.